- [Announcer] Sara's weeknight meals is made possible by Sunsweet and... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It all started when I was a child.

With my grandmother doing fresh pasta and now I transmit it to all the guests is something made specially for them.

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Proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

- Today on Sara's Weeknight Meals, it's all about southern home cooking.

If you're looking for the lost food ways of the old south, you couldn't come to a better place than right here in Charleston, South Carolina.

It has one of the hottest culinary scenes in the country and a tradition of time honored recipes that celebrate the history of low country life.

We found some good ones.

Cooking at the Tea Room at Grace Cathedral.

The iconic pimento cheese and then we're gonna be making crab soup.

Because life is short, we're gonna start with dessert, a Huguenot torte, what is that?

Oh, wow!

- Can I offer you ladies some dessert?

(laughing and glasses clinking) - [Sara] Then we're off to Crawly, Louisiana.

You know, if there's one thing they know here in southwest Louisiana, it's how to eat and how to party.

But before that, we're catching crawfish the Cajun way.

Wow, look at those guys.

So, they're all different sizes.

For a home cooked crawfish etouffee.

- [Man] We got the water boiling them, boil them for three minutes.

- Boiled them, for other people, you, we boil them.

(laughing) We boil them, you boil them, we boil them.

Okay.

(cheering) However you say it, we're here for a good time.

Southern home cooking today, on Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(upbeat country music) To many of us, Charleston, South Carolina is the soul of the Old South.

It's easy to lose yourself wandering its gracious streets and gaslit alleys.

It's a foodie town, too.

With great old traditions that started long before hot new restaurants came on the scene.

Charleston has a great tradition of church tea rooms.

Every spring, churches throw open their doors and serve lunch to tourists and locals as a charity fundraiser.

Susan Cromwell runs the tea room at Grace Church.

- We set up out here and also inside, but many people eat out here.

It's so pretty out during the spring.

- It's gorgeous.

And the whole church gets involved.

- The whole church volunteers.

- Wow.

(upbeat country music) - So I'm really excited to be making these dishes, I've never made any of these.

These are all southern, right?

- [Susan] Yes, yes.

- So, we're starting with the iconic pimento cheese.

- Yes.

- And then we're going to be making crab soup.

- [Susan] Yes.

- And actually, because life is short, we're going to start with dessert.

A Huguenot torte.

What is that?

- A Huguenot torte is a dessert that's really not a torte but it's like a cake.

- This is what we're going to bake it in?

- Okay, and I'll butter it.

- You want me to break these eggs?

- Yes, if you'll break the eggs and whip 'em, I'll get started by buttering the pan.

- Okay, but how did it get its name?

The Huguenot torte.

- Well, it's interesting, because it comes from an Ozark pudding, that was a best Truman recipe.

- Oh, that's Missouri though.

- Yeah.

- That's so crazy.

- It is and a woman here named it the Huguenot torte after the Huguenot tavern where she cooked dessert.

- Okay, well I'm going to beat these.

So that's going to make a racket.

- Okay, go ahead and beat that.

And I'll measure the, peal the apples and measure them, while you're doing that.

And chop the pecans.

- Okay, so we need a cup of each of those, I believe.

- Yes.

- Okay, here we go.

(whirring and hitting glass) So, Susan, what do you think?

Does that look pretty good?

Thick and lemon colored?

- That looks great.

Would you like to go ahead and get the pecans started?

- I sure would, all right, we got a cup of these.

- [Susan] We have quite a few varieties of desserts, each day, but the Huguenot torte seems to be one of the most popular.

(metal scraping on wood) - These looks like they were Granny Smith apples, is that right?

- Yes.

- You like the tart apples?

- Yes, like that tart apples.

- Okay, let me see, so sugar.

- Yes.

- We need about a cup and a half.

- Cup and a half.

- We need a 1/4 cup of flour.

- [Susan] And then a teaspoon of vanilla.

- Okay, and you wanna add the salt.

- Okay, and it's 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

- And it all just goes in here, huh?

- Yup, just mix it in.

- Wow, this is what we refer to lovingly as a dump recipe.

- [Susan] Yes, it is sort of a dump recipe.

- [Sara] That's the best kind.

- [Susan] You need two and half teaspoons of the baking powder.

- [Sara] Okay.

- And then, I would just mix it with the spatula.

- Okay, I got one right here.

All right, and then this all goes in.

- [Susan] Well, about a cup.

All right, that should be enough.

Then we just wanna go ahead and place it in the pan.

- Okay, this is so funny, we're both left handed.

- I know.

- How often does that happen?

- Not often.

- You know, we're very creative.

- You know, it's interesting, a lot of our helpers here in the kitchen are left handed, so that's.

- I think, cooks are, you know.

- Yeah, and interesting, I've never thought of that.

- Cause we're so creative, - That's right.

- Yes, we are.

So okay, now this goes into a?

- 325 oven for about 35 to 40 minutes.

- Okay, so let's go.

- I'll go ahead and pop it in the oven.

(metal clanging) - So it's time for crab soup, huh?

- Oh, yeah, one of our most popular dishes.

- Yeah, I can imagine.

- Well, we start by chopping up the celery and the onion, and sauting it in butter.

- So, I'll get some butter.

- Yeah.

- We need, what, about five tablespoons?

- Yes, five tablespoons.

- And how much of the celery and onion?

- It's a half cup of chopped celery and a half cup of chopped onion.

- Okay, so let me ask you while we're chopping away.

- [Susan] Okay.

- What is this tea room business, I mean.

I think of tea rooms, I think of England, and sipping tea and having scones.

But this is different.

- Yes, it is.

And it's very traditional here in Charleston, and usually its done in the spring.

And various churches put on these tea rooms.

Some just serve tea and desserts, many of them serve tea, drinks and lunch.

It's more of a lunch thing and these are all over Charleston.

Our church has been doing it for 26 years.

- Whoa, is that all?

- Yup and we are open for 11 days during the Spoleto Music and Arts Festival in the spring.

- So you do this every day?

- [Susan] Every day for 11 days, yes.

- Make massive amounts of food.

- Massive amounts of food, we average about 400 people for lunch every day.

- Wow and who comes, is it locals?

- [Susan] It's locals and tourists, we have people who come every year and they just love the homemade dishes.

- Okay, so while that cooks, we're gonna thicken the soup, right?

- [Susan] Yes.

- All right, so some cornstarch, I think.

- [Susan] And milk.

- [Sara] And it's just 1/4 of a cup.

- [Susan] Quarter of a cup.

- And then, what is it?

It's five teaspoons, which is a tablespoon and two teaspoons.

So there we go, alrighty.

So this cornstarch will help to stabilize it..

So let's talk about the crab.

You usually use, like, these huge can crab, right?

- Yes.

It's just one cup of crab.

- [Sara] Isn't this normally a she crab soup, and what does that mean?

- [Susan] Well, she crab soup is what it used to be, because they would add the roe from the crabs, but today we just use the pasteurized crab.

- Okay, so we'll just let that cook for half a second.

Okay, so now we're gonna get all the dairy in there.

- [Susan] Two cups of half and half.

- Okay, and I'll add that right in.

- Okay.

- So does anybody ever do it with fresh, fresh crab?

I mean, like.

- You know, I'm sure there are some people, if they have a lot of patience and a lot of crab.

- [Sara] Two and a quarter of milk.

- [Susan] Okay, so.

(lighthearted music) - [Sara] Lot of dairy.

Alrighty, so then I should add this now.

- Yeah, definitely add that.

- Not a full, rolling boil.

- No.

And you should whisk it in.

- Cornstarch.

- And milk.

So it smooths out.

- So it doesn't clump.

And then we just let it cook.

- That's right.

Turn the, turn it on low and let it just simmer for a while.

(upbeat music) - All right, so should we season it?

- Yes, we can go ahead and we'll add the Worcestershire.

- Okay, half a teaspoon?

- Half a teaspoon of Worcestershire.

- All right, and then we got, this is the traditional seafood seasoning that you all use down here.

- Yes and it's, that's very important stuff.

- [Sara] Most important ingredient.

Yeah, the one that everybody uses in the south.

And I did a heaping teaspoon, it's supposed to be a teaspoon and a quarter.

- [Susan] Add some salt and pepper.

- [Sara] Yeah, we haven't added any salt to this yet.

- [Susan] No, we haven't.

And then some pepper.

- [Sara] Okay.

So it simmers for about 12 to 15 minutes?

- [Susan] Yeah.

- And we're just letting it, sort of, all come together.

Okay, so we have one more thing to make, the pimento cheese.

Should we get started on that?

And you want me to grate this cheese?

- Yes, please.

That would be great - This is eight ounces?

- Eight ounces of cheese.

- And what kind of cheese?

- [Susan] You want to use a very sharp cheddar.

Cheddar cheese, pimentos, and mayonnaise.

- [Sara] It's that simple?

- [Susan] That simple.

- [Sara] All right.

- [Susan] All right.

So there's a half a cup for pimentos.

- And, what was I going to say?

What if you, just for the heck of it, I know I'm being naughty again, and I already asked you about roasted red peppers, suppose you had a couple of different kinds of left over cheese in the fridge that you wanted to use up.

- I mean, I'm sure you could but, we just find, the best is just to use a really sharp cheddar.

- Sharp cheddar cheese.

- It holds up well and it just makes a really good sandwich.

- Yeah, okay, so now, how much mayonnaise?

- Well, it's just, we're going to start with a quarter of a cup of mayonnaise and see how that works.

You just add good consistency to spread.

This doesn't look like much so we may need to add more.

- Do you want me to stir?

- Yeah, if you don't mind.

- So I bet this would be good in a grilled cheese sandwich.

- It makes a great grilled cheese sandwich.

And also, a lot of places put it on a cheeseburger.

They use pimento cheese instead of regular cheese.

- [Sara] So, should we make a few sandwiches?

- [Susan] Okay, let's make a couple of them.

- Now, do you usually make them small or you make them large?

- Well, you can do either.

Teas, you know, you can cut them into fours for a tea sandwich.

Or you can just cut 'em in half.

- Let's do tea sandwiches.

- Okay, I think we should.

- Since we are ladies who lunch.

- Okay, we're ladies at lunch.

- Okay, so you want me to pile in on and you'll spread?

- Yeah, and I'll spread a little mayo.

You have to put little more mayo.

- [Sara] Oh, more mayo?

- [Susan] Always on the side, of course.

- This is not the low cal version.

- No, it's not.

- Why would you?

- None of the food at tea room, at our tea room, is very low cal, I don't think.

- Okay then.

This is generous.

- [Susan] Yeah, you want a nice thick sandwich.

- And then I will set up the soup.

So normally, you put another little dash of sherry in there.

- Yeah, when you serve it.

- Okay.

- We, we usually serve it with a craft of sherry and let people decide, you know, on their own, whether they would like a.

Would you hand me that knife please.

- Yes, I will, here you go.

- And I'll cut that.

- I'm so excited to be making pimento cheese, because this is one of those iconic things you see all over the south.

So I'll just get our soup here.

(knife slicing in background) Okay, this really does smell wonderful.

All right, shall we head out?

- [Susan] Okay.

(peaceful country music) - So should we try one of our sandwiches?

- Sure, everybody.

- Yummy!

- [Woman] Delicious.

- That's so good.

- I think the crab soup really turned out well.

- Oh, wow.

- Can I offer, you ladies, some dessert?

- [Susan] That looks delicious.

- Isn't that one beautiful dessert?

- [Waitress] It is delicious.

- But I think, I think I have to hold off.

But why don't you grab one and join us?

- [Waitress] Okay.

- Yes, I like that.

- [Waitress] You twisted my arm.

- Let's have a toast, ladies.

Oops, you can hold up, yes.

(laughing) Here, here's a fork.

- [Waitress] Oh, thank you.

(upbeat music) - [Sara] Life is slow and easy in southwest Louisiana and here in Crawley, the rice fields of summer are flooded for a second crop of crawfish.

The hugely popular, local delicacy.

Randy Thibodeaux is a third generation farmer, who took me on a craw fishing trip on his family farm.

They were among the original Cajun settlers.

- Been here since the mid 1700s, and the reason why they came here, because they were expelled or exiled from Nova Scotia 'cause they.

- Expelled?

- Yeah (laughs).

- Really, why?

- Because they didn't adhere to the rules of the queen of England.

So most of the french descendants around here all came from Nova Scotia.

- Nova Scotia, so they all spoke french when they came here.

- They all spoke french when they came here.

- You're a real Cajun!

(upbeat Cajun music) And it takes Cajun ingenuity to catch crawfish.

Locals use homemade flat bottom boats with giant gears that literally push us across Randy's 10,000 acres.

- We do rice, soy beans, and crawfish.

And everything is rotated every year, you know.

We harvest the rice in July and August and now we craw fishing it.

- How did you come up with the idea of rotating these crops?

- Basically, the crawfish that is native to this area, and when we would drain our rice fields, we'd actually see them coming out the rice fields, we would try to catch what we could but we just captured enough to have a party, you know something.

But then eventually, we found a way.

- You thought, jeez, let's make this into a regular crop.

Yeah, let's encourage them!

(upbeat music) - Okay, this is our actual crawfish trap.

That where we actually put a bait in here, and the crawfish come through these flutes and they get trapped in there, in this, and then they can't get out that way, so.

- What kind of bait do you use?

- We use, actually, we usin' pogies today so, put this fish in there, and we actually put it back in the water, let it sit for a day or so, and it'll attract the crawfish to it.

- Now, how do you get the crawfish in here to begin with?

- Actually, you take a small stock and you put 'em along the levies.

- [Sara] So then they procreate.

- Yeah.

When we drain the fields, they bury down and when we reflood in October, that's when they come back up.

- [Sara] And what do they eat?

- [Randy] They actually eat the microorganism off the rice stalk.

(lighthearted country music) - [Sara] Four to five months later, between January and April, the crawfish are large enough to harvest.

Wow, look at those guys, so they're all different sizes.

So what are you looking for in a crawfish?

- This is what we're actually looking for.

This size crawfish, right here.

You're actually looking for the size of the tail, because the fat is real good in these tender crawfish.

When the pinchers start getting big, they don't have quite as much fat.

- And how many did you end up harvesting, total?

- [Randy] We like to get about, up to about 700 pounds an acre.

(lighthearted music) - [Sara] The crawfish have another purpose, along with native ducks and geese, natural land conservation.

- The wildlife and the crawfish actually help us clean up these fields, to start up for a cleaner crop for the following year.

- [Sara] Of rice?

- [Randy] Of rice.

- [Sara] They eat the weeds.

- [Randy] They eat the weeds.

- All right, so we're going to actually cook these guys up, right?

- That's right.

Make an etouffee this afternoon.

- All right, let's head back.

We're off to make a hearty meal of crawfish etouffee, featuring Randy's family recipe.

(upbeat country music) And now Randy's gonna show me how to make a classing Cajun dish called... - Crawfish etouffee.

- Of course, all right, but we gotta start with the rice, right?

- That's right.

- We're going to make rice in a rice cooker.

- That's right.

- Wow, well you know, I'm rice impaired.

So I think this is what I need to get.

And how many cups are we making here?

- We should make at least five.

- One cup of raw rice equals three cups of cooked rice, we're making 15 cups of rice?

- [Randy] That's right.

- And this is local rice?

- That's right, it's actually grown on my farm.

- This is your rice.

Doesn't get much more local than that!

Okay, this is five cups.

All right, now, how much, this is where I always get flummoxed.

How much water?

- When you get it this deep over rice.

- Okay, so my, is that, does that work the same for me?

I'm going to say that's an inch.

Okay, you're, you're, here we go.

That good?

Perfect.

And that's your impeccably clean finger, we boiled that, right?

- Yeah, that's right.

(laughing) - Okay, so now what happens?

- We gotta.

- You have to, this is electronics, so you're going to have to show me, you program this.

You put the lid on.

- It's not snapped.

- Oh, we have to snap.

Okay, I'm going to move this down, you're going to set that up.

- Okay, now it's on.

- All right, so how long does this take?

- At least 15 minutes cooking then it takes 5 to 10 minutes, just letting it sit there.

- So, while that's doing it's thing, we're going to get the vegetables going, right?

- Yes.

- Okay, you got a big ol' pot there.

- [Randy] Yeah.

- [Sara] That's cast iron.

- [Randy] Yeah, it's cast iron.

- All right, so we set, just a little bit of butter we start with.

- That's exactly it.

- Two sticks.

Salted or unsalted?

- Either way, it don't matter.

- You don't care?

- No.

- Okay, little bit of butter goes in.

And now you like cast iron because it's even temperature?

- Yeah, even temperature, and you know, you don't, your food tastes better.

- Your food tastes better, okay then, alrighty, I like that.

So we've got three large onions chopped there.

- That's right.

- Okay, and then this is about 3/4 of a cup, I measured.

- Okay.

- You don't measure!

I had to measure so people could make this!

3/4 cup of finely diced green pepper.

And then we have one cup of sliced celery.

- Celery.

- Yeah, finely sliced, okay, good.

And now, these three items, these three vegetables are used a lot in Cajun cooking.

- Oh, we use it in everything.

We call it the holey trinity.

- Really?

- Yes.

- So this is sort of like, in French cooking, they have miroux poix, which is celery, onion, carrots, but you ditched the carrots for the peppers.

- That's right.

- Okay, and this is roughly the proportions you like to mix.

- Yeah, it is.

- So, lot of onions.

So here we go.

(plucky banjo music) Boy, nothing better than the smell of butter, huh?

- That's right, and onions.

- You use a lot of butter in Cajun cooking, don't ya?

- Yes, we sure do, it's.

- It's your french heritage.

- (laughs) Yes.

- [Sara] So, we're going to cook these covered.

- [Randy] Yeah.

- Go ahead, do your thing.

From what I understand, when you cook that way, all the flavor stays in there.

- [Randy] That's right, it do.

- [Sara] How long do we cook these?

- [Randy] Probably about 15 minutes.

- [Sara] Okay, so now, you're going to show me how to peel crawfish.

- [Randy] We wash them first, got the water boiling, and boil them for three minutes.

- Okay, I have to translate for people who don't speak Cajun.

Boil them.

For other people, we boil them.

You boil them, we boil them.

Okay, and then what happens?

- Then you want to peel it, so you push it in a little bit and you twist it.

- [Sara] You push it in first, oh, that's good trick.

- [Randy] And then.

- [Sara] I should try that, oops, no, I already lost some, I'm fired.

- [Randy] It's all right.

- [Sara] Oh no, I got it.

- [Randy] You got it.

- [Sara] Okay.

- [Randy] And then you pull it out like this, and then you take out the vein.

- [Sara] Oh, okay, it's like shrimp.

- [Randy] Yeah.

- Okay, so when we make the etouffee, and that's actually a really important question, what is an etouffee?

- An etouffee is a smothered seafood dish.

And this is considered seafood.

- So it's smothered because it's cooked low and slow.

- [Randy] Low and slow.

- With mostly the lid on.

- That's right.

- Okay, good.

- Okay, now we're gonna take the pot.

Okay, I think we ready to go.

- And how do you know?

- [Randy] They all clear, they gettin' clear, you see?

- [Sara] It's getting translucent, yeah.

- And you don't want it to start darkening.

- No color.

- See, yeah.

- Okay, what can I pass you?

- [Randy] Okay, we need the crawfish.

- Crawfish comes, okay, here we go.

Oh boy, and what we got there is about three pounds.

- [Randy] Three pounds.

- [Sara] Of tails.

- [Randy] Tails, and we need to add some seasoning.

- Okay, so we've got some local seasoning here, right?

- [Randy] We have a local blend of seasonings.

- How much?

I'll let you do it, but I'm watching you!

- [Randy] I don't usually measure.

- I'm watching you, I know this goes against your nature.

You just throw it in there.

That looked like a heaping tablespoon to me.

Oop, that's another tablespoon.

All right, this is going to be spicy.

So what's in there?

So there's salt, and?

- Black pepper and red pepper.

- [Sara] And maybe garlic powder, a little bit, or something.

- Yeah.

- And then we also have some fresh garlic, too, right?

- [Randy] Yes.

- Okay.

(glass tinkling) - [Randy] Might have to add a little water.

- Do we do that now or later?

- I would add a little bit right now.

- Okay, all right, here we go.

You say when.

- [Randy] That's good.

- [Sara] Okay, so we just let this cook nice and slow, for what?

- 15, 20 minutes.

- [Sara] Okay, all right, great.

Now, I know we have to get a few garnishes together, right?

- [Randy] Yes, onion tops.

- You call these onion tops?

I call these scallions.

(laughing) Onion tops, okay, well you got your own way of doing things, okay, speaking of your own way of doing things, here in Cajun country.

Tell me more about Cajun cooking.

Like what are your other dishes?

- We love to cook sauce because, gumbos, shrimp creole, you know, catfish coubion, you know, all these different types of dishes.

- And now, what's the difference between Cajun and creole?

- Creoles use a lot of tomatoes in the different dishes and we vary seldom use tomatoes.

- Oh, okay.

- The tomatoes and basil and thyme and stuff like that, we kinda leave that out.

- Stay away from that stuff.

- [Randy] Yeah.

- Okay, very interesting.

So what else makes a Cajun a Cajun?

Besides the food.

- They're born that way.

(laughing) I guess it's our lifestyle too.

You know, we don't live a fancy lifestyle but we live a good lifestyle.

- You don't live a fancy, but a good, okay, so how do you define a good lifestyle, I'm interested.

- Everything is surrounded by food.

I mean.

- I applaud that decision.

- Every time we entertain ourselves, food is involved.

You go to the football game, you gotta have food, you know.

You go to a wedding, you have food.

You go to a funeral, you're going to have food at the funeral.

- All right, so we got a bunch of parsley chopped and we need a little thickening, right?

- [Randy] Yes.

- Okay, so we're going to use cornstarch.

- [Randy] Cornstarch.

- The reason we're doing this is cause his lovely wife is gluten intolerant.

So for those of you other there who are, this is a good way to go.

So we need what, two table.

- Two of those.

- Two of these guys, two tablespoons.

And then just some water.

- Yeah, just some water.

- And we're just setting this up, we won't add this 'til later.

- [Randy] Yes.

- Okay, and a little bit of water.

You say when.

- Just try to stir that up, see what it looks like.

- Okay.

- That's it, that's good.

- [Sara] I'll let you do that.

- It's going to be good.

Okay, starting to check it, so I think it's all good.

We put the cornstarch mixture.

(pot boiling) So, we got that done.

So Sara, now you can hand me onion tops and parsley.

- Okay.

(pot boiling) And I'm gonna stir that up a little bit, you got the seasoning right.

- So you think the rice is, ready?

- Oh, yeah, the rice is definitely ready, cause it was steaming a while ago, so.

I'll get that.

- [Sara] We just need a little taste right now 'cause we have our guests cooing soon.

- [Randy] Yeah, yes, okay.

- Oh look at how perfect that is.

I understand, sometimes you make this and serve it on a steak for your son.

- Yeah, for special occasions, we.

- That does seem a little over the top to me.

That's definitely surf and turf, here's your spoon.

- Okay.

(definitely clicking) - That's hot but it's so delicious.

I love the seasoning.

- Thank you.

Okay, now that we got everything ready, we gonna get ready for our guests.

- I think so.

- All right.

(upbeat country music) (applause) (live country music) (applause and cheering) - You know, if there's one thing they know here in Southwest Louisiana, it's how to eat and how to party.

I'm Sara Moulton here with Randy Thibodeaux, and all of his delightful friends, I'll see you next time for more of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

Okay!

(cheering and chatting) (upbeat, live country music) For recipes and videos, go to our website, saramoulton.com.

(chattering) Sara's Weeknight Meals is made possible by Sunsweet and... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It all started when I was a child.

With my grandmother doing fresh pasta and now I transmit it to all the guests is something made specially for them.

- [Announcer] Oceania Cruises.

Proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(light tinkling music) (upbeat instrumental) (intense, upbeat tones)