ROUSES_Winter2022_Magazine Pages Web

THE HOLIDAY ISSUE

RECIPE INSIDE CUBAN FLAN WITH CAFÉ CUBANO

Shoppin’ Around the Christmas Tree - Donny Rouse, CEO “IF OUR NAME IS ON THE LABEL, YOU CAN TRUST IT’S GOOD.” Our own Rouses brand is guaranteed the best quality at the best price. These are products we believe in and want to share with you.

ELEVATE YOUR HOLIDAYSWITH CERTIFIED PRODUCTS. Look for the Certified logos in Rouses Markets to support Louisiana businesses and families, and celebrate our state! get real

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certifiedlouisiana.org

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN EVERY COMMUNITY WE SERVE

Feeding the hungry has always been our number-one giving priority — and not just during the holidays. With the generous participation of our customers and supplier partners, we have been able to provide almost 3 million meals to help feed and support our neighbors in need over the past 12 months.

HUNGER RELIEF: Enough for more than 3 million meals donated.

COMMUNITYWIDE DONATIONS: We proudly partner with hundreds of organizations throughout the Gulf Coast , providing cash, food and water. These are nonprofit organizations large and small, as well as schools and religious institutions working to make the communities we share better places to live and work. FESTIVALS & EVENTS: We sponsor and participate in festivals and community events across the Gulf Coast. SCHOOLS & TEAMS: The Saints aren’t the only team we sponsor. We sponsor schools, teams and clubs all over the Gulf Coast. CUSTOMER GIVING: Through our annual pin-up campaigns, together we contributed more than $65,000 to causes and nonprofit organizations this year. DISASTER RELIEF: Through our Disaster Relief Fund, and with the support of our vendor partners, over the past 14 months, we have distributed more than $200,000 to our team members who suffered devastating losses to their homes and personal belongings due to Hurricane Ida and other natural disasters. EDUCATION: We are committed to supporting students planning careers in the grocery business. The Anthony J. Rouse, Sr., Food Entrepreneurship Scholarship , named after our founder (my grandfather), is given to an employee attending the John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University. The Leroy Theriot Meat & Charcuterie Culinary Arts Scholarship at the John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University helps aspiring culinary and grocery professionals, with the goal of developing the next generation of expert meat science professionals.

PHOTO BY CHANNING CANDIES

In November we kick off a new initiative with the New Orleans Saints. Tackle Hunger will help provide food directly to our neighbors in need. The food and funds raised will also go a long way to replenish our local food banks, which are still stretched thin from the pandemic, Hurricane Ida and other storms in recent years. Our local food banks don’t just collect and distribute food. Second Harvest, the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, Feeding the Gulf Coast and others run vital programs, including senior programs, mobile food banks and the backpack program to reduce child hunger. They help supply our local food pantries, school pantries and community kitchens, as well as provide emergency food box deliveries. Next time you visit a Rouses Markets, look for the collection bins in the front of the store. We accept nonperishable food and household supplies year-round. You can also donate cash at checkouts at any Rouses Market, with 100% of the proceeds going to our local food banks.

— Donny Rouse, CEO, 3 rd Generation

Tackle Hunger is one example of why the Saints’ partnership with Rouses Markets continues to leave a lasting impact in our community, and I am excited to see the difference we make by providing food to those in need.

— Gayle Benson, New Orleans Saints Owner

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Biscotti Italiani! Our Authentic Italian Cookies & Pies are handmade with love in Abruzzo, Italy. Feature them on your Holiday spread, or simply top with a bow for the perfect gift! Find them in our bakery.

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Table of Contents In Every Issue

43 Muffaletta Porchetta

53 Feeling Cinnamon-tal by David W. Brown 55 Ginger All the Way by Sarah Baird 56 Oma Sweet Oma by David W. Brown

1 Making a Difference in Every Community We Serve by Donny Rouse 5 Letter from the Editor by Marcy Nathan 7 Cookin’ on Hwy. 1 with Tim Acosta 9 Gingerbread Rouse by Ali Rouse Royster Mingle All the Way 15 Frankly N’Awlins by Sarah Baird 19 Six Degrees of Kevin Belton by Poppy Tooker 21 Hallmark the Herald Angels Sing by David W. Brown

44 Glazed Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta

Marketing & Advertising Director Tim Acosta

46 Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Creative Director & Editor Marcy Nathan

47 Aunt Evelyn’s Stuffed Cabbage with Oyster and Cornbread Dressing

58 Camp Walden by Marcy Nathan 70 2023 Is the Year of the Rabbit by Sarah Baird

Art Director, Layout & Design Eliza Schulze

Sweet & Sour Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Illustrator Kacie Galtier

74 Lunar New Year: Wishing You Happiness and Prosperity by Sarah Baird Books Yule Love 78 Cure for the Common Cocktail by Wayne Curtis

49 Italian Lentil Soup

Marketing Coordinator Harley Breaux

58 Schnecken

Copy Editors Patti Stallard Adrienne Crezo

59 Hanukkah Babka

The Year of Gumbo

Advertising & Marketing Amanda Kennedy Stephanie Hopkins Nancy Besson Taryn Clement Mary Ann Florey

79 Joy to the Word!

65 Leftover Turkey Gumbo Gumbo of the Month: November

Season’s Eatings

66 Turkey Stock

27 Feast Day by Sarah Baird 30 Noche Buena by Sarah Baird

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Frank Davis’s Franksgiving Turkey Roasted in a Pot Frank Davis’s Mirliton Casserole

Fried Turkey Necks

Design Intern Peyton finch

Turduchen Gumbo Gumbo of the Month: December 67 New Year’s Eve Black Eyed Pea Gumbo Gumbo of the Month: January

33 Cuba N.O. by Alison Fensterstock 39 Give Yourself a Holiday 47 Laissez Le Cabbage Roll by Poppy Tooker

32 Ms. Dora’s Flan

Café Cubano

33 Crema de Vie (Cuban Eggnog)

MAKIN’ A SHOPPING LIST, CHECKIN’ IT TWICE ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Download our handy Holiday checklist of essential ingredients and local must-haves you need for your holiday cooking at www.rouses.com.

COVER PHOTO BY ROMNEY CARUSO

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HERE’S TO THE HOLIDAY TRADITIONS THAT BEGIN IN THE KITCHEN.

There’s a reason New Orleanians find themselves in the kitchen come holiday time. It’s where our most cherished traditions come to life. And we’re proud to have played a part in the festivities. So to all the cooks, bakers, and chefs whose creations make the holidays taste like home, may the flavors and fun of this season bring you happiness and joy.

Happy Holidays!

VISIT US AT REILYFOODS.COM

A FAMILY OF NEW ORLEANS BRANDS COPYRIGHT © 2021 REILY FOODS COMPANY

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Letter from the Editor By Marcy Nathan, Creative Director

T he dish on our cover is pronounced pohr-KEHT-tah. I have been mispro nouncing it pohr-CHET-tah, like fuh -GET her. Our marketing and advertising director, Tim Acosta, has given up correcting me. I assumed I was right, and he was wrong, so I ignored him the first 100 times he told me I was wrong. In fairness to me, Tim constantly mispronounces and makes up his own words. Tim once sent me into a store to get a “loge” skillet for a photo shoot. The guy in the hardware store was completely confused until I pointed to a display of brand-new cast-irons. “You mean Lodge ?” Porchettas are usually stuffed with garlic and herbs. For the one gracing our cover, we used our Rouses Italian Olive Salad, which is made with a giardiniera (prounounced jar-deen-YAIR-uh of pickled cauliflower, carrots and celery, to make a modern muffaletta. Or muffuletta. Pronounced muf-fah-letta, moo-fah-letta or muff-a-lotta, depending on where you grew up. We used mortadella, a cured Italian cold cut, but our chef (and store director) Marc Ardoin said you can substitute Chisesi ham. Don’t worry, if you aren’t from here, I don’t expect you to know how to pronounce Chisesi. Here it’s Ch-SAY-see, which is not the same as the Italian pronunciation, kee-SAY-zee. Last issue, we argued over whether or not you’re allowed to put tomatoes in your gumbo (for the record, we did a poll, and the majority of you thought it was OK; yes, we were surprised). This issue, it was over how to pronounce mirliton. I don’t care if you say MUR-li-ton or MEER lee-tawn or MEL-lee-tawn, or if you stuff it or

make a casserole out of it. Honestly, I swap back and forth between pronun ciations and preparations. And it’s OK by me if you confuse a sweet potato for a yam, or vice versa, even though they are different root vegetables. But I draw the line at PEE-can. A PEE can is a port-a-let. It’s where you pee on Mardi Gras Day ( if you can find a place to pee on Mardi Gras Day). It’s pronounced peek-KAHN or pick-AHN. Like gone pecan. People who say PEE-can live on the East Coast and call New Orleans, N’Awlins. (Only Frank Davis was allowed to do that without sounding like a tourist.) For the record, I say New OR-lins. But my favorite pronunciation is New AHL-lee-ins. It’s a given that if you say PEE-can, you probably say PRAY-leen or PRAY-line instead of PRAAH-leen…or maybe you are just from Georgia. At Rouses, we spell turduchen with an h, for hen. But other places spell it turducken with a k for duck, and no h. Let them have their spelling. Their turducken doesn’t taste as good as ours. But then, we’ve been making our turduchens a lot longer. We also make a fresh turduchen sausage. And for our Year of Gumbo that we’re observing, we have a recipe for a turduchen Christmas gumbo you can make at home (see page 66). And in the end, just because you say toe-MAY-toe, and I say toe-MAH-toe, there’s no reason to call off the holidays. Unless those tomatoes are in my gumbo.

SCHNECK THE HALLS ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT I wrote about schnecken—the word means snail in German—for our section on cinnamon. These sticky sweet rolls are made with cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins, pecans and so much butter. For the record, it’s pronounced shnek-uhn. See page 58.

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especially when they get to use those little rolling nut harvesters to do it. I have a bench with a makeshift nutcracker bolted onto it, and I make good use of it. I crack all of the pecans, or at least par-crack them, so the kids can finish them. It’s like starting a crab. Pecans are a big part of our holiday cooking. You can’t have a sweet potato casserole without them. My youngest, Cody, and his wife, Vanessa, make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. It’s one of my wife Cindy’s favorite holiday desserts. I like it à la mode, with Rouses Vanilla Ice Cream, but it’s delicious enough to eat à la nothing. I’m not the only pecan grower around here. Pecans are grown all over the South, though commercially they’re mainly in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia. On average, pecan production adds about $12 million to the Louisiana economy each year, and $10 million to the Alabama economy each year. About 90% of the pecans we sell at Rouses Markets come from Bergeron Pecans, which is the largest pecan-shelling facility in Louisiana. Bergeron Pecans have been on our shelves since our very first store back in 1960. Last year, we sold nearly 100,000 packages just for the holidays — I bet we do even more this year. Bergeron is based in New Roads in Pointe Coupée Parish, which is the top pecan producing parish in the state. Like so many local businesses, Bergeron started out as something else. Horace Joseph Bergeron was a merchant and a farmer. In 1910, he opened a trading post for locals to come trade or hand-crack pecans in exchange for merchandise and food items. His sons built a pecan-shelling plant next door in 1941, and the family began shelling and packing pecans from farmers all over the state, as well as their own orchards. Today, Bergeron processes 5 million to 7 million pounds of in-shell pecans a year. Like Rouses Markets, Bergeron is led by a third generation of the family,

PECAN PIE Makes a 12-inch pie

WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 12-inch premade pie crust 1 cup granulated sugar 3 tablespoons brown sugar ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup dark corn syrup ¹⁄₃ cup melted salted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cookin’ on Hwy. 1 By Tim Acosta, Advertising & Marketing Director Pecans are everywhere during the holidays, including my own backyard. T here is a wild pecan tree right next to our house that was here when we built. It is about 70 feet tall, with a trunk about four feet around, which means it is at least 80 years old, possibly 85. There is also a small grove of pecan trees in the back behind the cane field that is about 30 years old. As I write this, the pecans are just beginning to fall. I was surprised to learn that it can take anywhere from seven to 10 years before a pecan tree will produce a bumper crop. After that, the tree can continue to bear pecans for up to 100 years. I used to be the chief pecan picker-upper at my house, but now I enlist my grandkids to do it. They think gathering them is fun,

3 whole eggs, beaten 1 cup chopped pecans ¼ cup pecan halves

HOW TO PREP: Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Blend the granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and eggs together in a bowl until smooth; set aside. Pour the chopped pecans in the bottom of the unbaked pie shell. Pour the syrup mixture over the chopped pecans. Scatter pecan halves on top, and carefully cover with a piece of foil. Place pie in preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, then continue baking for 20 minutes more, checking frequently to make sure the crust and/or pecans are not burning. Pie should be nicely browned and firm at edges, but still a little liquidy at the center. If the pie still hasn’t set, cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 minute, or until set. Remove the pie from the oven and let cool for several hours or overnight. Pecan pies should not be eaten hot or warm.

Lester Bergeron. Our produce team works directly with him. You can use Bergeron Pecans or your own hand picked pecans in my son Cody’s recipe for Pecan Pie.

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Gingerbread Rouse By Ali Rouse Royster, 3rd Generation A t the risk of being labeled a Grinch or a Scrooge, I have a Christmas confession to make: Gingerbread houses are a pain in the rear. There. I said it. They never turn out as nicely as we think they will, and the time and effort it takes is nowhere near worth the resulting sloppy-looking, no-one-wants-to-eat-that-now candy cottage. Despite all this, my parents (God bless ’em) have taken on an annual gingerbread house-building afternoon with their six grandchil dren, who, this year, are ages 5-10. They started with just two grandkids, and that was all well and good, but like the children, it has grown in both number and intensity. Each year, my mom proclaims that Kiki now has the secret to making gingerbread houses better and more smoothly. Once, it was buying supplemental candy to put out to snack on so that you wouldn’t eat all of your decorating candy. Then, there was the year that we made our own royal icing (10/10 do not recommend). My personal fave was the time I walked into my parents’ house the night before gingerbread house day to find my mom and dad all alone, hard at work pre-building the house structures so none of the kids would have to restrain themselves from touching the houses while they were drying. No matter the process change, the houses still turn out looking like elementary schoolchildren built and decorated them — which of course they did . But no matter what, the kiddos always look forward to their annual afternoon at Kiki and Papa’s to design the gingerbread house of their dreams!

BIRTHDAY CAKE Some of my favorite things about the holiday season are the traditions and my Christmas Eve birthday celebration with family. My mom’s side of the family kicks off the Christmas

CHOCOLATE ORANGES

Despite our Italian background, over the years my family picked up some pieces from other places. Every year, my sister Cecilia and

holiday with a gift exchange (we pull names on Thanksgiving Day) and then a get-together at my grandma’s house on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve also happens to be my birthday, and my family always finds a way to celebrate me during the Christmas Eve party with a cake, balloons or a toast — and, of course, a happy birthday song. The older I get, the more I realize how special it is to have a birthday on Christmas Eve. My birthday is never just another day, it’s always a celebration, and I’m always surrounded by family.

I receive a German smoker. It’s a little wooden man dressed for various occupations, and he holds a little pipe. You place a lit incense cone inside and the little guy looks like he’s smoking through his pipe! My sister likes to light them all at once so the living room is thick with scented fog. Another Christmas staple in our household is a chocolate orange from the U.K. It’s an orange-flavored and -shaped chocolate sphere wrapped in shiny orange foil. You whack the chocolate orange on the table before unwrapping it. This causes the orange to break into perfect slices.

– Amanda Kennedy, Senior Manager Brand & Marketing Strategy

– Mary Ann Florey, Graphic Designer

RICE & GRAVY Two words: Rice & gravy. I’d never indulged in this delicacy before getting married, as our family stuck to the traditional turkey, ham and sides. When I moved to Chackbay, Louisiana,

MOVIE MARATHONS Every Christmas we do a movie marathon. We pick a series or an actor, and we spend the whole day in our

I was introduced to from-scratch gravy by my husband’s Grandma Carol, and the rest is history. For the past 16 years my entire plate has been filled with rice & gravy, with a second plate of all of the other delicious food that started cooking before sunrise.

PJs watching movies. Our favorites are the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series; we’ve also done all the Marvel X-Men movies and all of Marvel’s The Avengers movies. – Stephanie Hopkins, Senior Graphic Designer

– Taryn Clement, E-commerce Manager

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TEA COOKIES It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and that means it’s also time for christmas cookies ! The holiday issue of our magazine is always my favorite each year, so it’s only fitting that I talk

CANDIED PECANS My mom got a recipe for candied pecans from her mother-in-law when she was first married. Every Christmas the sight of these pecans was met with both joy and dread. Joy,

about my favorite holiday tradition in its pages. My favorite holiday tradition is when my mom, sister, uncle, his girlfriend and I help my Maw Maw Beulah make her famous old fashioned Christmas tea cookies every December. We have been doing this for as long as I can remember, and each year we easily make anywhere from 500 to 1,000 cookies in a weekend. The process usually takes one or two days, and we make everything from scratch. The recipe is a family secret — I hope to pass it along to my son in the future. We start by making the dough, then we roll it out to cut all the Christmas shapes. The cookies go into the oven for about 8 minutes, and then must dry for a few hours before frosting. Once we have rolled out all the dough and are done baking, we make a bunch of different colors of frosting for decorating. We spend a few hours frosting and decorating all the cookies, then leave them to dry overnight. The next day we make sure everything is completely dry and start putting together containers to give out. Everyone in the family lines up to get their container of cookies each year, and we honestly care more about the cookies than the presents. I love eating mine with a cup of coffee — another little tradition I enjoy right up until Christmas, since these cookies have a shelf-life of a few weeks. – Harley Breaux, Marketing Coordinator

because the sheer pleasure of eating these is indescribable. Dread, because once you start eating them, you just can’t stop. Lucky for us, she only made them at Christmas so we were able to rationalize eating as much as we wanted, knowing it would be a whole year before we had them again.

– Nancy Besson, Graphic Designer

EGG ROLLS & PHO One of my favorite holiday traditions is having a family meal on Christmas Day with my dad’s side of the family. My Maw Maw always makes a large spread of food including egg rolls, chicken pho, fixings for spring rolls, fried rice and other dishes. The spread is a little different every year, but it always tastes amazing. You can learn more about my Maw Maw’s tradition on page 74.

– Peyton Finch, Design Intern

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Contributors SARAH BAIRD Sarah Baird is the author of multiple books, including New Orleans Cocktails and Flask , which was released in summer 2019. A 2019 Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, her work has been featured in The New York Times , Washington Post , Saveur , Eater , Food &Wine and The Guardian , among others. Previously, she served as restaurant critic for the New Orleans alt-weekly, Gambit Weekly , where she won Critic of the Year in David W. Brown is a freelance writer whose work appears in The Atlantic , The New York Times , Scientific American and The New Yorker . His most recent book, The Mission: A True Story , a rollicking adventure about a motley band of explorers on a quest to find oceans on Europa, is in bookstores now. Brown lives in New Orleans. WAYNE CURTIS Wayne Curtis is the author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails , which was updated and re-released in 2018. He’s written frequently about cocktails, spirits, travel, and history for many publications, including The Atlantic , The New York Times , enRoute , The Wall Street Journal , The Daily Beast , and Garden & Gun . He lives in New Orleans. ALISON FENSTERSTOCK Alison Fensterstock is a former music writer for the The Times-Picayune in New Orleans and a columnist for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities magazine, 64 Parishes . Her work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, NPR Music, MOJO and The New York Times . SUSAN LANGENHENNIG GRANGER Susan Langenhennig Granger is editor of Preservation in Print magazine and director of communications and marketing for the Preservation Resource Center in New Orleans. Prior to that she was a news editor, reporter and feature columnist for The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com. POPPY TOOKER Poppy Tooker is a native New Orleanian who has spent her life immersed in the vibrant colors and flavors of her state. Poppy spreads her message statewide and beyond via her NPR-affiliated radio show and podcast, “Louisiana Eats!” 2015 for her dining reviews. DAVID W. BROWN

CHRISTMAS CARDS If you’ve met me, you know that I’m a full-on cat person. My fiancé David is highly allergic to them, but after a few ENT visits he’s now converted into an even more extreme cat person than I am. Every year, we plan out our most eccentric

Christmas card, now starring our two cats, Gurl and Chester. We play Christmas tunes, attempt to dress up the cats, fail miserably, and ultimately surrender to our battle wounds. We already have this year’s card planned out (hint: it involves Rouses Milk).

– Kacie Galtier, Designer & Illustrator

WINDING RIVERS My favorite holiday tradition involves

getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city. We grew up camping each summer on the Buffalo River in Arkansas, and it’s still one of my favorite places. We’ve transitioned that

tradition to Thanksgiving; we rent cabins in the park (because brr! ) and spend the week on the river, walking the winding banks, collecting rocks and enjoying the peaceful getaway.

– Eliza Schulze, Art Director

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Find us on the coffee aisle!

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O h, and did I mention he was also an avid outdoorsman, tremendous writer, cookbook author, one-time X-ray techni cian and spice-making entrepreneur? And that, after his passing in 2013, he was honored for his foundational place in South Louisiana history when the I-10 Twin Span Bridge that links Orleans Parish and St. Tammany Parish was officially renamed the Frank Davis “Naturally N’Awlins” Memorial Bridge? Like I said, a true renaissance man. No matter the medium, whenever Frank Davis shared a recipe, it was like he was chatting with you about it over a cup of coffee, not bringing the idea down from a culinary ivory tower. And no other time of year better reflected his desire to share his collection of classic-but-creative, memory making recipes than around the holidays, or as they’re better known among, ahem, Frank -ophiles: Franksgiving and Naturally Noel. “Frank Davis was the icon at WWL but, every Tuesday morning starting in the 1980s, he would be in the kitchen cooking. At

By Sarah Baird Ask anyone to make a list of renais sance men of the 20th century in New Orleans, and media legend Frank Davis would undoubtedly be near the top of the list. A four-decade fixture on both radio and television for WWL, Frank not only served as a wellspring of, and reflection for, neighborhood culture in the Crescent City on the small screen and airwaves, but worked to redefine how audiences approach recipe development and familiar ingredients in their own kitchen, providing the sort of authentic, familial approach to home cooking in his broadcasts that had yet to be seen locally with his “Naturally N’Awlins!” warmth and innate storytelling abilities.

certain times of the year, he would do special themes, like Franksgiving during Thanks giving and Naturally Noel — a take on his ‘Naturally N’Awlins’ catchphrase — during Christmas,” remembers Dominic Massa, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer for WYES-TV and author of the 2008 book, New Orleans Television . “During Franksgiving, he would also print up recipe booklets, and people would be excited to get those to have the special recipes for the holiday. He would put together a whole menu for his Franksgiving feast, so it would be the side dishes, a special way to do the turkey, dessert…and whatever else he came up with.” Massa recalls that the term “Franks giving” — what he calls a “perfect name” for Frank’s spin on the Thanksgiving holiday — was created by the promotions team at WWL, who also dreamed up other now- venerated messaging concepts, like the “Spirit of Louisiana” to promote the state’s rich musical heritage and “Bless You Boys” for, of course, the New Orleans Saints. “Frank was such a fixture, and he oozed New Orleans and South Louisiana. Because

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he grew up here and knew the food culture and what people would like, I think it really resonated with what people would want on their Thanksgiving table,” Massa says, noting that Davis even had a small role in helping popularize the turduchen. “Even as a broadcaster, he had a tone of voice where you can hear him in the recipes when you read them.” No matter how many viewers considered Frank their next of kin during Franksgiving and Naturally Noel, Frank’s wife, Mary Clare, recalls that Frank always found a way to put their tight-knit family first. “Frank just loved every minute of it. As busy as he was, we’d go grocery shopping and plan the menu, and he would pick out what to fix. I don’t know how he got all these wonderful ideas about Thanksgiving, but he did. They used to make little booklets and put them in the grocery stores, and everybody was so excited about all the Franksgiving recipes.” For the Davis family, the holidays also meant having everyone join in the festivi ties, both on-screen and off. “The grandkids always loved to watch the cooking shows with Frank during the holidays. In fact, my granddaughter, Elise, used to join him a lot of times and go on the set and help prepare the holiday dishes,” remembers Mary Clare, who herself served as Frank’s on-screen assistant for many years. “They were all so interested in what their grandfa ther did. It was just a wonderful time during Thanksgiving and Christmas for everyone to gather and see those things that he enjoyed doing so much and that his family enjoyed watching him do.” “The recipes he made are simple, but he didn’t make it sound simple. He made it sound like it was the most interesting thing — and they would tease him about that,” laughs Massa. “It might be just cranberry sauce, but he would make it into something really exciting and different, and something that you may have taken for granted that he then elevated in a different way. It also made it fun: I think that was another big part of what he did. He made it interesting, and that’s why he was so successful at it for so many years.” Frank’s passion for and expert knowledge of the South Louisiana outdoors —and fishing in particular — also factored heavily into his recipe development, and positioned him as one of the first front-and-center advocates for accessible, thoughtful wild-caught

The first time I saw Frank he was in a Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries uniform…[and] during that time, Frank learned about cooking fish and game as only a person devoted to preserving our bayous and wildlife, and to appreciating the abundance of what we have to eat in Louisiana on a year-round basis, can do. I consider Frank a number-one authority on cooking and eating the fresh fish and game of Louisiana.

Chef Paul Prudhomme in the foreword to Davis’s 1983 book, The Frank Davis

Seafood Notebook . “I consider Frank a number-one authority on cooking and eating the fresh fish and game of Louisiana.” “The first time Frank came to our Village East Store in Houma was to make an appear ance for a Crisco promotion, but I remember what he liked about that particular store visit was that it’s right there on the way down to Cocodrie — to the CoCo Marina — coming from New Orleans,” recalls Tim Acosta, longtime Advertising & Marketing Director for Rouses. “I just remember him saying that he felt familiar with the store location, because I guess he was going down there to fish, and that he didn’t mind coming down because it put him that much closer to the Gulf of Mexico! Everybody loved Frank Davis, I tell you. He was authentic. He was like everybody’s favorite uncle and always had stories to tell. Not a chef, or nothing like that, but just always down to earth.” “Frank was pretty self-taught. He didn’t come from a cooking school or a restaurant background. But he made things fun and relatable, and I think that was a secret to Frank’s success,” Massa says. “As we know, Thanksgiving can also be a stressful time, but he didn’t make putting together the perfect menu stressful. He made it fun. He made it interesting and creative. Also, the recipes were just so Louisiana, with the ingredients he used, the presentation and the style of the dishes.” There’s a gregariousness and wink-and a-nod affection to Davis’s recipe instruction that make you feel as if you’re joining in on a thrilling kitchen adventure with Frank, the fearless leader, there to guide you every step of the way. With a penchant for

— Chef Paul Prudhomme in the foreword to Davis’s 1983 book, The Frank Davis Seafood Notebook

cooking instruction on broadcast television — not just in Louisiana, but nationally. Long before farm-to-table or “locally sourced” seafood could be found on every fine dining menu across the city, Frank Davis was showing exactly how freshly caught fish could not only be prepared successfully but taken directly from Gulf to plate. “He was so full of knowledge about the seafood industry and seafood in Louisiana, but in fact, he covered quite a bit of area,” Mary Clare recalls. “It wasn’t just Louisiana. It was all about different kinds of the fish from different places and how to fix them.” “The first time I saw Frank he was in a Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries uniform… [and] during that time, Frank learned about cooking fish and game as only a person devoted to preserving our bayous and wildlife, and to appreciating the abundance of what we have to eat in Louisiana on a year round basis, can do,” wrote the late, great

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Finally, when you’re ready to eat, remove the bird from the pot (it’s going to be so fall apart tender you may have to extricate it in pieces), place it on a serving platter, and finish carving it at the table for your family and dinner guests. But whatever you do, make sure you whisk together the cornstarch and water into a smooth mixture, stir it into the natural pot drippings, and cook it briefly at a slow boil to create the best-tasting turkey gravy that ever passed over your lips! And yes, the gravy is really the only reason you do a turkey this way! FRANK DAVIS’S MIRLITON CASSEROLE Makes 6-8 servings WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 6 medium mirlitons, boiled, peeled and diced 4 tablespoons butter, softened 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped 4 whole green onions, thinly sliced ½ green bell pepper, finely diced ½ red bell pepper, finely diced 1 medium tomato, seeded and diced 1 cup mushrooms, roughly chopped 2 pounds shrimp, peeled and chopped 1 pound Polish sausage, small diced ¼ cup parsley, minced ½ teaspoon thyme 2 ribs celery, finely diced 6 cloves garlic, minced

parentheticals that feel like exuberant, just remembered tips ( About the salt — check your oysters to see if they are naturally salty before adding the prescribed amount. You may have to reduce the salt if nature has provided! ) and no shortage of exclama tion points in his recipes, Frank married together an earnest affection for cooking New Orleans classics with an engaging flair that helped to inspire cooking confidence for more than one generation of fans. “Let’s face it...the most popular dressing in grand old New Orleans — especially around holiday season — is oyster dressing. And when you spice it up with just the right touch of real Cajun andouille, it’s hard to beat!” Frank writes in a 1995 Franksgiving recipe for his oyster-andouille dressing. “But most folks unfamiliar with it think it’s too hard to make. Not true, cher ! All you do is follow this recipe to the letter, and you got yourself a winner!” Everything from cauliflower chowder, butternut squash casserole, herb-roasted chicken and rotini pan pie to deep-fried turkey and a crème de menthe and maraschino cherry “yule wreath pie” could grace a Franksgiving menu (surprises always abounded), and the anticipation of each year’s menu drop, constructed in Frank’s signature style, kept viewers waiting with bated breath. “During the holidays, he would plan all of the menus, and everything would be so new and fresh. He always made a great impres sion, and we had so much fun cooking together,” says Mary Clare. “I was so proud of him. I was a lucky lady.” FRANK DAVIS’S FRANKSGIVING TURKEY ROASTED IN A POT Makes 4-6 servings D’ja ever cook your Thanksgiving turkey inside a black pot, Cajun style? Well, you might want to give it a try this year. It couldn’t be easier, and it can only come out pretty and perfect. What’s more, because it’s roasted slowly at a constant temperature, unstuffed, in an old-fashioned Dutch oven, you get one of the juiciest turkeys you ever ate. If you’re a fan of my traditional slow-roasted turkey, you’re gonna love this! Cuz you don’t cook a turkey this way for the turkey — you cook it this way for the gravy! WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 1 fresh or frozen turkey, 8 to 10 pounds 4 tablespoons poultry seasoning

2 tablespoons kosher or sea salt 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 tub butter spread 1 whole, large onion, peeled 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for greasing the pot 3 heaping tablespoons cornstarch + 1 cup water HOW TO PREP: First, put the turkey in the sink under cold running water and wash it thoroughly, making sure to remove every single trace of debris from the internal cavity. Then, with paper towels, pat the bird totally dry inside and out, and place it on a sheet of freezer paper on the countertop. At this point, you also want to preheat your oven to 325°F. Next, prepare the turkey, front and back, inside and out, with the poultry seasoning, salt, black pepper and red pepper. And I don’t mean just sprinkle it on — rub those seasonings into the bird hard ! Then, take the butter spread and massage the bird liberally — again, both inside and out, until it coats the entire turkey. And be sure you put some of the spread up under the skin too! Now place the turkey, breast-side up, into a slightly oiled cast-iron Dutch oven large enough to hold the bird plus whatever juices will be rendered out (and you will get juices!). Oh yeah, and you want to cook the turkey unstuffed, except for the whole onion, which you place inside the cavity. When your thermostat indicates that the oven is right at 325°F, put the lid on the black pot and slide it into the oven on the low-center rack. Then set your timer for about 2 hours and don’t even peek in the pot until the timer goes off. Depending upon the weight of the bird, you can expect it to cook to perfection in about three to four hours (which figures out to about 22 minutes to the pound). Of course, to be sure that you’re correct, I suggest you use a meat thermometer and roast the turkey until the internal temperature in the turkey breast or thigh reaches 180°F. After the initial two-hour roasting time, you might want to baste the turkey occasionally to keep it moist and help the breast skin to brown beautifully.

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30 minutes, or until the topping turns a toasty brown. All that’s left is to spoon out the hot casserole on warm dinner plates, garnish with a little shredded Parmesan cheese, and serve it piping hot right from the oven.

want them — just pink, not cooked — and the sausage will brown slightly around the edges. When this happens, add the mirliton pulp to the mixture. Then stir the pot constantly for 10-15 minutes, cooking the pulp and the vegetable seasonings together over medium-high heat until a chunky paste forms (it may turn slightly watery, but don’t worry about it). When the texture is just the way you want it, drop in the spices and herbs: the parsley, thyme, rosemary, salt, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Be sure to fold them well into the mirliton, shrimp and sausage blend. Now it’s time to begin working the French bread crumbs into the casserole mixture (and this is best done a little at a time). When all the bread is added, you should end up with a rather dry paste that tends to stick to the spoon. If it is still too moist, add a few extra bread crumbs, because if the mixture is too wet it will run during the baking process. If, on the other hand, your stuffing mix turns out too dry, simply moisten it to your liking with a little chicken broth. Then when you’re satisfied with the final consistency, quickly stir in the egg to bind everything together. Finally, transfer the mixture to a large casserole dish (I find that buttered Pyrex works best). Then liberally top the casserole with the buttered cornflake crumbs, slide the dish into the preheated oven on the center rack, and bake it, uncovered, for about 25 to

½ teaspoon rosemary 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes ½ teaspoon black pepper 4 cups crumbs 11 cups chicken broth (if needed) 1 egg, well beaten ½ cup buttered cornflakes, crumbled ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Frank’s Hints ◊ For a little extra enhancement, liberally sprinkle the casserole with shredded Parmesan cheese when it has just 10 minutes left to bake in the oven. This will form a nice crusty topping on the dish. ◊ Remember that mirlitons go well with creamed peas, buttered carrots and a crisp lettuce salad topped with French dressing . ◊ When adding the raw egg, stir it into the mixture quickly ; if the casserole hasn’t cooled enough when it goes in, it could actually scramble the egg instead of incorporate it as a binder. ◊ I suggest you don’t add the chicken broth to the mixture until after the shrimp and sausage have had a chance to cook for a while . There will be a certain amount of liquid released from the shrimp, the mirlitons and the mushrooms as they simmer. All in all, you don’t want the final concoction to be too watery or you’ll have to add too much bread to the casserole.

HOW TO PREP: First, take your mirlitons and boil them whole in lightly salted water until an ice pick will pierce them all the way through without using excessive pressure. Then remove them from the pot and set them aside to cool (you can discard the water). In the meantime, in a 5-quart Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the yellow and green onions, green and red bell peppers, celery, garlic, tomato and mushrooms until everything is soft and tender (which should take about 5 minutes). While the seasonings are simmering, slice the cooked mirlitons in half lengthwise, and remove the center seedpods and throw them away. Then take a paring knife and carefully peel the outer skin away from the pulp. Once the skin is removed, dice the pulp into small pieces and set it aside as well. At this point, preheat the oven to 325°F. Then, turn the fire up under the Dutch oven to high, and drop in the shrimp and the chopped sausage. Within 2 to 4 minutes time, the shrimp will turn pink, which is exactly the way you

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By Poppy Tooker Kevin Belton is a gumbo of English, French, Native American and African ancestry. His mother’s family has roots in the French-Caribbean island of Martinique, and his French-speaking father’s family came from the Bayou Lafourche area of Southeast Louisiana near Thibodaux. Standing six feet, nine inches tall, the big guy has a heart to match his imposing size.

A s a child, Kevin Belton was surrounded by love and food. That love was evident in every bite served by his mother, Sarah Thomas Belton, and her mom, Magnolia T. Battle, when the family gathered around the table. “We tried to have breakfast together every day, but family dinners were a must,” Kevin recalled. Nan, as he called his grandmother, always lived with the Beltons Uptown on Valence Street, just off Freret. That bustling corridor was the place Nan and Kevin regularly shopped. “Across from Canal Villere [longtime New Orleans grocery chain] there was a butcher shop with live chickens and turtles,” Kevin said. “Nan would call to the butcher as we passed, ‘I need two.’ He would quickly dispatch a pair of chickens that we’d pick up on our way home for that night’s dinner.” Typical of many homes, Kevin’s days of the week were marked by what was for dinner. Mondays meant red beans, Wednesday dinner was panéed meat, and seafood was served most Friday and Saturday nights. There was always dessert. “Mom baked a wonderful homemade chocolate cake. It was yellow cake with her special chocolate icing,” Kevin smiled. “That was always my birthday cake growing up.” In 1977, while Kevin was in Baton Rouge playing football for LSU, his mom passed away, changing the course of her son’s life forever. “I quit football and came back to NewOrleans. I had been studying marketing at LSU, so I enrolled in classes here, but never graduated. Mom always said, ‘Jump on a barge and take it down the river. If you don’t like it, jump on the next one. If you don’t

teach. She made class so much fun, so that became my approach.” Another door openedwhenKevin followed his mentor, Joe Cahn, to WYES for the live Showboat Auction . “That was how I learned to do live TV,” Kevin reflected. “Somebody didn’t show up that next weekend and they asked if I could auction a board for them. Before long, I was featured in their pledge breaks, too.” As an only child, Kevin played alone in his room pretending to be people he’d seen on TV. That make-believe helped hone the innate talent for entertaining so characteristic of Kevin Belton today. When WWL-TV icon Frank Davis died in 2013, the station dedicated the studio kitchen — a place that had been Frank’s domain since the 1980s — to him. An entire month was devoted to Frank’s memory, with Kevin re-creating Frank’s recipes on air every Tuesday morning leading up to the dedication. When the month was over, Kevin was asked to fill Frank’s shoes. Humbled by the opportunity, Kevin thought, “I can’t be Frank. I can only be me. But I do talk to Frank all the time when I’m at the station,” he laughed. “Going through the equipment locker that originally was Frank’s, I’ll say to him ‘Hey! Did you see that?’ wondering what he’d think about some new food craze — like the Cronut.” Kevin’s years of commercial TV cooking success are unparalleled in the Crescent City. Public television opened its doors in 2015 after Chef Paul Prudhomme retired from his long-running PBS series. WYES Programming Director Beth Utterback asked Kevin to come see her. Utterback said, “Chef Paul retired, and we want you to do the next

like that, take one going the other way. That’s been my approach to life.’” A part-time job with a tourism company led in many ways to Kevin’s role today as New Orleans’ culinary ambassador. During that time, he crossed paths with the New Orleans School of Cooking founder, Joe Cahn, who saw a spark in the young man. “Let’s work together” he suggested, and Kevin was soon the manager of Cahn’s Louisiana General Store. “I learned so much about Louisiana and its food by traveling to buy authentic ingredients for the store. We’d go to Gueydan for Ellis Stansel’s popcorn rice and to Ville Platte for Mr. Ortego’s special hot sauce.” Until it was on the shelf at the general store, the fiery concoction was previously available only out of Mr. Ortego’s trunk! Within six months at the New Orleans School of Cooking, Kevin found himself following in his mom’s footsteps when he began teaching there. “I guess it was in my blood,” Kevin said. “Mom was a school teacher, and I got to sit in the back of her classroom during the summer watching her

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series.” Almost speechless, Kevin remembered: “As I left Beth’s house, I called Chef up on the phone. I felt like I was asking permission. I said to him, ‘I was told you’re stepping back, and they’ve approached me about it.’” The legendary Chef Prudhomme immediately replied, “Take it! Do it and make it your own!” Today Kevin has completed four 26-episode series accompanied by companion cookbooks. PBS affiliates across the country broadcast his popular show. Kevin credits all he knows today from the priceless knowledge shared so freely with him by New Orleans’ cooking greats. “I have childhood memories of eating at Dooky’s and was eventually blessed to be with Miss Leah in her kitchen. To stand at the stove and be friends with Paul Prudhomme; to hang out with Louis Evans in the Pontchar train Hotel kitchen and with Mike Roussell at Brennan’s,” he marveled. “They taught me and showed me the food but, more importantly, they showed me how to treat people, how to handle the business end of it, as well,” he reflected. Kevin’s thoughts always return to the women in his life. As important as Kevin’s mom and Nan were in making him the man he is, he credits his beloved wife, Monica, for making him look good today. “Anything you see me do, know it came from her first!” he said emphatically. The inseparable pair make quite a team, as evidenced in Kevin’s latest book, Cookin’ Louisiana , co-authored with Monica. While Tuesdays remain Kevin’s cooking day at WWL, over time he has become a special field reporter for the station. “When some of the other guys show up, everybody looks around, like, ‘Uh-oh! Who’s getting indicted?’ But when I show up they say, ‘Chef Kev’s here! We’re going to have some fun.’” Just as Frank Davis had his Naturally N’awlins beat, Kevin is busy developing new segments for WWL News called So New Orleans . “It’s about what makes us, us. Think about how we give directions — everything’s lakeside, riverside, uptown, downtown. The crazy way we pronounce things in different neighborhoods…our food,” Kevin laughed. One thing is certain. No matter what Kevin Belton has a hand in, he is always in it with all of his heart.

KEVIN BELTON’S COOKIN’ LOUISIANA: FLAVORS FROM THE PARISHES OF THE PELICAN STATE , 2021 ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Kevin Belton’s fourth cookbook and television series focus on the amazing food found throughout Louisiana. The star of New Orleans Cooking with Kevin Belton heads to multiple parishes found across Louisiana to explore dishes and unique flavor profiles associated with each area of the state.

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HALLMARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING By David W. Brown Suppose you want to watch a movie about a high-powered businesswoman / a plucky interior designer / a seamstress with big dreams and an Etsy account / an up-and-coming barista / an actress on the cusp of stardom who finds out her dad is sick / learns the family farm is in trouble / is asked to be in her sister’s wedding / is contacted by an attorney about some inherited land two weeks before Christmas / Thanksgiving / “the holiday.” She is reticent to return to her hometown in the picturesque mountains / windswept prairielands / hilly farm country so close to the holidays, but she does, and when she gets there she meets Ryan, the town handyman who knows everyone / Jake, the farmhand with an old but reliable pickup truck / Todd, a young attorney with a new legal practice who just loves this ol’ town / Will, also traveling from out of town who is handsome and rakish, a little sweet and definitely manly.

O ur heroine (has had a bad experience with love / doesn’t care much for “the holidays” / has an important meeting back in New York and doesn’t have time for this), and just wants to take care of things and get back to the city. Suddenly, (a snowstorm / an illness that takes a turn for the worst / complicated legal paperwork / a canceled flight) keeps her delayed, and (no cell reception / no internet / a guilt trip from her sassy aunt / a forgotten Macbook charger and of course there are no Apple Stores in this one-horse town) stops her from working. She keeps encountering her handsome admirer, and (the town postman who looks a little like Santa / her cheeky old aunt / her precocious niece / Old Frank who owns the hardware store) thinks the two look great together. Will she (fall in love / stick around for the holiday and have dinner with her handsome new beau’s big family she hardly knows / move back to her hometown now that she knows the true meaning of love and the holidays / all of the above)? You’ll just have to watch and find out! If you want to watch that movie, then have I got a channel for you.

with a heart of gold). Who is watching those movies? You are, even if you don’t want to admit it —and you aren’t alone. Eighty million people watch Hallmark holiday movies every year. (There are only 300 million people in the United States.) They’re so popular that Candace Cameron Bure, who is like the Orson Welles of Hallmark movies, quit Hallmark to start her own holiday movie channel. The important thing to acknowledge about Hallmark movies is that they are pleasures not because they are bad, but because they are so good. All else proceeds from there. They are well-cast and well-acted. The stakes for the characters are low, which is comforting to all of us. The outcome is always positive. More comfort yet. We are, all of us, in some way panicked and lonely and uncertain, subject to relentlessly depressingly news in a world spiraling out of control, and any kind of comfort we can get is a valid comfort. Strangely, I have never spoken to somebody about Hallmark movies who didn’t describe them as a “guilty pleasure,” but what a mistake that is! Given the choice between, well, everything going on every where, it seems, and a movie where a plucky travel agent falls in love with the good natured ranch hand, well I know which one I’d choose. Once Hallmark figured out the formula, everyone decided to get in on the action.

Lifetime, which was once known for more intense fare, featuring couples and even entire families no one would describe as wholesome (they had way more revenge killings than Hallmark movies, anyway), is now Hallmark Lite. Amazon joined the fray, too (you can always tell which movie is a lighthearted, romantic holiday flick because the people look happy). Netflix? The final few subscribers to it report to me that Hallmark type movies are standard fare when the holiday season sets in. So ubiquitous is the Hallmark movie that it has transcended its channel of origin and the company that produces them. (I’m just going to call them all “Hallmark movies” here — you know exactly what I am talking about.) Hallmark movies deliver Christmas. You don’t even have to be Christian to buy into the ideal. White snow piled shoulder high, blanketing every inch of real estate. Carols and cookies and guileless love and good intentions. The shows sustain something inside us all that is woefully malnourished. And they aren’t the first bit of media to do so. The modern Christmas that we celebrate is in large measure an invention of Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol is more than a great story about Muppets — so influential was the book that it popularized everything from the phrase “Merry Christmas” to the big family meal we have to celebrate the holiday. It is almost impossible to overstate how

Everyone loves a good Hallmark movie, where there is no COVID, no inflation, no social media anxiety, and no politics (aside from old Mr. Jenkins, the town mayor

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