Y'all have a bite...of Louisiana Quiz

Answer: Beignet

One cup of cafe au lait will get me wide-awake and ready for a full day of walking...or at least a morning of walking. Two cups makes it one for each beignet. Perfect! The beignets are a form of doughnut, made from choux pastry and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar.

Not only are they tasty, and filling, they are the state doughnut of Louisiana. It's fun to sit, sip, eat and people watch at the Cafe du Monde. (I wonder how many other states have declared a "state doughnut"?)

Answer: Muffuletta

It's a creation of a Mr. Lupo in the early 1900's, consisting of various sliced cured meats and cheeses, topped by olive salad, all on Sicilian muffuletta bread. The olive "salad" is a mixture of olives, carrot, celery and cauliflower, spiced with oregano and garlic, all marinated in olive oil at least overnight.

The sandwich is really enough for two hungry people, particulary with a cold drink, of the likes of Abita.

Answer: Crawfish Etouffee

Crawfish, sometimes called Crawdads or Mudbugs, are crustaceans found mostly in clean, running water that doesn't completely freeze. Etouffee, which translates literally to "smothered", a way Southerners like a number of their foods, is basically a stew, thicker than gumbo. Grounded by a roux and cooked with the Cajun "Holy Trinity", then topped with parsley, it is a wonderful thing for your tongue to behold.

Answer: Shrimp Creole

Shrimp Creole is also served on a bed of white rice. As well as the Holy Trinity, tomatoes and a hot-pepper sauce are added to the dish. The completed mixture is topped with green onions and parsley. To ensure the shrimp do not become overcooked, you can cook the sauce and the shrimp separately, combining them at the last. That way the sauce can meld more and the shrimp will be correctly cooked.

Answer: Boudin

Boudin is a sausage made with pork meat, pork liver, white rice, and onions. Yes, it's a very light - called white - sausage. Yes, it is a very good sausage. Although some cooks say it can't be fried because the casing will burst, I've had it fried and it's excellent. That's the way I like it for breakfast. (Perhaps the cook steamed it first and only fried it long enough to brown it?) It's hard for me to find it where I live.

Answer: Red beans and rice

Red beans and rice was a favorite of Louis Armstrong. I've read that he asked his girlfriend, who was from the north, to fix him a pot of it. Sort of like a litmus test. She did, and must have done well because he married her. Some sort of legume with rice is a well-loved dish in many cuisines, from pigeon peas and rice, to feijoada, to gallo pinto, to moors and christians, to risi and bisi, to my grandmother's ham hock with navy beans over rice.

They're simple to make and are a real comfort food.

Answer: Jambalaya

One of the ways of cooking Jambalaya is by browning the chicken and sausage with the holy trinity, then adding other vegetables, tomatoes and stock and letting it simmer for an hour or so. When the meat is cooked and the broth is melded, add the raw white rice, cover the pot, and cook on low until the rice is ready.

The main difference between Jambalaya and gumbos, etouffees, and creoles is that the rice is cooked with the dish, not used as a base for the topping. Are any of you old enough to remember how fun it was to sing along with Hank Williams when he sang "Jambalaya"?

Answer: Alligator bites

Alligator bites are good! Surely better you bite him rather than vice versa, too. I've had them "on a stick" as well as the "bites". Just dredge in flour, dip in buttermilk, then again in flour and deep fry. I put tabasco sauce in the buttermilk because I like the filip it gives. If you don't have buttermilk, regular milk will do. If you don't have regular milk, then skip that step entirely.

Answer: Pralines

The basic praline is nothing but sugars, milk, butter, nuts and vanilla. Before the advent of aluminum foil they were dropped by spoonfuls, while hot, unto a marble counter until they cooled and dried. The marble kept them from sticking. Most of us don't have marble in our kitchen so we must make do with tin foil. Most people I've bought them for love them.

They are not for diabetics, that's for sure!

Answer: Turducken

A turducken is a boned turkey stuffed with a boned duck which is stuffed with a boned chicken. They come with your choice of stuffing, most selections having a cornbread base, but they also have some pork/sausage rice stuffings. I've read that a skilled turducken preparer can bone a turkey in two minutes and a chicken in one. I'm impressed. I don't think I can get it out of the plastic bag it came in that quickly. I'm looking forward to trying the turducken in November!