Easy Yaka-Mein

If you subscribe to offBeat magazine, or live in the New Orleans area and get it free, OR subscribe to the free weekly emails, you can see in the current issue (September 2012 the “Food Issue”) it has a story on Ms. Linda Green – the Yaka Mein Lady.  I first found out about Yaka Mein in the past year from the television show Anthony Bourdain’s NO RESERVATIONS.  Anthony Bourdain went through a part of New Orleans with Treme star Wendall Pierce.  While on the streets, they met up with Ms. Linda Green.  There I found out about Yaka Mein and have made a full recipe version of “old sober” here.  While it may not be Ms. Linda’s recipe, it was still excellent and one of my favorite meals since trying to learn about New Orleans cooking.  I’ve made this many times.  There’s always one certain time that I make it… always!

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Do you know what ya-ka-mein is?

According to Wikipedia: “Yaka mein is a type of beef noodle soup commonly found in many Creole and Chinese restaurants in New Orleans.The soup consists of stewed beef (such as brisket) in beef-based broth served on top of spaghetti noodles and garnished with half a hard-boiled egg and chopped green onions. Cajun seasoning, chili powder, or Old Bay Seasoning is often added to the broth. It’s sometimes referred to as “Old Sober,” because many people thought it was a cure for a hangover. The soup is well-loved by locals but not well-known outside of the city and its surrounding region.”

The person most-responsible for carrying on the tradition of the cure-all soup is Linda Green, known in New Orleans as “the Ya-Ka-Mein Lady.” Read OffBeat™s story on Ms. Linda in this month’s “Food Issue.”

Ms. Linda Green is quickly becoming known outside of New Orleans also.  She was recently on the Food Networks popular show CHOPPED.  The episode was titled: THE PRIDE OF NEW ORLEANS!  CHOPPED is a cooking competition show that’s all about skill, speed and ingenuity where four up-and-coming chefs compete before a panel of three expert judges and take everyday items and turn them into an extraordinary three-course meal.  After each course, a contestant is “chopped” from the show.  In the episode Ms. Linda was on, she was against three other top chefs from New Orleans.  She had a very good showing…

For the past twenty years, she has sold her Ya-Ka-Mein along Second Line routes, along with running Ms. Linda’s Catering, which specializes in New Orleans Soul Food cuisine for all size events.  You can find out more about Ms. Linda here: http://www.neworleanssoulfood.com/

The times I make Yaka Mein, is after a pulled chicken or pulled pork meal.  I’ve mentioned this before.  Before I’ve made the Detroit sandwich, the Yardbird.  I only used about half of the pulled chicken for the sandwich.  But before I even start making the pulled sandwiches, I set half aside just for the yaka mein.  It truly is an excellent way to help get rid of leftover pulled chicken/pork.

I could write a series about the pride of New Orleans.  Peoples pride in New Orleans.  I’ve made a mention of this in an earlier entry with Red Beans and Rice but it could also be said about Ms. Linda Green and her pride in the city.  It can also be said about her.  The people who love New Orleans who have pride about her!  Anothony Bourdain having her on his show, her appearance on CHOPPED, offBeat Magazine covering her, and fans who follow her on Twitter from across the country… even a kitchen up in Detroit!

If you have leftover pulled chicken or pork, or want to make an excellent noodle dish, here is…

QUICK YAKA MEIN

Ingredients:

• pulled chicken or pork
• hard-boiled eggs
• green onions, chopped
• beef or chicken broth
• spaghetti noodles
• ketchup, Tabasco sauce, soy sauce

Either cook the chicken/pork in a crock pot or heat it up in the microwave.

For each serving, make a hard boiled egg.

Cook the spaghetti noodles.

Heat the broth either in a sauce pan or in the microwave.

To serve, place the noodles in a bowl, cover with the shredded meat.  Pour hot broth into the bowl.  Garnish with a half of a hard-boiled egg along with green onions.  For extra seasoning, add all of either of ketchup, tabasco sauce, and soy sauce.  Enjoy!

Yardbird Sandwich

In New Orleans, you grab a Barq’s, a bag of Zapp’s, and a Muffuletta…

In Detroit, you grab a Faygo, a bag of Better Made, and… a YARDBIRD?

Over the summer if you watched the Travel Channels BEST SANDWICHES IN AMERICA show with Adam Richman you may have heard of the YARDBIRD sandwich. It won the Great Lakes episode and made it’s way in to the Top 3! It eventually lost out in a close match to the Roast Pork Sandwich from DiNic’s in Philadelphia but it represented the Motor City proudly.

Being here in the Detroit area, to me, the most famous meal to most is probably the coney dog — a hot dog with a beanless chili sauce with diced onions and a strip of yellow mustard.  Soon though, the Yardbird may become a famous dish from Detroit!  The sandwich is from Slows Bar BQ restaurant in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit.  It’s one of the restaurants signature sandwich.  Smoked chicken breast topped with a mustard sauce, mushrooms and cheddar cheese piled high with crispy bacon.  Richman picked The Yardbird, saying “it’s unlike any sandwich found anywhere,” according to the Detroit Free Press.

From the Travel Channels website, they tell the brief history of Slows Bar BQ:  After a career as a fashion model, Phillip Cooley returned home to Michigan and was determined to help revitalize Detroit. Cooley, along with his father Ron and brother Ryan, opened Slow’s Bar-BQ in 2005, in Corktown, at the edge of downtown Detroit. The restaurant is located across from the long-abandoned central train station and has become a destination for diners. Originally planned as a fine-dining establishment, Cooley quickly realized that barbecue was the better way to go.  If you do make it to the restaurant, give yourself extra time, lunch time gets extremely busy and it can take an extremely long time.  They do have a Slows-To-Go location that is faster.  Check out their website here.

Normally I bring you New Orleans through Detroit, but this time, here’s a little piece of Detroit.

YARDBIRD SANDWICH

Ingredients:

• Pulled Chicken (use a simple crock pot recipe)
• Applewood Bacon, cooked
• 8-oz sliced mushrooms
• 8-oz shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup mustard based bbq sauce, divided (see below of a quick recipe)
• mayonnaise
• hamburger buns, toasted
• butter, to butter the hamburger buns

Cook the Applewood Bacon, do not cook it to a crisp, it should have a little flex to it.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Butter each side of the hamburger buns. Place on a cookie sheet and toast for about 6-8 minutes.

In a heated non-stick skillet, saute mushrooms until the juices have evaporated.

Add pulled chicken, 1/2 cup bbq sauce and the shredded cheddar cheese. Mix until the cheese has melted.

Spred the mayonnaise on the toasted hamburger buns. Top with the chicken mixture. Place two pieces of the Applewood Bacon on top along with 2 tablespoons of the remaining bbq sauce on each sandwich. There you have the Yardbird! Enjoy!

 

QUICK MUSTARD BBQ SAUCE

Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• dashes of worcestershire sauce
• black pepper
• garlic
• cayenne pepper

In a sauce pan, stir everything together over medium heat.  Bring it to a boil, then let simmer for 5 minutes.

 

SIMPLE PULLED CHICKEN

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 can Coke

In a crock pot, place the chicken in the pot, cover with ketchup and Coke.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Shred and serve.