Mom's Best Cajun Potato Salad

Mom is back in the Chintzy kitchen with her delish Cajun Potato Salad recipe video - I say mashed potatoes, she says not....hmmm, there could be potato peels flying and a rumble in the scullery because of a few choice words.

This is one delish side dish however you describe it. My Mom recently visited the cheap$kate kitchen in Los Angeles and whipped up a luscious Cajun Potato Salad for your viewing pleasure.

And boy is Mom as feisty as ever. Just watch our repartee as I tease her about the recipe. Will there be trouble brewing? Well, I won't spill the beans here, you'll have to watch the video to see if I get my just desserts!

And my niece, Maranda, makes an appearance half way through the recipe video to mash things up. Maranda is a recent arrival to Los Angeles and is a welcome addition to my cheap$kate cooking staff (plus, she's some delish eye candy, too boot). When Mom is in the kitchen, everyone is welcome to come and taste her recipes - the more the merrier, I say.

Mom & Maranda in the Cheap$kate Château

So what is a Cajun Potato Salad? Just Google the name (Cajun or Creole Potato Salad) and you will see different versions - most are made using cooked, but chunky, potatoes. My Mom cooks up a "mashed potatoes" version.

Mom uses red potatoes for her recipe, but you can use white or regular russet potatoes, too. Any potato you use is tasty and cheap, so go for it.

The other ingredients are standard for typical potato salads, mainly: mayo, mustard, pickle relish and some seasonings - for a Cajun Potato Salad you want to add a sprinkle of Creole Seasoning. I bet you have seen these containers in your grocery store spice rack, too. It's okay to use any cheap brand you find.

 I get my condiments for pocket change from my local 99c only Store and Dollar Tree.

You can mix in lite, vegan or regular mayo - use regular mustard or Dijon. Pickle relish is cheap enough. Adjust any ingredient amount to suit yourself, or your fellow diners taste buds.

Click on any photo to see larger.

This recipe travels well for a picnic. Refrigerate like any potato salad. I like to sprinkle Creole Seasoning on the top for a colorful party presentation.

Packed for a BBQ patio party.

Mom's Cajun Potato Salad goes with any of my Cajun family recipes (click on the name,) including:Gumbo, Shrimp & Grits, Muffaletta Sandwich, Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice, Jambalaya, Blackened Fish, Crawfish Etouffee, Black-eyed Peas, Pecan-crusted Fish & Spinach Salad, and an Alligator Po'Boy.

 Cajun Potato Salad & Seafood Gumbo

Mom's Cajun Potato Salad goes with any backyard BBQ menu. And if you have a pot luck party to attend then bring a chilled bowl of it.

So check out my latest recipe video below. When Mom is in the house, get ready to be well-fed!

Mom's Cajun Potato Salad - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 6 minutes, 27 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients

• 4-5 red potatoes - peeled and roughly chopped. Okay to use white or russet potatoes.
• 2 tablespoons mayo - or a vegan substitute. Add more mayo or less to meet your taste.
• 1 tablespoon mustard - any type, including Dijon. Again adjust amount to your taste.
• 1 tablespoon pickle relish - okay to add a couple chopped slices of pickle.
• Water to boil potatoes - reserve some liquid for mashing of potatoes - if necessary.
• Cajun or Creole Seasonings - optional. Just a dash or 1/4 teaspoon.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions
This recipe is similar to regular potato salad, just cook the potatoes until soft enough for mashing. And adjust ingredient amounts to suit your taste. If you like a lot of mayo in your potato salad then add extra. Add more mustard, or even leave it out.

Start by getting a pot of water to boil. Wash potatoes and peel. Roughly chop peeled potatoes.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Add to boiling water. Low boil for about 20-30 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender. Since potatoes are mashed, you can't overcook them.

You can boil unpeeled potatoes whole or just halved, and pull off skin after they are soft and cooled down. There is less potato waste when you peel potatoes after they are boiled.

 Peeling a Boiled Potato

Drain potatoes when done, but be sure to reserve a cup or two of liquid. You can add some of the liquid, a tablespoon at a time, once potatoes are mashed, until desired creaminess is reached.

Next add drained potatoes to a bowl and mash with a potato masher or fork. Add a tablespoon or two of reserved liquid if necessary.

Now mix in all the other ingredients. Mom added 2 heaping tablespoons of mayo, a tablespoon of regular mustard and pickle relish. Add more or less of the wet ingredients to suit your flavor profile.

Season Mom's Cajun Potato Salad with salt, pepper and Cajun (or Creole) Seasoning.

Stir ingredients until smooth. Taste and add any extra ingredient amounts. That's it. Store Mom's Cajun Potato Salad covered in refrigerator until ready to serve.

This recipe travels well for a picnic, and goes with any of my Cajun family recipes (click on any name,) including: Gumbo, Shrimp & Grits, Muffaletta Sandwich, Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice, Jambalaya, Blackened Fish, Crawfish Etouffee, Black-eyed Peas, Pecan-crusted Fish & Spinach Salad, and an Alligator Po'Boy. If you have a backyard BBQ planned, or a pot luck party to attend, then bring a bowl of Mom's Cajun Potato Salad.

Hindsight
Mom's Cajun Potato Salad is mashed, but you can do a "chunky" version sometime. Just don't boil the potatoes to mush - leave them a little firm by shortening the boiling time. The potato chunks only need to be fork tender - roughly chop potatoes. It's okay to leave some potato skin on.

For "mashed" Potato Salad you should peel the potatoes. And adjust the wet ingredients to suit your, or any guests, tastes. If you don't have Creole Seasoning, then leave it out.

If you want a little crunchy veggie texture, then add a half cup each of fine chopped onion and/or celery.

BBQ Pulled Pork

How special is this recipe? Well, my wife and I served Pulled Pork at our wedding reception in Santa Barbara, California. We both spent our early years in the South -- Amy went to high school in Alabama and I grew up in Texas and Louisiana, so we both know BBQ. And my wife said this recipe makes the best BBQ Pulled Pork she has ever had! Scroll halfway down this post to view my second Pork Butt Trilogy video, BBQ Pulled Pork.

Well, I don't know if it will be your favorite Pulled Pork recipe but do give it a try sometime and let me know in comments. It's certainly an easy recipe to do, and the pork shoulder cut of meat, when on sale, is almost as cheap as chicken. It's funny how some cheap ingredients can taste so good -- I guess it's really all about how you cook it.

And this is part two of my Pork Butt Trilogy of stop motion videos. The first was Mexican Carnitas (click here to see it.) I have one more stop motion video coming up that uses a swines hind quarters called Italian Porchetta.

These days pork purveyors have rechristened pork butt by the more polite moniker "pork shoulder picnic roast." A good description of the name usage is a click away, here.

The main flavoring for this recipe is a simple Dry Rub using spices stocked in most any cupboard. Mainly I use brown sugar, garlic and chili powder, plus salt and pepper.

(Recipes are meant to be tweaked. I've made this BBQ Pulled Pork recipe 3 times over the summer and I keep cooking it longer each time. I started at 3 1/2  hours, but now low simmer pork shoulder for 5 hours to tenderize the meat all the way through.)

The recipe is not complicated just mix a few dried spices together then simmer and smoke the Pork Butt. You don't have to hang around once the heat is lowered and the pot is covered. The only tricky part is smoking it. I have a gas grill with 2 burners. On one side I have a tray of wood chips and on the other side of the grill is the boiled Pork Butt. Only the wood tray side has the fire, the Pork Butt side remains unheated. Once the wood chips start smoldering, you smoke the Pork Butt for about an hour, . Under Hindsight at the end of this post I have an easier oven method for you as well.

The price is right when you use this cut of pork. I get it on sale at my local Latin market for way below a dollar per pound, anywhere from 77 cent to 99 cents a pound. (Normally it runs in the $1.50 to $2 range, that's still cheap.)

I have a cupboard full of spices I've purchased at my local 99c only Store. You do need a deep pot for this recipe, large enough to hold a 5 pound hunk of meat. You could cut the whole Pork Butt into smaller pieces of meat -- just reduce the cooking time by an hour - when the meat is fall-apart tender it's ready.

The addition of brown sugar brings my Pulled Pork over the top. It adds just the right amount of sweetness while the other spices give this recipe a complex flavor. And the final stage of smoking creates a charred crust to die for.

If you ever visited a BBQ joint and had a Pulled Pork Sandwich, you know what I'm talking about. And with my chintzy recipe you can fill up the feed bag with more than a dozen large Pulled Pork Sandwiches. So get busy and throw a BBQ party -- I've done it with this recipe a few times already and everyone has loved it !

You could do better by smoking the pork butt overnight, but as an easier and quicker recipe I bet my BBQ Pork Butt is good enough to make it in your Top Ten recipe list.

BBQ PULLED PORK - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 3 minutes, 7 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here. 

Ingredients (12 large sandwiches or more, depending on size of pork butt.)

• 5-8 pound pork butt or shoulder - I got bone in. Sometimes called a "whole picnic shoulder." It usually has some skin attached and a large center bone.
• 1 onion - optional.
• 4-8 cups of wood chips for smoking - amount may vary depending how hot the grill fire is. You want to smoke boiled pork for about an hour.
• Water to cover simmering pork shoulder.
• 1 Large pot, big enough to cover pork butt with water. Okay to cut down pork butt, discard bone, and use a smaller pot (reduce simmering time by an hour.)

Dry Rub Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons brown sugar - Okay to use regular sugar or a favorite sweetener. You can use less brown sugar/sweetener if you like.
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons chili powder - since paprika and chili powder are similar in taste you can leave one of these out.
  
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder - or flakes, granulated.
• 2 teaspoons salt - Okay to use garlic salt (cut garlic powder by about half.)
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper  - optional, Okay to leave it out if you don't like it a little spicy.

Directions
Place pork butt in a large pot with a cover. Fill pot with water until it covers pork butt. (Pork butt will float, so you don't have to add more water than needed.) Start with a high heat until it starts to boil, then reduce heat.

Add one roughly chopped onion to pot (optional - I've done recipe with and without a chopped onion; it's mainly about the dry rub.)

Mix all the dry rub ingredients. Separate in half. You will use half during the meat boiling stage, then use the other half as a dry rub when you smoke the Pork Butt.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Add half of the dry rub to the Pork Butt in water. Roughly chop one whole onion and add it (optional.)

 

(For a leaner Pulled Pork it's okay to slice off the outer layer of skin and the largest hunks of fat. Some pieces of meat may separate during the boiling stage, but that's okay.)

Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a low simmer. Low boil for about 5 hours. Check every hour or so to make sure the water doesn't simmer away. The Pork Butt will reduce in size as some of the water evaporates; so as long as the pot is covered you shouldn't need to add any more liquid. (If uncovered, then add water as needed.)

Remove meat from liquid when meat is done low boiling. Let meat rest and cool down 10-15 minutes. (Reserve a couple cups of broth.) Place meat on a rack with a shallow pan. It's okay to place meat without a rack, it just helps to get smoke all around.

Sometimes hunks of meat will break off during boiling and that's okay. You could even break the pork butt into 4 or 5 big pieces so the smoke will soak into more meat surface. 

Drizzle some of the pot liquor (boiled liquid) over the Pork Butt to moisten. Gently press on the other half of the Dry Rub all over the meat. (You can remove the outer layer of fatty skin if you like, so more meat comes in contact with smoke.)

As the meat is cooling enough for you to apply the Dry Rub, you can get the grill going. I have a 2 burner gas grill. I use one side for the tray of wood chips and the other side to smoke the Pork Butt. The object is to keep the spice crusted meat on the unheated side and the wood chips on the flame side.

If you have a regular charcoal grill then build the fire on one side for the tray of wood chips. (The tray will keep the wood from catching fire and burning too fast.)

Add the Pork Butt in a shallow tray on the non-fire side (with or without a rack - I use one to get smoke on the meat underside.) Add 1/2 cup of boiled liquid to the tray. If hunks of Pork Butt separate, just add it to the tray too -- it's extra smokey pieces. Cover the grill. Smoke the Pork Butt for about 1 hour.

Depending how hot the fire is, you should get smoke from the wood tray in 5-10 minutes. The wood will smoke and blacken. Check every 5-10 minutes. Have an extra tray handy to remove the blackened wood chips as they cook down, and add more wood chips as needed. (Towards the end of cooking, if you still have smoldering wood chips, turn off the fire and just let them slowly burn out and keep on smoking - if you have the time.

I let the dry rub coated pork cook without turning it so you get a crunchy skin -- but the center will still be moist. I like to have crunchy bits mixed in for the final chopping and pulling apart stage.

Remove Pork Butt after an hour of smoking. While the pork is still hot (but cool enough to handle) peel off pieces and separate with a couple of forks or just chop it up -- whichever you prefer.

The most of the outer meat will break apart easily, while the center may have more texture, but it will still be quite tender -- so the middle may need some rough chopping. (If a few center pieces are too tough, it's easy enough to boil them in the reserved broth for an hour until tender.)

Before serving, drizzle on a little broth and make Pulled Pork sandwiches, or just make a Pulled Pork Plate. I like my sandwich plain: just a hamburger bun, pickle, and a favorite bbq sauce. Some like coleslaw on theirs -- for my coleslaw recipe, just click here.

Hindsight
Low boiling time may vary depending how large the pork shoulder is - mine was just under 6 pounds and was fork tender after 5 hours of simmering (pork should be tender all the way to the bone.) By saving the broth, you can low boil any tough meat pieces for another hour to completely tenderize.

Chile powder and paprika are similar enough to leave one of them out. Okay to leave out onion and hot cayenne.

If you don't have an outdoor grill here is an easy oven method. The only additional ingredient is Liquid Smoke in a bottle. Follow the above directions and add a teaspoon of liquid smoke during the low boiling stage. Instead of the grill, add the boiled pork shoulder on a tray to the oven at 350 degrees. Bake uncovered for one hour, to crisp up the outside.

I also saw a video on smoking indoors. Mainly add some small wood chips in a corner of a baking pan. Put meat on a rack in same pan, on the opposite side. Place corner with chips over your stove top burner. Finally cover the pan and boiled pork butt with foil and seal it, then turn on the heat to medium until smoke starts, then reduce heat to low. Add chips as needed, and be sure to open window...just in case.

If your crock pot is big enough, then do a version with it using the same Dry Rub. Break down meat into large pieces if it won't fit whole in a pot. Add half of the Dry Rub to crock pot and fill it 1/4 full with water. For a crunchy skin remove meat from crock pot when tender and pile it on an oven tray. Sprinkle on other half of  Dry Rub and bake in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes.

The quickest way to tenderize pork shoulder is to use a pressure cooker. I can fit a smaller (about 6 pound) pork shoulder in mine. I still have to slice into whole shoulder at the ball joint to fold pork into a smaller shape. Once it fits, then add 2 cups of water to pot along with the whole pork shoulder. Finally sprinkle on half of the Dry Rub. Cover and follow pressure cooking directions, mainly get the cooker up to temperature and cook for about 2 hours until meat is fall-apart tender. If you breakdown pork shoulder into large pieces of meat, then it will cook even quicker, in about an hour. Finish off cooked pork following my smoke BBQ grill or oven method.

"Chef Marilyn's Soul Food Express 99c Only" 20th Anniversary - Video

The "original" 99 cent chef is Chef Marilyn of Soul Food Express. This 99 Cent Chef first discovered her "99 cents & up" take-out one weekend driving down Crenshaw Blvd., and noticing a long line of customers dressed in their after-church Sunday best. Seeing the "99 cents & up" price sign, I made a mental note to return soon.

My first visit did not disappoint - while the queue was long, the crowd was jovial with anticipation, as the aroma of slow-cooking Southern cuisine wafted down the line. Upon entering, all you see is a steaming foggy glassed row of metal trays brimming with an incredibly tasty looking selection of comfort soul food.

You order and watch the cafeteria-style servers heap your large servings in to-go containers. The wait seems forever because you are surrounded by delicious sights and sumptuous smells, and you want your food now!

For your viewing pleasure, while waiting, be sure to check out Chef Marilyn's ex-Laker Girl "Foxy Brown" era poses; her celebrity shots with "Magic" Johnson, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Kahn; and a cool President Obama calendar. It is almost impossible to take it all in the first time you visit.

Now that the Chef and his significant other have been there over a dozen times, I have a few 99 cent favorites to recommend: spicy red pepper flaked beef hot links covered in a tangy/ sweet barbecue sauce, slow-cooked black-eyed peas, and tender steamed spinach.

The Chef's wife orders the non-99-cent entrees: a huge fillet of seasoned baked catfish, creamy mac and cheese, and candied yams. Back home at the dining room table, good luck finishing three huge portions in one sitting.


This is a great bargain-priced soul food restaurant I have been reluctant to divulge; but it is time to share with my audience, now that Marilyn's Soul Food Express 99c & Up is celebrating 20 years.

Single servings of fried chicken, baked salmon, and catfish, oxtail smothered in gravy, meatloaf, mac and cheese, collard greens, cabbage - I could go on and on - everything on their menu is 99 cents this 6th, 7th and 8th of March, and they're dishing it out from 6 am to midnight at their Crenshaw Blvd. location only; their sister restaurant on Pico Blvd. is carrying the regular 99 cents and up menu.

It is going to be a crazy crowded 3 days, so come early and order your dinner during breakfast - this type of food heats up perfectly in the microwave any time of day. We are lucky here in L.A.; it seems every month brings a classic eatery anniversary. I was especially lucky to live 5 minutes away from Marilyn's Soul Food Express; look for me as I will be in line several times this coming 20th anniversary weekend!


I had the pleasure of interviewing the charismatic Chef Marilyn on camera. Watch the video and find out how she came up with the 99 cent soul food concept; hint - think egg rolls. She also shares, in a 99 Cent Chef video exclusive, all the "extra" off-menu dishes she has in store for anniversary celebrants. This video takes you into the heart and soul of Chef Marilyn's unique temple to budget Southern and Creole gastronomy.
*Update: I showed up at 6:30 AM this morning (Friday) with only 5 people in line. They have a sushi-style checklist menu to speed things up, so bring a pencil; oxtail was not on the checklist but was being served. I recommend asking someone to save your place in line and go see what is out. Off menu items are promised - I will be back. There is a $20 order limit. Oh, and smothered oxtail with mac & cheese for breakfast is not bad! 

Soul Food Express 20th Anniversary - Video

Play it here. The video runs 6 minutes, 31 seconds.

A special 99 thanks to the crew at Soul Food Express for allowing the Chef to hang out last Sunday, and another big thanks to all the cool customers kind enough to chat on camera. Welcome to my neighborhood, and view the video to see how Chef Marilyn and The 99 Cent Chef roll South of the 10 Freeway!

Restaurant Locations:

2638 Crenshaw Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90016 phone: 323) 737-8101
5068 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, Ca 90019 phone: 323) 931-3879
* please note that the Crenshaw Blvd. address is where "everything" is 99 cents!
Click here to see the Soul Food Express website with a menu and map.

Soul Food Express caters, too!

Go here to embed or view video at youtube.