Big 16/20 ct. wild American shrimps, gently berled in a lil' dat good Zatarains shrimp & crab boil, then shocked in ice water so them cold-boiled shrimps nice and crisp. After shockin' & chillin' - peel and devein.
Some the best cocktail shrimp sauce I ever made, mebbe the best ~ kicked up with all kinda good stuff, not the least of which some good Cajun Power worchestershire and spicy red pepper garlic sauce. Cocktail sauce is wayyyy more than just catsup & horseradish, ah garrontee.
Best damn pork chop I ever ate. Tru dat.
Cooked direct over hardwood charcoals to git a lil' Pitsburgh Burn on'em, them moved indirect & smoked to target temp of 150* wit a lil' peach wood.
Seasoned with my new favorite seasoning Pig Pen's Original ( sent to me by my buddy, RT )
This is the best thing to come out of the ol' coonass test kitchen in a long time. I used Dumplin' Valley BBQ Sauce as a base to develop a Praline BBQ Sauce. You can see the difference ~ regular DV on the right, and my Praline BBQ Sauce creation on the left. Killer stuff ... mebbe one these days I'll share the recipe & technique ... but first you gotta go buy yerself some Dumplin' Valley ... it's the ONLY sauce that will work in this recipe. Dumplin' Valley <----click
Napped with a redeye/cranberry gastrique.
Target internal temp 150* ... tented & rested before slicing ... perfect pink, moist and juicy.
Hot out the oven ~ nice mustard/cornmeal crust.
Seasoned, then bronzed (using my new favorite spice: Pig Pen's) ... then slathered with homemade mustard & dusted with a lil' cornmeal and into oven.
These are known as Bisquick Sausage Balls ... original recipe calls for using Bisquick and store-bought breakfast sausage. I made my own scratch biscuit dough and used some of my homemade hot sausage.
Hot out the oven ~ also used Tillamook cheddar in them.
Ready for the oven ~ 350* for about 20 minutes.
Pan seared ham, cheese grits, hot sausage/biscuit balls & fluffy scrambled eggs
Smothered with some homemade redeye gravy ~ Sunday breakfast on da bayou.
Christmas Dinner on the down low: the back story ... there was a time in my life when I had a booze/drug problem that persisted for a couple of decades, and one Christmas I was particularly down & out ... no job, no car, no money, I scraped up all my loose change and walked to a 7-11 Store on Christmas morning and bought a tater, an onion and a package of weinies ... went home and made this casserole for my Christmas dinner. By the Grace of God, I've been clean and sober now for almost 20 years ~ don't need to eat like that any more and I certainly didn't need to eat like this today ... but I think that in order to appreciate where you are, you gotta remember where you been. Merry Christmas Y'all, and would somebody please pass the catsup .... Ho Ho Ho.
I ain't much good at prayin' and you may not know me, Lord
This is me, circa 1956, telling jolly ol' Santa at Macy's Department Store in Topeka about the Red Ryder 200-Shot BB Gun that I wanted for Christmas.
Circa 1955 ~ again on "Santa's" lap in my jammies, along with my sister, Brenda. This pic was taken out at the old farmhouse where I grew up ... Santa, in this pic, is my Grandma Johns.
Circa 1954 ~ Christmas morning at the old farmhouse ~ I made a real haul that year ... it was the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! I can remember that chair and the new trike, and a drum, and....
Gotta love the lil' Christmas tree ... that's my Grandpa Eddy in the pic with me ... he and my Dad probably drug that tree in from somewhere in the pasture behind the house ~ that's where we got our tree every Christmas. I'm guessin' Grandpa gave me that drum (lil' drummer boy, me?) because I'm pretty sure my Dad would not have made that mistake? LOL
About 3# of cubed top sirloin steak and pork tenderloin
Chipotles, anaheims, serranos, onions, garlic, tomatoes, beans, herbs & spices, beer, beef stock, and a couple other secret ingredients that I cannot disclose unless you sign the chili waiver. <---click to see the waiver 
Now thatsa bowl of red, ah garrontee!!
Scratch beer/bread dough on bottom, topped with 4 kinds of pigmeat (pork chops, ham, smoked sausage and bacon) ... and some aged swiss cheese.
Then a layer of bavarian kraut and onions with homemade mustard.
Then topped with more pieces of bread dough (think pull-apart) and a dusting of caraway seeds.
Hot out the oven ... git yerself a cold beer and start pullin'
Choucroute Garnie, plated.
Served with some of my homemade mustard.
Boiled brussel sprouts w/taters & bacon ... side dish for the choucroute garnie. I made a beer/butter sauce for these veggies, kicked up with a lil' horseradish. Very tasty.
Layer of Bavarian style kraut in the bottom (kicked up with butter, onions & seasonings) then topped with a few seared pork chops, smoked sausage & thick cut bacon.
Then more kraut and a second layer of pigmeats ~ baked ham, more smoked sausage & bacon.
Finally topped with another layer of kraut, covered and baked for about an hour. 
Made with all the crumblies off the choppin' block when I sliced that baked ham ~ tossed with some honey/hickory bbq sauce & slapped on a bun.
Omelette filled with diced baked ham, 2 kinds of cheese (cheddar & pepperjack), green onions, black olives, jalapenos ~ sided with some more sliced ham, pan seared.
Splashed with a lil' Trappey's hot sauce & chased wit some dat good Community Coffee - black.
Slow baked 4-hour ham ~ sliced nice & thick
Lil' mac & cheese to go with the baked ham
Glaze made with homemade wild sand plum jelly, homemade creole mustard, Steens cane syrup, brown sugar, fresh orange juice ... and one very important *secret* ingredient...
This is the ham stock from the baked ham ~ this is what kicks yer ham & beans up to the top shelf, baybee.
