Smoked Ponce/Ponse

I drove quite a ways today through rural Louisiana on La1 to buy a few of these .

Basicly stuffed with a high grade pork meat and well seasoned, it's one of the finest meals you'll ever eat.

You dont have to eat the ponse. Lol. But you will once you try it.

24 min mark.
Slice and return to gravy.

Tonnerre et e'clair! Mais ca c'est bon et c'est si bon, Aussi !

Goddam. He sure takes a long time.
I can understand doing that with an uncooked, fresh ponse.

But a smoked ponse is already half cooked.

I bet he just wanted to drink a few beers.

Well he cook da hell outta it

Calypso Jones wrote:Well he cook da hell outta it

Lol, but that's the secret to it all. The fond or what we da grimees. Grrrre-mees.  Lolol. That stuff that Brown's at the bottom of the pot. That's also referred to here as a grease gravy. But usually not as greasy as roux and oil. Lol
Just a basic deglaze with water or stock.

People were so poor here in the old days that they would not sacrifice a little flour for roux as it was more important to make bread with it.
You see, he used a little flour and I'm sure it browned real good! Lol.  So he had some minor element of dark roux in there.  But not a roux gravy.

I would by all means use instant roux for that if I had it handy!
But what he's showing you is traditional.

It does take a long time to cook and brown the ponse itself.
Dat don't brown like regular meat. Lol. And they are thick.

But none the less , what's inside is always cooking too.

I've never had to poke holes in the ones I buy. Or ever had one explode.  

I don't know where he gets his, but that must be some very fat pork to put out that much grease and juices.

But then again , all that juice goes in the gravy and it might taste way mo Betta!

I can buy instant roux?????

So you're saying that they wouldn't sacrifice the flour...does that mean they cooked that liquid down till it thickened??

What about corn starch or was there none.

Calypso Jones wrote:I can buy instant roux?????

Oh yeah!
It killed coonass roux 20 years ago.

You can buy the real stuff in a jar. It's cooked flour and oil. Real dark roux. Use less than cooking your own cause it's strong tasting to me.
Savoie brand, Kary's roux, etc.

But what you want to buy should be located right next to your green can , Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning. Or maybe in the flour or baking goods section. Its instant blending. And very good.
Whether you make the roux in 3 minutes like it says on the can or just shake it in the water, like I do, you'll soon learn how much to use. Less for gumbo. More for gravy.

Keep in mind, you have to bring these kinds of thing up to boil to realize the thickening potential. Then you can go to simmer.
I like to mix a little jar roux and shake roux.

Tonys instant roux comes in a yellow can, comme ca( like dat) .

Pic in next post. Seems I don't have one in my Cajun files

I will look for it. Putting it on my shopping list.

Calypso Jones wrote:So you're saying that they wouldn't sacrifice the flour...does that mean they cooked that liquid down till it thickened??

What about corn starch or was there none.

To a degree, till things were cooked down and flavors concentrated.

Depended on how many dozen kids you had to feed.
No corn starch .

I love corn starch .  Along with Kitchen Bouquet, it can turn a horrible meal into an eye appealing one. Though the meal is still terrible.  Lol

Corn starch has twice the thickening power of flour.  
But I never tried to make dark roux with it.

Calypso Jones wrote:I will look for it.   Putting it on my shopping list.

Oh geez, I forgot to poist the pic.
Here it is.