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SOUP’S ON!

the Italians, who — in many parts of the country — would still gasp in horror if even a sprinkling of parmesan was found atop their scallops. “Major cheesemaking regions [in Italy]… are all largely landlocked,” explains a 2013 Smithsonian magazine article on the topic. “Given their distance from the sea, few people in these regions had ready access to a steady supply of fresh seafood (rivers or lakes notwithstanding, and not necessarily always a source of abundance). So, reci- pes…likely developed over the centuries without giving seafood any consideration.” Fortunately, chefs across Louisiana aren’t afraid to experiment with dishes that allow cheese and seafood to work hand-in-hand to bring out the best in each component. And one of the dishes that best exempli- fies this is the widely beloved crab and brie soup found all over the Gulf Coast. “It’s amazing to watch people eat the crab and brie soup, especially those people who are having it for the first time,” says Chef Kim Kringlie of The Dakota in Covington, Louisiana. “One year, we went to Miami for the South Beach Wine & Food Festi- val, and we were serving 2,000 or 3,000 portions of the soup a day.There was that ‘Oh, wow!’ reaction on people’s faces when they tried it for the first time.” A creamy yet almost gentle dish that’s now something of a legend unto itself (Chef Kim estimates that they make roughly 10 gallons per week, with more during the holidays), the crab and brie soup was originally whipped up by his brother, Chef Ower Tim Kringlie of Mansurs in Baton Rouge, for a cooking competition. After a few tweaks, it hit the menu at Mansurs sister restaurant French Market Bistro in 1996, and has been wooing customers ever since. “Baton Rouge really loves this crab and brie soup,” says Executive Chef Chris Motto of Mansurs, who’s been at the restau- rant for almost a decade and is currently a contestant on the cooking show Hell’s Kitchen . “It’s a pretty simple process to make it, and the flavors of vermouth and creamy brie and lump crabmeat just go so well together. Nine times out of 10 when someone finds out I work at Mansurs, they say, ‘Oh my God, you have that crab and brie soup!’”

Dakota & Mansurs: Absolutely Crabulous by Sarah Baird IN MANY KITCHENS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, THERE REMAINS AN OVERABUN- DANCE OF LARGELY UNNEC- ESSARY AND ANTIQUATED “RULES” TO FOLLOW THAT ARE PASSED DOWN THE GENERATIONS AS GOSPEL. And while I’m the kind of person who believes in a cooking superstition or two (if I spill salt, I’m definitely tossing a pinch of it over my left shoulder), no adage is more confounding to me than the notion that seafood and cheese should never — ever — be cooked together in a dish. The marriage of everyone’s favorite curds and water-dwelling creatures might be a less-than-common occurrence on menus, but when it’s done right, the pairing can be luxurious. Plus, the coupling has infi- nite permutations. Just think where we’d all be without cream cheese and lox on a bagel, tuna melts for lunch or that hoity- toity, mid-century dinner party favorite, Lobster Thermidor. Heck, adding a slice of good ol’ American cheese can even gussy up a Filet-O-Fish from McDon- ald’s if you’re ever in a drive-thru pinch. (Don’t worry, we’ve all been there.) So where’d this no-cheese-with-seafood rule come from? Some say it stems from the fact that seafood, by and large, has both a delicate flavor and texture that can easily be overpowered by the concentrated funkiness of cheese. Others believe that the ingredient division is more of a fluke of history: Red meat and dairy were often banned for religious reasons on Fridays, and in turn, Friday was a day when seafood was largely consumed. (Fish fry, anyone?) But it turns out that, in large part, the real “say no to cheddar on your cod” folks are

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