TAKE A WALK ON SPICY SIDE OF NEW ORLEANS TOUR SAVORS CRESCENT CITY'S CULINARY HERITAGE.Byline: - Eric Noland NEW ORLEANS New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded -- Pick up a few tips on Creole cooking in a classroom session. Peek behind the scenes at some iconic restaurants on a culinary history walking tour. Poke around at a farmers market. These are some of the culinary experiences that await a New Orleans visitor beyond the restaurant door. Michael DeVidts was our entertaining lecturer at the New Orleans School of Cooking, housed in the rear of a general store in the French Quarter. His three-hour demonstration transcended a step-by-step tutorial on Creole and Cajun cooking; it was a comprehensive, witty history on the ethnic influences that have given New Orleans' cuisine its flair down through the ages. The narrative intertwined with the cooking process. ``The Native American women This is a list of famous Native Americans. This is a list of Native American women. Please note that it should contain only Native women of the United States and her territories, not First Nations women or Native women of other countries in North, Central, and South America. added bay leaf bay leaf: see laurel. ,'' DeVidts said, dropping three of them into a pot of shrimp Creole Shrimp creole is a dish of Louisiana Creole origin, consisting of cooked shrimp in a mixture of whole or diced tomatoes, onion, celery and bell pepper, spiced with Tabasco sauce or another hot pepper sauce, and served over steamed or boiled white rice. , ``and green onions.'' In went a handful. ``Hot pots, hot cooking, hot-looking native women, French chef ... what do you get? Blended culture!'' The session was a little heavy on the use of packaged spices and canned ingredients -- anathema for California cooks who have come to embrace all things fresh. But DeVidts' corn and crab bisque bisque 1 n. 1. a. A rich, creamy soup made from meat, fish, or shellfish. b. A thick cream soup made of puréed vegetables. 2. Ice cream mixed with crushed macaroons or nuts. was nonetheless a wonder, rich and savory and bursting with flavor. Four items are prepared during the midday session, and the tasting portions are substantial enough to suffice for lunch. Beer and iced tea are served just before the first course comes off the stove. The diverse influences on New Orleans cuisine are also addressed on the New Orleans Culinary History Tour, led by Kelly Hamilton, an adjunct history professor at the University of New Orleans History UNO was founded in 1958 as the New Orleans branch of Louisiana State University, originally as "Louisiana State University in New Orleans" or "LSUNO", but became more independent and changed the name to "University of New Orleans" in 1974. . But most fun of all was getting a behind-the-scenes look at such French Quarter restaurant institutions as Antoine's (we bumped into executive chef Michael Regua in the kitchen), Arnaud's and Brennan's. The tour also stopped at the historic Hermann-Grima House, where on Thursdays docents toil in the 1830s open-hearth kitchen, using period kitchenware, methods and ingredients to cook up the dishes of the time. The tour concluded in an alley behind Cafe du Monde n. 1. The world; a globe as an ensign of royalty. Le beau monde fashionable society. See Beau monde. Demi monde See Demimonde. , where Hamilton guided us to a window to watch cooks literally tossing hunks hunks pl.n. (used with a sing. verb) A disagreeable and often miserly person. [Origin unknown.] of dough into the deep-fat fryers. Waitresses hovered nearby to collect the finished beignets, endeavoring to keep up with the insatiable appetite of the famous cafe's clientele. ``Sweetened sweet·en v. sweet·ened, sweet·en·ing, sweet·ens v.tr. 1. To make sweet or sweeter by adding sugar, honey, saccharin, or another sweet substance. 2. To make more pleasant or agreeable. , fried dough with sugar on top,'' Hamilton said. ``How can you go wrong?'' Another fun stop for visitors is the Crescent City Farmers Market Cresent City Farmers Market is an agricultural market in New Orleans, Louisiana. Early development While public markets were common in many U.S. cities, more markets operated in New Orleans, Louisiana for much longer than the rest of the nation’s cities. , held Saturday mornings on a patch of asphalt in the Warehouse District. A tourist visitor is not likely to buy a sack of oranges or a pound of raw shrimp, but this is a great place to pick up special gifts for folks back home -- homemade truffles or fruit jelly, for example, or local honey. New Orleans School of Cooking: 524 St. Louis St.; (504) 525-2665; www.nosoc.com. Classes are held Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and include generous portions, beer, iced tea and coffee. Cost is $27. French Quarter Culinary History Walking Tour: Two-hour tour, offered at 2 p.m., costs $20. Advance reservations required, www.noculinarytours.com; (212) 209-3370. Cafe du Monde: 1039 Decatur St.; (800) 772-2927; www.cafedumonde.com. Crescent City Farmers Market: Held Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon at the corner of Magazine and Girod streets in the Warehouse District. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Docents Doc Spindel and Barbara Bailey collaborate on a bisquit recipe while preparing period foods in the open-hearth kitchen of the 1830s Hermann-Grima House in the French Quarter. Eric Noland/Travel Editor |
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