Pistolets are used for stuffing and frying, and, for making handy
sandwiches. Also known as "French Rolls" the Pistolets dough recipe is
usually a French Bread recipe.
If you're going to do stuffed Pistolets look for rolls in your grocery
that are not well browned. If you can find a dinner roll that is a
"brown and serve" about 4 to 6 inches long you've got the best
candidate. If all you can find are browned rolls use that.
You'll most often find Pistolets stuffed with crawfish and shrimp down
here. There's really no limit to what you can stuff them with... just
depends on what you like! Sausage, veggies... whatever. Be imaginative
by using two main ingredients that complement each other
In general, one pound of meat will stuff 10 to 12 rolls depending on the
size of the roll and how much mixture you stuff them with.
The mixture should have a richness to it since it's going to be
surrounded by bread. For instance, you could use my stuffed crab recipe
using 1/4 the bread. You can also use the stuffed crab recipe
substituting the crab with shrimp or crawfish.
Another popular method is using cheese and condensed soup (undiluted) to
thicken the mixture.
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Here's a for instance...using crawfish
1/4 stick butter
1 medium onion chopped fine
1 stalk celery chopped fine
1/2 bell pepper chopped fine
Sauté the above in the butter until wilted and add the following:
1 lb crawfish roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped fine
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
5 drops liquid crab boil (if the crawfish are purchased at the store)
1 tsp. salt
Sauté this until nice and hot and add the following
1/2 cup green onions
parsley flakes
1 can cream of celery soup, undiluted (or your favorite)
1 lb. Velveeta cheese
Cook on med-low fire until it all comes together nicely. Taste and
season if needed. Let cool until it thickens a little.
Never put raw meats into the Pistolets... never!
Take a knife and slit one end of the Pistolet then dig out about 1/2 of
the bread to make room for the stuffing. Spoon the stuffing (about 1/4
cup) into the Pistolets. You can seal the end you slit open with a
little egg and milk mixture and pinch it if you wish, or just stuff a
little piece of bread you removed to seal the hole.
Bake these at about 400ºF until brown or fry until brown. Brush with
butter if you bake them.
Don't over do the cooking...!
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Another variation is making a thickened Crawfish Etouffee type of dish
and stuffing them with that.