After the walking tour of the French Quarter, we were hungry. That's good because we were treated to a cooking class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. The Chef, Michael Devdts treated us to Corn and Crab Bisque, Chicken Etouffee, Bananas Foster, and Pralines use as a palette cleanser, mmmmm! Chef Michael used humor and history to teach us how to make each dish.
due to the size of our group, the class was held in the old Jax Brewery building on the wharf in New Orleans. It was nice to have cold water, lemonade or a local brew after walking around the French Quarter. We started with a Corn and Crab Bisque, for the size of our group he made the blonde roux with a pound of butter and a pound of flour! When New Orleans was under French rule, the roux that was made was a "blonde" color meaning it wasn't as toasted as we think of Emeril or Chef Prudhomme. Chef Michael said to smell the roux as you are stirring it to detect when it just start to toast. He then added this to the pot he has started simmering the stock, spices and corn.
Our tailgunner, Ed Harmon, who likes to cook even got in on the act! Chef Michael stressed that you should always make a bigger pot and save some of the sauce for the next day and make another meal to keep New Orleans in your blood.
The School of Cooking book, which we purchased "Class Act", is a compliation of the recipes the school teaches. The book describes New Orleans as a "Gumbo Pot" critics will say that gumbo is just a take on the French Bouillabaisse. Anyone who has eaten good gumbo knows that "just aint so" New Orleans cuisine is "one big, well-seasoned cast iron pot that generations have poured the single ingredient most important to them, themselves." Gaze into that pot and you will see centuries of West African slaves, French, Spanish, English and American influences.
The book "Class Act" by John Demers says: "Recorded history tells us that New Orleans was French, then briefly Spanish, then French again even more briefly. Napoleon wanted to keep New Orleans and the massive piece of real estate stretching to Canada just long enough to sell it to the stupid Americans. And the Americans, led by Thomas Jefferson, were stupid enough to want it. With the purchase, young America nearly doubled in size. It also doubled in complexity. French, Spanish, African and Native American, who had enough trouble keeping each other in line, suddenly had to deal with the lowest class of party crasher yet - the American. And within a few decades, they had to open their weary arms again, to wave after wave of Sicilians, Irish, Germans, Greeks, Croatians and more. All apparently taking the Statue of Liberty at face value. As a city, New Orleans did not exactly jump up from our easy chairs and hug each new dirty-faced recruit, but we did make a bit more room on the couch. The languages were many, the barroom brawls were nonstop; but before long everybody married else's sister and decided getting along increased the chances of getting a good Sunday dinner. It is a different world now, The irony is that only now do politicians speak of diversity -we've had nothing but diversity for centuries. Only now do chefs speak of fusion - we've had nothing but fusion for as long as we have been cooking...Grim survivors that we have had to be, battered by weather, famine, flood and disease, we've understood from the start the simplest, most elusive truth: We need each other! So the next time you cook gumbo from a family recipe, remember that we're not only all in the same boat, we are in the same pot as well."
Rather than go on, I have posted the recipes that were fed to us at our lunch. Enjoy and as you cook and eat them, remember you are eating the history derived from the backs of slaves, the trappers, explorers, steamboat crews, and all the others that have made this part of the country special.
I included the last page because I used it to season my Corn and Crab Bisque. It was good and the salt content is slightly lower than other Cajun or Creole seasonings. The seasoning above contains 50 mg per 1/4 teaspoon, Old Bay is 140 mg per 1/4 teaspoon and Tony Chachere's comes in at a whopping 350 mg per 1/4 teaspoon. I am sure you can make your own that has less salt.
Tomorrow, we will head out in the evening for our last event of the trip. A dinner cruise on the steamboat Natchez with a jazz band, up and down the river. See you on the river!
Comentarios