I have a review for you today of an interesting nature, a hard root beer!  Now why is it interesting you might ask?  Well, that would be because the inspiration for Abita's Bayou Bootlegger is none other than the French-American pirate and privateer, John Lafitte!

     A little history for you on John Lafitte, born in the late 1700's, John Lafitte was a privateer who would prey on Spanish commerce and sell the smuggled goods through a shop that he and his brother owned in New Orleans.  In addition to smuggling stolen goods and property, he was also known to be running a bit of a bootlegging operation.  John Lafitte and his brother took a small respite from their smuggling ways in during the War of 1812 in order to aid the US in the Battle of New Orleans, which lasted from 1814-1815.

     This did not last long, as John Lafitte and his crew returned to their pirating ways after the fighting was over and set up the commune of Comanche.  That lasted until 1820, when several of his lieutenants attacked US ships, bringing down official pressure on their operation and causing John Lafitte to leave the US coastline with his ship and a select crew.

     All of this inspired the fine folks at Abita brewing to create their Bayou Bootlegger Hard Root Beer.

     This hard root beer is not like some of the other ones out there that I have tried, at 5.9% alcohol, it is definitely an adult take on the root beer we grew up loving.  This is a beer that has been seasoned very well with the flavor of sassafras in order to convey the taste and sensation of drinking a refreshing root beer.  In addition to the sassafras, the people of Abita Brewing have also incorporated the flavors of vanilla and wintergreen into this drink.  Sassafras is the flavor that is most strongly associated with root beer because back in the old days, they used exactly that to make root beer and some other sodas so that flavor is still around today.  I really enjoyed the undertones of vanilla in this drink though, it added a creamy taste to it that helped to tone down both the sassafras and the alcohol to make this quite the tasty drink and one that I will likely keep stocked in my fridge over
the next several months as summer rolls in.

     One thing that I truly do like about this hard root beer is that they don't use any artificial sweeteners or corn syrup in the manufacturing of it.  They use good old fashioned Louisiana cane sugar.  Now my rejection of corn syrup and artificial sweeteners is not based on health reasons or the latest food fad, although the health reasons are kept in mind, it's because drinks made with real sugar just taste better to me overall.

     When it gets to be a bit hotter out there and the thought of ice cream starts buzzing around my head, I think I might make a root beer float with this and see how it comes out.  I have done it before with a different beer and it came out well enough but this might be a way to a simple root beer float of our childhood and bring it forward into our adult lives!  Only time will tell!

     Every so often, I try something that I hope is good but end up realizing that it's not so good.  That's the case with this week's food review of Pirate's Booty Mac and Cheese Mild Cheddar.

     From the picture on the box, it doesn't look that bad, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I don't normally eat boxed macaroni and cheese, I prefer the homemade stuff but I'd give it a shot since their basic snack was so good (see prior review for more info about that).  So I made sure to follow the directions on the box, to ensure that the dish would come out as specified and possibly look like it does on the box, here's the resulting dish.

     Well, it did come out looking like a classic from-the-box macaroni and cheese dish, but that's also where the problems started with this dish.  The actual dish came out much milder in color to the image on the box, although it doesn't look so bad in the picture I took of it.  I thought that maybe the color doesn't show how much flavor is actually packed into this dish.  It did make about a bowlful of food, and there was also a 1/4 cup of milk and a tablespoon of butter in it as well, so there's a possibility for some richness of flavor here.

     Again, I was disappointed in my hopes, the flavor was so very mild that I actually went to the fridge and added some shredded colby jack cheese to it in order to give it a better cheese flavor.  Now let's think about that for a second, I had to add shredded cheese to mac & cheese in order to get a cheese flavor out of it.  That's not a good thing and I was not pleased with it.

     While I would not buy this version again, I have heard that other version of their mac and cheese are much better and have placed well among different tests so who knows.  I think I will try a different one next time, but I'm not trying their mild cheddar one again in the future.

     Well I hope all of ye had a good holiday weekend and that the little ones brought home lots of Easter booty!  Welcome back and I have a nice drink recipe for ye today that will quench your thirst and was inspired by that most devilish of pirates, BLACKBEARD!

     So I created a recipe that I shall call Blackbeard's Iced Tea, this is an alcoholic drink and it pays homage to his legendary Kill-devil drink.  According to what I can find, his Kill-devil drink was a spiced rum mixed with gunpowder, and according to some legends, then set ablaze before he would drink it down!

     While this is an ice tea, I will not be including gunpowder, but will instead be using lapsang souchong tea as the base.  Lapsang souchong is a chinese smoked black tea, this smokiness will be the part that gives us the "gunpowder" aspect of it.  Instead of warming up the cockles of yer heart, this drink will be a nice cooling drink on a hot day!

Blackbeard's Ice Tea

Ingredients:
   Ice
   Shot of spiced rum
   Splash of fresh squeezed lime juice
   Sweetened lapsang souchong ice tea

Directions:
   1) Make some homemade sweet ice tea with lapsang souchong tea leaves ~*
   2) Fill a tall glass with ice
   3) Pour in a shot of your favorite spiced rum (mine is Code Rum)
   4) Add a splash of fresh squeezed lime juice
   5) Fill with the sweetened ice tea
   6) Enjoy!

~ There are many ways of making homemade ice tea with loose leaf tea or tea bags, look for the way that appeals the most to you, I like to use the slow and cold method but that's me.

* If you are having trouble finding Lapsang Souchong, check out the Spice and Tea Exchange as it is one of their standard carry items.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter this weekend and help the little pirates get lots of loot too!

 

 

     I have no recipes or reviews for the lot of you, but just to wish any of you that celebrate it, a happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope you all enjoy a nice meal of corned beef and cabbage, and a good drink to go with it!

     I hope all of ye scallywags had a great weekend! The Order of Leviathan ball was amazing and I was honored to have met so many great people!

Today, I have a new recipe for ye, one I hope ye all like as well!

Cheesy Chicken Casserole

   by The Pirate Chef 

Ingredients:

1 lb Penne Pasta

2 large Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 package of Frozen Chopped Broccoli, not the bag

1 can of Quartered Artichoke Hearts,drained *

1 C of shredded Colby Jack cheese

1 can of Cream of Chicken soup

1/2 C of Milk

1 Tbs of Soy Sauce

Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese  (I like to use Locatelli)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F
2. Cut chicken breasts up into small cubes, about 1 inch
3. Brown chicken in a small pan and set aside
4. Cook penne for 6 minutes in boiling water  (I like to add salt and Extra Virgin Olive Oil to my water when cooking pasta)
5.  Add chopped broccoli, cook for 2 more minutes or until broccoli seperates
6. Strain
7. Mix pasta, chicken, broccoli, artichoke hearts, Colby Jack cheese, Cream of Chicken soup, milk, and soy sauce in a 3-4 quart casserole dish
8. Cook in oven, uncovered for 10 minutes
9. Remove from oven, stir thoroughly and sprinkle Pecorino Romano cheese on top (see pic)

    10. Return to oven and cook for 10 more minutes

    11. Remove from oven, stir thoroughly and sprinkle Pecorino Romano cheese on top

    12. Return to oven and cook for 5 more minutes

    13. Turn oven down to 250° F and cook for 5 more minutes

Let cool and enjoy!

* If you want, you can chop the artichoke hearts up smaller, I like the big pieces myself.

So here's the announcement that I was telling you all about.

     St. Augustine is hosting this year's Order of Leviathan induction ceremony and ball! This is a huge deal for those in the pirate community as the event only takes places every 2 years and only 13 pirates from around the country are inducted.

     For those of you who may not be familiar with this, here's a quick breakdown of what it means.

1. All inductees have to be nominated by a member of the Order, and the public can nominate those they deem worthy.
2. The Steering Committee and the Master Leviathans will narrow a list of 100 (max) nominees down to only 50.
3. The public is allowed to vote for their favorites and the 12 with the most votes will be inducted into the Order.
4. The 13th is a special honor that only the officers of the Order know who will be selected.

     This year, our little town has the honor of being host to such an incredible event. The ball and the induction ceremony are already sold out, but there's a special event Friday night that is open to every pirate that wants to come out and have some fun!

     The St. Augustine Swashbuckler's will be hosting a Pirate Parlay Party this Friday, starting at 6pm, at St. Francis Field. Some of the Order members and inductees will be there at the beginning but there will be lots of people there the entire time.

I may or may not be able to make it but it should be a blast and you should try to make it there!