Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans

Caught the audio review and interview with Marcelle Bienvenue on NPR public radio yesterday on the show All Things Considered and immediately wanted to make sure that the interview and book get plugged for this noteworthy reminder of how important food is to New Orleans and Louisiana communities. I had the pleasure of working with Marcelle for a few years in a support role while working at Emeril’s Homebase, LLC in New Orleans, she was a culinary writer and contributor for many of Emeril’s books and web content, I was an IT tech and on occasion I got to help her with technical PC issues both at work and home.

It was refreshing to hear her voice again as I recalled my own endeavor to document the rich culinary heritage from our family and my 21 years of restaurant experience.

The book is the result of a response to the post-Katrina community pulling together lost recipes through the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper food section entitled “Exchange Alley” where folks traded lost and found recipes. Exchange Alley is a short one block street in the French Quarter on the side of the Saint Louis Cathedral which is directly across from Jackson Square.

I have not read the cookbook but it should be a great resource of recipes and stories about food and cooking in and around southeast Louisiana, some of the recipes go as far back as the 1950’s such as gumbos, etouffees, and other Cajun and Creole preparations. I am looking forward to obtaining a copy of this refreshing reminder that some good can always come out of a bad situation.

Just something created last night with some fresh shrimp available and we had a hankering for some pasta too! This light tomato based sauce also has some spinach and a sprinkling of fresh grated Parmesan cheese and blue cheese crumbles adds a twist of innovation and flavor. Served over fresh al dente angel hair makes this a real treat. Monique has another shrimp spaghetti recipe that she makes in a more traditional tomato sauce preparation so I named this version in honor of her.

In recent years I have noticed the increased frequency of incidents and reports describing contaminated food items or food-borne illness outbreaks. Just in the last 18 to 24 months or so I can remember a few of them off the top of my head, such as green onions contaminated with E Coli at Taco Bell’s across the northeast, salmonella tainted tomatoes from Florida and Mexico, spinach recalled due to E Coli, baby formula from China contaminated with melamine. Today I read about dioxins found in pigs in Ireland and now they are being culled from the food supply chain.

In the restaurant business Food Service Sanitation is one of those “must have” courses that also includes a certification exam to ensure students are able to understand all the facets of food-borne illness and how to prevent it from happening. In the restaurant industry most local or county governments require establishments to post and prominently display their most recent inspection rating. In our area most of the places seem to be in the 90-100 range, with a few in the low 90’s and very few if any at the 100 rating. When we go to restaurants now one of the first things that Ben looks for is the food safety sanitation inspection rating, and knowing it is in the 90’s makes you feel like it should be safe to eat their food, but you never really know what the restaurant got marks off and have to wonder some.

Have you ever opened up a food item that you purchased at the grocery only to find that it has spoiled or is rotten before the expiration date? Or have you gotten home from the grocery and noticed that the dairy product is past the expiration date because you forgot to check the date?  Typically I am really good about checking the expiration or “Use By” dates on packaging and a few weeks ago I remember some yogurts were over a week out of date and they were still on sale in the dairy case! Amazing that these items were not culled and pulled from the shelves. I know that most cultured dairy products are okay a few days past expiration, but more than 10 days is really pushing it.

Or have you opened up a frozen item days later your purchase and noticed that the product appears to have been thawed and re-frozen? This indicates that the item was stored out of refrigeration long enough and then re-frozen, also indicating a lack of proper shipping. Products like this create a high risk food item, and needs to be returned. I have also noticed lately at the grocery that fresh strawberries seem to go bad sooner than before. I will buy a container of them and within less than a week they start to mold and deteriorate. This indicates to me that the strawberries were shipped and held out of refrigeration for extended periods, or there is some inventory overstocking and they are not selling fast enough.

How concerned are you about the state of our food supply? Do you think that sanitation requirements and regulations set by the FDA, USDA and local government health and safety organizations for restaurants, food processors and food suppliers is strong enough?  How much control do we really have in knowing that our food supply chain is going to be safe? Many questions to ponder and discuss.

On the FohBoh web site for The Restaurant Community I found a post by Kristen Siquerios dated November 20, 2008 and entitled Cooking a Thanksgiving Turkey! So I took a few minutes to add my 2 cents worth of tips for creating a memorable Thanksgiving main event meal. She mentions that it is her first time cooking the meal with her Mother-in-law having a birthday coming up and requested any ideas on ensuring a successful Thanksgiving dinner.

Here are a few tips, ideas and options that I came up with on the fly.

1. Make sure the turkey is completely thawed out prior to roasting, for a 20 lb. bird if it is still frozen you should have taken it out of the freezer by now (4 – 5 days before marinating or roasting) and put it in the refrigerator. Now, if it is still in a frozen state you can speed up the process by setting in a large container and then into your kitchen sink and run some cool tap water over it continuously.

2. Brine marinade works wonders for flavor, moistness and juicy tender meat. In fact a beer brine marinade is great for any poultry. Get a 6-pack of beer and open them up into a large mixing bowl, and then add about 1 1/2 cups of coarse sea salt, and 1 cup sugar and dissolve, then add 1 Tbsp black pepper corns, 1 Tbsp Juniper berries, 1 tsp nutmeg and a few bay leaves. Allow the thawed bird to marinate at least overnight before roasting. Then remove from the marinade and transfer to the roasting pan and season the outside and cavity with coarse sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

3. Another option is to inject the turkey meat with an herbal compound butter that has been melted. Take 1 lb butter and melt, and then combine with 1/2 Tbsp each of the following chopped fresh herbs: rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, sage. Add 1 Tsp salt and 1 Tsp pepper. Allow the herbs to set a bit to mix well with the melted butter. Then using an injector syringe gently infuse the herbal butter between the skin and meat and between the meat and bones in as many locations around the breast and thighs as you can. Then you can allow this to marinate overnight or roast immediately. And as mentioned in #2, season the outside and the cavity before roasting.

4. Of course a deep fried turkey is among the most tender and moist you will ever find. A word of caution: be sure that your burner is outdoors and at least 20 feet away from any open structure or building such as your home, shed, car port or any covered area as well. I have not actually deep fried a turkey but I have seen them done on many occasions and have been fortunate enough to partake in the spoils once they were done!

5. Roast in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes per pound, or 5 hours for your 20 lb bird. But the real indicator for done-ness is to test the internal temperature with a meat thermometer with the breast meat at 165 degrees. Once done, remove from the oven and allow to rest at least 20 minutes before carving for the meat to retain the juices.