Cajun Boiled Peanut

Man those look good. I havn't had boild penuts since I left Georga 25 years ago and Iv'e never had cajun ones.

That looks good. anyone have a recipe?

What make em Cajun?

crankbndr wrote:What make em Cajun?

It's gotta be one of two things. One: The Chef, Two: the Spicy Peppers ( jalapeno)

duke.johnson wrote:That looks good.  anyone have a recipe?

Yes I do. All you need are new crop peanuts, rock salt and water I don't cook dried peanuts that come in the bag labeled Raw Peanuts. They're dried and would need to be soaked first. Ant the flavor does not resemble the real thing.

In the Spring and fall, they are best for boiling, picked younger and more tender. I prefer the variety called Spanish Reds, other people like the big fat white skins(sometimes known as Valencias). For the reds, hand pick them at the market, a palm-full at a time, tossing back any bad ones, but keep a few of the baby "pops" because you can eat them whole and they're so good. Look for the inner skins to be light pink and not red as they will be later in the season.

Put them in your cook pot and fill it with water and stir them hard with your hand to wash them, then pour off the dirty water. Pull as many tails(stems) off as you can fine and refill the pot. They will float, so add enough water so you can reach under them and feel about 4 or 5 inches of water.

Put them on the burner to come to a boil and add a palm full of rock salt. Cover the pot and bring it to a slow rolling boil. It doesn't matter when you add it, but I so it at the start. after they are boiling, start checking(eating) them for tenderness. The young redskins will cook fast, the whiteskins take a long time. Use your stirring spoon to sip the water and adjust the salt content. You may need to add water if it gets too salty as it evaporates. I try to use hot water so they don't start cooling and sinking yet

Do not expect any salt or water to be in them when you're testing. At this stage, you are checking for tenderness and texture only. None of that happens until you turn off the heat, remove the lid and let them cool, at which time they will begin to sink and soak. Now they are getting wet and salty inside. let them soak at least a couple of hours. All this time they are taking on water and salt.

Pour off the water and line the bottom of a large bowl with folded paper towels. Spoon them from the pot into the bowl. The towels will keep the bottom ones from laying in leftover brine. Keep refrigerated when you're not eating them. I like them better cold.

To eat, pinch the end with the nose between your teeth to pop it open, and suck out the juice... like a crawfish head.. Then pop half the shell out and use your bottom teeth to extract the nuts and eat them. And eat any soft pops whole.

If the nuts are stuck in the shell and hard to scrape out and eat, you either needed to cook them longer or you got some overly mature nuts. If the skins look pretty red rather than pink, you will probably need to cook them longer. But don't cook them till mushy like everybody else does.

The white skin variety will have to cook much longer, but the redskin variety will be ready to soak and sink in 1-2.5 hours.

I wrote this in a hurry. I was on the way to bed, and this is a question I am automatically compelled to answer. So I'll re-read it and make ant revisions tomorrow after flying.
Rusty

Rusty, do you eat the entire shell? It looks like jalepenos in there as well. Is this spicy hot? They look good. I bet they smell great cooking. Ken

I love peanuts as ingredients in many foods or just alone, roasted and salted...but do you eat the shell as well? I see some of the kernels still sitting in their shells. It is soft, though, I guess especially after getting simmered in the pot, but is that really edible?

Rusty, thanks for taking the time to write that down. I will be making a batch this weekend.

I don't know what's in the picture. I don't use spices, I just remembered the thread title said cajun. But mine are traditional, nothing but salt. I only use rock salt because I think it tastes better and I can measure it in palm-fulls. No, don't eat the shells. You would only eat one before figuring that out. The only ones where I eat the shell is the young "pops" mixed in with the peanuts. They are soft and not fibery tough like the mature ones.

To eat, pinch the end with the nose... kind of a pointy thing at one end(that's where the shell cleaves in half) between your teeth to pop it open, and suck out the juice... like a crawfish head.. Then pop half the shell off and use your bottom teeth to extract the nuts and eat them. And eat any soft pops whole.

Rusty

Good luck. It takes practice... from selecting the ones you buy, to the cooking part. They're not in season in South Carolina yet. I expect we'll start seeing some South Georgia or Florida nuts soon. Usually in mid April.
Rusty

This is the one I used cause I couldn't find the other I have , You need to put ALL the stuff in to make it right ... Got my Virginia Large Raw Green as in fresh picked not old or roasted at the Farmers Market 1.99 a # Rusty has it down BUT , that's too much work to pick through them for me (he's a little further south than me ) . People around here have started selling them a lot at gas stores in crock pots sitting there God knows how long cooking and Most time are Mushed out ....so don't over cook them!!!    I grow my own peppers and dry them at the end of the season / can some for later use also .. Had to cut them off yesterday let them set over night retasted this morning and just were not hot enough for me and some what on the hard side still ,  so added more pepper flakes and will boil a little longer this morning. SO Good !!! If you want to eat the shell go head but you may not enjoy them coming out as much as going in Eric

I think peanuts grown in the Virginia region must also be terrific..I visited Williamsburg Virginia last October and could not help buying a very wide variety..http://www.thepeanutshop.com/

WOW! those look really good and Cajun spice is right up my alley... might have to try that myself

Yeah, Andras, I think that's where the white skins mostly come from around here. I'm sure they grow the reds too.

One important thing I left out. Unless you cooked them, do not eat boiled peanuts in the dark!
My baseball park friends call them "Rusty's nuts."

Funny, my MCLS Control Line club calls me Rusty Nail.
Rusty the nut.

Watch for my flight report later.

Rusty , You got peanut farms around your area // Thinking about trying my hand at it again , my soil is not that sandy but my dad says they grew them as a kid pretty much for his dad since all he did was eat them . Two yrs. ago I planted some and were a real pain to get out the ground and only couple hands full cropped but were good small Spanish nuts .

Eric, if it doesn't rain pretty close to harvest time, they have to stay in the ground and get more mateur than I like them. So that's an issue, they are hard to harvest if the ground is dry. I grew some once and got one pot full. I'm by no means a farmer or gardener, but my wife is. She was raised on a farm.
Rusty

Here are my first Spanish Reds of the season. I bought them still young, so the skins on the peas were pink and not the mature red you see later in the season. I boiled them until they became soft  but still with a little firm crunch. That's where I like them. Then I stirred in some rock salt until it was the amount I like when I spoon up some of the brine and taste it. Then cut off the heat, removed the lid and let them sink as they cool and soak up the salty water. Like I said in my recipe, don't try to judge them by internal wetness or saltyness, because that only comes after they sink and soak. That applies to anything you cook in a pot, from green beans and peas to peanuts.





This is why I said NOT to eat them in the dark:


Them is good goobers! Once I start eating them I cannot quit. I actually prefer them fridge cold, but to each their own.

Rusty's Nuts, as they're known around here.
Rusty the Nut

Mmmm Boy!

You haven't lived until you've had a handful of Rusty's nuts!!!!

All kidding aside, Rusty can boil a mean peanut. I know, I've had me some in person.