Archive for the Category » Roux «
21
Dec 2011
Dec 2011
One of the best way to experience regional home cooking is to prepare recipes from community cookbooks. These cookbooks represent an organization’s best efforts to support various social causes while preserving local flavors, cultures, traditions, cooking styles and trends. What’s more, they’re all bound together by strong values and plenty of wisdom. One of my favorites is the original River Road Recipes by the Junior League of Baton Rouge. The series (there are now four books and an interactive edition of the first) is a true reflection of generational Creole, Cajun and Deep South cooking from home kitchens all over [ ... ]
Category: Christmas, Roux, Side Dishes, Thanksgiving, Vegetables
Tags: Home Cooking, New Orleans, New Orleans Cooking, New Orleans Recipes, White Roux 2 Comments
04
May 2011
May 2011
WOW! The first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival ranks up there with the best of the best. I couldn’t wait to get back in front of the computer to tell you all about it! Granted, I could have Tweeted my way through it all to keep you in “real time.” I simply chose not to. I needed to disconnect. Truly live in the moment. Besides, my hands were full. Very busy. Occupied with great food and lots of cold adult beverages. But hey, it’s all good. I’m sharing some high points right here and now!
For starters, [ ... ]
Category: Crawfish, Gumbo, New Orleans Classics, Poor Boys, Pork, Roux, Seafood
Tags: New Orleans Comments off
15
Jan 2011
Jan 2011
Just the other day, I was flipping through an old cookbook when out fell a recipe from the food section of the Times-Picayune, New Orleans’ daily newspaper. The clipping, which obviously had a few years on it, was a recipe for Crabmeat & Brie Soup from The Dakota, a suburban New Orleans restaurant. I had a vague recollection of that recipe and a similar one involving brie from Flagons A Wine & Bar Bistro. (Flagons was another great New Orleans restaurant that closed many years ago.) I remember wanting to borrow a couple of ideas from these two recipes to [ ... ]
Category: Crab, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Roux, Seafood, Soups
Tags: Crabmeat, Home Cooking, New Orleans Cooking, New Orleans Recipes, Recipe, Roux 2 Comments
06
Dec 2010
Dec 2010
I’ve never liked Shrimp Creole. Maybe it’s because my mom never cooked it or because the few restaurant versions that I’ve tried were disappointing. But oddly enough, it has always been a dish that I wanted to like.
I hadn’t thought much about my dysfunctional relationship with Shrimp Creole until recently while reading through a bunch of recipes and stories on roux-based dishes. Every time a Shrimp Creole reference crossed my desk, my mouth watered. They all sounded so rich, comforting and tasty, but my food memories recalled otherwise. I had never eaten a bowl of Shrimp Creole that was rich, [ ... ]
Category: Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Roux, Seafood, Shrimp, Stock
Tags: Creole Cooking, French Bread, New Orleans Recipes, Rice, Roux, Seafood, Shrimp Creole, Shrimp Recipes 8 Comments
15
Nov 2010
Nov 2010
Gumbo is one of the many New Orleans dishes steeped in tradition. Just about every family has their own unique style, cooked a certain way with specific ingredients. Each pot tells a story or reveals a bit of family history.
Our family gumbo was my great-grandmother’s Creole Seafood Gumbo. She graciously passed that recipe on to my mom who continued the tradition of preparing the dish for specials occasions. The pot was always teeming with fresh shrimp, previously boiled crabs (for extra flavor) and briny oysters. The gumbo was thickened with a light roux and canned okra and finished with tomato [ ... ]
Category: Chicken, Gumbo, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Pork, Roux, Stock
Tags: andouille sausage, cajun, creole, Gumbo, Roux 6 Comments
10
Nov 2010
Nov 2010
In my kitchen, broccoli is the chicken of the vegetable world. It’s available year-round, relatively inexpensive, versatile and easy to prepare. So we eat a lot of it around here. Okay, that’s not a honest statement. I eat a lot of it. My husband and kids, well, they favor the simple preparation of steamed or gently boiled broccoli drizzled with olive oil and dusted with kosher salt. That’s all good, but it gets boring after a while. So I occasionally push them beyond their broccoli comfort zones with preparations like this one.
Broccoli au Gratin is about as fancy as a [ ... ]
Category: Christmas, Roux, Side Dishes, Thanksgiving, Vegetables
Tags: Bechamel Sauce, Broccoli, Home Cooking, White Roux 2 Comments
06
Nov 2010
Nov 2010
Got a craving for crawfish? My husband does. And this time of year when live crawfish are not running (out of season) one of the only ways to satisfy his craving is with frozen Louisiana crawfish tails. In New Orleans, frozen crawfish tails are a heavily relied upon convenience food. Many folks outside of Louisiana are unaware of this great product, but it’s available in the frozen seafood department of most supermarkets across the country.
Now as much as I love the usefulness of frozen crawfish tails, their taste and texture take a small but noticeable hit during the freezing process. [ ... ]
Category: Crawfish, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Roux, Seafood
Tags: cajun, crawfish, creole, New Orleans Recipes, Roux, Seafood 10 Comments
05
Oct 2010
Oct 2010
Truth be told, I didn’t learn how to make a dark, rich roux from my family. My relatives, who are all incredibly talented and passionate cooks, prepare meals with a heavy Creole hand. So their sauces and gravies generally rely on butter-based white and blond roux. My mom’s Seafood Gumbo, a recipe handed down from my great-grandmother, also follows Creole lines. The gumbo is thickened with a light roux and okra and is flavored liberally with tomato sauce. I was a young adult before I associated the rich, smoky flavors of other gumbos, étouffées and dark gravies with a roux. [ ... ]
Category: Gumbo, New Orleans Classics, Roux
Tags: Gumbo, New Orleans Recipes, Recipe, Roux 3 Comments
02
Oct 2010
Oct 2010
There are many schools of thought on roux-making. Some cooks prefer the traditional and time-consuming approach of combining the flour and fat at room temperature then gradually increasing the heat until the mixture reaches the proper color and consistency. Others start their roux on the stove top and finish it in the oven. There are also folks who make it in the microwave or cook it dry by browning flour in the oven without any fat. I, on the other hand, have adopted the quick cook method described in Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen.
The quick cook [ ... ]
01
Oct 2010
Oct 2010
“First you make a roux” is that ubiquitous phrase associated with classic New Orleans and South Louisiana dishes. It’s written about in many cookbooks, debated in lots of food circles and feared by many professional and home cooks. But what exactly is a roux (pronounced “roo”)? Well, a roux is nothing more than fat and flour cooked together to a desired color and thickening capability used to enhance stocks and other liquids. The concept is simple, but the flavor, texture and color a roux lends to a dish is anything but!
Since roux is the cornerstone of New Orleans cooking, learning [ ... ]
