Kings Cake and Mardi Gras 2010

Mardi Gras is all about colorful parties, larger-than-life characters, big, raucous belly laughs, plastic Mardi Gras ‘bling’ and seriously delicious foods. One treat associated with the pre-Mardi Gras Carnival season is Kings Cake. Carnival begins on Twelfth night ( Epiphany) and ends at midnight on Mardi Gras ( Fat Tuesday). During that time, estimates are that New Orleaneans eat their fill of over 750,000 Kings Cakes.

New Orleans Kings Cake follows a tradition begun in France when bakers first created a special cake to celebrate Epiphany, the night when the Wise Men came through the desert bearing gifts for the baby Jesus. In these cakes a ceramic feve-favor or ‘bean’ (which represented fertility/the baby Jesus, etc., ) is hidden inside the cake, and whoever receives the ‘bean’ in their piece of cake is crowned King or Queen for a day. The newly crowned King or Queen must also supply the cake for the  following year’s festivities.

This sweet treat first appeared in New Orleans in January, 1870, at the first Twelfth Night ball presided over by the Lord of Misrule. That evening a large Kings Cake was presented to the guests. The cake was cut and slices were distributed with much merriment. Pieces of cake were lobbed up to those in the balcony from the tips of spears. Unfortunately, the piece with the hidden ‘bean’ went missing, so later the practice of packaging individual pieces of cake in little boxes came into practice.

Today in New Orleans, for fear of damaging a tooth on a ceramic ‘bean’ a different approach is taken. The ‘bean’ of choice is now a miniature, plastic baby, and one per cake is used. The plastic baby is not hidden in the cake but sits atop the cake, in plain view, for all to see. In fact, the plastic babies are considered collectible and desirable.

Cake-wise, New Orleans Kings Cake is different from the French version sold in pastry shops in Paris. The French version features light, puff-pastry ring which is filled with a dense almond cream ( frangipane). It is eaten at room temperature or heated slightly.

In New Orleans, the cake is a round or oval coffee cake, that is braided, iced, and festooned with green, gold and purple colored sugars, signifying faith, power and justice.

Our colorful Kings Cake was purchased at Bob’s Bakery in Chicopee. Tomorrow, February 16th, is the last day to buy a Kings Cake until next year. We’ll be sliciing and serving tastes of this cake as long as it lasts tomorrow. Stop by for a taste - which we will not serve from the end of a spear, we promise !

This Holiday Season Buy American Wild-Caught Gulf Shrimp

 

Louisians wild-caught shrimp

I was thrilled last week to find frozen Louisian wild-caught shrimp for sale at my small, local, family-run grocery store.  I had given up asking for it in the large, chain grocery stores and it never occurred to ask the folks here for it.  My, how quickly my routine ‘after-work’ shopping trip turned around into a giddy menu-planning adventure.

Here in the Northeast, we rarely have the opportunity to purchase Gulf shrimp. The artificially undercut and subsidized prices of  imported southeast Asia shrimp from high-volume shrimp farms make it problematic for stores to take an interest in slightly-higher priced domestic shrimp. Fear that consumers, obsessed with price over quality, will not respond to American Gulf shrimp, keeps them from stocking this superior product.

According to statistics from the Agriculture Department of the State of Louisiana, 85 % of the shrimp eaten by Americans is imported and pond-raised. This is a sad fact as American wild-caught shrimp is only a few dollars higher in price ( I paid 15.99 for a two-pound bag of large 20/24 count frozen,headless, un-peeled shrimp packed by Paul Piazza & Sons, New Orleans, LA. http://www.paulpiazza.com.)

Not only does my purchase support the efforts of hard-working Americans in the domestic shrimping industry, but I can cook and eat shrimp that tastes like the stupendous shrimp I feasted on in Louisiana. These shrimp are caught miles from the shore in the wide, free-flowing expanse of clean Gulf waters. This yields a completely different tasting shrimp from the foreign farm-raised shrimp that are born and raised in close-to-shore stagnent, polluted shrimp ‘ponds’.  ( For those with an interest in geography, Gulf shrimp are collectively caught in the waters of the following states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina) .

I became aware of the problems of American shrimpers last year ( and also of how much more delicious Gulf shrimp is ) when a writing project that I was working on brought me to visit Gerard Thomassie at the Louisiana Shrimp and Packing Co., Inc., Golden Meadow, Louisiana.

This area is south of New Orleans ( Cajun-country ! ) and home to many fish, oyster, crab and shrimp processors and the men who make their livelihoods in these declining industries. Gerard gave me a tour of his facility and told me the following. He buys shrimp from 100 or so shrimpers, a far smaller number of men ( and boats ) from the days when his father started the business in 1963.

fresh shrimp moving through the processing facility

His facility peels, deveins and freezes the shrimp, and during the height of the summer they can process 8,000 pounds of shrimp an hour. Work begins at 3:30 AM and ends about 5 or 6 PM.  Three types of Gulf shrimp are harvested in different seasons:

• white shrimp ( litopenaeus setiferus ): which acount for 35 % of the Gulf catch
• brown shrimp ( farfantepenaeus aztecus ): which live in the salt marshed and sea grasses along the coast, accouts for 55% of the catch. Brown shrimp are summer shrimp and have darker pignemtation and is considered the best tasting
• pink shrimp: the smallest catch and the remaining 10%

In the wild, the life cycle of the largest shrimp is only about 15 months. Gerard works three boats out in the Gulf ( one of which is named ‘Colors of the Blessed Mother’ ) and he showed me the sophisticated computer mapping and tracking system that he uses to keep watch over the boats. These programs tell him where the schools of shrimp are likely to be at any moment and what the word is from other boats out in the Gulf. Gerard also scans for bad weather and on-coming storms so that he can steer his boats and men to safer places.

a shrimp boat sits idle

Consider this: the United States is the largest importer of shrimp in the world. This fact, along with an over-supply and un-regulated glut of farm-raised shrimp from Asia and Mexico has caused the price of Gulf shrimp and the amount paid to U.S. shrimpers to drop continuously since the 1980′s.

The combination of reduced prices, increased fuel and supply costs and the current economic situation has caused significant hardship to the shrimp industry.

For me, an avid eater and cook, I want to buy and serve Gulf shrimp to my family and friends. Gulf shrimp are sweet and tender: they have not been treated with copious chemicals that sour the flavor and tighten the meat. The day I purchased these frozen Gulf shrimp in my local market ( and as many bags as I could pack into my freezer ) I made a point of thanking the grocer for stocking this product. ( Which is another way of asking that he please continue to sell these ! )

That night we feasted on an easy and delicious dish of very thin-sliced sweet onions sauteed with chunks of  Spanish sweet Chorizo and Lousisana shrimp in a little red wine reduction sauce. I served this in the manner that many shrimp dishes in Louisiana are served: with plain white rice  and a small green salad ( a fitting use for the last of my local radishes and tomatoes ). For a seasonal New England touch, we sipped chilled local semi-dry hard apple cider and felt on top of the world.

I will encourage my local store to continue carrying these shrimp and do my best to spread the word so others can make an informed purchase. For readers local to Northampton, MA  the market is Fosters Market located at 70 Allen Street in Greenfield. Fosters is a wonderful market with an old-fashioned, funky flavor and feel. It is small and quirky and has many local items and foods stuffs that other store do not carry, such as the Louisiana shimp, frozen Louisiana crayfish and whole frozen octopus. I rarely by produce anywhere else off-season and can count on them having Meyer Lemons all winter long.

A few last thoughts on the topic. Not only are Gulf shrimp sweet, tasty, and firm, but when I eat imported shrimp I become conjested and headachy a few hours after eating them. Long ago I stopped eating imported farm-raised shrimp for three reasons: bad taste, bad texture and bad physical reactions.

Thinking about this makes me  wonder about the increase in shrimp allergies among Americans. I wonder if the allergies are less a response to ‘shrimp’ and more a response to the polluted environment that imported farm-raised shrimp live in and the chemicals used to preserve them.

For a current article in Reuters profiling the Gulf shrimp industry, please click here: http://tiny.cc/zHLSV

a dish of Louisiana gumbo from Spahr’s Seafood Restaurant in Des Alemands, LA featuring           local Gulf shrimp

Room in the Bowl – IACP Gumbo Giveback Project

 

I had the honor of being one of the writers involved with the creation this seductive book  via the IACP Gumbo Giveback Project. Our diverse band of sixty photographers, writers and editors fanned out across the city of New Orleans and southern Louisiana over the course of three days last spring to interview and photograph chefs, shrimpers, crabbers, oystermen, restaurateurs, farmers, sausage makers, rice growers, crayfish farmers, and a file gumbo producer.

We covered a lot of ground and met some truly amazing people, who are indeed the heart and soul of this book. I was impressed and at times overwhelmed by the pride of place and humility expressed by everyone that I spoke with. This was my first trip to New Orleans and I fell in love with the people and the place with an intensity that I had not expected prior to my arrival. Since leaving, I have a constant gnawing feeling in my bones that I suspect won’t go away until I return.

We ate wonderful fresh seafood and gumbo and absorbed as much of the culture of Louisiana as we could. We admired the strength of those who had no choice but to continue on with life as usual after ‘the Storm (Hurricane Katrina). For me, this was one of the most enjoyable and special weeks of my life, and I shall always be grateful for the opportunity to be involved with such amazing group of people and so rich a project.

My interview with Chef Frank Brigtsen was a clear example of this man’s deep hospitality even as I took up valuable space in his small, busy kitchen about 4 PM on a Friday afternoon.

All of us who worked on this book were thrilled to donate our time and talents to the project. All net proceeds from the sale of this book will be divided equally between the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans and the Culinary Trust of the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

This book contains photographs and essays about the beloved dish known as gumbo – it is not a recipe book. Sales of this book will help to keep the food culture of New Orleans alive and healthy, and give those who purchase it a peek into the tasty world and history of Louisiana gumbo.

Click here to read what Judy Walker, Food Editor of  The Times-Picayune, New Orleans had to say about this book:  http://blog.nola.com/judywalker/2009/05/new_room_in_the_bowl_from_iacp.html

Who the proceeds recipients are:

The Culinary Trust solicits, manages and distributes funds for educational and charitable programs related to the culinary industry, and is the philanthropic partner of the IACP. Its Endangered Treasures Program recently funded the restoration of the world’s oldest existing cookery manuscript, the 9th century Apicius manuscript held by The New York Academy of Medicine.

The Southern Food and Beverage Museum is a nonprofit living history organization dedicated to the discovery, understanding and celebration of the food, drink and the related culture of the American South. It opened in June 2008 at the Riverwalk Marketplace in New Orleans. The museum hosts special exhibits, demonstrations, lectures and tastings that showcase the food and drink of the South. It cooperates with local and regional museums, restaurants, theaters, academic institutions and artists to present richly-textured experiences in multiple venues.

New Orleans: Food Heaven – The Sazerac Cocktail

There is so much social history and culture entwined with the food and drink of New Orleans that one can easily become entranced by the past and slip into a bygone era, forgetting about the present. In New Orleans, the past nourishes the present and the locals like it this way. Less may have changed here over time than in any other great American city, and traditions ( which exist despite the image of New Orleans as a raucus, vulgar, drink-yourself-into-a-stupor kind of place) and the old-ways are held aloft by locals with great pride.

The history of New Orleans steps side by side with the present, and I everyday I spent there I came to realize how much I did not know about the culture and real identity of this magnetic place. And how much I would like to learn. Ignorance is indeed bliss, but enlightenment does have it own rewards.

Imagine my surprise and delight to find out that one entire layer of New Orleans food history is actually a beverage history, one filled with stories and legends of a past and present time that celebrates the vigorous drinks and cocktails created in New Orleans. In fact, there is an event held every year in New Orleans called Tales of the Cocktail, which is a culinary and cocktail festival that features award-winning mixologists, authors, bartenders, chefs and designers in the New Orleans French Quarter for five days of cocktail events such as dinner-pairings, cocktail demos and tastings, seminars, mixing competitions, design expos, book-signings and much more.

New Orleans: Food Heaven – Cafe Du Monde

We usually avoid the touristy places no matter where we are. You know the ones…the places that are listed in every guidebook as a MUST SEE or MUST DO and when you get there you are all to often sorely disappointed and grumpy that you wasted your time.

Happily, Cafe Du Monde is NOT that type of tourist place -perhaps it is because the locals love it too, and their presence has kept it from becoming just another formerly-interesting-but-now-soul-less place. The cafe is open 24/7 and each time we were there ( it is addictive ) a small gathering of musicians had perched themselves on some rickety, folding chairs on the sidewalk in front of the cafe. From this coveted spot, they entertained the crowd and filled the room with wonderful New Orleans jazz.