-Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by... -Today on "Cookin' Louisiana," we're visiting the river parishes to sample the fare of the German coast.

So let's start -- andouille and shrimp lasagna roll-ups and then clucking chicken Madeira and finally fried Des Allemands catfish with homemade dipping sauce.

That catfish is sehr gut.

So let's head to the kitchen with this andouille.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -♪ Andouille, I love you so ♪ Welcome, guys, to my "Cookin' Louisiana" kitchen.

Thank you for joining me on this tasty tour of the state's best flavors and dishes.

This time we're going to head to the river parishes of Louisiana.

That's St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist.

These three parishes are located along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

The area is also known as Cote des Allemands.

In other words, that means the German coast.

Now, what happened?

Early 1700s.

German farmers were recruited to feed the struggling settlement.

And guess what that settlement was?

Yes, New Orleans.

They settled upriver, and they grew vegetable crops for the citizens of the city.

They also added their sausage-making skills to the region cuisine.

Since andouille is the signature sausage of the German coast, guess what?

That's right.

We're going to feature it in our first dish, andouille and shrimp lasagna roll-ups.

There is nothing like smoked andouille.

And if you can't get andouille, anything firm, nice, heavy, and smoked.

So, I want to get our pan going, because this is a dish that's going to have a whole lot of flavors.

We're going to match up some andouille with some wonderful shrimp.

I have a little oil in our pan.

Into it, we're going to get in some onions.

We're going to season this with a little bit of our Creole seasoning.

Little bit of salt.

Little more salt.

About that much salt, about that much.

Alright.

Let's get this sautéing.

This is a dish that's going to cook in the oven.

We're going to get in some shrimp.

Now, our shrimp -- We want these to cook, but I just barely want them to get cooked all the way through.

I don't want them to overcook, because remember, this is going into the oven.

And this doesn't have to cook very long.

I just want this to get a little heat to start cooking, alright?

We'll get in some tomatoes.

Now, by the time we get these tomatoes in, I think we're going to need a little more seasoning.

Yes.

See?

Not that long.

We don't need this to cook too much.

Here's what I want to do.

You see I have this bowl sitting here.

I'm going to go ahead and start taking this out and putting it into our bowl.

Alright.

Now, the moisture that came off of those shrimp in this pan, you know, if you want to use a separate skillet, you can.

But this moisture, I'm going to let it cook a little bit and let it evaporate, because we're going to make a nice sauce to put on top.

Oh, yes.

Hop out.

Alright.

I think this will work for now.

Now, see, most of this moisture is cooking out right quick, and we're starting to get little goodies stuck in the bottom of the pan.

So let's go in with a little butter.

I'm going to put my garlic in right here, because by going in now, it's going to heat up, it's going to spread out, and it's going to be all throughout our sauce.

So here, let's get that flour in.

You see how quick it'll absorb this butter.

And you see it's starting to stick to the pan a little bit?

That's alright, because what we're going to do, we're going to start adding some milk.

So let's start getting some milk in.

I like to put in a little milk at a time so it has time to smooth itself out and not lump up too much.

Oh, yes.

There we go, and just let's get the last little bit in.

Just a touch seasoning.

Little pinch of salt.

And we're about ready to turn our fire out.

I love going to des Allemands because, I tell you, des Allemands is known for catfish.

Okay.

It is just totally wonderful.

Fire's off.

Now, cheddar cheese.

Yes, we're going to do cheese with seafood.

And the reason we're doing it?

Because it's good.

So, as we get our cheese melted in, guess what else we're going to pop in here?

Let's get in our andouille.

Come on, I see you.

Hop out.

Oh, look at this.

Look at what we have.

Little bit more salt.

Oh, yeah, Okay.

We're good.

So let's get this going, gang.

I have our sheets that I've cooked, and I just boiled them and put them on paper towels.

Let's take a little bit of our filling.

Put it on in.

Get some in there.

And we're going to roll this up like this.

Tuck it under.

Roll it.

Tuck that baby under that way.

If you choose, if you want, you could put some lemon on top of this, if you want, to brighten it up.

I don't know if you guys like things like mandarin oranges.

And put some of those in here.

I mean, we grow a lot of citrus around here.

Here, let's get this one going.

And you can load it up as much of it as you want.

Alright.

Kind of tuck that under.

Roll this under.

That way, it's on the side there.

We are just going to put this right over the top.

Oh, look at that.

Yes.

Alright.

Now just spread it out.

Show it some love.

Spread it out.

There you go.

Let's do some pepper Jack.

Oh, yeah, baby.

Alright?

So I like cheese.

A little paprika, paprika to give it a nice, little color.

Plus, paprika is basically dried, ground red bell pepper, so it's a delicate, mild flavor.

And of course, you know, they have smoked paprika.

The oven, preheating at 350 degrees.

We're going to cover it.

15 minutes, we'll take the cover off, put it back in for another 10 minutes.

Then we're going to have beautiful melted cheese.

So let's go to the oven.

I am going to try to get one of these out here for you to see.

Come on, plate.

Come closer.

Come with me.

Aw, yeah.

Look at this goodness.

Look, we got some shrimp right there.

We got a little tomato, a little andouille.

Let's just stick that right on the top.

A little bit of parsley with a little bit of green onion.

There you have it -- andouille and shrimp lasagna roll-ups.

Next, we're going to do a popular chicken and mushroom dish that's made with a wine that originated on an island in the Atlantic -- Chicken Madeira.

We're here in St. John Parish to see the beautiful Manchac Swamp.

And our guide today is Captain Tom.

-See, the bayous are the natural highways.

Well, the word bayou come from the Indian language.

You see as we're going along right here quite a bit of splashing in the water?

A lot of that, you got largemouth bass.

You got perch, catfish.

Oh, yeah, they got some good fish.

-Louisiana swamps and bayous, they're the signature of the state.

In our pan, I have a little olive oil.

Let's get in a little butter to go with it.

Now, into this, we're going to put in some mushrooms, just some sliced mushrooms.

Now I just want to sauté this off for a little bit.

We're also going to get in a little onion that's diced really fine.

You know, I'm always big in talking about not overcooking things.

When the pan is hot, things don't have to cook forever.

So, we have some moisture in our pan.

Let's get in some garlic.

We're going to get in a little parsley.

A little black pepper.

So, I'm going to turn this down and let this just sauté for a minute, and I'll show you what we did with the chicken.

I took chicken breasts, cut them in half, put them in between clear wrap, and pounded them So they're about 1/4 inch thick.

Little bit of our Creole seasoning.

Alright.

Now that this is sautéed...

...I'm just going to put this on our plate.

You know, that's one of the great things about cooking -- the smells.

The smells, the smells.

I can't tell you how good something smells when it's cooking and when it's cooked right.

Let's get in our butter, that last little bit of butter.

And now we're going to take our chicken.

And we're just going to lay our chicken down.

This is a nice piece right here.

I just lay this piece right there.

Because they are so thin, we're only going to cook them on each side roughly a couple of minutes.

You'll notice on the side, it starts to turn white.

That's our chicken cooking already.

I think they're ready to turn.

Oh, look.

You notice that pan is really, really hot, and I want it hot that way because we're going to get in our Madeira, and we're going to get in a little bit of beef stock.

Let's take our chicken and put it on the plate where our mushrooms are.

And look.

See all those little goodies?

They're going to come up right now.

Alright?

This is when you hear the term deglazing.

We're getting all those little goodies up off the bottom of the pan.

And by the pan being hot, it reduces this fairly quick.

Alright?

See all of that steam coming up?

That's reducing.

So, let's get a little beef stock in.

And we're going to do that exact same thing.

Let's work the bottom of the pan one more time.

I think we're good here.

Let's go in with a little heavy cream.

Oh, yes.

And you can see those little brown pieces that came up.

That's not burnt.

That's just flavor.

So, here's what we want to do with this.

We're going to put in a little more seasoning.

I'm going to grab a pinch of salt because of that cream.

Oh, look at this, look at this.

Now let's get our chicken back in.

Alright.

See, we can turn them over to make sure they get coated really well.

Oh, don't they look pretty?

Yes.

Let's get our onions back in... ...along with our mushrooms.

And that little juice, I want that in, as well.

That's flavor.

Now, let's just spread this out.

Something I did earlier -- Let me move this and show you what I have here.

I have some asparagus.

I took hot water, blanched the asparagus for just a minute, then in cold water to stop it from cooking.

Now I'm going to take our asparagus and just tuck it right here on the side just to heat up.

Now, I have a little mozzarella here, so I'm going to put a little mozzarella on.

Now, this is where, if you want, you could stick this in the oven, if you like, to go ahead and let that mozzarella melt.

But to me, you have so much heat right here that it's going to melt naturally.

So, let's just turn this off.

Let me get a plate, and I'll show you how we're going to present this.

Oh.

Let's take our chicken.

Just set it there.

Look at this cheese.

Look at that cheese.

See, that's what I'm saying.

It doesn't necessarily have to go in the oven to melt.

Let me get this spoon right here to get some of our sauce.

Oh, look at that.

Doesn't that look good?

Right on top.

Few more mushrooms.

Let's get some of our asparagus... ...that we can serve right alongside with it.

Here, let's put some on both sides of the plate.

Look.

Now let me get a towel right quick.

I just -- You know, Mom always taught me to cook neat.

So I just want to wipe some of this cheese that was dripping off the sides off.

Look at that, how pretty that is.

Of course, look, how about a little parsley?

Little bit of green onion.

And you remember we had that cheese?

Why not?

Let's put a little cheese right on the top for a little extra cheese.

So there you have chicken Madeira.

You'll really want to add this dish to your dinner lineup.

Next, a dish from the catfish capital of the universe!

Fried Des Allemands catfish with a homemade dipping sauce.

-There was miles and miles of old swamp, from River Road all through the old ridge.

You had different settlers coming in.

Cajuns or the German families alike brought their own little style of culture.

Now, looky here.

We got a gator right there already.

-How many gators do you think we have in Louisiana?

-Oh, we got over 2 million now.

[ Speaks indistinctly ] Ah, ah, ah.

Yep, yep.

This a nice one here now, about a 8-foot one.

Come on, come on, my boy.

-That's a Louisiana yard dog.

Hey, our catfish is going to be so good, but we're even going to make a better dipping sauce to go with it.

Here, a little mayonnaise first.

Now, along with that mayonnaise, a little bit of Creole mustard.

And this is the ground mustard.

You can use your favorite mustard.

And guess what?

If you don't have any mustard, put a little dry mustard in if you have that, alright?

Let's get this worked in.

Now, for flavor, a little hot sauce.

I have a little garlic sauce.

A little Worcestershire.

Let's give this a little whirl.

Now, we're going to double up on the mustard.

How about a little dry mustard?

To brighten it up, a little lemon juice.

Now, we have a lot of savory in here.

We have that citrus to brighten it up.

Now let's add a little sweet to it.

So, I have a little bit of brown sugar.

I just like to mash that up.

Get that in.

Get that stirred in.

And we're going to use a little honey.

Yes.

Look at that.

Look at that.

Alright.

We're going to pop this in here.

You can always give it a little taste to see if it needs any adjustment.

I might just put a little pinch of salt, maybe.

You know what that needs?

Some catfish.

So let's get to the catfish.

Here's our catfish.

Now, I cut it in nice, kind of big bite-size pieces.

We have a little cayenne pepper, a little garlic powder.

I'm going to put it in a little bit of Creole seasoning.

Do a little bit of salt.

Now I'm just going to swirl this together, and we're going to use this to season our fish.

Sprinkle that on.

We have to make sure everybody gets a little love.

But here, let's get our fish here.

Now, we're doing a dry, wet, dry batter.

What I have here, I have flour, and this is cornstarch, okay?

The reason I use cornstarch, because it helps it fry crispy.

So I just want to get these two blended together.

And, you know, it's all about flavor.

It's all about flavor.

So let's get a little salt in here.

Let's get the rest of our seasoning in here.

Remember, it's all about the flavor.

So, couple of eggs.

Little milk.

Let's get this together.

Now, you remember in our dipping sauce, I put a little hot sauce.

If we want, we could put a little hot sauce right in here.

Now, last bowl, just a little cornmeal.

So we're going to go dry, wet, dry.

Now, we're going to take our catfish.

We'll get it in the flour.

Get on in.

Alright, we're going to give this a good toss in the flour.

Alright?

Here, let's shake off the excess flour.

Now we're doing the wet.

Now, it could sit in this wet for a while, but you want to make sure when you put that last dry coating on, you're ready to go into the oil.

And the best way to check the oil?

Take a little pinch of your flour.

Just drizzle it in.

See that little sizzle?

That means our oil is hot.

Now, I have our oil at 360 degrees.

So let's get ready.

Now let's go ahead and try to get as much of that egg off as possible.

Alright, come on, guys.

Hop on in.

Last one.

Alright.

That's in.

Now, remember these others we had here?

Let's go ahead and get them in.

Oh, there's one more.

Alright, you guys get coated, because you're going to go right into the fryer, as well.

So, you want to try to work quick.

That's why I'm getting these ready, because once I put these in, these are going to go right behind it fairly quick.

So, you can just give this a nice, little shake.

See how that kind of gets them coated?

That's what we're looking for, alright?

So let's get these in first.

Matter of fact, you know what?

Let's wait to put them all in.

So, I've just picked up the basket.

Lay it right there.

Lay you right there.

Shake off the excess.

See, the reason you want to shake that excess off is because you want your oil to try to stay clean as possible.

Let's go ahead and lower these in.

And we're going to just drop our others in.

You don't want to crowd.

Now, let's give this a nice, little shake.

They're going to get nice and golden brown.

They're going to fry, ah, roughly just for a couple of minutes.

It doesn't take that long, especially when your oil is hot.

So, I'm going to put this over here, because I want to show you how it's going to look, because it's not going to take long for it to cook.

Nice, golden, and delicious.

Look at our fish.

Now, I just have paper towels here on this plate to drain it.

And remember, what are we supposed to do when we fry something?

Season it right away while it's hot, okay?

Oh, I tell you what, this smells so good.

So, let me show you.

I'm going to put this together.

So, I'm going to take -- put a little dipping sauce in our bowl.

Oh, yeah, that ought to be enough.

Alright.

Now we can take our catfish and just set it right here all around.

I don't know if you can hear or you can tell.

You hear how crispy?

[ Clicking ] Hear that?

You know why that is?

That's because of the cornstarch.

That cornstarch keeps it nice and crisp.

Now all we need?

A few lemon wedges to go with our fish.

And I tell you what, it's time to go sit on the bayou and have some catfish.

So there you have our fried catfish with a sweet and tangy sauce.

And guess what?

It's straight from the catfish capital of the universe!

Thank you for joining me on this culinary road trip.

Now, you got to keep that party rolling.

Bring the big flavors of Louisiana to your home.

So 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.

-And this cream cheese does not want to melt, because you know why?

The kitchen staff played a joke on me.

They gave me frozen cream cheese.

This is frozen.

That's why it's not melting.

Look at that.

Is it melting?

No, it's not, because it's frozen.

Your order is ready!

There's your pork -- lock -- ♪ Pork lock.

Brrp!

Brrrp, brrrp!

Brrp.

[ Smacking lips ] ♪ Pew!

Pew!

Pew!

Tasty bits of fried pork cracklins or what we call grattons.

Why am I on my tiptoes?

Why am I -- I'm talking about cracklin, and I done got up on my toes.

You see me?

I mean, I was tippy-toeing.

Cracklin will do that.

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

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