Ingredients

There are a few ingredients with which you might not be familiar. Here are my thoughts on a few special ingredients.

Espelette Pepper is a flavorful, but not spicy, pepper from the Basque region. You can bring home a couple bottles the next time you visit San Sebastián or you can buy it from La Tienda. I also get my squid ink from La Tienda.

Teff is a gluten-free grain that is native to Ethiopia. You may be familiar with teff flour if you’ve ever had injera. You can buy teff flour or whole grain teff. I cook whole grain teff with just a touch of teff flour, as a cream of wheat substitute. I buy both the teff flour and whole grain teff from Bob’s Red Mill. I also use Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour in a number of recipes.

When smoking meats, it is imperative that you use "pink salt." Pink salt contains sodium nitrite, which prevents botulism. A smoker is an ideal environment for botulism to grow, so it's something that we want to prevent. I get my pink salt aka Insta Cure #1 or DQ Curing Salt from Butcher & Packer. If you get into dry curing meats, things like prosciutto or salami, then you should use sodium nitrate, which is sold as Insta Cure #2 or DQ Curing Salt #2, because the sodium nitrate decomposes into sodium nitrite as the meat ages.

In my jambalaya recipe, I used chaurice. To me, chaurice is the most Cajun sausage there is; you can't even buy it in New Orleans. My favorite Cajun meat market is Poche's in Breaux Bridge. You can order chaurice and lots of other good stuff from them. If you're ever driving between Houston and New Orleans, I'd highly recommend a short detour off of I-10.

In my banana pancakes recipe, I used banana flour. I get my banana flour from Nuts.com.

In my hush puppies recipe, I use cornmeal from Anson Mills. It is really special. Anson Mills also has the best stone ground grits ever!

When I use cocoa or chocolate, I typically use Droste. It's from the Netherlands, and it's a really special chocolate. You can buy most Droste products from many online retailers.