-Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by... -Howdy, partners, I'm Kevin Belton, and today on "Cookin' Louisiana," we're heading west to Toledo Bend Lake Country near the Texas border.

Now, we'll kick it off with Zwolle hot tamale.

Now, how about Louisiana fish on the half shell?

And for those of you with a sweet tooth, blackberry pie!

So don't go anywhere 'cause I'mma lasso up some grub for ya.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Tamale, whoa-oh, tamale, whoa-ho-ho-ho ♪ Hi, guys, welcome to my "Cookin' Louisiana" kitchen.

You know, thank you for joining me for this tasty tour of the state's best flavors and dishes.

Now, today, guess where we're going to go!

We're going to go west.

That's right.

We're going to Texas/Louisiana border for a visit to the Toledo Bend lake area.

Now, this is where the state's colonial Spanish past is still evident today.

So we're going to get off to a hot start with hot tamales.

I want to start working on the filling, so let's get our pan on; and something that we're going to put in this pan, this is lard, okay?

And in a lot of the cuisine that uses things like tamales, lard is such an important ingredient.

And you know what?

It's in the grocery store.

I know what you're saying, "There's no way I can find lard anywhere now."

Yes, it's right there in the grocery store.

You just have to look for it.

And I should have let this pan get a little hotter.

But that's okay.

Let's get our onions in.

Of course, we're going to put in a little bit of our Creole seasoning.

[ Sizzling ] Aww, smell that!

So, garlic.

Now, I have at least five cloves of garlic right here.

In the pan.

And remember, we don't want to saute garlic forever.

We always want to make sure we put garlic into a pan when there's moisture in the pan.

Now, let's go ahead and put some chicken stock in here and then we'll crank up our fire and reduce this down.

So, a little chicken stock.

We'll give that a good stir.

Let's go with just a tiny bit more seasoning.

Let's get a little pinch of salt from over here.

I'm going to turn this down just a little bit, and what I want this to do, I want this to reduce.

And you see here, I already have some pork that I cooked off that's just shredded.

We'll get that in.

But first, let this reduce.

So now let's work on the dough for our tamales.

In our food processor, we're going to start with some whole kernels of corn.

♪ Hop on in ♪ We're going to put in a couple of cups of chicken stock.

And we're going to get this to where it gets really, really smooth.

Put that lid on.

We just want this to totally puree.

All right, that is great.

That's right where we want you.

You come here.

We'll take our blade out.

And we'll be ready for this in just a second.

So here I have our masa harina.

How about a little baking powder?

We're going to go in with a little bit of salt.

And let's get this whisked together right quick.

So now that I have this worked in really good, let's go ahead and we need to cut our lard in.

And, you know, while we're cutting this in, it's going to start to look like pebbles, okay?

It's just like when we make pie crust and we cut butter in, or we're cutting shortening into a pie crust.

Now let's see how our reduction is going.

See how that's reducing down?

That's what we want.

I'm going to go ahead and get our pork in because this is almost already.

And I just want to get this stirred in to pick up all of these flavors, all of our garlic and onion flavors are now mixed in to our pork with our seasoning.

So our filling is ready to go.

Let's go ahead and finish working on our dough.

See the little pebbles like right there?

It looks like little green peas.

See, like right there?

That's what we're talking about.

Those -- that's the little pieces of lard that's been cut in to the masa harina.

So here we go.

Let's just pour this in.

And we'll get this stirred in.

Aww, yes.

Now, you could take a mortar and pestle and really smash that corn with a little bit of stock in it if you want to do it that way.

We ran it in a food processor.

If you want, we could put it in a blender.

In a blender it'll be a little smaller, the pieces of corn.

Here, the way we did it, it's a little bigger, you see the -- you can actually see some whole kernels of corn, but that's what I like.

That's -- that's just me, that's the way I like it.

So now that we have this made, okay?

Remember, we put a little bit of salt in here, not too much.

This is going to be our dough.

We have our filling made.

Now I'll put this in the refrigerator, grab the one that I have, get cleaned up so we can start filling our tamales.

So as you see, I've started some.

Let's take our dough, put it in.

Now, you notice I'm using a corn husk that I've soaked.

You want to make this is thick or as thin as you want, I do it a little thick, but that's okay.

You know, I'm always told that I always put too much filling in things.

See how we laid that in there?

Now let's take some of our pork.

Put our pork right down the center.

Oh, you can just see those onions in there.

Oh, yes, and especially that garlic.

They just kind of go together, don't they?

Onions and garlic and pork.

All right, now here's what we do, we want to take these sides, all right?

And kind of roll them up, roll them up.

See, I put too much filling down in this bottom one here, but that's okay.

See, just be patient with it.

Just be patient with it.

Because I made this one kind of big, I'm gonna take my hand and press it for a little bit.

See, just press it down, press it down all around.

Yeah!

All right, we're going to roll this over here.

Roll this one this way.

Fold up the bottom.

And we're going to stick it right there.

Can you tell which one is going to be mine?

Okay, let's pop this here.

So you can see that little corn in there.

Let's get some over here.

This is really one of those personal things that how you like -- do you want a lot, do you want a little?

All right, let's get a little bit of pork down the center.

Okay, I'm not going to do too much.

So, look, let's be nice, let's roll this around, see, pull it up on the sides.

Then you can take your finger and just press it down to seal it.

All right, get in there, little piece of pork!

There we go, press that down, fold it, roll it.

Tuck this bottom under and we'll lay this one right here.

Okay?

Now we have to get these to steaming, okay?

I have our water heating up and notice, yes, two rows!

And can you guess which one is mine?

If you can't find out.

so let's put this over our simmering water and let it steam for an hour.

These are going to be so good.

Boy, I tell you what, looked like we're going to have a festival of our own!

Spice up your dinner with some hot tamales from Zwolle.

Next, I'm going to show you how to cook fish using the scales to serve as a shell.

The Tamale Fiesta in Zwolle, Louisiana, is a celebration of the area's Spanish and Native American heritage.

-We have a costume contest early that morning, including the parade.

And then after that is our tamale eating contest.

I'm a six-time Zwolle Tamale Fiesta Queen's Court contest winner.

And it means a lot that I get to represent my heritage in my hometown.

-We grow up round here eating tamales.

I don't care if you've got to drive 1,000 miles, you've got to come to your Zwolle.

Your life will be changed forever, especially once you eat a hot tamale.

-I don't know if you all like to fish, but I grew up with a dad and uncle that fished every weekend and I just wish I had the time.

Look, we're doing this fish with this scale on.

I don't know if you can -- look, look, see, that's the scale.

We've got this scale on this fish.

Now, what I'm going to do, I'm going to take a little oil and just brush it on the scale side.

I'm just going along with the scales as opposed to coming against the scales.

So we just wanted that a little bit of oil on there.

Now, let's flip it over.

Oh, look how pretty.

Now this is redfish, okay?

Little bit of salt.

We're going to put a little bit of our Creole seasoning.

Aw, yeah, this just mesmerizes me, such good fish.

So we're going to set that there, let's get our pan heating up.

Now, I'm going to turn this pan on because I want to start getting it warm.

We're going to do this in a cast iron pan.

So in our bowl, let's put some butter -- that's nice and soft.

To our butter, shallots.

A little cilantro.

♪ If I could put "thyme" in a bottle ♪ Okay, it's in a bowl -- thyme.

We're going to do a little garlic.

And a little paprika.

And, of course, a little bit salt.

Now, we're just going to mix this all together.

Just going to kind of whip this up.

We're going to take this butter mixture and we're going to smear it onto our fish.

All right -- oh, yes, just show it some love, just show it some love!

All right, it could just be stacked up there because when this gets the heat, it's going to melt.

All right.

You're good.

All right.

You can stay there.

You stay right there.

Let's get our fish in our pan.

Now, this pain is nice and hot.

Now our scales are going to almost form like a plate.

Let's put our fish down.

[ Sizzling ] Let's put the other one down.

Now you hear that sizzle.

The scales are against the pan, so our scales protect that skin from burning, okay?

Now we're going to cover this.

I have some lemon slices that I like to put on at the end, but let's put a couple pieces on now.

Right on top of that butter, because this heat will release the juice.

We got a little piece right there.

Come on.

Can you fit?

There we go.

Here -- we have another one we could fit right there.

Let's get this lid on.

This does not take long to cook.

You don't want to overcook your fish.

But also, we're doing it in a pan today; if you want, do this on a grill.

Imagine that charcoal, that grill nice and hot.

You can put that fish right on it and it's not going to fall through when he cooks and flake apart because of the scales.

Now, today we're using redfish, but you can use snapper, you can use sheepshead, you can use the fish that is in your refrigerator, or the fish that's in your backyard in the pond.

Use that one -- anything with a scale, it can go.

Let's take a peek.

Oh!

Doesn't that look beautiful?

We just had the heat coming from the bottom by putting the lid on the top, it trapped in our heat and allowed that heat to go down and cook our fish.

This looks so pretty.

All right.

Let me get the first one.

See, it just comes right on up.

Put you there.

I see you, Mr.

Lemon, you slid on off.

That one comes right on up.

Now, let's just go ahead and take some other lemons and put all around, because, I don't know, to me, there is nothing like fresh fish with lemon to brighten it up and wake it up.

It's easy, it's delicious.

Louisiana fish on a half shell.

Now, coming up, we're going to do a classic pie that's going to be loaded with sweet blackberries.

Wanda, what makes Toledo Bend lake so special?

-I would say what makes it so special is the bass fishing.

It's the fifth-largest manmade lake in the nation and the largest in the South.

Besides fishing, this place is a huge outdoor adventure Mecca.

The Toledo Bend Forest Scenic Byway is in this area, as well as the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail.

So here at Toledo Bend Lake Country, we say, "Big lake, big fish, big fun."

-We have a lot of different berries in Louisiana.

So I decided to do this with blackberries.

So we're going to make a blackberry pie.

Now, let's start getting some things in.

Cinnamon.

I'm just going to sprinkle that cinnamon around.

Now, if you're going to put cinnamon in something wet, mix it into the sugar.

And that help coats it.

I'm going to sprinkle a little sugar on.

But I'm going to also use corn starch.

So now that we have the cornstarch, let's do a little more sugar on and we will start to get this kind of mixed in a little bit.

I like to just kind of shake them.

I have a spoon I can use, but let's just get them shaken right now.

Lemon zest.

Of course, lemon brightens everything up.

And a little lemon juice... ...to just all brighten up.

So now let's give this a nice little stir to make sure everything gets mixed in, kind of coated.

Stirring them breaks them up just enough, and they get opened a little bit just for that sugar to get inside and some of that juice to start coming out.

So I think what we have right here is fine.

All right, let's take care of our pie dough.

Now in our food processor -- this is where we're going to make our dough -- at least start it off.

I have 1 1/2 cups of flour already in, okay?

We're going to add a little sugar.

We're going to add a little bit of salt.

And we're going to pulse this just to get these blended in.

Now, let's cut the butter in.

And what's nice, by using the food processor for this, we can cut this butter in all at once.

So I'm just popping the butter all around.

Come on, everybody in.

And I know you're saying, "Boy, that's a lot of butter in there."

Well, yes, it is, but don't worry, because we're going to have more flour going in.

So now... What we're looking for, we're looking for those little pebbles where that butter starts getting cut into that flour.

It looks like -- see?

See how it's getting, see those little pebbles down in there?

That's what we want.

So now let's get the rest of our flour in.

And before I do that, I'm going to take and just scrape the sides down, make sure you take the time, scrape down your sides.

Let's get the rest of our flour in and now let's go ahead and finish this off and cut the rest of our butter into the dough.

I think we're done.

Okay, come here, let's take that off.

Be careful with your blade.

All right.

Now, what I want you to look at, see our little pebbles here where that butter got cut in?

That's really nice.

Now, we're going to start with our water and our water's cold, okay?

We don't want to overdo it, but we always want to do this with cold water.

So... That should get us started.

And we just want to make sure this gets wet enough to where it starts to come together.

All right, let's get some more water in.

Remember, patience, just be patient, take your time.

I don't know if you all like any other pies, any other berry pies, but that is something that we grew up with here in this area because the berries were just so good.

There we go, that's finally -- see how it's sticking?

You know, see, it's starting to stick together.

It's still a little crumbly.

All right.

But it's starting to stick together.

Okay, now, I would add probably a little more water to this, just a tiny bit.

Dump it out on the counter, roll it in a ball, and then I like to wrap it up and put it in a refrigerator for it to chill, okay?

But I already have one done.

So let me grab the crust.

I rolled it out.

What we're going to do -- remember this wonderful filling?

Let's put our wonderful filling in.

Aw, yeah, come on, get all of that goodness off the bottom.

That cornstarch has started to thicken just a little bit, but that's okay.

Move our berries around.

So I made enough dough, let's do some latticework.

All right, we're just going to go right across the top.

So here, let's go this way.

There we go, and I'm just kind of pinching it right on in.

All right?

Just kind of pinch it together.

And one last one right here.

Now, see these little openings?

What those little openings for?

It's for this butter.

We're going to get this butter right down in these little openings.

And, you know, it's not going all the way in, but that's okay, because we're going to put this in the oven and it's going to melt and distribute all through the pie.

Okay, now here I have an egg, a little bit of milk.

Notice I'm doing this over the bowl.

Just kind of beating these together.

Because we want to brush our dough.

We're going to brush our latticework across the top just with a little bit of egg on it.

This will give us a nice little color.

And I'll show you what else we're going to do with this.

All right, we're going to use -- if you notice that bowl right next to me there?

That's some sanding sugar.

We're going to put a little sanding sugar on the top.

So let's take a little sanding sugar.

Right over the top.

And sending sugar is a coarser grain, okay?

All right, let's go this way some.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, little sweet crunchy on top.

There we go!

Now, the oven is preheating at 375 degrees.

We're going to bake it for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 for another 30 minutes.

Oh.

You are going to be so delicious.

Remember, gang: 375 degrees for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 for another 30 minutes, then we're going to let it cool and we'll have pie.

♪ You are so beautiful to me ♪ Hey, gang, here's the only bad thing -- before we cut this, we have to let this pie cool.

Blackberry pie -- a pie that just screams summer!

And I'mma scream and say thank you for joining me on this culinary road trip.

I appreciate you being with me so much.

Now keep that party rollin', bring the big flavors of Louisiana to your home.

So I'll see you next time for more "Cookin' Louisiana."

-The companion cookbook to "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" is available for $28 plus shipping and handling.

You can also order an hour long DVD of favorite dishes from the series for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

Both the book and favorites DVD are available for $43.95 plus shipping and handling.

To order these items, call 1-866-360-4928 or order online at wyes.org.

-Don't look!

They say a watched pot never boils.

So stop looking.

Because cream will never whip when you're looking.

Have you ever tried to do a cooking show where you can't move?

'Cause the audio is saying they hear rustling.

So that's why I'm standing here like this and I am just going to slowly try and cook without moving my arms.

Our dressing is here, and it's been sitting here and the flavors have been ble-- blending.

[ Laughs ] B-b-b-b-b-blending together.

♪ Ooh, yeah ♪ Whoo!

Yay!

Behind the back?

♪ The cream cheese!

Do the cream cheese, do the cream cheese!

[ Humming ] Churn it, churn it, churn it, churn it!

♪ -For more information about "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana," visit wyes.org.

Funding for "Kevin Belton's "Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by... ♪