The foodways of Alabama barbecue are second only to Texas for their primacy in the world of USA smoked meats. When I was a teenager growing up in Birmingham I raced across the state on my Honda Interceptor motorbike trying as hard as possible to eat from every smokehouse in the Yellowhammer state.
RL Reeves Jr Recipe: Oven Roasted Carnitas
It was a family reunion, puro la raza, and I was the only gringo there. The tias and abuelitas were gathered in the kitchen making all the tortillas, rice and beans from scratch but I had been entrusted with the carnitas.
Here’s how I became, as they put it, an honorary Mexican
2025 Satchmo Summerfest Second Line
If you were in New Orleans in the late 70s you were living in a Baby Doll desert. By my count we had less than five ladies masking and the tradition was in danger of becoming extinct. In the ensuing 45-plus years we’ve seen dozens if not hundreds of women embrace the custom, form their own Doll Houses, and take to the streets to shimmy, shake, and show out.
L’Association du sauvegard de l’oeuf mayonnaise
RL Reeves Jr Recipe: Carroll Shelby Texas Chili With Ground Turkey
The underground economy in New Orleans is still thriving. I did a friend a nice favor recently and in exchange he gifted me a three pound packet of Jennie O ground turkey.
A Recipe For Couche Couche
Up in Appalachia it’s called cornmeal mush but the backbone of the dish is identical.
You fry up a pan of cornmeal batter in bacon drippings, and as it’s setting up you take a wooden spoon and stir it around a bit til it’s all crispy bits mixed with soft white bread.
A Recipe For Homemade 7UP With Stevia
How To Smoke Five Pounds Of Grocery Store Pork Chops
Bennie Pete Birthday Celebration at New Orleans Jazz Museum
“For over 20 years one of the most popular and visible funk-style brass bands in community parades and funerals has been the Hot 8 Brass Band. In 1996 sousaphone player Bennie Pete was instrumental in merging two former Fortier High School student groups, the High Steppers and the Looney Tunes Brass Bands, to form the Hot 8. The players grew up together and maintain strong, family-like bonds and regular membership. Most of them were born between 1975 and ’87 in a generation that grew up hearing mainly modern-style brass bands in community functions.”
I would hesitate to say how many times I’ve seen Hot 8 play live. In the neighborhood of 200 times I reckon.
Bennie Pete passed away in September of 2021. The Treme neighborhood funerary second line that honored him saw thousands of people take to the streets in waves of joy. That’s how we grieve in New Orleans.
Tomorrow, July 10th, 2025 at 6pm, Hot 8 Brass Band will perform a ‘heavenly birthday’ celebration for the big man. Hope to see y’all come out.
Bennie Pete Birthday Celebration at New Orleans Jazz Museum
Thursday, July 10, 2025
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
New Orleans Jazz Museum
400 Esplanade Ave.
New Orleans, LA