Cajun-Style Football Food

The muffaletta is a favorite of both Cajuns and their Creole city cousins. I always head to Central Grocery in New Orleans as soon as I get into town and purchase a muffaletta. (Well, sometimes I go across the street to Café du Monde first for coffee and a beignet...it's always a difficult decision where to begin my feasting in that wonderful City.) My Great-Uncle Adolphe put his own stamp on this sandwich, as he did on everything, and used pork from our Cajun farm instead of the traditional luncheon meats.

The breast meat of a chicken is often used for chicken pies and other chicken dishes like chicken salad, leaving the legs for frying, taking on picnics during good weather, and for watching football games. No utensils are needed and the legs offer a lot of meat in a compact little cylinder, easy to pack or to eat without looking away from the game on television.

My Cajun family had a pecan orchard, and harvest time was always special. We would sit around the kitchen table for hours, shelling the nuts.

This shrimp dish has neither barbecue sauce nor is it barbecued. But that's the name of the traditional dish. It's loaded with butter and seasonings, and just made to dip lots of bread in!