March 28, 2009: Buffalo Hunt

This week it's the story of one man, a one thousand pound buffalo and a passel of hungry wolves and bears on an Alaskan mountainside. Our guest is naturalist and hunter Steve Rinella, who talks 14,000 years of the American buffalo and the humans who hunted them. Steve's new book is American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon.

Jane and Michael Stern, on the hunt for the essential Cajun breakfast, end up at Café Des Amis in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

We say meat is so over! We're moving on to great beans, and talking with Steve Sando, author of Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo. He has a bunch of heirloom varieties we've never heard of.

Food and music is not a new idea, but music critic Tom Moon has a new niche for the combo: music to clean up by. It's just what we need in the kitchen. Tom is the author of 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

The poems of Jane Hirshfield are called "honest and beautiful, sensual and clean, risky and wise." The same could be said of an inspired dish. Jane reads us her poem, "Cook."

Recipes

Drunken Beans

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These beans, a good salad, and a bottle of beer to wash it all down are about all you need for a comforting Western-style dinner beyond compare. Get the full recipe.

21st Century Mac and Cheese

Lynne's Mac and Cheese recipe departs from what you might expect, and the result is a little less heavy than your normal mac and cheese. Get the full recipe.

Features

Jane and Michael Stern: Café Des Amis
Breaux Bridge, LA

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Breaux Bridge, Louisiana declares itself the crawfish capital of the world. It's also the home of Café Des Amis that serves up some of the best true Cajun food anywhere. Located out in the swamps about 2 hours out of New Orleans, Café Des Amis is a town restaurant and social center loved by locals from miles around.

For breakfast, go for the beignets or "pig's ears," long strips of fried dough served plain under a heavy dusting of powdered sugar or filled with boudin sausage. At lunch or dinner try the turtle soup, crawfish pie or andouille gumbo. And certainly leave room for a slice of Gateau Sirop, a dark, sweet, spicy cake made with cane syrup.

On Saturday mornings from 8:30 to 11:30, don't miss the Zydeco Breakfast where, for a $4.00 cover charge, you can dine and dance to a band playing zydeco music. It's great fun.

Café Des Amis
140 East Bridge Street (look for Rue de Pont Est on the street sign)
Breaux Bridge, LA
337-332-5273
www.cafedesamis.com

Music for Cleaning the Kitchen

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Food and music is not a new idea, but music critic Tom Moon, author of 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, has come up with a new niche for the combo: music to clean up by. Here are his picks:

To encourage stragglers to take their leave at the end of the evening you want Mozart's First Movement from Symphony Number 38 from The Late Symphonies by the Vienna Philharmonic, Karl Bohm conducting. Lynne says she'd pick something rousing and brisk like The Stars and Stripes Forever to get people up and moving toward the door.

When everyone has finally cleared out here's a variety of things to pick from depending on your mood:

Mellow Reggae:
• Bob Marley and the Wailers: "Three Little Birds" from Exodus, excellent for when you look around and feel overwhelmed by the task ahead. The chorus "every little thing is gonna be alright" is an instant uplift.
• Ernest Ranglin: "King Tubby Meets the Rockers" from Below the Bassline. This album is all instrumental and never fails to provide the motivation to get stuff done.

Crisp, Fast-Moving Jazz Guitar:
• Tal Farlow: "You Stepped Out of a Dream" and "Like Someone in Love" from The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow.

Jazz Guitar and Piano:
• Bill Evans and Jim Hall: "My Funny Valentine" from Undercurrent.
Cool-and-Controlled but Rhythmic Latin Jazz, Built Around the Vibraphone:
• Cal Tjader: "Gringo City" from Primo.

If You Must Have Vocals:
• Cecelia Bartoli: "Sventurata Navicella" from The Vivaldi Album
• Beth Orton: "Sweetest Decline," "Pass in Time" or "Stars All Seem to Weep" from Central Reservation.
• Aretha Franklin: "Do Right Woman," "A Change is Gonna Come" or anything from I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You.

When You're Finished:
• Chet Baker: "I Remember You" and "But Not for Me" from Let's Get Lost: The Best of Chet Baker Sings.
• Schubert: B-Flat Piano Sonata, Clifford Curzon, piano.

Poet Jane Hirshfield

Listen

The poems of Jane Hirshfield are called "honest and beautiful, sensual and clean, risky and wise." Read her poem "Cook."

Music

• "Zydeco Gris-Gris" by Beausoleil from Louisiana Party Collection, Time Life Records
• "Voodoo Doll" by The Bamboos, from Step It Up, Ubiquity Records
• "Sky Signal" by Audible, from Sky Signal, Polyvinyl Record Co.
• "Two Questions" by Klee, from Honeysuckle, Minty Fresh Records
• "1st Mov't- Symphony 38" by Vienna Philharmonic, Karl Bohm conducting from The Late Symphonies, Deutsch Grammophon
• "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley and the Wailers, from Exodus, Island Records
• "King Tubby Meets the Rockers" Ernest Ranglin from Below the Bassline, Island Records
• "Taking a Chance on Love" by Tal Farlow, from The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow, Polygram
• "Sweetest Decline" by Beth Orton, from Central Reservation, Arista
• "I Remember You" by Chet Baker, from The Best of Chet Baker Sings, Blue Note Records
• "Call Me" by Frank Sinatra, from Strangers In The Night, Reprise

Heard on the Show

• Jane and Michael Stern visit Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge, LA.
  
• Steve Sando's guide to heirloom beans.
  
• Steve Rinella: Buffalo Hunt.
  
• Tom Moon's recommendations of Music to Clean Up By.
  

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