Carl's Blog

Rain, and some more rain… I knew when I headed this way that rain was forecasted for the New Orlean’s area and stupidly I thought it would help with the heat… Well yes it did drop the temperature a few degrees but it jacked up the humidity so my walk 2 mile walk along the river and down the city streets had me covered in sweat as if I had just run a 5K.

I’ve only been in New Orleans when the Christmas trip was up. The plaza looks unnatural without it.

Ignoring the sweat, it was a nice peaceful walk. Even got to see some of the street cleaners in action, probably the only time Bourbon street smells nice.

I continued my walk, almost timing the start of my cooking classes; however, I had to spend about 20 minutes relaxing in a coffee shop since I was early. Such a terrible situation (hehe)

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Now the cooking class…

I recommend taking the cooking class if you are every in New Orleans. Don’t do the demonstration followed by a meal class, pay for the you cook and eat what you cook class. Why? The class is smaller and you get to practice what the chef is telling you. You will wish you had the help with the clean up. There was an assistant the kept clearing away the empty bowls and cups. Also, the class I signed up for had all the ingredient pre-cut so if you want to learn how to cut vegetables you will have to select a different class. Now on to the cooking…

The first dish we prepared was a gumbo. I started lard melting into a pan, yes I said lard don’t question the method, which I then mixed in flour and stirred slowly until the flour cooked and became the color a milk chocolate.

While this is going on I had pot heating up some sausage, stirring only occasionally because you want the brown bits to get stuck to the bottom of the pot to improve the flavor of the gumbo.

I’m not going to give you the whole recipe here, because you need to take the class. But here is the pot of gumbo after the rue, sausage and chicken are combined together with chicken stock and a spice blend. This will continue to simmer on low while you prepare the rice and fish.

This was the first time I’ve had rice turn out correctly with out using a rice cooker. I started with melted butter and onions. Cooking the onions until the are soft but before they start to brown and caramelize. This was pecan rice so that this point I added in the pecans and stirred to coat them with the buttery onions. Keep heating on lowish setting until the pecans start to release their oils. Mix in the rice, pour in chicken stock, bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer place a lid on the rice and don’t touch it until its finished.

It’s now time to start the main dish of red fish. Again melt a good amount of butter in a pan, season the fish and the flour you will be coating the fish. Once the butter is hot add the fish being sure to lay the fillet in the pan away from you so if the hot butter splashes it will be away from you. (Nice tip I normally just plop my meat into the middle of the hot liquid. I do it slowly, but now I’ll add that extra step.

Cook the fish until it is about 75% of the way and then flip it over. Don’t burn the butter, it will be used in a moment to create an almond sauce. Remove and plate the fish fillet and continue with that almond sauce. Again you will need to take the class to get the full recipe. Yes, I’m evil, sorry not sorry.

And here is my lunch cooked by my own hands at the directions of Chef Austin. Sorry not going to try to spell his last name, it started with an F and is very New Orleans. I may have put too much sauce on my fish, but I didn’t want it to go to waste.

All of it was very good, if I do say so myself. The cook did an amazing job.

After finishing lunch it was time for Banana Foster. Chef Austin told the story of where this dish originated.

From Wikipedia: “In 1951, Ella Brennan and the restaurant’s chef Paul Blangé worked together to modify a dish made by Ella’s mother in the Brennan family home. At this time, New Orleans was a major hub for the import of bananas from South America. It was named for Richard Foster, the chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission and a friend of restaurant owner Owen Brennan.”

You can learn a bit more with this article from NPR, The Sweet Success of Banana Foster …

Now let’s see the dish in action. The sparks in the flame are from magic powder, ok it’s only cinnamon, but thinking it’s magical adds to the fun.

I am very full after all that food and it’s getting ready to rain again so I’m heading back to the hotel to write up this portion of today’s blog and try to digest my lunch. Again, if you are ever in New Orleans be sure to take a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking or book a class here on their website. They have 10 AM classes and 6 PM classes with different menus on different days and times. But the Banana Foster is almost in every class. Who doesn’t like a open flame in the middle of the dinner table.

I was going to wait until later tonight to post this update, but I’m going to do it now and just make another post for tonight’s river boat tour.