Anyone Else Not Like New Orleans?

[Granny square]

I'm making my first kings cake today. can't wait! Using my friends recipe and instructions. I've never had one before.

 

[lucas]

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

 

[NotUrsula]

Paul Prudomme is a good chef, but was just pointing out that *blackened* anything is not south LA culture - that was his invention that *he* started calling cajun - to my knowledge it was not native to the area at all before him. If so, maybe some of my fellow south *Louisianians* can help me out.

That's correct. He created the fad. I know his family and went to school with several of his nieces and nephews; I have to tell you that our area was never as impressed with Paul as the rest of the country was; most locals do not consider him nearly as skilled as someone like John Folse, for instance. (Folse is a master -- he is from the Convent area but trained in Europe.)

FWIW, Spiciness at that level actually wasn't encountered much at all locally except in sausage; and the point of doing it in sausage is so that the rice and or beans would pick up the flavor but mellow it with their starch. Later, after people elsewhere started equating "Cajun" with "very spicy", then the locals got onto a kick of trying to outdo one another with how much heat they could tolerate. Now, I like my food to have flavor, but now that I have some money I don't need it to burn my mouth out - thats a poverty trick. (Cayenne is first and foremost a preservative -- it was originally adapted by Cajuns after the local Native American tribes showed them that it could be used to make it possible to safely eat partially spoiled food.

Growing up I spent a lot of time in the depths of rural Acadiana, and most older folks there would only consider "blackening" the less-desirable roasted game meats in the old days; it was done most often with things like a venison haunch that had been hanging too long, and you would scrape it off before you ate the meat. Also, we didn't actually EAT alligator in the old days except in Sauce Piquant during Lent -- we didn't take young gators because they were hunted for the hides, and mature gator has a texture that is highly reminescent of a steel-belted radial, IMO. (I really don't care if it tastes like chicken -- I don't eat that rubbery garbage unless I'm DANGED hungry. Also, FWIW, wild-caught gator really needs aromatic seasoning to make it palatable -- gamey does not BEGIN to describe the odor of raw wild gator meat. What you buy in restaurants these days is all farmed.)

(To qualify, I'm NOT Cajun. I'm Irish, but for reasons too complicated to go into, my immediate family immigrated to the New Orleans area just before I was born. My Dad was big on hunting and fishing though; we spent a lot of time out in the country and on the water when we were kids. We also spent a lot of time near Parasol's at this time of year, but that's another discussion, LOL.)

Can't beat Louisiana style red beans, sausage and rice either. It's a staple with us and it's on my menu for Thursday this week.

Red beans and rice is the one local food that I will not eat -- never could stand the stuff, except that I would pick out and rinse off the sausage to eat with my cornbread. I spent every Monday of the 12 years that I spent in school hungry, because it was guaranteed to be served every single Monday of the school year.

FWIW, however, for those who don't know the distinction: Cajun food was never traditional in greater New Orleans, and certainly not in the more fashionable parts of town. The traditional cuisine of the Crescent City is Creole, and tended to be just as hidebound in terms of preparation styles as French cuisine anywhere. Back in the 1960s a restaurant like Cochon would never have managed to stay in business, let alone become a difficult table to get.

PS: Happy Mardi Gras, all y'all! Laissez les bon temps rouler.

 

[NotUrsula]

That's correct. He created the fad. I know his family and went to school with several of his nieces and nephews; I have to tell you that our area was never as impressed with Paul as the rest of the country was; most locals do not consider him nearly as skilled as someone like John Folse, for instance. (Folse is a master -- he is from the Convent area but trained in Europe.)

FWIW, Spiciness at that level actually wasn't encountered much at all locally except in sausage; and the point of doing it in sausage is so that the rice and or beans would pick up the flavor but mellow it with their starch. Later, after people elsewhere started equating "Cajun" with "very spicy", then the locals got onto a kick of trying to outdo one another with how much heat they could tolerate. Now, I like my food to have flavor, but now that I have some money I don't need it to burn my mouth out - thats a poverty trick. (Cayenne is first and foremost a preservative -- it was originally adapted by Cajuns after the local Native American tribes showed them that it could be used to make it possible to safely eat partially spoiled food.

Growing up I spent a lot of time in the depths of rural Acadiana, and most older folks there would only consider "blackening" the less-desirable roasted game meats in the old days; it was done most often with things like a venison haunch that had been hanging too long, and you would scrape it off before you ate the meat. Also, we didn't actually EAT alligator in the old days except in Sauce Piquant during Lent -- we didn't take young gators because they were hunted for the hides, and mature gator has a texture that is highly reminescent of a steel-belted radial, IMO. (I really don't care if it tastes like chicken -- I don't eat that rubbery garbage unless I'm DANGED hungry. Also, FWIW, wild-caught gator really needs aromatic seasoning to make it palatable -- gamey does not BEGIN to describe the odor of raw wild gator meat. What you buy in restaurants these days is all farmed.)

(To qualify, I'm NOT Cajun. I'm Irish, but for reasons too complicated to go into, my immediate family immigrated to the New Orleans area just before I was born. My Dad was big on hunting and fishing though; we spent a lot of time out in the country and on the water when we were kids. We also spent a lot of time near Parasol's at this time of year, but that's another discussion, LOL.)



Red beans and rice is the one local food that I will not eat -- never could stand the stuff, except that I would pick out and rinse off the sausage to eat with my cornbread. I spent every Monday of the 12 years that I spent in school hungry, because it was guaranteed to be served every single Monday of the school year.

FWIW, however, for those who don't know the distinction: Cajun food was never traditional in greater New Orleans, and certainly not in the more fashionable parts of town. The traditional cuisine of the Crescent City is Creole, and tended to be just as hidebound in terms of preparation styles as French cuisine anywhere. Back in the 1960s a restaurant like Cochon would never have managed to stay in business, let alone become a difficult table to get.

PS: Happy Mardi Gras, all y'all! Laissez les bon temps rouler.

PPS: For the locals and former locals here, here is a new blast from the past for you if you didn't get to see Endymion roll this year: film of their 9 piece Ponchartrain Beach float, including a representation of the Zephyr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gUCzhGnvIw
(Seeing as how this is a theme park site and all, LOL.)

 

[EPCOTatNight]

 

[EPCOTatNight]

 

[Granny square]

Notursula I love the culinary history lesson! Thank you!

 

[ChiCat]

I'm definitely taking notes from the people that love NO in this thread. I have never been but have been dying to, so I'm going with two other girlfriends at the end of April! I hope it won't be too hot then. I'm OK with it having smelly parts and/or shady areas. I love big cities and all that comes with them

 

[Southernmiss]

April should be a beautiful time to be in new Orleans. Check to see what festivals are going on then.

 

[North of Mouse]

Thanks for the pics, Epcot! Looks like you had a good day Was afraid the rain would wash it away, but maybe it had passed.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Fantastic pics Epcot! Thanks for sharing. Wish it were sunnier for you.

 

[North of Mouse]

NotUrsula, can't believe you grew up with red beans & rice and never learned to like them We loved them so much, sometimes we would beg our mom to fix them more than once a week!

Of course, I married a yankee (no offense to other yankees, just mess with my dh all the time), and he had never seen a red kidney bean

I *had* to have them, so he learned to eat them. Now, he's the one that asks for them if I haven't cooked them in a while! Just asked for them again yest.

Oh, yes, south LA is not just a place to live, it is a *way of life*

 

[PrincessKsMom]

NotUrsula, can't believe you grew up with red beans & rice and never learned to like them We loved them so much, sometimes we would beg our mom to fix them more than once a week!

Of course, I married a yankee (no offense to other yankees, just mess with my dh all the time), and he had never seen a red kidney bean

I *had* to have them, so he learned to eat them. Now, he's the one that asks for them if I haven't cooked them in a while! Just asked for them again yest.

Oh, yes, south LA is not just a place to live, it is a *way of life*

As I read this I was thinking "we're talking about New Orleans why is is she talking about growing up in South Los Angeles."

 

[Robbi]

That's correct. He created the fad. I know his family and went to school with several of his nieces and nephews; I have to tell you that our area was never as impressed with Paul as the rest of the country was; most locals do not consider him nearly as skilled as someone like John Folse, for instance. (Folse is a master -- he is from the Convent area but trained in Europe.)

FWIW, Spiciness at that level actually wasn't encountered much at all locally except in sausage; and the point of doing it in sausage is so that the rice and or beans would pick up the flavor but mellow it with their starch. Later, after people elsewhere started equating "Cajun" with "very spicy", then the locals got onto a kick of trying to outdo one another with how much heat they could tolerate. Now, I like my food to have flavor, but now that I have some money I don't need it to burn my mouth out - thats a poverty trick. (Cayenne is first and foremost a preservative -- it was originally adapted by Cajuns after the local Native American tribes showed them that it could be used to make it possible to safely eat partially spoiled food.

Growing up I spent a lot of time in the depths of rural Acadiana, and most older folks there would only consider "blackening" the less-desirable roasted game meats in the old days; it was done most often with things like a venison haunch that had been hanging too long, and you would scrape it off before you ate the meat. Also, we didn't actually EAT alligator in the old days except in Sauce Piquant during Lent -- we didn't take young gators because they were hunted for the hides, and mature gator has a texture that is highly reminescent of a steel-belted radial, IMO. (I really don't care if it tastes like chicken -- I don't eat that rubbery garbage unless I'm DANGED hungry. Also, FWIW, wild-caught gator really needs aromatic seasoning to make it palatable -- gamey does not BEGIN to describe the odor of raw wild gator meat. What you buy in restaurants these days is all farmed.)

(To qualify, I'm NOT Cajun. I'm Irish, but for reasons too complicated to go into, my immediate family immigrated to the New Orleans area just before I was born. My Dad was big on hunting and fishing though; we spent a lot of time out in the country and on the water when we were kids. We also spent a lot of time near Parasol's at this time of year, but that's another discussion, LOL.)



Red beans and rice is the one local food that I will not eat -- never could stand the stuff, except that I would pick out and rinse off the sausage to eat with my cornbread. I spent every Monday of the 12 years that I spent in school hungry, because it was guaranteed to be served every single Monday of the school year.

FWIW, however, for those who don't know the distinction: Cajun food was never traditional in greater New Orleans, and certainly not in the more fashionable parts of town. The traditional cuisine of the Crescent City is Creole, and tended to be just as hidebound in terms of preparation styles as French cuisine anywhere. Back in the 1960s a restaurant like Cochon would never have managed to stay in business, let alone become a difficult table to get.

PS: Happy Mardi Gras, all y'all! Laissez les bon temps rouler.

I was and am just the opposite with red beans. Love the beans but will pick out every piece of sausage.

 

[North of Mouse]

As I read this I was thinking "we're talking about New Orleans why is is she talking about growing up in South Los Angeles."

Ahhh, yes, that is a *big* pet peeve of mine. Every state has an official abbreviation, and LA is for Louisiana. *Yet*, on the news, wherever, when LA is mentioned, it usually is meant for Los Angeles. Go figure
That's why, most of the time, I will just spell it out

 

[snarlingcoyote]

That's correct. He created the fad. I know his family and went to school with several of his nieces and nephews; I have to tell you that our area was never as impressed with Paul as the rest of the country was; most locals do not consider him nearly as skilled as someone like John Folse, for instance. (Folse is a master -- he is from the Convent area but trained in Europe.)

FWIW, Spiciness at that level actually wasn't encountered much at all locally except in sausage; and the point of doing it in sausage is so that the rice and or beans would pick up the flavor but mellow it with their starch. Later, after people elsewhere started equating "Cajun" with "very spicy", then the locals got onto a kick of trying to outdo one another with how much heat they could tolerate. Now, I like my food to have flavor, but now that I have some money I don't need it to burn my mouth out - thats a poverty trick. (Cayenne is first and foremost a preservative -- it was originally adapted by Cajuns after the local Native American tribes showed them that it could be used to make it possible to safely eat partially spoiled food.

Growing up I spent a lot of time in the depths of rural Acadiana, and most older folks there would only consider "blackening" the less-desirable roasted game meats in the old days; it was done most often with things like a venison haunch that had been hanging too long, and you would scrape it off before you ate the meat. Also, we didn't actually EAT alligator in the old days except in Sauce Piquant during Lent -- we didn't take young gators because they were hunted for the hides, and mature gator has a texture that is highly reminescent of a steel-belted radial, IMO. (I really don't care if it tastes like chicken -- I don't eat that rubbery garbage unless I'm DANGED hungry. Also, FWIW, wild-caught gator really needs aromatic seasoning to make it palatable -- gamey does not BEGIN to describe the odor of raw wild gator meat. What you buy in restaurants these days is all farmed.)

(To qualify, I'm NOT Cajun. I'm Irish, but for reasons too complicated to go into, my immediate family immigrated to the New Orleans area just before I was born. My Dad was big on hunting and fishing though; we spent a lot of time out in the country and on the water when we were kids. We also spent a lot of time near Parasol's at this time of year, but that's another discussion, LOL.)



Red beans and rice is the one local food that I will not eat -- never could stand the stuff, except that I would pick out and rinse off the sausage to eat with my cornbread. I spent every Monday of the 12 years that I spent in school hungry, because it was guaranteed to be served every single Monday of the school year.

FWIW, however, for those who don't know the distinction: Cajun food was never traditional in greater New Orleans, and certainly not in the more fashionable parts of town. The traditional cuisine of the Crescent City is Creole, and tended to be just as hidebound in terms of preparation styles as French cuisine anywhere. Back in the 1960s a restaurant like Cochon would never have managed to stay in business, let alone become a difficult table to get.
PS: Happy Mardi Gras, all y'all! Laissez les bon temps rouler.

Couchon may have started in NO, but the chef is from SW Louisiana and every time we go in there, DH and I taste something that is unique to our little cultural corner of the world, just dressed up and turned into Fancy. We laughed ourselves silly the last time - they used the recipe for cinnamon stick pickles (cross a pickle with a red hot candy and you've got the taste of it)but did it using watermelon rinds instead of cucumber rinds! Couchon is NOT creole cooking, nor, really, is it cajun cooking, at least as it is classically done in Lafayette or points east. . .it's more the sweet marriage of cultures that is SW Louisiana. It's Coonass cooking in a fancy setting, that's what it is!

 

[NotUrsula]

Couchon may have started in NO, but the chef is from SW Louisiana and every time we go in there, DH and I taste something that is unique to our little cultural corner of the world, just dressed up and turned into Fancy. We laughed ourselves silly the last time - they used the recipe for cinnamon stick pickles (cross a pickle with a red hot candy and you've got the taste of it)but did it using watermelon rinds instead of cucumber rinds! Couchon is NOT creole cooking, nor, really, is it cajun cooking, at least as it is classically done in Lafayette or points east. . .it's more the sweet marriage of cultures that is SW Louisiana. It's Coonass cooking in a fancy setting, that's what it is!

And that was my point ... back in the 60's, the average native New Orleanian wouldn't pay to eat "Coonass" food in a restaurant. It was considered much too déclassé to be commercially viable.

I have all of the River Roads cookbooks, and my original one (THE original one; I got it from an Aunt who was given the first edition when it came out in 1959) has a section called "How Men Cook" -- the good ladies of the BTR Junior League segregated all the game recipes into that section, as if it was permissible to eat the stuff when at the Camp, but not in the house, LOL. Lafayette's Talk About Good didn't go quite that far in 1967; it just has a separate section for Game. (I collect community cookbooks from the South, I have dozens of them from all over, but naturally, I have more from Louisiana than anywhere else.)

I think that when most people not from there think in terms of "classic" Cajun food, they think seafood, or crawfish at the least, and that's very true in the parishes closest to the Gulf and the Atchafalaya Basin, because those folks live on the water. However, as you and I both know, there are a lot of Cajuns who live further inland, and those folks did not traditionally eat as much seafood; back when you had to use a horse (or your feet) to get there, it was a danged long way from Mamou to Delcambre (heck, it still takes an hour and a half by road, not counting traffic in Lafayette.) Those folks ate a lot of chicken and pig and field greens, both wild and domestic, along with game, and thus you have the genesis of the food served at Cochon.

BTW, everyone I know who makes cinnamon pickles makes them with watermelon; I always thought that was the standard recipe.

 

[North of Mouse]

And that was my point ... back in the 60's, the average native New Orleanian wouldn't pay to eat "Coonass" food in a restaurant. It was considered much too déclassé to be commercially viable.

I have all of the River Roads cookbooks, and my original one (THE original one; I got it from an Aunt who was given the first edition when it came out in 1959) has a section called "How Men Cook" -- the good ladies of the BTR Junior League segregated all the game recipes into that section, as if it was permissible to eat the stuff when at the Camp, but not in the house, LOL. Lafayette's Talk About Good didn't go quite that far in 1967; it just has a separate section for Game. (I collect community cookbooks from the South, I have dozens of them from all over, but naturally, I have more from Louisiana than anywhere else.)

I think that when most people not from there think in terms of "classic" Cajun food, they think seafood, or crawfish at the least, and that's very true in the parishes closest to the Gulf and the Atchafalaya Basin, because those folks live on the water. However, as you and I both know, there are a lot of Cajuns who live further inland, and those folks did not traditionally eat as much seafood; back when you had to use a horse (or your feet) to get there, it was a danged long way from Mamou to Delcambre (heck, it still takes an hour and a half by road, not counting traffic in Lafayette.) Those folks ate a lot of chicken and pig and field greens, both wild and domestic, along with game, and thus you have the genesis of the food served at Cochon.

BTW, everyone I know who makes cinnamon pickles makes them with watermelon; I always thought that was the standard recipe.

When I was growing up, there was a *distinct* line between south LA and the north LA - actually there still is as far as food/coffee is concerned. The line has tended to blur more now though.

Also, I remember when *cajun anything* was considered lowest of the low They *made* the children speak English in schools, didn't want to hear any dialect of *cajun french*.

Then, came the time, when cajun was all the rage.

Oh, well, I digress. I could care less what anyone else thinks of the area, or even visiting it. We all know we have the greatest *food* in the world.

Oh, you had mentioned food not always being spicey (in another post). We always had well seasoned, spicey foods, my friends did too. Maybe that was more localized then, than now.

 

[NotUrsula]

...
Oh, you had mentioned food not always being spicey (in another post). We always had well seasoned, spicey foods, my friends did too. Maybe that was more localized then, than now.

Oh, I never meant bland, just not blisteringly hot. Now that I don't live in Louisiana any more, I find that in the rest of the country, if it is labeled "Cajun", it is guaranteed to make your nose run within the first minute -- they think that "Cajun" means so much cayenne that it has to hurt. That was never the norm in most foods when I was growing up. (We used cayenne, of course, but not so much that it made your nose run -- unless you had a cold and wanted it to, LOL.)

Of course, midwesterners who eat at my house often tell me that my cooking is spicy, but I don't see it that way because it is what we are used to. I don't even make gumbo for guests anymore unless I know that they are familiar with it, because they have a tendency to develop intestinal distress. (I was really embarassed by this when I first left Louisiana because I didn't know why it was happening. *I* was eating the same food and not getting sick, but my cooking was making people sick, as if I were not following proper hygiene standards. I finally got the answer: initial exposure to cayenne kills off certain intestinal flora; if you are not used to cayenne, the first time that you eat any quantity of it, it wll do this to you and cause diarrhea.)

PS: Just for fun, where's your traditional North/South line? We always put it at just a little north of Lecompte. Alexandria was definitely on the "Yankee" side of the line.

PPS: BTW, I never addressed the OP's original question. IME, NOLA is the kind of place that very few people can be neutral about: you either love it or hate it. Even among my siblings we divide right down the middle; two of us love the place, and two of us hate it. (Louisiana we all love, though we know she definitely has her glaring faults. Living elsewhere for a while now, I see them all too clearly, but I'll always miss the culture, and I go to great lengths to be sure that my kids know and cherish it, too.)

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My uncle traveled a lot. He had been to South America, Africa, Europe, etc. He's gone on safari, taken a boat on the Amazon, got pickpocketted in the Lima, Peru airport TWICE...

He HATED New Orleans. I don't really know why, except that I guess he felt it was one big party town, and he was not a party guy.