Butte La Rose

Bonjour!
Neighbor Cecile came by and handed me a huge fresh head of cabbage from her garden. She helps hubby Dennis work in their field and garden and together they produce some of the best vegetables, even fresher then you can buy in the stores. It can’t be denied. For instance, fresh vegetables harvested in Florida have to take a truck ride to the destination stores. But when you grow your own, you harvest yours and will be in your pot the same day. Ever think about that?
Now, she is a small woman and keeping busy and active with Dennis keeps her healthy and not having to worry about weight. Home-grown stuff is so healthy. Got extra space in your back yard? Got healthy robust sons or grandsons with extra time on their hands? Tell them working a tiller is the best way to work up muscles on their arms and chest. And at the same time helping their “poor old aging parents or grandparents.” They might go for it! And remind them that in your youth you also worked in the fields using a hoe and shovel. Now do your own thing deciding what stuffs you’ll plant.
Okra is easy to grow. So are tomatoes, bell peppers, chop em up, freeze for winter. Get ideas and plant vegetables that you ordinarily buy in stores. Plant fruit trees. I learned from Barbara Bergeron a fruit that is so healthy and easy to grow around here is blueberries. A handful after breakfast is extremely healthy. The county agent (phone 332-2181) in Breaux Bridge is there to help with your learning needs. They’ve been helpful to me. I tried it and she was right. Those grow well around here. You can freeze your own.
Last column I wrote I went into details about hog lard being a part of our Cajun culture and I even gave one of our family tradition secrets away. Yep! Papa’s secret! What could that be, you ask? Well, when I mentioned making roux with hog lard, I gave papa’s secret away and told y’all how he measured his flour and lard.
But I also neglected to tell the people how to cook the roux. Before you get started, make sure the rest of your house is in good shape, you know, clothes all folded, other chores done and that way you will have all this time to concentrate on your roux. Now you gotta mix it all up and it’ll be thick. How thick, you ask? Remember when you were a kid and your grandmother mixed corn bread? It’ll be that thick. You gotta always put the cold ingredients in the cold pot and start slowly stirring and mixing right then.
I say do not use a Teflon pot or plastic cooking spoon. Iron pots are the safest and best! Turn on the heat to medium. After several minutes of the pot getting hotter, you’ll notice the mixture will begin to blend in better. It might even try to stick to the bottom of the pot, but scrape with the spoon to loosen it up. Lower your heat and keep on stirring and by all means, don’t neglect the roux and start talking on the phone and let the stuff settle on the bottom of the pot cause it’ll scorch.
Keep stirring until it’ll begin darkening lightly. As the minutes progress the mixture will eventually began turning a little darker like from tan to beige and darken a little at a time. Let it get brown, but not dark. Then you’ll turn off the heat, keep stirring for another 10 minutes to cool. It’ll darken on it’s own. It takes me about 40 minutes plus that extra 10 to stir. And if at first you don’t succeed, well you got a good head start.
Cousine Hélène
337-280-1988.
helenboudreaux@juno.com.