-Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by... -I'm Kevin Belton.

Today on "Cookin' Louisiana," we'll sample some Southern favorites from the Red River region of Northwest Louisiana.

First up, chicken-fried steak.

Then, how about Cornish game hen with a carrot soufflé?

And, finally, for that sweet tooth, chess pie.

For that soufflé, you just can't top these carrots!

Get it?

Carrot tops.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -You know, you're going to be swimming in goodness in just a little bit.

I tell you what.

It's going to be so nice.

Hi, guys!

Welcome to my "Cookin' Louisiana" kitchen.

You know, I have to thank you for joining me on this tasty tour of the state's best flavors and dishes.

Now, guess where we're going to go this time.

We're going to head to the northwest corner of Louisiana.

That's right!

The cities there developed along the Red River.

That happens to be the state's second-longest stream.

It's also known as the Mighty Red.

Now, the Shreveport- Bossier City Area, affectionately, it's called Louisiana's Other Side because it blends Louisiana flavor with a pinch of Eastern Texas and a little bit of Southern Arkansas for a unique cultural mix.

Now, first up, a crispy pan-fried steak and we're going to top it with a nice, creamy gravy.

So, to get started, I have flour.

So, in here, I'm going to put a little cornstarch.

When you fry, adding cornstarch makes it a little crispier.

That's why I wanted that little bit of cornstarch in there.

Of course, a little cayenne pepper, for flavor.

Let's get all that little pepper out of there.

A little garlic powder.

A little bit of onion powder.

We're going to do a little salt.

Now, let's just give this a nice stir.

And what we're doing today, we're going to do a wet, then, a dry, okay?

So, for our wet, here, I have an egg.

We're just going to get our egg beaten.

And we're going to mix it with a little milk, okay?

So we get our egg in.

Then -- C'mere, so everybody can see you.

Let's get our milk in.

We'll put in a little pinch of our Creole seasoning.

So, let's move this over and show you what we're going to do with our meat.

So, we'll put this right here.

We'll bring this here.

There you go.

Stay right there.

I'm using a top round steak.

But, first things first -- we have to season.

So, let's take a little bit of our Creole seasoning.

Make sure we get both sides.

I'm going to lay that right there.

We're going to take another one.

Let's get both sides.

I want to pound this out a little bit.

So I'm just using wax paper.

You don't have to do this very much, but it tenderizes it and it thins it out just a little bit, so it cooks quicker.

So we get both sides.

That's good.

Look at what we have, okay?

Isn't that pretty?

So, now, in our wet.

Now, let's go into the dry.

Just let it drain off.

Into the dry.

You take a swim.

Now, let's just flip this over, get the other side.

We're going to pick this up and just shake off the excess and we're just going to let it rest on our plate while we get the other one.

Let me show you what we're going to go to next, because we have to get our oil heating up and we need to start working on our gravy.

We'll get our butter in.

The gravy, what we're doing, we're going to make a little bit of a roux with butter.

And I know you may look at me and go, "Why is he doing it now?"

I'll show you a little something.

Let's take a little bit of our Creole seasoning and season our butter right now, at this point.

Little bit of salt.

Now, let's get our flour in.

[ Sizzling ] Ah, yes!

We're going to do a little paprika and a little black pepper.

So let's get a little black pepper in.

Let's get a little paprika in.

Alright.

See how this is bubbling and coming together really nice?

Let's turn the fire down, okay?

Now, to get flavor here, I used milk and chicken stock to make our gravy.

So, this way, our gravy will have some flavor.

This way, I'm using the chicken stock, along with the milk, to get us some nice flavor.

As this heats up, you're going to notice this is going to thicken from our flour.

I also have just a little bit of parsley we're going to put in.

So, let's take our steak and just lower it into our oil.

[ Sizzling ] Alright, come on.

And, in just a minute, we're going to flip them, going to give them a turn.

Not quite, not quite.

Almost.

You know, they don't take very long to cook.

Look how our gravy's coming out.

We can turn this off, practically.

Turn it down.

Make sure we give it a good stir.

Let's finish this off with a little more parsley.

You better stir.

I've turned the fire out here.

Now, I'm just going to set them right here, on the paper towels, to drain.

You guys know the rules.

When something fries, as soon as it comes out, little bit of salt, little bit of seasoning on it, okay?

So, now, our gravy's ready, our steaks are ready.

[ Clap ] Let's plate this up.

One right there.

We're going to lay this other one kind of on it like that.

We're going to kind of layer it like that.

Let's take our gravy... ...and just spoon it on.

Oh, yeah, boy.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Oh yeah!

Oh, yeah.

Look at that!

We're going to do a little bit of parsley.

Little bit of green onion.

Smoky, steamy goodness.

That, on the plate right there?

That's golden fried perfection.

Chicken-fried steak.

Next up, we're going to get a little fancy -- Cornish game hen with carrot soufflé.

Southern fare meets Louisiana flair in the northwest corner of the state.

Louisiana's Other Side is a mixture of spicy Cajun attitude and wide open Texas spirit.

Shreveport, the largest city in North Louisiana, was settled by a diverse mix of people whose legacy is a unique blend of cultures, from its vast music heritage to its culinary scene.

You know, here's what you have to understand about the Shreveport area.

Earlier, we mentioned that it has a little bit of East Texas, a little bit of southern Arkansas, a little bit of South Louisiana, a little bit of Middle Louisiana.

There are so many different cultures that ended up in Shreveport.

So, European influence, why not have a little Cornish hen?

Now, I'm going to take them.

We're going to do a little salt.

I'm going to get the backsides, first.

Little salt.

Little bit of Creole seasoning.

Little bit of salt on you.

Little bit of Creole seasoning.

Here, we have a little olive oil.

I have some rosemary.

Now, I'm just going to take these rosemary leaves.

It's fresh rosemary and you notice I'm just kind of crushing them.

Basically, by crushing them like that, that release a little bit of the oil.

So let's get those in.

Lemon zest.

A little bit of thyme.

Also, how about a little garlic powder and a little black pepper.

We're just going to get this stirred together really good.

Now, time to paint.

See how I'm doing?

I'm just drizzling it over the top.

You know, you want to just pat them down in there.

Pat them really good.

Get that on.

And remember, this is the bottom, but we have to have flavor coming from all over.

So let's flip them back over.

Turn over.

Now, let's season this.

And, because my fingers have touched the poultry, I'm going to take our seasoning, I'm going to speak a little bit of Creole seasoning on it this way.

But remember, my fingers was in the salt, so you want to make sure don't use this.

Go ahead and just get rid of this little bit because your fingers were here on the birds, okay?

So let's go back, now, and do the top.

Let's just get it coated really good.

I'm pulling that rosemary out.

Take a little bit, tuck it on the inside, on both of them.

That way, they have some flavor on the inside as well as the outside.

You won't believe that little extra flavor that that lemon zest is going to give.

Now, I have the oven preheating at 425°, okay?

Once we get our birds in the oven, we're going to reduce that heat down to 400°.

So let's get our Cornish hens in the oven.

Our carrots have cooked and I've drained them and I've just put them in a bowl.

Now, here, I am going to add some sugar to them.

Oh, yes.

Is that enough?

Now, it is.

We're going to do a little bit of baking powder.

Also, a little salt.

I put that baking powder right on the top to get mixed into the sugar, so, now, as we stir this in, everything gets coated.

And you can still see the heat coming off.

Our carrots are still warm, so, now, the sugar will get them coated and that sugar fairly dissolves pretty easy, just from that little bit of heat.

Let's drizzle a little vanilla all over.

I just like carrots!

They're just so good!

So that's why I said, "Let's do a soufflé."

So, now, we have to get our carrots in, so we can get them nice and smooth for that soufflé.

So, hang with me.

Keep your fingers crossed.

You know, growing up, watching Mother cook, Mom always cooked so clean and I try to cook clean, like my mom cooked.

And I know you're sitting there at home, going, "Is it going to fit?"

Yes, it is.

I don't want to lose any of that sweet goodness that was in there.

Okay.

Now, let's get this buzzed right quick.

See, we want to get this to where it's nice, smooth, and creamy, okay?

Now, let's just stop for a second.

You can see how I'll just take it and push it down, just a little bit.

I'm just going to buzz it one more time, right quick.

Now, when I buzz it this time, let's put a little flour in.

Now, this is where the soufflé comes in.

Eggs.

This is what's going to help this soufflé.

So let's just put our eggs in.

We'll get the lid right back on.

Make sure it's closed tight.

You can see the difference now.

Everything is all the same color.

Last, but not least, we're going to do a little butter.

Butter will help smooth and keep it nice and creamy.

Don't be shy.

Don't be shy.

I had the butter getting soft.

That's why it was sticking in the bowl, not wanting to come out.

Put you there.

Poke you down.

Wipe you right there on the side.

Get you in with your other friends.

You can see the butter going around, getting mixed in.

Look how smooth and creamy that is.

Now, get this plate.

Be careful of your blade and we're just going to pour this right on in.

Let me move this here.

Let me grab our spatula and scrape everything out.

Now, remember, this is going to soufflé.

We don't want it filled quite to the top because it's going to rise as it bakes.

We're going to put this in at 350° oven and it's going to go in for about an hour.

'Til it bakes nice and pretty.

Now, as you can see, I've dusted a little powdered sugar on our carrot soufflé.

And don't feel bad because it's nice and pretty when it comes up, but, as soon as you take it out of the oven, it settles down a little bit, but I tell you what, it still eats good.

With our Cornish hens, I tented them with foil when they first came out, just to let them rest for about 10 minutes.

So, I know you're ready for this.

Let's get some of our carrot soufflé.

Oh, yes.

Oh, I'm going to get a nice, nice serving.

Oh, yes.

I want a little more.

I want a little more.

Because you know why?

I'm going to take our Cornish hen and I am going to put him right on the top.

I have a little room back here that we're going to dust a little more sugar on this backside.

And so the Cornish hen won't feel lost, a little bit of fresh parsley, little bit of green onion, alright?

Oh, don't you look so pretty.

Cornish game hen and a sweet soufflé.

That is a sure-fire way to get those kids to eat their carrots.

Now, next up, we're going to finish our trip to Northwest Louisiana with a chess pie, a buttery, sweet Southern dessert.

The sister cities of Shreveport and Bossier City developed on either side of the Red River.

Named for its reddish color, the river that flows across North Louisiana has a peculiar salty taste, due to an underground salt dome upstream on the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Dams now allow salt and sediment to settle on the river's bottom and today, the Mighty Red is one of the most popular fishing spots in the South.

Who doesn't love pie?

So let's start with our crust.

In our processor, we're going to go with a little bit of flour.

I have 2.5 cups.

Into this, we're going to put in a little sugar.

A little pinch of salt.

Now that we've got that blended together, just so it got mixed really well, we'll put in a little more flour.

And next, we'll cut in our butter.

Now, by cutting in the butter, this way, it's a little easier.

You know, you could use a masher, you could use knives, you could use forks, you could use a pastry cutter.

We'll get our butter in.

Let's go ahead and we're going for little pebbles to get this butter cut in.

With that flour, I like to tap it.

Can you see the little pebbles, see what looks like little pebbles?

That's that butter being cut in.

Look for our crumbles.

Now, I have cold water.

Now, normally I like to start with about 4 tablespoons.

Okay, sometimes 6.

[ Laughs ] Let's get this dough working.

So you see how it's starting to come together, but not quite there yet.

And, remember, you can always add more.

You can't take away.

Alright, let's get this mixed in.

And see how we're going to come together.

♪ Come together ♪ ♪ To make pie ♪ ♪ Right now ♪ So we could wet this a little more, okay?

Then, what we do is I turn it out onto a floured counter, work it together with our hands, and then, I like to wrap it up and put it in the refrigerator to chill for a moment.

Then, I roll it out.

But I have one already done, so we don't have to wait for this one to chill and put it all together.

Now, we're going to blind bake our crust.

What blind baking means is that we're going to bake it with nothing in it.

So here's our crust.

I rolled it out, laid it over.

This is just parchment paper.

People buy baking stones.

I just use beans.

The beans help keep our crust from rising because, if we don't weight it down in the oven, that crust will bubble in the center.

So, I have the oven preheating, 325°.

This is going to go into the oven for about 8 minutes.

Then, while this is baking, let's make our filling.

While that's doing that, let's go ahead and make our filling.

Now, in our filling, I'm going to start with some eggs.

Into the eggs, I'm going to put a little of our sugar now.

Now, I just like to go ahead and cream our eggs and sugar together, so let's get this whisked in.

Now, let's go ahead and get in our cornmeal.

Let's get in this flour.

Let's go ahead and work this in.

Now, we'll get in a little vanilla.

We'll get in a little buttermilk.

How about our melted butter?

And I know you're sitting there, going, "What is the method to this madness?

Why is that man putting those ingredients that way and is he actually going to save out that sugar?"

No, the sugar is going in.

But let me show you a little something.

Our nutmeg.

Instead of putting the nutmeg in this moisture, where you could get little pockets of nutmeg because it'll get wet and you have that little powder inside, let's put it into the sugar.

If you put something like nutmeg or cinnamon into the sugar, now, you could shake it around.

It gets broken up.

You won't get pockets of cinnamon or nutmeg when you're putting them in something to bake.

So the remainder of our sugar.

And, to brighten this all up, let's go ahead and get a little lemon juice in.

That lemon will just brighten this all up.

So you can see -- very, very simple ingredients.

So, let's go ahead, get cleaned up, we'll get our pie crust out of the oven, get our filling in, and so we can bake it, so we can have that wonderful pie.

So I just take our beans, put them back in the bowl.

I'll bag those later.

Our filling.

Let's get our filling right on in.

So let's get our pie back in the oven.

325°.

Just be careful with it.

Alright, in you go.

I tell you what, you're going to be so pretty.

325°.

Now, that's going to be in there anywhere from 30 to 35 minutes, okay?

But, you know what?

I have one already done that I want to show you.

Look at our pie.

So let's go ahead and garnish this with a little mint.

Some whipped cream on that.

Oh, this is so good.

Chess pie.

It's going to be a crowd pleaser.

You know, speaking of pleasing, you please me so much when you join me on this culinary road trip.

Now, it's up to you to keep the party rolling.

Bring the big flavors of Louisiana to your home.

So I'll see you next time for more "Cookin' Louisiana."

-The companion cookbook to "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" is available for $28 plus shipping and handling.

You can also order an hour-long DVD of favorite dishes from the series, for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

Both the book and favorites DVD are available for $43.95 plus shipping and handling.

To order these items, call 1-866-360-4928 or order online at wyes.org.

-Now, I have a king, I have a queen, I have a jack.

-What the heck?!

I don't have anything good.

-But I don't have a 10, a 9, or an 8.

Actually, I am 102 years old, but, because I've been cooking so long, look at my face because the stem -- it's this stem.

The stem seasons the face, okay?

It's the stem.

The stem seasons the face.

That's why I'm 102 and look the way I do.

♪ Are you lonely?

Have you not been out in a long time?

Well, I have a date for you.

♪ ♪ Come on, baby ♪ ♪ Let's do the twist ♪ Start checking to make sure we have an internal temperature of 100° and, no, we don't want to come to you.

I don't want to come to you because we have to go over here to make the sauce.

So I'm going back to the oven because we're going over here because we have to make our glaze.

-Alright.

-Thank you very much.

Keep the receipt.

Oh, wait.

Ooh!

Ooh!

Ooh, look at that!

Wait, I got -- wait.

Don't -- Don't close the register yet.

♪ -For more information about "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana," visit wyes.org.

-Funding for "Kevin Belton's "Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by... ♪