What's cooking in our kitchens? Join our park rangers and find out!
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Louisiana is like a gumbo. Many different cultures contribute to the southern Louisiana cooking scene. With a rich history and the wide variety of habitats like swamps, prairies, and forests, it’s no wonder Louisiana is known for its unique food.
Follow along on the Jean Lafitte Facebook page for our series What’s Cooking Wednesday, which gives some great and easy recipes for you to try out. Along the way, you’ll learn a little about the influences and history of Louisiana cooking.
Ranger Recipes: Meats
Below are some of the past meat recipes from What's Cooking Wednesday. Take a look and try them out!
Though canned foods were not universally accepted by the public in the early 1900’s, U.S. Veterans brought home an appreciation for new technologies, inventions, and foods. U.S Veterans helped popularize canned food in the years before refrigeration in the United States. Honor these Veterans by cooking this recipe adapted from the 1910 Manual for Army Cooks!
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds chipped beef
If your chipped beef or beef broth is very salty, substitute water and/or soak the beef overnight.
1/4 cup fat, butter preferred
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 pinch parsley
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 cups beef broth
Directions
Combine all ingredients and cook down until heated through.
Serve on toast!
Ingredients
2 teaspoons ground white pepper
2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup fresh orange juice, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons white vinegar, divided
1 tablespoon achiote paste (Achiote is another name for annatto seeds) *See note below
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
2 ccups thinly sliced red onion
1 teaspoon minced habanero pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt, divided
½ bunch fresh cilantro, trimmed and washed
*Note: If you cannot use achiote paste, use these alternative ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon white vinegar
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin.
Directions
Set up a charcoal grill to cook indirectly. Build up a good medium-high heat coal bed on one side, and leave the other side with little to no coal bed. Try to maintain a temperature of about 300° to 325°F.
Combine the white pepper, oregano, cumin, 1/2 cup orange juice, lime juice, 1 tablespoon vinegar, achiote, and garlic in a large zip-top plastic bag. Blend well by squeezing the outside of the bag.
Add the pork to the marinade. Seal the bag and refrigerate for an hour or so.
In a medium bowl, combine the red onion, habanero, sugar, 1/2 cup orange juice, and 1 tablespoon vinegar. Season with 1/8 teaspoon salt and toss to combine.
Leave the onions at room temperature, covered, to quick-pickle.
Remove the pork from the marinade and discard the marinade.
Sprinkle the pork with 3/8 teaspoon salt. Wrap the pork in a foil packet (or banana leaves if you're feeling adventurous) and seal well, with the seam on top.
Poke 3 (1-inch) slits in the packet near the seam. Make them large enough for steam to sneak out and for smoke to invade.
Cook, covered, for 25 minutes, on the unheated side of the grill.
Remove the packet from the grill and allow to rest, about 10 minutes, before slicing or pulling (more authentic to pull the pork).
Are you going camping and looking for an easy recipe? Maybe you have a Scout and want to teach some campfire cooking skills. Well, this is the perfect recipe for you!
To celebrate National Boy Scout Day on February 9th, 2022, here is a recipe for a coffee can dinner!
Ingredients
bacon strips
meat patties
carrots, cut
potatoes, cut
onions, diced
celery, cut
metal coffe can with a metal lid
Directions
In the metal coffee can, place a layer of bacon strips.
Next, layer meat patties, potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery.
Cover the coffee can with the metal lid. Place the coffee can on top of a fire's glowing coals for 25 minutes. Enjoy!
You might say Governor Galvez of Louisiana had a ‘Beef’ with the British.
In 1799, Spanish Louisiana officially entered the American War of Independence, supporting the Americans. Galvez ordered 2000 Texas cattle ‘to go’ to feed his troops. A herd of cattle is the perfect, mobile, ‘popup’ source of food that multiplies itself, has no ‘best by’ date and maintains its freshness without refrigeration until it is slaughtered. This strategy was so successful Galvez requisitioned another 9000 cattle ‘on the hoof’ over the next three years.
Join our rangers with this ranger recipe to celebrate the influence of Governor Galvez on the culinary and ranching scenes of Louisiana!
Combine tomatillos, prepared peppers, garlic, onion, and 2 1/2 cups reserved broth in a medium saucepan. Bring to rolling boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until garlic is very soft.
Process tomatillo mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. Stir into broth. Add crushed tomatoes, hominy, oregano, and bay leaves, stirring until blended; bring to boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.
Meanwhile, soak cascabel chiles in 1/2 cup hot water in a small bowl for 30 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Process chiles and 2 to 3 tablespoons soaking liquid in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Stir 2 teaspoons salt and pepper to taste into broth. Pour chile mixture through a fine wire-mesh strainer into broth, discarding solids. Stir in shredded chicken, and simmer 15 minutes. Serve with lime wedges.
What’s Cooking Wednesdays looks at invasive animal species, and we beg to question, can’t you just eat them? Well, if it’s nutria (Myocastor Coypus) then yes, you can.
First, what is a nutria and how destructive is it to Louisiana and the other states where they have been found? According to the USDA’s Wildlife Services Program, they are a “large, semi-aquatic rodent native to South America, was originally brought to the United States in 1889 for its fur. When the nutria fur market collapsed in the 1940s, thousands of nutria escaped or were released into the wild by ranchers who could no longer afford to feed and house them. While nutria devour weeds and overabundant vegetation, they also destroy native aquatic vegetation, crops, and wetland areas. In addition to damaging vegetation and crops, nutria destroy the banks of ditches, lakes, and other water bodies. Of greatest significance, however, is the permanent damage nutria can cause to marshes and other wetlands. In these areas, nutria feed on native plants that hold wetland soil together. The destruction of this vegetation intensifies the loss of coastal marshes that has been exacerbated by rising sea levels.”
With the help of interagency work, partners, public and private landowners, there are techniques deployed to try and eradicate this invasive species. They may be cute but we can try to do our part by finding good and tasty recipes!
Want to try some smothered nutria? In south Louisiana, there are people who trap nutria, so try this smothered nutria recipe out!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 pounds nutria, cut in serving pieces
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
2 cups onions, peeled and minced
1 cup green bell pepper, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon flour
3-/3/4 cups chicken stock or broth
Directions
Heat oil in stockpot until very hot.
Sprinkle seasoning on meat.
Add meat to pot, browning on all sides until golden. Cook and stir 10 minutes.
Add onion, bell pepper, and flour. Cook and stir for 10 minutes.
Add chicken stock to pot, stir, and cook. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen the debris, or goodness.
Serve over rice or with potatoes.
Like other native people, food sources were seasonal. In the winter months, hunting wild game was a must. As native groups, there was no wasting any part of the animal.
How did they utilize all parts of the animal?
The meat was for food, and the hide was tanned for use as clothing and coverings. Bones and antlers were fashioned as tools. The bladder was used for carrying water. The tendons and ligaments, or sinew, was used for sewing with a sharpened antler as a needle.
Today, deer meat in a chili is a great wintertime meal. Want to try a recipe?
Ingredients
1 pound ground venison
2 tablespoon lard
1 small onion, chopped
4.5 ounces chopped green chilis, undrained
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
2 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 pints canned light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (or beans of your choosing)
1 quart canned tomatoes
2 quart tomato juice
Directions
Add the ground venison and lard to a large 5-quart pan. Cook over medium low heat until meat is browned. Then, add onions, chilis, and garlic. Sauté another minute. Add parsley, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Continue heating until onion is limp.
Do not drain the excess lard off your meat mixture, just leave it as is and remove the mixture from heat for a moment while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Drain beans, tomatoes, and rinse.
Add beans, tomatoes, tomato juice, and chili powder to the 5-quart pan.
Return to low heat and simmer for at least an hour, uncovered. Stir occasionally. The longer you simmer, the thicker and more flavorful your chili will become.
Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions, or anything else you enjoy.
