Bushwacker Recipe

4 oz cream of coconut

2 oz coffee liqueur

1 oz dark rum

1 oz dark creme de cacao

4 oz milk

Combine ingredients with two cups of ice in a blender; blend until smooth.

Seafood Gumbo (1 gallon)

Bacon grease

½ c. all-purpose flour

1 c. finely chopped celery

1 c. finely chopped red onion

¾ c. finely chopped  red bell pepper

¾ c. finely chopped green bell pepper

½ c. finely chopped scallion stems

3 cans diced tomatoes

2 lb. okra

Olive oil

1 lemon

1 lb. lump crab meat

6 crab bodies

2 lbs. shrimp

1 Bay leaf

2 Tbs. Lowery’s garlic flakes with parsley

2 Tbs. Black pepper

Sauté each fresh vegetable separately in iron skillet using 1 tsp. olive oil and 1 tsp. bacon grease for each, until al dente and set aside. Drain juices into a large bowl (also add juices from cans of diced tomatoes) and set aside.

Then, place 1 tsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. bacon grease, 1 tsp. garlic and juice from ½ lemon in iron skillet. Sauté shrimp, remove, then repeat for crab meat.

To make roux: Melt 1 tsp. bacon grease in iron skillet. Sift flour, garlic and black pepper together. Press flour mixture into grease and rake with flat spatula. Repeat until flour becomes the color of a brown paper bag. Set aside.

Use a 5 quart pot to boil 3 quarts of water. Boil crab bodies on high for five minutes, remove crab bodies and reduce heat to simmer. Add bay leaf and whisk in half of warm roux (¼ c.). Add sautéed vegetables, diced tomatoes, shrimp, crab meat and crab bodies. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring constantly. Gumbo may need rest of roux to thicken or  vegetable broth to thin.

Serve over rice. Add hot sauce if desired. One gallon of gumbo is about 8 servings.