Cajun and Creole Cuisines have come to be known for their affinity for spice. People all over the Bayou State love adding a dash of Louisiana-style hot sauce—made from red chile peppers, vinegar, and salt—to just about everything, including gumbo, red beans and rice, even eggs and pizza. Local brands have made names for themselves with the spicy and vinegary product that can now be found on dinner tables across the country.
One brand that has set itself apart in the hot sauce landscape is Slap Ya Mama. Throughout the years, the company best known for its Cajun seasoning blend and quirky name expanded its product line to include dinner mixes, fish fry, seafood boil, and hot sauces.
Anthony “TW” Walker created Slap Ya Mama’s original seasoning blend in 1996 while running the family deli in Ville Platte, a small town in Cajun country that’s known as the “Smoked Meat Capital of the World.” Customers had complained about the saltiness of the seasoning he was using, so he set out to concoct his own, experimenting until he found the perfect blend.
Customers went crazy for it, and the Walkers decided to sell it at the deli. They started blending it themselves, with TW’s sons, Jack and Joe, rolling an antique pickle jar back and forth to mix it. Through it all, friends and family were there to spread the word about the homegrown Cajun seasoning.
“The community in Ville Platte is really unlike any other,” says Jack, now vice president of marketing. “Everybody treats everybody as family, and everybody’s there to lend a helping hand.”
Slap Ya Mama is still headquartered in Ville Platte, where friends and family help test new products and ensure that they meet the standards of the Cajun palate. Customers are at the heart of every new product Slap Ya Mama puts out, including its line of hot sauces, which the company decided to create after many requests for it.
Slap Ya Mama offers three varieties of hot sauce: Cajun Pepper Sauce, Cajun Hot Sauce, and Green Pepper Sauce. Each sauce is made from peppers, vinegar, salt, and the same blend of spices in the Cajun Seasoning.
Slap Ya Mama’s Cajun Hot Sauce turns up the heat in the buffalo sauce in this fun po’ boy, while their Cajun Fish Fry provides the perfect amount of crunch for the alligator meat. Top it with the creamy Blue Cheese Celery Slaw, and you’ve got quite the treat on your hands.
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- 1 cup Slap Ya Mama Cajun Hot Sauce
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 pound alligator meat, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 (12-ounce) box Slap Ya Mama Cajun Fish Fry
- 6 (8-inch) New Orleans-style French bread pieces, split
- Blue Cheese Celery Slaw (recipe follows)
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 handful chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ (16-ounce) bag tricolor coleslaw mix
- 2 cups thinly sliced celery
- 1 (5-ounce) container crumbled blue cheese
- In a large Dutch oven, pour oil to a depth of 2 inches, and heat over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350°.
- In a medium saucepan, bring hot sauce, butter, garlic powder, and Worcestershire to a simmer. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a large bowl, toss together alligator meat and fish fry coating, shaking off excess. Carefully add to hot oil in batches, and fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Let drain on paper towels. Toss in warm buffalo sauce.
- Place 8 to 10 alligator nuggets on bottom of each French bread piece, and top with Blue Cheese Celery Slaw. Serve immediately.
- In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, celery salt, and pepper.
- In a large bowl, combine coleslaw mix, celery, and blue cheese. Add sour cream mixture to coleslaw mixture, and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
