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Sunday, January 08, 2012

Blackened Cajun Strips: The Beginning

Back when I was single, one of my favourite guilty pleasures was to go to Red Robin with a book and dine on their best dish, the blackened Cajun strips. Served in a basket with steak fries, the strips were make of chicken rolled in a blend of Cajun spices and blackened. I absolutely loved them, but about a decade ago or more, Red Robin took them off the menu, and they've been missing ever since.

If you search for "blackened Cajun strips Red Robin," the results are slim; if not for a few other complainers, you'd hardly know the item ever existed.

After their initial disappearance, the strips did return for a brief time, but since their second removal from the menu they haven't been seen since, and I despair that they'll ever return. This means that I must learn how to create this item myself - a daunting proposition, since I loathe cooking. But I'll give it a try. In the near future, I'll find the recipe, ingredients and tools necessary to make my own blackened Cajun strips, and I'll share the results here.

9 comments:

Sean Woods said...

I somewhat believe in you.

Stephen Fitzpatrick said...

I'm a long ways from being an expert, but I have blackened on a couple of occasions, and will share what little I know. The first is that you need a very, very hot cast-iron frying pan, and the second is that you really, really don't want to do it indoors. Good luck!

Andrea said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andrea said...

Have you tried this recipe?

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blackened-chicken/

"The Last OutJeff" said...

Absolutely do not use a nonstick pan. The high heat will denature Teflon in a Teflon pan, releasing unhealthy fumes. It will also flake and crack stoneware pans, also bad. Cast iron is the way to go.

You can find the Paul Prudhomme blackening seasoning in grocery stores. It's super tasty, although anything Prudhomme is not going to be healthy, either.

Red Robin also let go their popcorn shrimp, that was a long time ago. They seem dead set on being McDonalds with a liquor license.

Earl J. Woods said...

Thanks for the suggestions, gang! We have a cast iron frying pan, and I'll try the Prudhomme's with Andrea's recipe. Can't do much about the indoor/outdoor thing though...maybe with all the windows open?

Stephen Fitzpatrick said...

In our townhouse, I opened ALL the windows, both doors, and put a 16" fan by the kitchen window facing outwards on full power.

Still set off two smoke detectors.

Rotsa ruck, chief!

Unknown said...

WAY late to this discussion - but did you ever find an adequate recipe to make those Red Robin style Blackened Strips? I was feeling nostalgic and... hungry, lol. Curious!

Anonymous said...

Still miss them 😢