Shake Some A.S.S.

Anthony's Secret Seasoning has its foundation in the Cajun cooking prowess of Mary Lee Richard Hébert! 

As young boys my brother Leon and I, as well as my other siblings and father, enjoyed "the best" of Cajun and other cuisine at our family’s dinner table. 

To put it simply, my mother was the best mother and cook in the world!  And as I began to share her love of cooking, I often asked her for the recipe for different dishes that she made.  Her response was always one of angst, not because she wanted to keep anything secret, but because she was a true artist with very little written down.  She would always say, "Why don't you just let me show you...." And this is when I knew I was in the presence of greatness, "The Ole Master" as my dad and I used to call her.  I feverishly tried to write down everything I observed, but the one thing that was never quantifiable was the amounts of spices.  She would make everything to taste, and it always came out the same…extraordinarily marvelous!  Now I knew what spices she used, a combination of store bought mixes "doctored" with additions of spices she wanted to accent in the dish, but never specific quantities.  My mother's untimely death in 1991 initiated my quest to replicate her "formula" for the finest cooking in the world.  I began mixing my own formulation with store bought mixes and other spices added as she did.  I finally came up with a blend and called it Tony's Secret Seasoning! 

At a family gathering I used it and my brother Leon liked it and was intrigued. 

Leon had two issues with the mix.....

1) He has called me Anthony since birth, insisted on changing the name, ... and A.S.S. was born in early 1993!!!

2) He wanted us to refine the mixture and build it from scratch using no store bought mixes.  This is where his inherited talent as a cook came into play, as he wanted to take things farther than my mother ever had!

At first he and I would just laugh about the name and mix up small amounts.  Then the scientist in me kicked into full blown research and data gathering on the potential blends.  And over the years we have conducted “A.S.S. Research” at family gatherings to remember “The Ole Master” and arrive at the basic blend as well as variations.

Like anything truly great, as time goes by, the memory of my mother's cooking solidifies into something unobtainable by mere mortals like my brother and me.   But I think we are very close.....

Now go shake some A.S.S. and achieve your own greatness!

Bon appetit,

​Anthony J. Hébert

Co-Founder