Mardi Gras meal
Decadent pork chops are a great way to let the good times roll on Fat Tuesday.
With Mardi Gras fast approaching, I thought it might be fun to salute New Orleans’ cuisine by finding a new use for the city’s unique and farfamed Creole spice mix. Creole is the term used to describe something — or someone — of mixed European and African descent, like New Orleans itself. Creole spice mix typically includes several different types of ground pepper, as well as garlic, onion powder and dried herbs. In New Orleans they sprinkle it on meat, fish, poultry and vegetables, and add it to soups, gumbos and sauces. Since 1889, the pre-eminent commercial brand has been Zatarain’s, which describes its spice mix as “the delicious alternative to salt and pepper.”
Given that one of the mix’s main ingredients is indeed salt, I’ve always wondered why cooks didn’t add it to recipes earlier in the process. Why not use it at the very beginning as a dry rub, giving the salt time to work its typical magic? Doing so would not only deeply flavor the food in question, but — in the case of drier proteins like chicken, turkey and lean cuts of pork — it would help them to retain moisture, too.
Here, several hours before cooking, I rubbed my own Creole seasoning mix onto some pork chops. When the moment of truth arrived, I seared the chops and topped them off with the holy trinity of Cajun cooking — onions, bell peppers and celery — along with some tomatoes for good luck. Sure enough, the spice mix made a huge difference.
You’ll find commercial brands of the Creole spice mix at most supermarkets, but I invite you to use my recipe to whip up a batch at home. You’ll end up with more than you need for this dish, but the extra will keep nicely in the cupboard for at least six months ... allowing any day to taste like Mardi Gras.