Recipes | Scrumptious Chef

A Recipe For Smoked Pork Belly Carnitas

We were making oven carnitas for a work assignment last week, and could not help but dream of how good they would be if cooked over a wood fire. Once we got back on the ground in New Orleans we hit the backyard and knocked out a quick batch Continue Reading

A recipe for dry cured guanciale

Big Jim Sullivan would’ve considered guanciale (unsmoked, cured pork jowl) production unthinkable. Cured hog meat always received a long spell in the smokehouse in his rural Kentucky backyard. Continue Reading

Shanghai Jimmy’s Texas Chili Rice

Blackie Sherrod was a Texas legend. The hard-bitten old sports scribe routinely cried out for more “punch and juice” from his fellow writers. He liked to go deep and he expected those around him to follow. Continue Reading

Brother Jack’s Barbecue in Knoxville Tennessee (building to the right)

Charles Andrew Jackson aka Brother Jack (b.1894) opened his barbecue shack on University Avenue in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1946. Jack had made his bones as a butcher and just like many a meat man saw barbecue as a natural extension of his trade. Continue Reading

A hardwood fire is an essential part of the gumbo process

The pig tails were beautiful at Zuppardo’s Supermarket this morning. They were even more beautiful with the morning sun glinting off them as they went on the antique Weber smoker in our 9th Ward backyard.

We have a couple dozen gumbo recipes in our repertoire but most of them are day in day out versions with smoked chicken and link sausage we pick up from Terranova Superette or Quicky’s. And we keep a quart jar filled with handmade roux in the fridge so we can bang out a gumbo on a Tuesday night without breaking a sweat. Continue Reading

Hoppin John is black eyed peas writ large in the southern kitchen. If you’re not afraid of a little prep work you can take our lucky New Years peas recipe straight to the stratosphere.

Here’s how.

You’re a dyed in the wool old school cook who makes scratch stocks at least once a week. You would never consider using mere tap water for any of your gumbos, soups or stews but are you making master stock?

Once you do you will never use plain old stock again.

Our master stock turned two years old a couple days ago, and it’s richer and more nuanced than ever. Of course many households and restaurants in China hold master stocks that are over a hundred years old.

Master stock vs regular stock

The Myth Of The Holy Trinity

Over the last four years I’ve eaten dozens of bowls of gumbo from the best kitchens across Acadiana.

During this time I’ve learned that the Holy Trinity is not sacrosanct in the 22 parishes that comprise Cajun country. Continue Reading

Jacob’s World Famous Andouille est. 1928. St John The Baptist Parish Louisiana

We’re heading home to Austin for our big Scrumptious Chef 8th Anniversary Gumbo Pop Up. Earlier this week we drove out to St John The Baptist Parish to visit the best andouille makers in the USA.

Once out in Acadiana we procured a suitcase load of smoked sausage-the kind made by old masters who have been plying their charcuterie trade since the 1920s.

Tickets for the event

Hope y’all can make it out.

A recipe for hog head gumbo

A Recipe For Shark Gumbo With Smoked Andouille Sausage

A Guide To Making The Best Gumbo You Will Ever Put In Your Mouth