Make Me a Po' Boy

We tried our hand at making our own po' boys while J was visiting NOLA recently.
Oh. My. Tyrannosaurus Rex.

These were good. Brilliant, in fact. So I thought I'd share with you a little of the history and a mini recipe. Sorry, I didn't whip out the camera when we were making these, but seriously, these sammies were delicioso!

First, the history. According to some legends, the po' boy came about when there was a strike among street car drivers. A former street car operator, turned restaurant owner, felt for his former coworkers and would provide them with these giant sandwiches for free. This enabled the street car operators to continue to strike and still feed their families. Thus, the sandwich became known as a po' boy. Because, you know, they were po'.

They are made with Louisiana French Bread that is shaped more like a baguette. So, if you live in Louisiana, you can find this type of bread. Otherwise, buy a loaf of French Bread.

We filled our po' boys with hot sausage and fried shrimp. We also added a little shrimp remoulade sauce for some extra flavor. So, our particular attempt at the po' boy was fancier than most, but still VERY Oh. My. Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Ingredients, so you have a neat list (or you could look at the lovely picture of the shopping list I made for Kev complete with illustrations):

Louisiana French Bread - extra flaky and delicious
Hot Sausage (this is NOT Jimmy Dean, darlings. The butcher makes this sausage here, sells it alongside the ground beef and what not, and its in a casing - you know, like sausage)
Fresh Shrimp
Shrimp Fry
Jar of Shrimp Remoulade

Take the Hot Sausage and remove the casing so you just have the sausage, sans the casing. Make patties with this and fry it up!

Buy your shrimp with the heads still on. I know, ick, ack ook, gross! But, trust me. DO IT! Better flavor, and you won't pay as much $$ for these babies. You need to remove their shells and heads and tails. Lot's of hand work, but WORTH IT!


Follow the directions on the Shrimp Fry batter. I added a little extra hot sauce to the wet batter for these shrimp. It gave it a little extra yummy kick. And fry them up! We used vegetable oil to fry our shrimp. Don't be afraid to fry - it doesn't take that long (you're only frying shrimp!) and turned out to not be that messy.

Once the shrimp and sausage are cooked, slice your bread so you have a top and bottom half. You know, like for a sub sandwich. Only it's not a sub sandwich, it's a po' boy.

Pile your sausage and shrimp and then add a little remoulade sauce. You can also "dress" your sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions and mayo. Keep that in mind when you visit New Orleans and order a po' boy. They will ask you if you want it "dressed". No, they don't mean do you want your sandwich to wear satin or lace.

Voila! You have a po' boy. It was REALLY, REALLY tasty. I hope you will try this at your house very soon!

(Again, I apologize for the lack of pictures. These babies were devoured fast!)

xoxo