-Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by... -Did you know that Baton Rouge means "red stick"?

Today on "Cookin' Louisiana," we'll visit the state capital for dishes that you can't beat with a stick, not even a red one -- beef tapa with sinangag, then, oh, baby, a delicious pork sauce piquant, and finally, a capital meatloaf with sweet glaze.

So tell you what, you better stick around.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -You know, I'm-a have you tasting just like you.

Don't worry, you're going to get there.

Hi, guys, welcome to my "Cookin' Louisiana" kitchen.

Thank you for joining me on this tasty tour of the state's best flavors and dishes.

Now, today, we're going to go to Baton Rouge.

That's right.

That's the capital of Louisiana.

In this city on the Mississippi River, local chefs put a spin on the area's Cajun Creole heritage.

Now, founded by the French, Baton Rouge is a melting pot.

It truly is.

I mean, people come from all over around the world, and they contributed to its cuisine, including the Filipinos, who were among the state's earliest settlers.

Now, we're going to start our capital city tour with a Filipino breakfast combo, beef tapa with sinangag.

Now, what I have here, I have some beef that I've frozen, not to get it hard-frozen, but just enough to where I could slice it really, really thin.

Tapa, which was originally done with seafood, it was a way to cure it.

They smoked it.

In more recent times, it's been marinated, but it was a way to do with fish, now with meat.

And I think it's just going to be fantastic.

So, what I have here, I have some brown sugar.

Let's, to our brown sugar, get in a little soy sauce.

And I know you're saying, "Why is he putting that in there?"

Well, I'm putting it in there for a reason -- because we're going to make a marinade.

See, I just want to get this nice and dissolved, get our sugar going in.

Baton Rouge means "red stick," and it was a red pole dividing hunting land.

And so when the French saw it, they said, "Oh, le baton rouge," and that's how the city got its name.

Now, what I just added here was a little lime juice.

Alright?

We're going to put in a little black pepper.

Get that in.

Give that a little stir.

I also have a little garlic here.

A lot of garlic.

Look at this.

Come on.

Hop in.

I think we can all fit.

We'll give this a little stir.

And now let's just pour this on over.

Now, I like to just go ahead and move this around.

At this point, cover it, put in the refrigerator, and let this just marinate.

You could do it for a few hours.

You could do it for eight hours or, you know, do it overnight, whichever you like.

But guess what?

I have some that I've already done.

See how our meat has gotten really dark around the edges?

That's because it absorbed that brown sugar and that soy sauce.

The lime juice kind of brightens this up.

Now, you can use boneless rib eye or a New York strip.

Take your pick.

Now let's get to work on our garlic fried rice, also known as sinangag.

I have in our pot a little oil.

You know I love garlic.

If you've watched me, you know that I love, love, love, garlic.

I've taken the garlic, and I've sliced it, because when you slice it, it's very, very delicate flavor.

We're going to have two things.

We're going to fry off our garlic, alright?

We don't want it fried hard.

We just want it barely to get a little brown on the edges.

But all of this garlic is also going to flavor our oil.

It's just about ready.

So let's go ahead and put our garlic in.

Can you hear that little [Hisses] That's a little garlic goodness.

That's what you're listening to.

Now, we want to watch this.

We want it just a light brown on the edges.

This garlic flavor is going to infuse this oil where we'll have a nice garlic oil.

Let's heat up our skillet and get our beef starting to sauté.

So, in the pan, I've put a little vegetable oil.

And just listen.

[ Sizzling ] We're just going to lay our meat in.

It's not going to take very long, but see how that's browned off really good?

That's what we want.

So let's take this out.

And I'll just put it right here on our plate.

Oh, the smells.

I tell you what, that soy sauce, the lime juice, you can actually smell it as it's cooking.

Trying to make sure I don't overlap them like I had before.

I'll tell you what.

I think that's going to be plenty.

If you don't have a cast iron pan, cast iron pans hold the heat because they're so heavy.

Just use a regular skillet, but make sure you heat it up first.

It's important for the skillet to be hot.

Now, the ones I turned over earlier, these are done, so let's take these out.

Oh, you look so good.

I'm going to set you right there.

We're going to serve this with an egg, and just nice, over-easy egg.

While our butter is heating up for our egg, let's take our garlic... ...and some of that oil and just put it right on in.

Now, I have jasmine rice that I've already cooked.

You can do this with a little leftover rice if you want.

And now we can just take our fork and kind of fluff it.

You are good, my friend.

This is good to go.

Let me just set this over, because I can't wait for you to see how we're going to plate this up.

Now, also, I'm going to hit this -- just a little sprinkle of salt, just a little sprinkle of salt.

Alright, so you're ready, so you can sit right here.

Now, our egg that we're going to do on this, just a little, nice, over-easy egg.

Of course, with just a little touch of salt on it.

Oh, look at that egg, gang.

Look, just a little, quick turn.

Turn the fire off, because we want it over-easy, alright?

Nice over-easy.

We'll let that sit there.

Let's get plated.

I'm going to use an ice cream scoop for our rice.

Here, I'm going to put another scoop.

Oh, yes, with this garlic.

We can take our beef and just lay our beef on the plate.

I tell you what, this is a great breakfast, isn't it, okay?

We'll leave a little bit there, alright?

Now, to garnish, look what we have.

I have some slices of tomato... ...that we can just put here.

Also, a little fresh cucumber that we can put on, because that'll brighten up the flavor.

And last but not least, then I'm just going to take our egg and just lay it right over the top, alright?

Little bit of parsley.

Little bit of green onion.

So, there you have a flavorful Baton Rouge dish straight from the Philippines, beef tapa with sinangag.

Coming up next, pork loin is going to get a royal treatment in a piquant sauce with Cajun roots.

The past meets the future in Baton Rouge, where historical buildings share the street with contemporary masterpieces.

The mighty Mississippi River is the backdrop for the state capital's vibrant downtown, offering world-class attractions that invite visitors to explore Louisiana culture in this 200-year-old port city.

Y'all come back now, you hear?

First thing's up.

Let's work on our seasoning.

What I have here -- cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme, and a little garlic powder.

Let's get those in.

Of course, to that, a little bit of Creole seasoning.

Little bit of salt.

Little black pepper.

Let's just give this a little mix.

Now, what I'm doing today, I'm using pork, alright?

Basically, I've taken a pork loin.

I cut it in nice sized pieces.

We're going to take some of our seasoning, and we're going to season our pork.

Now, I have some seasoning left that I'll use.

In the meantime, let me get our fire going.

I want this pan hot.

Let's just get a little oil in our pan.

And now let's give this a nice, little toss to make sure all of our pork has shown a little love.

I've just cut this fairly thin, you know, about 1/4 inch, alright?

Now that this pan is nice and hot, I want to go ahead and sear off our pork.

Now, we don't want it to totally brown off, but this is going to sear fairly well.

Today, I'm using pork, but I tell you, in Cajun country, they smother everything, from chicken to venison, alligator meat in that spicy red sauce piquant.

I'm just trying to make sure that I get all the pieces turned and they at least touch the heat on both sides just for a little bit.

Alright, I think we have everyone where we're kind of sautéed off.

I'm-a turn the fire down for just a second while I get our pork out.

Now, I'm just going to take our pork and let it rest right here on the plate.

Come on.

I know you want to stay, but come on out.

Alright.

Now, that's there.

Let's go ahead, in our pan, get in a little butter.

So, now, we'll get in some green onions.

We'll get in some celery.

We have a little bell pepper.

And of course, a little onion.

The other thing we're going to do right now -- Remember I had a little bit of seasoning left over that we seasoned the pork with?

Let's go ahead and use that seasoning... ...on our vegetables.

Now we're going to add some flour.

We're not making a true roux, but basically, when you cook flour in oil or butter, it makes a roux.

But what we want here, we want not so much that traditional roux, but this is going to help make our gravy.

It's not browning off so much, but we do want to get rid of that floury taste.

I have some roasted tomatoes.

A little fresh thyme.

A few bay leaves, and never break them up.

Leave them whole.

We're going to get in a jalapeño pepper that's basically just diced up real small.

It's seeded.

Remember, we talk about that little zing?

Here's where we are, that little bit of zing.

You see we're starting to get some little goodies stuck to the pan?

A little white wine.

This wine will help deglaze the pan.

It'll give us a little moisture down here in the bottom.

Now we can go ahead and get our garlic in.

I tell you what.

Look at the color, because each one of those colors is a little different flavor.

Now, in this particular dish, I'm going to use beef stock.

And notice, I'm working the pan to get any of those little goodies that were stuck off the bottom of the pan.

So, you're going to notice as this starts to heat up, this is also going to thicken.

The reason this is going to thicken is because of that flour that we put in.

This is all going to come together to give a wonderful, wonderful flavor.

They're going to all get married in there.

It's like having a wonderful little ceremony of flavor.

And of course, hey, we have to get our pork back in.

So let's get our pork in.

And you notice I don't want to lose any of those juices that were there on the plate.

We're going to nestle our pork right on in here.

Oh, yes.

And you can see it's already starting to thicken up.

So, I'm going to turn this fire down, and we want to cover it.

Now, at home, I've let this simmer 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.

If I can stay away from it for an hour, I will let it go that long, but -- This cook so quick, but the longer it cooks, the more the flavors blend together.

So let's just cover it and give it a moment alone just for all those flavors to get together.

Let's check our seasoning.

Right where we want it.

And you know what?

Just now, just now, I got a little bit of -- a little tickle right back here.

This is ready to serve.

Now, I have a little rice that we cooked.

You know, we love rice.

we serve everything with rice.

Yes.

So we have our rice.

Let's go ahead and -- Oh, look how beautiful you look.

Oh, yes.

I think we can have one more piece right here on the top, right there on the top.

Now, of course, we have to finish this off.

Little, tiny bit of parsley.

Let's do a little bit of green onion.

There we go.

That pork sauce piquant was a capital idea!

Next, meatloaf with a flair, meatloaf with sweet glaze.

Baton Rouge is a middle ground of South Louisiana, a mix of Cajun and Creole with an international population that contributes to the city's diversity.

If you've ever been to Baton Rouge, you know the city has two huge universities, LSU and Southern.

Between those two college stadiums and all the local restaurants, during football season, there is an amazing amount of food served in the capital city.

Ooh-whee!

Who doesn't love a good meatloaf?

Especially sweet and savory, because we're going to make a nice glaze to go with our meatloaf.

So, in our skillet, tiny bit of oil.

We're going to pop in some onions.

We're going to put in a little garlic and get this sautéing.

I want just for these flavors to release a little bit.

That's why I don't need them to cook too long.

So now let's go ahead and get the seasoning for our meatloaf together.

What I'm going to put in our bowl -- We're going to start with an egg that's beaten, slightly beaten egg.

I'm going to put in a little bit of beef stock.

We're going to go in with a little tomato paste.

So, we're just going to give this a nice, little whisk to get this going, to get this smoothed out.

Now let's go in with a couple of tablespoons of sugar.

A little bit of red wine vinegar.

Now, we're using red wine vinegar.

If you want to use an apple cider vinegar -- Sometimes I use a cane vinegar that has a little sweetness to it.

Pinch of white pepper.

A little Worcestershire.

And I have a little Creole mustard, which is, you know, the ground mustard.

Alright.

So, that's in.

Let's turn our fire off on our onions.

Get in this little bit of parsley.

Okay, so now this can sit.

That's fine and dandy.

The other thing we're going to put in here -- We're going to go a little salt.

Little bit of our Creole seasoning.

Now, I have our ground meat sitting here.

I'm just going to open it up, make a little room.

Now, let's get this in.

Let's pour in our flavors here.

Oh, yes.

So we just want to make sure all this flavor, all these seasonings get mixed in really well.

So now let's add our onions and garlic.

Let's just get that right on in.

Basically, we want to make sure everything we put in gets spread out.

And now I'm using a seasoned bread crumb.

We'll get a little seasoned bread crumb in.

And, you know, every time you make this, it may be a little different, the amount of bread crumbs that you use.

Alright.

Our egg helps as a binder.

The bread crumbs act as a binder.

I think that's good.

I think that's a good texture.

Now, we're going to do this in a loaf pan.

So I'm going to take our loaf pan, and I'm just going to push it all to one side, which makes it a little easier to get in.

Oh, yeah.

Bacon.

Sometimes, I'll put bacon in the meatloaf, but today, what I want to do, I'm going to take our bacon, put it right across the top.

Now, there are times when I do the bacon where I'll do it long ways.

Alright?

Now, I have the oven preheating.

The oven is preheating at 350 degrees.

We're going to bake this in the oven anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half.

Basically, we want an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

So depending on how dense it is, it may take longer, depending on if you don't fill your pan all the way up -- Say you don't have 2 pounds of ground meat.

You only use 1 pound.

Well, of course, it'll take a little less.

So, let's get this in the oven.

Let's work on our glaze.

Now, in our pot, what I'm going to do -- we're going to go with a little coffee.

I don't know if you all like coffee.

I guess growing up down here, we grew up drinking coffee as kids.

It was just so good.

A little bit of whiskey.

A little bit of soy sauce.

And into this, we're going to put a little brown sugar.

Now, I want this just to come up to heat.

You know, when you hear about chefs talk about reducing, basically, reducing is bringing something to a boil.

The moisture evaporates.

That means the flavors are intensifying, okay?

So, as you can see, this is really, really hot.

It's come up to a boil.

So let's get in a little barbecue sauce.

A little Worcestershire.

And to sweeten the deal, a little honey.

As this cooks, those flavors are going to blend together.

The longer this cooks, the thicker it'll get.

But I don't like it too thick.

I like it to have a nice, little glaze, but not be too thick where it just sits on one spot, where it runs all over the serving.

So, we're going to let this cook, alright?

We're going to get cleaned up.

We're going to grab our meatloaf out of the oven, and I'll show you how this glaze is going to go wonderful on top of that bacon-topped meatloaf.

Now, I have to cut this to show it to you.

So I like to just take the bacon off the top, bring it here to the side.

Let's just make a couple of slices.

Oh, yes.

Here, let's get one more slice.

Now we lay that there.

Let's go ahead, take some of our glaze.

I don't know.

I'm almost tempted to just pour this over the entire thing, but I'll restrain myself.

Doesn't that look good?

And what I'll do, I like to put the glaze in, like, a little gravy boat, put it on the table.

Here, let's do a little parsley, little bit of green onion.

So, I think we did the capital good.

And I'll take this little piece and hide it right back here for me to have later.

Brown sugar glaze is the proverbial icing on that capital meatloaf, something to savor as we leave Baton Rouge.

Thank you so much for joining me on this culinary road trip.

Now, keep that party rolling.

Bring the big flavors of Louisiana to your home.

So see you next time for more "Cookin' Louisiana."

-The companion cookbook to "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" is available for $28 plus shipping and handling.

You can also order an hour-long DVD of favorite dishes from the series, for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

Both the book and favorites DVD are available for $43.95 plus shipping and handling.

To order these items, call 1-866-360-4928 or order online at wyes.org.

-Don't look!

They say a watched pot never boils.

So stop looking.

Because cream will never whip when you're looking.

Have you ever tried to do a cooking show where you can't move?

Because the audio is saying they hear rustling.

So that's why I'm standing here like this.

And I am just going to slowly try and cook without moving my arms.

Our dressing is here, and it's been sitting here, and the flavors have been ble-- blending.

[ Laughs ] B-B-B-B-B-Blending together.

♪ Ooh, yeah ♪ Whoo!

Yay!

Behind the back?

♪ The cream cheese!

Do the cream cheese, do the cream cheese!

[ Vocalizing ] ♪ Churn it, churn it, churn it, churn it!

♪ -For more information about "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana," visit wyes.org.

-Funding for "Kevin Belton's "Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by... ♪ O0 C1