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!

The following is from offBeat Magazines weekly free email-zine… sign up for it if you haven’t already – it’s free!

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!

Pulled Pork leftovers? Yaka Mein

Here is an extra recipe to the Wednesday Big Easy Recipe of the week, a lagniappe… Yaka Mein!

I know I’ve posted about this a few times but I love making this after making Pulled Pork.  It’s just my wife and I eating the Pulled Pork sandwiches so I have quite a bit leftover and I make the extra just for this reason.

You can make it many different ways with what you have on hand, but this is pretty much the traditional way.  You could use Angel Hair Pasta or and another type of noodle.  Use Pulled Chicken if that’s what you made.  Use whatever but this is a great way to not let food go to waste.  If you’ve never tried this, you might be surprised.  Let me know if you do!

YAKA MEIN

Ingredients:

• leftover pulled pork
• spaghetti noodles
• beef stock
• hard-boiled egg cut in half
• parsley or green onions
• soy sauce, ketchup, tabasco sauce

Hard boil the eggs.  Boil the noodles.  Bring the stock to a boil.  Reheat the pulled pork.

In a bowl, place the noodles.  Add the pulled pork.  Pour the stock over.  Place the half egg on top.  Garnish with the parsley or green onion.  Add the amount of soy sauce, tabasco and ketchup you want.  Enjoy!

YaKa Mein (old sober)

News Years Day usually in the homes and resturants of the Southern parts of America has Hoppin’ John. A traditional rice and black-eyed bean meal meant to bring good luck for the upcoming year. But for some the meal needed is YaKa Mein – also known as Old Sober.

It’s an Asian noodle dish served from food trucks on the streets of New Orleans to the booths at the Jazz and Heritage Festival. Though some say it’s not necessarily an Asian dish. Stories are told of the African-American Soldiers coming back from the Korean War and telling of this “Seoul Food”. Others say it was from the Chinese immegrents who worked along side African slaves on the railroads in the mid 19th Century building tracks from Houston to New Orleans.

Where ever the dish originated, it became a New Orleans creole dish. To the locals of New Orleans it’s a known dish, it was brought to everyone else’s attention by Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” when he eats the YaKa Mein with the star of “Treme“, Wendell Pierce.

It’s said to have healing powers to cure the hangover. After a long night of drinking around the French Quarter, YaKa Mein was the next days remedy of choice. But you don’t need to be on the streets of the Quarter to have YaKa Mein, or hungover for that matter. Through much research, here is my version of YaKa Mein…

YaKa Mein

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lbs Roast
• 2 tsp creole seasoning
• 1 tsp onion powder
• salt and pepper
• 4 quarts water
• 2 tbsp beef bouillon
• Spaghetti noodles
• 8 Hard Boiled Eggs
• 1 Green Onion, chopped
• Soy Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Tabasco Sauce, and/or ketchup

In a crock pot, season the roast with the creole seasoning, onion powder, salt and pepper. Add the water and bouillon. Add a dash or two of soy sauce. Cook on low for 10 hours. Once the roast has cooked, set aside and shred it.

Cook the spaghetti noodles.

Make the hard-boiled eggs.

To serve, place spaghetti noodles in to bowl. Top with meat. Add onion and half of hard-boiled egg then ladle stock over the top of bowl. For more flavor, add more soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and/or ketchup.

Any type of pasta will do if you don’t have spaghetti noodles. The roast can be replaced with pork. Just bake the pork for 30 minutes and chop.

If you’d prefer not to use a crock pot for the roast, in a large pot cover the roast with water. Add the spices and bouillon and simmer for 2-3 hours. When the roast is finished, remove and shred. Skim the fat from the top of the water (stock). Everything else remains the same.

 

Baked Spaghetti

New Orleans is…

…as Kermit Ruffins sang in “What Is New Orleans – Part 2” with the Rebirth Brass Band is “Spaghetti and Meatballs on a Tuesday…”.

Besides “Red beans and Rice on a Monday” and a whole lot of other things New Orleans is, Tuesday just happened to be a spaghetti night here. I didn’t go the traditional route, or with meatballs, but… baked. If you never had it, it tastes great. It’s only one added step. You cook it the same way as you normally would, but once it’s all cooked – you bake it (with the added cheese on top).

So as you groove to some Kermit Ruffins or Rebirth Brass Band… here is:

Baked Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs hamburger
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 12oz spaghetti noodles
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 can tomato soup
• 1/4 cup water
• 8 – 10 slices American Cheese

Boil spaghetti noodles according to the directions on the box.

Brown hamburger, onions, and green peppers. Drain once done.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

Mix in chili powder, water, and tomato soup to the hamburger. Bring to a quick boil then remove from heat. Add the cooked noodles to the mixture. Pour into a 9×13 pan. Top with cheese. Bake for 20 minutes.

Click this image to be taken to the new Creole Style Baked Spaghetti at RedBeansAndEric.com!

If you are a fan of the above Baked Spaghetti, you’ll love the Creole-Style Baked Spaghetti on the new RedBeansAndEric.com!  It’s a spicier version for sure, but I think you’ll love it!

Let me know what you think of the new recipe and the new website!  It’s where all the new posts and recipes are going.  Please sign up and follow me there!

Thank you!

Red Beans and Eric