Photo by Teresa Day
Hot, silky gumbo over rice is the iconic comfort food of fall in the South and seems to be acceptable fare for all occasions from national holidays to random Tuesdays. Essentially, gumbo is a mélange, or mixture, often of inconsistent elements. This doesn’t necessarily mean that each gumbo’s ingredients don’t go together, just that recipes vary widely by region and family history. Some recipes fall along traditional lines while others are subject to heated debate. Some gumbos are legendary among family members, and some are lucky enough to win community-wide favor. One such widely loved gumbo can be found in Zachary, Louisiana, and it is available for pick up almost anytime you want it.
In the way that gumbo—both the metaphor and the dish—is a stand-in for the melting-pot nature of Louisiana cooking, the Mier family’s gumbo recipe can be credited to family influence across South Louisiana from Acadiana to the Florida Parishes. Paul Mier, his wife Kayla, Paul’s sister Rachel, and her husband Jeff Gruner together have owned Chris’ Specialty Meats in Zachary since 2006. It is from this small shop, tucked in among other local businesses in the middle of town on the city’s main east-west stretch that you can find chicken and sausage gumbo to die for—and get it to go.
Paul and his crew dole out gallons of chicken and sausage gumbo for patrons each week. Because they are cooking in such large batches, Paul said, they can sell gumbo-for-two at a much lower cost than making it at home. Customers can buy Chris’ Specialty Meats’ gumbo in small, medium, large, and—wait for it—jumbo sizes. “We do it as good as or better than Grandma,” Paul declared.
Chris’ chicken and sausage gumbo is made with tender chicken and smoky sausage bathed in a rich, golden-brown roux and seasoned with a touch of heat. You’ll find sprinkles of sweet red bell pepper throughout, but you won’t find an okra pod in this recipe.
Paul and his cooks stay true to traditional methods for preparing Cajun food. A firm believer in “black pot” cooking, Paul makes gumbo, and several other Cajun specialties sold at Chris’, in a black, thirty-gallon cast iron pot, seasoned to perfection, as his ancestors would have done. For many of the shop’s dishes, Paul first prepares the pot by sautéing, almost blackening, the meat, creating a seasoning layer on the pot that gives each dish a rich flavor and deep color. “If you don’t take the time to almost blacken it, the meat won’t taste or look the way it should,” he explained. “Don’t stir until it starts to stick to the bottom a little; you want the brown, rich crust on the bottom, bringing out the flavors.”
In a wildly creative culinary era in which nearly every traditional dish is being turned on its head, Paul is preserving Cajun classics while enhancing their flavors when appropriate. For example, the jambalaya at Chris’ is prepared with the traditional ingredients of chicken, pork, and sausage, but enriched with layers of flavor. Two flavors of sausage are used as well as several cuts of pork outside of the norm, like smoked pork shoulder, to add more depth and texture. And of course, he cooks his jambalaya in that big black pot as well. Chris’ processes its sausages and smokes its meats in-house with pecan wood, using these meats in their prepared dishes.
Paul handles the store’s day-to-day operations. While his background is in nursing, he’d always been a cook and saw an opportunity to bring to Zachary something it didn’t have—a resource for specialty meats and Cajun classics to go. Today, Chris’ Specialty Meats sells an extensive menu of items, including popular casseroles and side dishes as well as main dishes like stuffed chickens, seasoned duck breasts, and the holiday favorite turducken, all available fresh or frozen in a variety of sizes, from dinner-for-two to catering-size portions.
Along with Chris’ gumbo, several of the store’s recipes are Paul’s original creations or have been passed down from both sides of the family and from all across South Louisiana. “My parents are from Rayne and Church Point,” Paul said. “I’m one hundred percent Cajun.” Which explains what he calls his “Cajun tongue” and knack for knowing what people want when it comes to Louisiana’s most memorable foods. “We believe in the old-fashioned method of making something out of nothing,” he said. This, for instance, includes smothering turkey bones for their scratch-made stock, which is used to make the shop’s turkey gravy.
Cajun roots run deep in the Mier family, and its members are fiercely proud of their Cajun heritage. Paul’s mother Kathleen, a retired schoolteacher, shares Acadian history in local schools as the “Cajun Lady,” wielding her thick, Cajun accent. Visitors to the store can see Cajun rural life preserved in artist Floyd Sonnier’s work on the walls. As a boy, Floyd, who happens to be Paul’s uncle, drew his surroundings with pieces of charcoal from cooled ashes. In his most recognizable works, the late pen-and-ink artist always made sure to include a black pot in each of his drawings, signifying the influence of Cajun cooking in his work.
The Miers also own Cajun Catch restaurant, just two doors down from Chris’ Specialty Meats. Chris’ locations are also independently owned by other franchisees in Baton Rouge and Prairieville. Paul hopes to expand in the future, but the restaurant and shop are keeping him plenty busy, and he’s happy to be selling and serving marvelous gumbo in Zachary for now. The Miers have two girls, Kaitlyn, 11, and Emily, 9, who love to help out in the restaurant. Already entrepreneurs like their parents, the girls even run their own gumball business by managing a machine in Cajun Catch. Paul is thankful, too, for those who cook with him every day, serving friends and neighbors who stop by as customers. “One thing’s for sure, we wouldn’t be in business if it weren’t for the people who work here,” Paul said.
This Zachary family not only serves up Cajun comfort food to willing patrons, they do their part to feed the hungry in the community, too. Chris’ Specialty Meats, along with the City of Zachary and other local businesses, will participate again in the 2014 Zachary Community Food Bank Pack the Pantry Food Drive. Pack the Pantry, now in its third year, will be held throughout the month of November with several events and drop-off locations organized by the City of Zachary. If you’re hankering for gumbo on Friday, November 14, buy a $5 ticket for the Pack the Pantry gumbo sale, where Paul, along with a team of cooks, will be serving up his renowned gumbo in the City of Zachary parking lot. Gumbo tickets are being sold at the Zachary City Hall, at Chris’s Specialty Meats, and during the day of the event. All of the gumbo sale proceeds will go directly to the Zachary Community Food Pantry.
Although he’s modest about his family’s community support, it’s not hard to see that Paul is proud to share something as comforting as a steaming bowl of gumbo with his fellow citizens for a good cause. “I live by the pass-it-on theory,” said Paul. “My community has been there for me, and so I try to be there for them. … I felt I was making a difference as a nurse at the hospital, but now I get to do with food. I’m blessed, I really am.”
Details. Details. Details. Chris’ Specialty Meats 4347 High Street Zachary, La. (225) 654-7776 • chrisspecialtymeats.com Cajun Catch 4347 High Street Zachary, La. (225) 654-6844
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