Rest in Peace, Justin, but...

Anyone who knows me, or is even in my presence more than 30 seconds, knows that Justin Wilson is one of my heroes. I say "is" and not "was", because even though he no longer lives and breathes, he lives on in my thoughts, not to mention on PBS re-runs. Heck, I even own a couple of his cook books and watched his shows every week for years. By education and experience he was an Industrial Safety Engineer, but got into stand-up comedy and cooking late in life. He could tell the funniest Cajun stories, and where it came to Cajun cooking he could do no wrong.

Until now.

In keeping with our Shrimp theme for the month of February, I've been exploring various shrimp dishes. Justin has a recipe for shrimp patties, a dish I'd never tried. Having some time over the weekend, I decided it was time to fire up the peanut oil and see what the dish was like. Sorry, Justin, but it just didn't do it for me.

The dish is simple enough--raw shrimp (processed much like ground beef), onions, garlic, salt. He suggests making decent sized patties, fried crispy, and eaten plain or dressed on a hamburger bun. Sorry to say, those of us who tried it were completely unimpressed. There are better uses for crustaceans.

Justin, your gumbos and jambalayas are still the best of the best, and no one etouffees crawfish or stirs a roux better than you do. I still love you and your cooking, always will, but even the greatest of chefs sometimes mess up. This may have been your one and only time.

Rest In Peace, Justin

kb