Recipes from The Feathered Bone A Little Lagniappe In Louisiana we have a saying. When we want to offer “a little something extra,” we use the term Lagniappe . This word is as Louisiana as it gets—an American concoction with both French and Spanish roots that Merriam-Webster defines as follows: Lagniappe – noun \ˈlan-ˌyap, lan-ˈ\: a small gift given a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase; broadly : something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure. As a token of appreciation to those who dare to dive into the worlds I build from this wild and tangled mind of mine, I offer a little lagniappe—a one-of-a-kind original collection of our family’s favorite Louisiana recipes. These dishes have been pulled straight from the pages of The Feathered Bone and from the kitchen of yours truly. Before you get too excited, please be warned: Martha Stewart, I am not. I’ll win no James Beard award for my culinary skills, and I won’t be taking the place of The Pioneer Woman anytime soon. Also, please keep in mind that this is not being written to serve as an official cookbook, so please don’t ask me for nutrition information or alternative vegan/paleo/vegetarian/dairy- free/nut-free/gluten-free/high-altitude varieties. That said, these recipes have been tried and tested at the Cantrell table, and I’ll vouch for nothing more than the fact that folks usually leave with full bellies, and they tend to come back for more. So, as my Louisiana friends like to say, “It can’t be all bad.” Bon Appétit! Livingston Parish, Louisiana I grew up in Livingston Parish, a rural section of Louisiana that is fondly referred to by locals as LP. One good thing about LP is the location. As one of the eight Florida Parishes, LP was not included in the Louisiana Purchase. Instead, this Northshore region was considered part of West Florida until 1810. Today, LP rests between Baton Rouge to the west, New Orleans to the south, and Hammond to the east, with easy access to Lake Maurepas as well as several rivers and the Gulf of Mexico. Many people live off the land—hunting, fishing, and harvesting food for their families. We were connected to the food we ate long before the “local farm movement” and “sustainable living” became buzz words. Living in this area throughout my childhood put me at the epicenter of the various cultural influences in my home state. The French Creole dishes from New Orleans merged with the Cajun recipes of Acadiana. This hybrid cuisine was influenced by the more traditional Italian, Scots-Irish, Spanish, Hungarian, and Greek rooted recipes of the Florida Parishes. And those were all tied together with flavors from Native American tribes, who adjusted to these waves of immigrants throughout the centuries. In other words, the food we eat in Louisiana is much like the state as a whole—a magical melting pot of delicious wonder. Like any good wine, it’s a blend. Recipes from The Feathered Bone Is it Cajun or Creole? Many people outside of Louisiana assume the terms Cajun and Creole are synonymous. Actually, there’s a big difference between the two cultures, and most Louisiana recipes can be tweaked to fit either. The Cajuns came from a part of Canada known as Acadia. In the 1700s they migrated (primarily due to forced exile) to the coastal regions, plains, and bayous of central Louisiana. There, they cooked using the plentiful game and seafood in addition to the plants they could harvest. Their food is seasoned with fresh herbs and peppers but is not necessarily spicy because they prefer to taste the natural flavors of the food rather than cover it with fire. In the meantime, the port city of New Orleans was welcoming a much more diverse population that included French, Spanish, Caribbean islanders, and Africans, just to name a few. This colorful combination of cultures established New Orleans as a Creole city with foods uniquely rich in flavor. Today some Louisiana residents will argue that Cajun food is better than Creole or vice versa, but because I grew up in a town located between these two regions, LP offered the best of both worlds. It also offered the best of Louisiana music, with both the traditional Cajun music of the Acadians and the rougher Zydeco beats of the Creoles, not to mention some good ol’ NOLA jazz, a powerful dose of Delta blues, and a solid footing of standard country and western. I grew up in the rural hamlet of Walker, Louisiana, hearing the old-time gospel and country tunes that have been played live on stage since the 1960s. As a child, my family took me to the Old South Jamboree the first Saturday of every month. The Jamboree was my most consistent exposure to live musicians outside of church, and I collected autographed photos of the performers, which sometimes included stars such as Merle Haggard or Dolly Parton. Because this show was rooted in neither the Cajun nor Creole culture, the food served was typical festival fare—hot dogs, burgers, pizza, popcorn, and sodas. Unlike most Louisiana events, no one attended this one for the food. It was the music that brought us together, and it’s the music that still soothes my soul today. For that reason, I encourage you to listen to The Feathered Bone playlist while you cook. You can find it under my Spotify profile: “juliecantrell .” To fully understand my hometown of Walker, Louisiana, don’t picture it as either Cajun or Creole. While those cultures have certainly shaped Walker, especially since Hurricane Katrina brought in residents from the coastal areas, the predominant culture is that of the southern Bible Belt. While people of many faith backgrounds reside in Walker, the vast majority of churches in town are Protestant, with Southern Baptist and Pentecostal serving as the two main dominations. The many Catholics in town travel to an adjacent community for mass each week. When my family first moved to Walker, it was a rural village with only a few hundred residents. My mother remembers going to the post office and collecting our mail via general delivery. The postmaster knew everyone by name, and there were never any lost packages. Walker got its first traffic light when I was a teenager, and it was almost always set to blink. I grew up swimming 2 Recipes from The Feathered Bone with alligators in my neighbor’s pond and running wild through the beautiful pinewoods and palmettos. While Walker was small and rural, it provided a mix of nearly everything that Louisiana had to offer. I spent my childhood soaking it all in. I am grateful for every piece of that Louisiana life and for how it shaped my view of the world. “After that Georgia disaster, I should probably make my Good Luck Cupcakes. Maybe some divinity? Pralines?” —from The Feathered Bone At the opening of The Feathered Bone , our protagonist, Amanda Salassi, is planning the next LSU tailgating party with her two best friends, Raelynn and Beth. Raelynn is a sassy country girl who loves nothing more than cooking for the people she loves. During the opening scene of the story, we hear the friends talking about a few of her famous tailgating desserts. Now you can give these sweets a try. Good Luck Cupcakes Ingredients: • 1½ cups all-purpose flour • 1 cup granulated sugar • 1½ teaspoons baking powder • ½ teaspoon table salt • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 full stick), softened (not melted) • ½ cup sour cream • 1 large egg • 2 large egg yolks • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. 3. Add butter, sour cream, egg, egg yolks, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until smooth. 4. Divide evenly into cupcake tins with paper liners. 5. Bake on middle rack of oven for approximately 20 to 24 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean). 6. Transfer to wire rack to cool before frosting. TIP: A good friend of mine bakes wedding cakes. In order to make that picture-perfect layer of frosting, she recommends placing fully cooled cupcakes in the freezer for a few hours before frosting. This helps prevent the cake from crumbling while being iced. You can also heat the spreader under hot water before frosting. 3 Recipes from The Feathered Bone Buttercream Frosting Ingredients: • 1 cup (or 2 full sticks) unsalted butter (softened, not melted) • 3 to 4 cups sifted confectioner’s (powdered) sugar • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract • 2 to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream (as needed) Instructions: 1. Beat butter until creamy (just a few minutes with mixer on medium speed). 2. Add 3 cups powdered sugar (on low speed) until blended. 3. Add vanilla and 2 tablespoons milk/cream. Beat on medium speed for approximately 3 minutes. TIP: If frosting is too soft, add remaining sugar. If too thick, add more milk/cream, one tablespoon at a time, until the consistency suits your taste. Raelynn would have added purple and gold food coloring or polka dots to support her LSU Tigers. Pecans When I was a child, I collected pecans from the trees in my yard. I sorted them into paper bags and sold them by the pound, shelled or unshelled, just as Millie did in my first novel, Into the Free . Instead of buying clothes or books or records, I saved all the money and donated it to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering that was created to fund global missionaries.