Hurricane Eats: Where Opportunity + Cash = Deliciousness

Over the weekend one of my friends in Houston sent me this text message: "Quick: I need your best hurricane recipe."

My response was: "Pat O'Brien's hurricane mix. Add lots of rum."

But that got me to thinking about all of my meals during the aftermath of hurricanes. For the most part, we fire up our charcoal grills and throw on whatever frozen meats we have tucked away in the black hole of our freezer. But sometimes the food gods smile upon us by delivering an unexpected treat, and after Katrina I was fortunate enough to be the beneficiary of such an instance.

While evacuated in the Red Stick in early September '05, my uncle procured one of those special passes which allowed him access into the city long before the general public would eventually return. Once he entered the French Quarter, he came upon Antoine's where a few workers were emptying the contents of the refrigerator. Countless crates of perishables were being tossed out, but the freezers had not defrosted so there was close to a half ton of meat left which had not yet spoiled (in fact, the workers were handing out ice to first responders). Always one to seize an opportunity, my uncle decided that even if we were going to be away from our homes for a while, we should still be eating as we would if we were still living in the Big Easy.

For some unknown reason - I like to think it was divine intervention - my uncle was armed with a mammoth sized fishing ice chest. After prices were negotiated, he handed over an undetermined number of benjamins and then loaded up with a cooler full of individually vacuumed packed petit filets and double-cut lamb chops. And so we ate ... twice a day ... for the next three weeks, nothing but the finest meats. I just wish that we would have had a nice hollandaise to go along with them.

Here's to hoping that our friends in southeast Texas come across a nice brisket to hold them over till all is well again in Houston.