Cooking Through Cultures: Pickapeppa Sauce With Cream Cheese

My mom grew up in Southern Louisiana and so we have always had a lot of Cajun and Louisiana food influences in our home – my brothers and I can all peel blue crab with ease and precision attaining large chunks of meat in quick time, we can pinch the tail and suck the head of a crawfish with gusto, most of us can cook a pretty mean gumbo; we love an authentic king cake, and we know how to bite into a beignet without inhaling the mountain of powdered sugar on top and choking a bit, usually. These are all traits my girls are learning too.

One of our favorite family snacks hailing from cajun country is Pickapeppa and cream cheese. We ate this all the time growing up – my mom brought it to potluck parties and served it at dinners at home. My brothers and I almost always have a bottle of Jamaican Pickapeppa at the ready for an afternoon snack or an appetizer before dinner. This past weekend my mom reminded me that this lovely (and easy) spicy cream cheese goodness was featured in The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – which is set in Southern Louisiana too.

Here’s the simple recipe – even my northern friends and family have grown to love:

Ingredients:

• A block of cream cheese
• A bottle of Pickapeppa Sauce (found in the bar-b-que section of you local grocery store)
• Wheat thins (or your cracker of choice)

Place the cream cheese on a plate, generously cover with Pickapeppa Sauce until it’s pouring over the sides, and devour with wheat thins – no knife needed. Enjoy & Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!