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baked. Getting those two
recipes in the book was a coup.
Calas, the rice fritters that were
once so popular here, had all
but died out. Poppy Tooker
recruited me to join the “save
the calas” brigade. So I had
to have not one but two calas
recipes in here — one sweet, one
savory — in the hope that this
component of our culture is never again threatened with extinction.
Food is a central character in “Treme.” Our scenes often take place
at restaurants and at home tables. So one of the first things I did in
putting together the book was go back through all episodes and see
what dishes had been featured in which scenes. Many of the dishes
created by our chef, Janette Desautel (Kim Dickens) were actually
created by Susan Spicer. The problem is, Susan didn’t always write a
recipe for the dishes. Some of the recipes are in her cookbook, Crescent
City Cooking. Others, I had to ask her to create from scratch.
My friend Sherri Castle, author of The New Southern Garden
Cookbook, gave me a great idea. She suggested that the book be
organized by character rather than in the usual appetizers-entrees-
desserts fashion.That means that for a whole chapter, each character
is able to introduce you to their New Orleans food uninterrupted.
The recipes of these characters range from home style dishes,
many of which my mother, Gerri Elie contributed, to dishes from
restaurants we see on the show, like Commander’s Palace, Dooky
Chase, Cochon, Lil Dizzy’s, the Upperline, Restaurant August, etc..
Things were coming together nicely, then new kitchen scenes and
new dishes kept being added to the script. Although the food
on set was all made to be eaten, many times there weren’t actual
recipes written. I got help from chef friends to create these. Jackie
Blanchard, who until recently was executive sous chef at Restaurant
August, created the incredible fried chicken in the book. Sue
Ceravolo, who used to work at the Ritz-Carlton, devised Pound
Cake Paul Trevigne.
Kermit Ruffins makes several cameos on the show, often at the helm of
his barbecue pit. I tried asking him for a recipe, but I realized that wasn’t
the best approach. So I set up a time to talk to him about food. I had the
tape recorder running and he just toldme how he makes his white beans
and how he makes his beer-marinated quail. I
transcribed what he said and put it in the book.
In addition to the recipes, I wanted to
be sure that the book actually told you
something about the history and culture of
New Orleans food and drink. Why is bread
pudding so closely associated with New
Orleans? What’s the difference between
Creole and Cajun food? Where did New
Orleans french bread come from? So there
are essays on these topics sprinkled through
out the book.
People ask me about my favorite recipe
in the book. That’s an easy one. It’s my
mother
’
s recipe for Creole Gumbo (though
it appears under LaDonna Batiste-Williams
name in the book.)
Finally, Sara Roahen talks about how,
when she moved from New Orleans to
Philadelphia, she noticed a huge difference
immediately. Among other things she said
was, unlike in New Orleans, no one ever
looks at the groceries in your basket and
asks how you intend to cook them. I wanted
the voices of those women in the grocery
stores and in the neighborhoods who’ll tell
you how to cook. “A lot of people use that andouille sausage in
they beans now, but I think pickle meat makes the best beans,” and
“Always put some cayenne when you cooking pork. I don’t know
why. That’s what the old folks always told me.”
I want those voices to jump out from the page when you open this book.
