New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report (buffetbuster)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:41:12 GMT

nocarolina

I bought a digital this afternoon and hopefully I can learn how to use it

Way to go Bob! I look forward to seeing your photos once you have the hang of it.

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report (ann peeples)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:36:48 GMT

What a wonderful and mouth watering report! Thanks so much for all the photos! Excellent!

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report (surrycounty)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:27:06 GMT

Unity, I really enjoyed your trip report and especially the photos. They bring back fond memories of one the most enjoyable weekends I've had in a long time ( yep, I was there with you. ) Unfortunately, my cruddy old 35mm camera conked out the first day, so no photos from me; I bought a digital this afternoon and hopefully I can learn how to use it ( I'm mechanically inept. ) Hope to see more reports and photos from you in the future... welcome aboard!

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report (joerogo)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:28:37 GMT

Unity, Very nice pics and report. I was there with my wife, sorry we didn't run into each other.

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report (Unity)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:12:57 GMT

Most of the photos were Jody's work, using the Canon G10 I gave her for Christmas. It's a real nice camera, 15 megapixels, lots of advanced settings, sort of the last step before a DSLR. We're still trying to advance ourselves to the point we can use its many capabilities.

--John

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report (mr chips)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:59:33 GMT

Great photos. Welcome aboard!

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report (EliseT)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:26:33 GMT

Whew! I'm glad somebody else uploaded all those pics so I don't have to (grin). Nice pics...especially the oyster platter and the crawfish!

Sorry we didn't meet you. We were looking for Hawaiian shirts.

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (HDtravlr1)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:35:27 GMT

Unity

There was a little bit more than food to our trip. If you'd like to see some French Quarter ambience, go here.

--John

Great trip report and fantastic pictures! I especially enjoyed your SmugMug photo album with all of the picture captions of your entire trip. I have included your link above for those who may have missed it.

I liked how you closed out your photo album with the final picture(#152) and caption. It made me chuckle and to think how true of a statement it was!

Johnny

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (ann peeples)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:24:13 GMT

What a remarkable trip report!Thanks so much for sharing and welcome to the forum!Fantastic!

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (Unity)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:16:54 GMT

Thank you all for the welcome and the kind words. I'm glad your liked the post -- we loved the trip, and anything that good deserves to be shared.

And thanks, Tony Bad, for moving the post. I realized after the fact that I'd put it in the wrong place, but I couldn't figure out the forum software enough to fix it myself (I'm less confused by phpBB software).

--John

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (Nancypalooza)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:52:20 GMT

I know, I was about to start crying at the picture of the Central Grocery Muffaletta, and then there was the picture of the little boat or whatever full of shrimp, and then I just had to sit back and relax. Thanks Unity! Terrific pictures and writeup! Don't be a stranger!

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (mar52)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:19:35 GMT

Hey Unity!

Terrific first post. Welcome to my other home.

You've just posted my vision of Heaven.

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (Michael Hoffman)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:09:24 GMT

Great Post! Thanks.

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (Tony Bad)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:55:50 GMT

kland01s

What an awesome first time post! This should bemoved to a post of your own so everyone will see it. Great job! And welcome aboard!

I agree with your "awesome" comment and did split this post from other thread as it deserves to stand on its own!

Thanks Unity!!

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (buffetbuster)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:20:50 GMT

Absolutely gorgeous photos Unity! Welcome to Roadfood and thanks for sharing.

Re:New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Details (kland01s)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:15:24 GMT

What an awesome first time post! This should bemoved to a post of your own so everyone will see it. Great job! And welcome aboard!

New Orleans Shrimp & Crawfish Boil Report (Unity)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:51:19 GMT

We had a wonderful, wonderful time. Thanks to all who made it possible. I've posted about the trip on BBQ Central and BMWBMW forums, and there's more on my smugmug site (url at the end).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the 1st of April,we -- John and Jody -- set out on our motorcycles for a ride to New Orleans. We had been planning it for months, ever since Roadfood.com members were offered an opportunity to gather in New Orleans for food adventuring. I couldn't think of a better place to sample wonderful food, and Jody had never been there. Now Jody is ready to return, anytime. And so, of course, am I. (Well, not during a hurricane.)

We stopped for gas at a BP station in Pachuta, Mississippi, on SR 18 just off I-59. Jody noticed there were tables inside, so we decided to get lunch. "How many sides do you get with the blue plate special," I asked. "All of 'em," our server said. Two pieces of chicken, a mound of beans, a mound of potato salad, a mound of brocolli casserole, skillet cornbread or roll, blackberry cobbler, and sweet tea or a coke for $5.29. We ate all we could and left behind enough food for at least one more meal.

Those are 12" plates.

We stood in long lines both mornings (it was the weekend, the busiest time) just to have beignets and café au lait at Cafe Du Monde, an essential part of any New Orleans visit.

Jody enjoying a beignet. Why did we only get two orders, she asked.

Two food events were being held in the French Quarter that weekend, the Oyster Jubilee and the Roadfood Festival.

(Courtesy http://www.louisianaroadfoodfestival.com/)
A coalition of New Orleans chefs builds the world's longest oyster po'boy sandwich on Bourbon Street. The sandwich will occupy the blocks-long table. They fix it, and then the people eat it. For free. I don't think there were leftovers.
(Courtesy http://www.roadfooddigest.com/post/2009/04/Laissez-Les-Bon-Roadfood-Temps-Rouler-Part-7.aspx

Vendor booths set up along Royal Street for the First Annual Louisiana Roadfood Festival. There were lots more than pictured here.

I think this was crawfish boudin.

A member of a wedding party considers catfish.

I've eaten several times at the Desire Oyster Bar at Bourbon and Bienville, part of the Royal Sonesta Hotel. It's spotless and the food and service are always very good. Doors all along the Bourbon Street side open to let in the sights and sounds of the street.

The oyster-shucking team at work. The guy on the left did a lot of jiving, too. He's a funny guy.

The product (already sampled before the camera came out.)

We have photographic evidence that Jody and I both eat beignets with our right hands, but I eat oysters with the left. We don't know which hand Jody uses for oysters.

The Creole crawfish jambalaya was very good, but we prefer the brown Cajun style (made starting with a roux, no tomatoes).

The Central Grocery is an Italian-Creole wonder. We'd have done some serious shopping if we hadn't been on the bikes.

Why people were in a line stretching down the sidewalk -- muffaletta sandwiches. The olive salad makes them memorable. We split half a sandwich. It was plenty, considering that we'd recently had beignets for breakfast. Add Central Grocery to your mandatory New Orleans food stops.

Another line at Mother's, a few blocks from the French Quarter. Add Mother's to your food list too.

This is Mother's debris po'boy, red beans and rice, and bread pudding. Debris is the name for shredded beef. My Cajun friend JB, who posts on my favorite barbecue forum and has 500-some way-informal food videos on YouTube, tipped me to Central Grocery and Mother's. I ordered just what he told me to. Thanks, JB.

We Roadfood.com members who had signed up (and paid) for the shrimp and crawfish boil boarded the three Roadfood.com buses for our journey into the swamplands of Jefferson Parish.

They gave us Mardi Gras beads as we boarded, and some of us actually wore them. My beads are purple, green, and gold, the official Mardi Gras colors, signifying, respectively, justice, faith, and power. (Knowing that I wanted exactly those colors, I nearly got into a tussle to get the green ones.)

Michael and Jane Stern are the force behind Roadfood.com. We had Jane for our guide.

The first stop was before leaving New Orleans, Hansen's Sno-Bliz, a business that has stayed in the family for 70 years and still uses the original snoball machine that Ernest Hansen invented.

Our tour's choices.

John had Satsuma and Jody had Nectar, both with a dollop of condensed milk, which goes on top just before serving.

We arrived at the Bayou Barn, our hosts for a shrimp and crawfish boil and whole hog barbecue.

Have some shrimp ...

... and some jambalaya, your choice of regular or gator.

Now them's some boilin' pots.

I wore my Full Boar Barbecue Tour 2007 t-shirt. Nobody asked about it.

Those mud bugs are good. My Cajun friend JB says he likes to get his ready-peeled, that a guy could starve eating them one crawfish at a time. I understand his point, but we were happy doin' 'em one at a time. We ate nearly 4 of these baskets between us.

The hog ready to come off the fire after about 15 hours.

Wood. It's for cooking meat.

Serving up the pig. They had a red honey sauce and a mustard honey sauce and seafood sauce like we had with the shrimp. I ate mine neat. It was very good picked pig, nice and moist and flavorful. A guy in line with me said he'd been waiting for this -- so far all could eat was rice, potatoes, and corn because he's allergic to shellfish. :shock: Actually, I am too, but reasonable amounts of shrimp and crawfish don't bother me. Just don't offer me lobster.

Meanwhile, lurking a few feet away from the pit ...

Michael and Jane Stern thank all the crew who help with Roadfood.com and the tour.

There was a little bit more than food to our trip. If you'd like to see some French Quarter ambience, go here.

--John