Labor Day marks the official end of hot dog season, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. Last evening, at our cookout next to the Palisades Reservoir, our family ate six of the seven billion hot dogs that Americans consumed since Memorial Day.
But today, we were lucky. We were invited to a barbecue at our friends Tom and Cynthia Nalevanko’s home, so we were able to enjoy the fruits of Cynthia’s labors, which included a couple of flank steaks on the grill.
Labor Day originated in 1882 in New York City when the unions decided to celebrate and show support for all unions with a parade that included 20,000 people and lots of beer. Parades in other regions followed suit, and many states recognized the holiday. Still, it wasn’t until 1894 that President Grover Cleveland signed the law making the first Monday in September a federal holiday.
This Labor Day, there were 1000 parades across the country protesting “Workers Over Billionaires” but there wasn’t one in Alpine, Wyoming, where we were looking at the holiday as the ultimate winding down of summer. There are plenty of summery days ahead before we officially slip into fall on the autumnal equinox on September 22, so the best thing to do now is to eat all that we can of the sweet corn, tomatoes, and peaches that are at their peak.
Cynthia used the flank steak recipe from the New York Times and grilled the steaks to perfection. A tough cut of meat, flank steak is ideal for marinating and cooking over direct heat until medium-rare. Kirk and Iris were big fans of the meat bites carved up for them.
An array of summer’s ephemeral foods filled the menu—tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil drizzled with Balsamic, a potato salad with fried capers, and Maque Choux, a type of Cajun succotash. Delightfully crisp Hami melon, classic Brownies, and a quick and easy Peach Cobbler filled the bill. Note: the sugar in the Peach and Raspberry Cobbler was reduced by half in each part of the recipe and it was still plenty sweet.
Maque Choux and I go way back, to the summer I spent in Louisiana for the Southern University camp program in Baton Rouge in 2012. The foods of the Bayou are the most distinctive and tasty of all American regional foods, IMHO, and I learned as much as my campers that summer. The origin of the dish is believed to derive from Native Americans in the region, who relied on corn, one of the Three Sisters crops, with beans and squash. Creole and Acadian influences introduced distinctive seasonings to the indigenous corn recipe, featuring peppers, bacon, onion, and garlic.
Back in 2014 I did a demo at Tait Farm’s annual Tomato Festival and made the dish, adding lots of tomatoes as well.
Scraping all those corn kernels off in front of an audience got tedious, but fresh corn is the backbone of the dish. Some recipes call for grilling the corn first, but I typically microwave it in the husk before cutting off the kernels, though even that is not necessary. I do it because the silk comes off easier. Bacon is also a standard ingredient in the dish, as are bell peppers and celery; however, it is really up to what you have on hand. Cream is added at the end—or not.
Maque Choux
A traditional dish in Southern Louisiana that represents a Native American staple with a Creole/Acadian twist. Typically contains corn, green peppers, onion, and sometimes garlic and celery. Often served as a side dish, but it can also be a base for a main dish by adding shrimp or Andouille sausage-or both.
Makes 2 quarts
6 slices bacon
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 green or red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Jalapeno, seeded and minced
8 ears of corn, kernels cut off and cobs “scraped”
1 cup heavy cream, optional
Salt and pepper to taste or Cajun seasoning, like Tony Chachere
Dice the bacon and render over low heat while you chop the onion, celery, garlic, and peppers. Remove bacon bits and reserve. Cut the kernels from the cobs and scrape the cobs with the blade of a knife to remove all the milk and additional pulp from the corn. Blanch the tomatoes, core and chop them. Add corn to the vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the heavy cream and season to taste. Cook until the corn kernels are tender and the dish is slightly thickened. Mix in the bacon bits and serve.
Make Maque Choux while you can still get fresh corn. It will be fall soon enough!