nadsat

Despite living within walking distance of a badass seafood joint and bar for six weeks, I had not visited it until this past Sunday. Shame on me, I know. This past Sunday, the 24th, Six Feet Under had a low country boil to celebrate their 4th anniversary. What is a low country boil? Well, basically you just put a mess of seafood (in this case shrimp, crawfish, and sausage), potatoes, and corn on the cob into a huge pot, add some water and seasoning and boil until done. This is something typically done for large parties in low country of South Carolina, the Georgia coast, or I’ve heard of it being associated with cajun cooking too.

Despite being a rainy day (and the threat of more), my roommate, Katie, and I set out to endulge ourselves in our first low country boil. Upon arriving at Six Feet Under (hereafter referred to as SFU), we found that lots of other people wanted to enjoy the festivities too. The wait to sit inside was well over an hour and a half, but brave souls could sit on the (uncovered) upstairs patio with no waiting time at all. Being brave but more importantly hungry souls, Katie and I opted to go upstairs despite the light drizzle on the walk over.

It was a brisk Sunday evening in Atlanta. The sky was overcast, but the view of Oakland Cemetery was unhampered. After getting comfortable in the wet wrought iron furniture, we placed our order: 2 low country boil servings, an order of rat toes, coleslaw, and 2 beers. What are rat toes? Rat toes are a delectable appetizer of baked jalapenos, stuffed with shrimp and wrapped with bacon. The name might not be too appetizing but they are delicious.

Upon first glance at our plates, we realize this was no pussy-ass boil, this was hardcore. The shrimp and crawfish were still fully intact in their shells and casing. I’ve had crawfish before (its actually really good in sushi among other things) but never still in the shell. After a little examination I found them pretty easy to open up and get the meat out of. For shrimp, I don’t think you technically “have” to remove the casing and the legs, but it tastes better if you do.

About the time we were settled and had a rhythm to cleaning and eating our pile of seafood, the rain started up again. At first it was light and we were determined to stick it out, but it gradually got harder. Luckily, Katie and I each brought an umbrella. So here was the scene, us sitting at our table, umbrella in one handing shielding ourselves and our food from the rain, and the other hand busy trying to deshell shrimp and crawfish. At first eating became quite difficult, but after a few shrimp I figured out a technique to eating them with only one hand. Being so focused on the task at hand, I never looked up to notice if anyone was watching us, but I imagined the wait staff watching us from a dry area, quietly cheering us on.

Did the rain ruin the boil for us? Not a chance. We had so much fun we decided to stay for a few more beers after the meal. If you see a low country boil in your area I recommend you check it out, rain or shine.

While fixing some lunch before class, I settled in to watch one of my favorite Food Network shows, Paula’s Home Cooking. Paula’s Home Cooking features none other than Paula Dean, the south Georgia raised and Savannah based chef whose favorite condiment is mayonnaise. Today’s show was all about bananas. Two recipes stood out to me, one was Paula’s variation on a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich (one of mine and Elvis’s favorites) and the other was curry-crusted bananas.

I feel like I’ve already perfected the peanut butter and banana sandwich for myself so I decided to try the curry-crusted bananas. Although, Paula did have some interesting ideas for the sandwich. She mixed honey and cinnamon into the peanut butter (I’ve tried honey but not cinnamon, it sounds intriguing). The other thing she did was dust the sandwiches with a cinnamon/sugar combination after frying them in butter. While that sounds delicious, I don’t think my heart or taste buds could handle it.

Anyway, on to the curry-crusted bananas, they are basically banana slices coated in melted butter, sprinkled with curry powder, tossed in crumbled corn flakes, and finally baked in the oven. Being a poor (financially) cook, I was lacking some ingredients, namely the curry powder and the corn flakes. I’ve never been a big fan of curry powder so I just left it out and I was able to substitute some All-Bran (being a healthy fellow) for the corn flakes.

After slicing up one banana and melting a couple tablespoons of butter, I was ready to rock and roll. I rolled the bananas in the butter and then coated them with the crumbled All-Bran. I next popped them into a 425F preheated oven and ten minutes later I was ready to indulge myself.

The bananas were really good. The heat of oven and the butter really brought out the sweet flavor of the banana. I thought I could have used a little more All-Bran or maybe a different coating and they would have been better but I was really impressed overall. Well done Paula! I am curious what the curry powder would have done to the dish but I’ll have to save that for another day in the kitchen.