Rouses_May-June-2018

everyday MAY | JUNE 2018 ROUSES my FREE

LOCAL EAT, DRINK, SUPPORT

Alabama Lane Cake Catfish Acadiana Sensation Salad Stuffed Pistolettes LOCAL FAVORITES

the Eat Local issue

FAMILY LETTER

On the Cover Fried Catfish & Crawfish Étouffée on page 48 Cover Photo by Romney Caruso • • • MY FAVORITE RESTAURANTS ON THE GULF COAST Coastal, Gulf Shores You have to try their Buffalo Cauliflower appetizer — It’s smoked in-house, lightly breaded and fried, and topped with a not-so-spicy buffalo sauce and blue cheese crumbles. And they have an amazing dry-aged steak selection. Don’t forget to save room for dessert; there’s an ice cream milkshake bar that my kids love. SALT at Sanroc Cay, Orange Beach These folks feature fresh-caught local fish — red snapper, grouper, triggerfish, sheepshead, swordfish and more — plus Bayou La Batre shrimp and Alabama oysters. On any given day you can choose from up to 10 varieties of local oysters. The menu changes often, but the picture-perfect waterfront view is thankfully always the same.

My Favorite Time of Year May and June kick off summer, which is one of my family’s busiest times of the year. There’s Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, of course.My two daughters and my godson have birthdays in May, and my son’s birthday is in June.That’s a lot of cake! With the kids out of school, my family will be spending a lot of time at the beach and on our boat, some of our favorite summer pastimes. It’s red snapper season, and any chance I get I’ll be deep-sea fishing along the Gulf Coast. I cook snapper fisherman’s style, on the half shell, or deep-fry it whole in a black iron jambalaya pot. Prep is easy: Clean and scale the fish, then make two diagonal cuts on each side. Batter and deep-fry it in about two inches of hot oil. Check the cuts for doneness. Summer is a season of great bounty on the Gulf Coast, and our produce buyers do a great job of sourcing local seasonal produce including blueberries, watermelon and corn, all in season now. My favorite, though, are Creole tomatoes — and lucky for me, they are everywhere. I eat them on salads and sandwiches, but mostly diced and drizzled with Rouses Balsamic Vinegar. We opened our sixth store in Lower Alabama last month, and we’re opening our seventh, in Orange Beach, this May. Over the years we’ve had hundreds of requests to come to Orange Beach.We just needed to find the right location.This store is great for locals and vacationers alike. If you’re heading to the Alabama Gulf Coast or Florida Panhandle, come make your groceries or get your beach supplies at Rouses. Donny Rouse CEO, 3 rd Generation

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table of contents MAY | JUNE 2018

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EAT LOCAL 12 One Singular Sensation by David W. Brown 18 The Right Stuffed by Marcelle Bienvenu 22 Memory Lane by Emily Blejwas 30 Old Sober by Sarah Baird 49 Fry Day by Rouses Chef Marc Ardoin 52 Jam-Packed by Judy Walker

DRINK LOCAL 28 Mixing with the Locals by Wayne Curtis LOCAL SOCIAL 34 Cajun Ninja by David W. Brown 40 Foodstagrams by Sarah Baird

RECIPES 15 Sensation Salad 15 Galatoire’s Godchaux Salad 15 West Indies Salad 20 Stuffed Pistolettes 20 Crawfish Bread 25 Alabama Lane Cake 37 Chicken Sauce Piquant 37 Shrimp &Grits 42 Loaded Vegan Sweet Potato Nachos 43 Pork & Peanut Dragon Noodles

45 Red Beans &Rice Nachos 49 Crawish Étouffée 55 Jambalaya Stuffed Bell Peppers IN EVERY ISSUE 1 Letter from the Family 6 Departments, Products & Services 8 Eat Right with Rouses by Esther Ellis, RD 9 Makin’ Groceries by Ali Rouse Royster

43 A Byte to Eat 44 Pride and Joy by Sarah Baird

IN THE COMMUNITY 56 Locals Supporting Locals by Ali Rouse Royster

Alabama restaurateur William “Bill” Bayley created the exotic-sounding West Indies salad — layers of onions and crabmeat soaked in oil and vinegar — in 1947. You can order the original at Bayley’s Seafood Restaurant in Theodore and variants at restaurants throughout Lower Alabama. Get the recipe on page 15.

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INTRODUCING SAME DAY DELIVERY ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.ROUSES.COM

YOU ORDER. WE SHOP. WE DELIVER.

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taste with everything you love. And nothing you don’t.

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GFSI CERTIFIED DELICIOUS!

Make Life Taste

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2018

NEW

OVER THE TOP delicious.

If they look this DELICIOUS, imagine how they’ll taste.

AVAILABLE AT THE COLD CUT COUNTER

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the Eat Local issue

DEPARTMENTS & SERVICES We’ve been locally and family owned since 1960.

SEAFOOD MARKET We partner with local fishing families all across the Gulf Coast to bring you the best of every catch. Our certified seafood experts are trained to select, cut and prepare every piece of seafood we sell.

New Rouses Markets Coming Soon Our new Rouses Market in Orange Beach at 25405 Perdido Beach Blvd. opens in late May — just in time for Memorial Day! JOIN OUR TEAM Our team members share a strong work ethic and dedication to providing our customers the best quality and service. If you’re looking for a career you’ll love, apply online

AT SEASON’S PEAK: CREOLE TOMATOES

The name Creole refers to where these seasonal tomatoes are grown — typically the fertile fields of the southeastern part of Louisiana, in par- ticular St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. The unique river soils and warm climate of these parishes pro- duce sugar-sweet Creoles with an exceptional “tomatoey” flavor.

BUTCHER SHOP Each Rouses Market features a full-service butcher shop with master butchers available to answer your questions about cuts, grades and cooking. Choose USDA Prime, USDA Choice or our exclusive, certified tender Texas Star Beef. It’s ranched right here on the Gulf Coast and comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

at www.rouses.com or email human.resources@rouses.com . VOTED ONE OF THE BEST PLACES TO WORK

CAKES & DESSERTS There are as many reasons to order our cakes and cupcakes as there are ways to customize them. If you’d like to place a special order for a cake or dessert, or schedule a wedding con- sultation, stop by or call your neigh- borhood Rouses Market. For locations visit www.rouses.com.

Contact Us! www.rouses.com Tweet Us! @RousesMarkets Like Rouses? We like you too! Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/rousesmarkets Share Photos! @rousesmarkets SIGN UP FOR EMAILS Hungry for more?

WINE, SPIRITS & BEER We offer wines and spirits at every price point and have experts on the floor to answer questions and offer pairing suggestions. Our craft beer selection includes cans, bottles and kegs from all over the Gulf Coast and the nation, plus import labels from around the world.

Sign up at www.rouses.com to receive our weekly specials and cooking tips, recipes and special offers in our emails and newsletters.

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Congratulations! From his teenage days assisting customers at his father’s store, to his current role as Chairman of the Board, Donald Rouse has always looked for ways to help his neighbors. He has been an avid supporter of local businesses and producers, educational programs and many charitable causes in the communities we serve. Donald is very humble and has never sought recognition for his giving. But his quiet acts of kindness have not gone unnoticed. In March, Donald was honored by Associated Wholesale Grocers with the Lou Fox Community Service Award, in recognition of his community service and involvement. AWG is the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets. The award is given in tribute to Lou Fox, president of AWG from 1955 to 1981, who was regarded as a philanthropist and civic supporter. Donald lives up to Lou Fox’s legacy by giving back every day. [Left to Right] David Smith, CEO, AWG; Donald Rouse, COB, Rouses Markets; Donny Rouse, CEO, Rouses Markets

FLOWER SHOP Our licensed floral directors are as picky about the flowers we sell as our chefs are about the ingredients that go into the foods we make. We have one-of-a-kind arrangements and centerpieces, and you’ll love our great selection of decorations. Visit your local Rouses Market for delivery options in your area.

CAJUN SPECIALTIES You can’t fake Cajun! Our boudin, andouille, fresh and smoked sausages, and stuffed meats are made with Rouse Family Recipes that go back three generations. Cooking and heating instructions are available online at www.rouses.com.

LIMITED TIME OFFERS in our Deli Don’t miss our Limited Time Offers — Thai Chili Rotisserie Chicken, Honey Sriracha Fried Chicken (pieces and tenders), and Columbus Roast Beef Sandwich with Horseradish Cheddar. Pictured, Thai Chili Rotisserie Chicken

New! MEAL KITS for Two Leave the fuss to us! Our new Meal Kits include everything you need to make a restaurant-quality meal at home. Just follow our chef’s simple step-by-step cooking instructions.

ROUSES PRIVATE LABEL Every Rouses Markets private label food item has been personally tasted by the Rouse Family and is guaranteed to deliver the best quality at the best price.

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the Eat Local issue

B uying from local farms and business- es supports locals and can reduce en- vironmental impacts, decreasing the distance between producer and customer and cutting fuel and greenhouse gas emis- sions. Did you know reduced processing and travel time may also mean local foods have more nutrients and better flavor? Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida Watermelons Allen Eubanks of Lucedale, Mississippi, has been farming for a quarter of a century. He’s the fourth generation in his family to work the soil, and watermelon is one of his sweetest crops. Since a whole one is 92% water, it offers a great way to stay hydrated in the summer. All that water also makes this fruit low in calories — a two-cup serving has just 80 calories and is an excellent source of vitamins A and C. Look for a firm, symmetrical fruit free from bruises, cuts or dents. It should be heavy for its size.Whole watermelons at room temperature keep for up to 10 days; cut watermelon stays fresh in the fridge for up to four days. Louisiana and Mississippi Blueberries Blueberries prove that big things come in small packages. Straight from the farm of John Aust in Brooklyn, Mississippi, these tiny berries are bursting with benefits; they’re an excellent source of manganese, which helps the body process cholesterol and carbohydrates and aids in bone devel- opment. Store fresh unwashed blueber- ries in their packaging on the middle shelf of your refrigerator for seven to 10 days. They’ll last longer if you don’t wash them until you’re ready to use. Cucumbers This season’s cucumbers are from Joey Liuzza in Amite, Louisiana — one farmer in a family of farmers across Louisiana. A little-known benefit of cucumbers? They’re rich in potassium. Potassium helps with blood pressure, heart health and nerve function. The average cucumber contains 442 mg of potassium but only has 45 EAT RIGHT with ROUSES by Esther, Rouses R.D.

calories, so it’s a great snack to help you meet the daily recommended 4,700 mg. Choose cucumbers that are firm and dark green. Rinse them, then wrap in paper towels and store them in an unsealed plastic bag in the refrigerator, where they should last for up to 10 days. Okra Okra may be fuzzy, but it’s also full of fiber, which keeps you full longer; it can also help lower cholesterol and aid in digestion. If you’re looking for stronger bones, okra just might help. One cup provides 66% of your Daily Value (DV) of vitamin K, which is important in blood clotting and essential in building bones. It also provides 50% of your DV of manganese, which research suggests may also be involved in bone formation. Pick okra that is crisp and bright green, and store it in the fridge. Yellow Squash and Zucchini Squash Louisiana has plenty of squash this summer — it’s coming from Matt Ranatza and Ben Becnel in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, and from Joey Liuzza in Amite. If you’re trying to eat light, squash is a good summer option — one medium-sized squash is roughly 30 calories and very low in carbohydrates, making it a good substitute for starchy vegetables like potatoes. Plus, it’s a rich source of vitamin C, which helps keep skin healthy. Squash will keep for about a week when stored in a cool, dry place.

Eat Right WITH ROUSES

LOOK FOR THE LOGO Our Rouses registered dietitian has handpicked more than 500 grocery items that have lower sodium and saturated fat, healthier fats, more fiber and less sugar. Just look for the easy- to-spot Eat Right logo on the shelf tag or package. New! GOOD-TO-GO Food that’s good for you and tastes good too! Our Eat Right with Rouses meals, side dishes and snacks are created by our in-house chefs and registered dietitian. They’re sensibly sized, made with better-for-you ingredients, and suited to specific dietary goals or restrictions. Options include high protein, low sodium, low calorie, dairy free and no added sugar. Available in Rouses Deli. GROCERY STORE TOURS Complimentary tours designed to teach you how to effectively shop your local Rouses are available by appointment. To schedule a tour, email eatright@rouses.com. EAT RIGHT HEALTH FAIRS Our Eat Right health fairs are fun and educational and a great way to learn how healthy can taste good, too. Visit www.rouses.com to see what Eat Right events are going on in your neighborhood. ​ SIGN UP FOR OUR E-NEWSLETTERS Our monthly Eat Right emails include health and nutrition information, plus easy recipes from our registered dietitian, Esther. Sign up at www.rouses.com to get our Eat Right emails, food finds and recipes, as well as weekly specials delivered right to your inbox.

Esther Ellis, Rouses Registered Dietitian

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IN EVERY ISSUE

Local & Family Owned Since 1960 A few years ago, I was sitting in a Cornell University auditorium in Ithaca, New York at a weeklong program for food industry executives. The instructor asked a question of our group of manufacturers, wholesalers and other operators from around the U.S.: “Why is it that privately owned businesses, particularly family owned businesses, seem to know better when to make a change to their product or program than a bigger company, which you would assume would have more experienced and knowledgeable leadership?” I listened as people gave technical answers and guesses and were shot down before I offered my input: that a family owned business feels the results much quicker and more personally. “Bingo,” said the instructor, who noted that the last name on my card (it was before I was married, so it said just “Rouse”) matched my company’s name. “To put it simply, it’s your ___ on the MAKIN’ GROCERIES by Ali Rouse Royster

Rouse, and his brother Tommy (who’s enjoying a semi-retired life) running the show, with daily visits from their dad until his passing in 2009. My generation, the third, has five cousins active — Donny is our CEO, Nick is a buyer, Chris a store director, Blake an assistant store director and I help manage our finances and, true to family business form, do a bit of everything — Pa used to call me a “Jill of all trades.” We also have extended family throughout our organization — distant cousins and relative through marriage — at all levels. For instance, my husband Billy is our Director of Finance, and my cousin Mandy’s husband Jason Martinolich is our Center Store Director of Innovation. On any given day at work, I may interact with or run into six or seven relatives, sometimes many more! Holidays with family often weave social and business talk, in and out, all day long. For some people, this dynamic would be a nightmare, but I love it, as do all of us who have chosen to work in our family’s business. We are all passionate and excited about strengthening and growing our family business and legacy, by continuing the hard work and dedication that our grandparents and parents have demonstrated for years and have led us by example. We’re excited to one day be able to have our fourth generation grow up in the business like we did — though they’re mostly currently working on skills like coloring and tee-ball, rather than how to bag groceries or run a register. My grandfather taught me that our family business isn’t just about our family; it’s about each family that is supported by a job we provide, and about each family that serves our products on their table.

line.”You can fill in that blank with a number of words —money, legacy, reputation, etc.— but the word used that day was a three-letter synonym for donkey that pretty much sums it all up. That was one of many nuggets of wisdom I learned in that program, and it’s worth noting that this was a reinforcement of something that my grandfather taught me throughout my working life:To be successful, we must be ready and willing to change. Family owned businesses are the backbone of the American economy. What truly drives many family businesses is the sense of connection and identity the owners and their family members bring; that could not be more true for Rouses. To be successful and multigenerational, the family behind the business must retain an entrepreneurial spirit, be committed to the community it serves, and be focused on innovation for not just the now, but also for the medium and long term. The environment for innovation in family businesses improves when more generations of the family are actively involved in the business. Our family is large; our founder (my grandfather), Anthony, and his wife Joyce had six children and 17 grandchildren. Currently, there are 21 great-grandchildren adding lots of fun to the mix. The second generation saw our current chairman of the board, Donald

“ We are all passionate and excited about strengthening and growing our family business and legacy​.”

Blake Richard, Jason Martinolich, Donny Rouse, Ali Rouse Royster, Nick Acosta, Donald Rouse, Christopher Acosta

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®

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Made with Pork from U.S. and Canadian Farms.

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the Eat Local issue

ONE SINGULAR SENSATION by DavidW. Brown + photo by Collin Richie

I t started in theMidCity neighborhood of Baton Rouge, at a restaurant called Bob & Jake’s. They didn’t call it the Sensation salad back then. It was just — well, to them it was just a salad, but the locals of Baton Rouge would call it otherwise. After Bob & Jake’s closed, the Sensation survived, with other restaurants taking stabs at the signature dressing. It proliferated in the late ’60s and has remained a staple of the city’s food culture. Even Southern celebrity chefs like Emeril Lagasse and John Besh have prepared it on their shows. Baton Rouge culture lives in the shadow of New Orleans, but here was this thing that was its own … A Sensation salad’s soul is this: garlic, cheese, oil and lemon — the latter squeezed, sprightly, just before serving. Local foodies in the know toy with percentages and varieties —Romano or Parmesan, vegetable

oil or olive, and for the bold, this spice or that.Are you really even a Baton Rouge chef if you haven’t tried your hand at topping the masterpiece? When Richard Hanley went to Rouses to buy a Sensation salad dressing, he didn’t see one on the shelf. He was bringing a salad to a party, and it had to be Sensation — his favorite! — and the salad dressing aisle was coming up short. A Baton Rouge native, he’d known growing up that there were only three serious salad dressings: Balsamic, Ranch and Sensation. So where were the bottles of the stuff? It merited investigation, and to his astonishment, there were no Sensation salad dressings on any store shelves in 2012 because no such dressing existed. It was a local thing. How could he have known? At the time, he worked in marketing and

had a good job as an art director for a New Orleans-based advertising firm. He loved his job and he was good at it, but — and this might sound crazy — he couldn’t shake the notion that there was this gaping hole in the salad dressing market, and that maybe, just maybe, he could fill it. He wasn’t a cook, but he gave it a shot and began experimenting with his take on Sensation salad. He came up with four killer variations of the original, then held a salad party. He invited friends and family over and asked them to choose their favorite. He then took the winner and recalculated the recipe to re-create its goodness in a much larger batch. It took six hours to make enough dressing to fill three cases worth of bottles, and he brought them to the local farmers’ market. The dressing didn’t last two hours. Though he had to leave his booth with only a frowny face drawn on a napkin and the

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[ABOVE] Sensation Salad with Hanley’s Sensation Dressing; photo courtesy Hanley’s Foods [LEFT] Kate & Richard Hanley, Hanley’s Dressings; photo courtesy Hanley’s Foods

words “Sorry! Back next week!” he knew he had a hit. He doubled the batch — 12 hours of work — and returned to the farmers’ market, and the same thing happened again . Suddenly, he had a big decision to make. This thing — well, it could be something! But … salad dressing? Was that something people even devoted their lives to? He and his wife, Kate, talked it over. It was crazy, but it could work! They were still young. It was a big gamble. They had two little girls. But they decided it was now or never. He quit his job and they moved in with his parents. His wife quit her job the following year.They were doing this.They were going to make a successful food company. And Hanley’s Foods was born.

“We went from the farmers’ market to the grocery store with a smile and a bottle of Sensation,” says Hanley. “I was begging taco truck owners, saying, ‘Hey, I’ll wash your truck if you let me make some dressing in it on the weekends.’ I was just trying to find a way where I could mass-make this.” He eventually teamed up with the Louisiana State University AgCenter’s food incubator, a business support center for new food ventures. There, he found access to such hardware as 100-gallon vats and special refrigerators to test shelf life, as well as on- campus food scientists and nutritionists. “We got our start here, and we’ve taken it from farmers’ markets to about 800 stores across the United States. We want to be the global leader not only in specialty salad

dressings, but to make Sensation the next big flavor: Ranch. Sriracha. Sensation.” It wasn’t as easy as that, of course. Devel- oping a recipe is hard. Scaling it is harder. Hanley says it took a lot of mistakes and a lot of experiments. “I had many late nights of oil and vinegar stacked to the ceiling.Me, just playing around with it, hacking things, testing different techniques, experiments, trying different ways of cooking it, making, it stirring it, tweaking it, until I got the fla- vor profile I was looking for.” From there, he moved to spreadsheets to figure out how to turn a recipe for one bottle into a recipe for 10,000. How much oil is necessary? Vinegar? Cheese? How do you make every bottle taste like the first one?

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the Eat Local issue

As the company has grown, the process, while refined, remains the same. Kate has the critique chef ’s palate of the team. Once a product makes it past her, it goes to focus groups for testing. When they added a honey mustard salad dressing to the lineup, for example, it took three months of work before Hanley found the right recipe — the best in the world, he says. A batch involves four days of preparation.The seeds have to be fermented for 72 hours. They are then ground, and from that, a paste is made. From that, the dressing.They started making three bottles at a time.They ramped up to a gallon.Then five gallons.They went to the farmers’ market for further feedback and testing. Soon they were at 20 gallons, then 40, 50 and then 100. Every bottle has to taste the same, but sometimes ingredients change. When the Hanleys developed a strawberry vinaigrette, obvious things in a home kitchen became interesting challenges in the food lab. Sometimes strawberries are sweet. Sometimes they’re sour. Sometimes they’re in-between. Every 100-gallon batch is thus carefully made with an eye toward consistency. However, the strawberries’ taste, in every bottle of dressing, must be the same. It’s not a problem that can be solved on a spreadsheet. Hanley and his team taste every batch to ensure that it meets scientific standards like pH, as well as an internal checklist of taste, texture and consistency. It has to be as thick or as thin as designed, and has to move properly in the bottle. “There’s no way of writing that down on paper,” says Hanley. “You know how it should look. How it should pour out. It’s an art form and a science to get it right every single time.” Five years after opening the company, Hanley still puts in over a hundred hours a week. Getting a product on store shelves is only the start. A food entrepreneur then has to get the product off shelves (i.e., sold) quickly, and also must have follow-

up batches ready for stores to stock shelves again. The path from the food lab to the kitchen table, once the product is produced, runs from convincing stores to sell the product to negotiating with distributors and overseeing marketing efforts. If business is good, products put on a store shelf by stock clerks get taken off by buyers.When enough products are sold, though, big brands notice and start targeting the upstart. Not only, now, is the battle about getting on and off of shelves, but also about fending off billion- dollar competitor companies. To handle the onslaught, Hanley says, the product has to be made well, shipped efficiently, sold and restocked quickly, and marketed effectively. In Hanley’s case, it’s all done by hand. The ingredients added to the mixing vats. The dressing poured into the bottles. The movement of bottles down the line. The capping, labeling, sealing, boxing — every step is done by gloved human hands in a sterile facility. The ingredients are locally sourced whenever possible. The employees are Baton Rouge’s very own. “There’s a lot of work that goes into every bottle on that shelf,” says Hanley. “As a business owner I’m extremely proud that people share their hardworking dollars for something that we’ve created. To have that kind of validation is very rewarding.” Everything had to be learned. Even a salad savant would still have to figure out the tiny things, like, how do you get a barcode? How do you get the FDA and Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to come out and permit your process? In terms of logistics, it’s about getting the raw materials. Getting the people. And once you’ve packed a case of dressing, where next? Delivery by truck to an offsite warehouse where distributors pick it up and carry it to stores. Locally sourcing clean food and all- natural ingredients is part of the DNA of the company. Sensation came from Baton

Rouge, and Hanley is making sure it goes back into it. “As the business grows and becomes more profitable, we can really start making the community better,” he says. “Not only an economic impact in the city, but real change. Everything starts with food. It’s something you vote on three times a day. And if we can make better, healthier products and give back to the community, that’s more than enough for us. We want to make Sensation the next big flavor in food. From potato chips to dressing to croutons, we want it to be the next big flavor, and maybe put Baton Rouge on the map for that.” A casual walk through Downtown Baton Rouge is eye-opening. At some point between the relighting of the famed Coca-Cola sign in 2002 and today, the city’s culture changed. Maybe it was the infusion of talent and fresh ideas following Katrina. Maybe it was the city’s investment in art and its efforts at economic revitalization, but Downtown went from a decaying memory in the shadow of the state capitol — a vestigial part of a city sprawling ever outward, from College to Bluebonnet to Siegen Lane — to a hive of entrepreneurship. It’s what the Hanley family is doing on a citywide scale. Sixty- one restaurants, 21 bars, hotels, art galleries, coworking spaces, business incubators — the city is booming in ways few could have predicted. And in a very real way, that has become the new identity of Baton Rouge: scrappy young entrepreneurs reshaping the city for the better. It is sensational to see, so why wouldn’t restaurants sell a salad to honor that spirit? Why wouldn’t an artistic young couple make a salad dressing with that very name, part of a growing food empire with plans of going national? Everything about what’s happening is sensational, contagious and, like the salad, seems unlikely to end for a very long time.

“ A Sensation salad’s soul is this: garlic, cheese, oil and lemon — the latter squeezed, sprightly, just before serving. Local foodies in the know toy with percentages and varieties — Romano or Parmesan, vegetable oil or olive, and for the bold, this spice or that.”

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Galatoire’s Godchaux Salad Makes 6 servings Godchaux Salad has been a mainstay on Galatoire’s menu since the 1920s. Prepared with iceberg lettuce, lump crabmeat, shrimp, hard-boiled eggs, anchovies and a Creole mustard-based vinaigrette, the Godchaux Salad is a variation of the Dinkelspiel Salad, which had the same ingredients, but in a different combination. The Dinkelspiel was retired from the menu in the 1960s, but brought back in 2015 for the restaurant’s 110th anniversary. WHAT YOU WILL NEED 1 medium head iceberg lettuce, washed, dried, torn into bite-size pieces 2 vine-ripened tomatoes, cored, cut into large bite-size pieces 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, cleaned 30 large (21 to 25 count) shrimp, boiled and peeled Creole mustard vinaigrette (recipe follows) 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped 12 anchovy fillets HOW TO PREP In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, toma- toes, crabmeat and shrimp. Gradually add the dressing to the salad, according to your preference, and toss gently until all ingredients are well-coated. Divide salad onto six chilled plates. Garnish each with chopped egg and 2 anchovy fillets. Extra dressing can be served on the side. Creole Mustard Vinaigrette Makes 1-1½ cups WHAT YOU WILL NEED 1/3 cup red wine vinegar 1 cup Creole mustard or any coarse, grainy brown mustard Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 2/3 cup vegetable oil HOW TO PREP In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and mustard, and season with salt and pepper. Add the oil in a slow drizzle while whisking to incorporate and create an emulsion. (From Galatoire’s Cookbook , 2005, by Melvin Rodrigue with Jyl Benson)

Sensation Salad Yields 2 cups dressing WHAT YOU WILL NEED 2

Bayley’s West Indies Salad Serves 4-6 Alabama restaurateur William “Bill” Bayley created the exotic-sounding West Indies salad — layers of onions and crabmeat soaked in oil and vinegar — in 1947. You can order the original at Bayley’s Seafood Restaurant in Theodore and variants at restaurants throughout Lower Alabama. WHAT YOU WILL NEED 1 medium onion, finely chopped 1 pound fresh crab claw meat, picked through for shells and cartilage Salt and freshly ground pepper ½ cup vegetable oil ½ cup apple cider vinegar ½ cup ice water HOW TO PREP Spread half the chopped onion over the bottom of a large bowl. Cover with separated crab lumps and then the remaining onion. Season with salt and pepper. Add the oil and vinegar. Strain the ice through a sieve to remove the ice cubes, then add the well-chilled water to the salad. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 12 hours. Toss lightly, then taste and adjust for season- ing with salt and pepper before serving. Pictured above; photo by Romney Caruso

cloves garlic, finely chopped tablespoons fresh lemon juice tablespoon apple cider vinegar

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1

½ cup vegetable oil ½ cup olive oil 1

cup finely grated Romano or Parmesan cheese sprigs flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, finely chopped ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 head of romaine, iceberg, Boston, Bibb or butter lettuce HOW TO PREP Combine the garlic, lemon juice, vinegar and oils in a quart container with a tight-fitting lid. Add the grated cheese, parsley, salt and pepper; close the lid tightly. Shake the container until all the ingredients are incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to use. Toss the lettuce with the dressing right before you serve. Pictured page 12; photo by Collin Riche 4

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BACON. What more do you need to know? For generations, Sugardale bacon has been making every type of meal better with ready-to-cook bacon.

Celebrate the Summer

with

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the Eat Local issue

THE RIGHT STUFFED by Marcelle Bienvenu + photo by Romney Caruso

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2018

EAT LOCAL

I couldn’t have been more than five years old when I was sent on my tricycle to Mr. Jack’s Bakery, a two-story structure that occupied a corner at Main and Bridge in St.Martinville. Mama instructed me to purchase four doughnuts for my siblings and myself, and two pistolettes for Papa. The coins for the purchases were in a small purse she put in the basket of my bike. I set out on the two-block jaunt with an air of importance. Of course, I had been to Mr. Jack’s often, accompanied by Mama or Papa, but this was the first time I went on my own. Mr. Jack, a tall, slender gentleman, greeted me at the door dressed in a starched white shirt, colorful bow tie and seersucker pants. I knew from early-morning visits before 6:30 Mass that Mr. Jack began his daily baking (in a huge brick oven) in the wee hours of the morning, swathed in starched white chef coat and pants. After the doughnuts, breads, rolls and pastries were done and brought in to display in the glass-fronted cabinets, he changed to business attire. I gave him Mama’s order and while he filled it, I inhaled the aromas of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, French bread and my favorite — chocolate fudge cakes dusted with powdered sugar. Back at home, I watched Papa spread softened butter on the still- warm, slightly crusty pistolettes that he drizzled with Steen’s Pure Cane Syrup. He explained that these hand-size breads were made with leftover dough from Mr. Jack’s famous French bread. Mama sometimes made fried ham sandwiches for our Saturday lunches with the pistolettes, and I remembered it being such a treat. As I skipped along my culinary journey, I was introduced (years later) to stuffed breads at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. I remember thinking that the bread resembled the pistolettes of my childhood. Stuffing them with crawfish, shrimp and sausage mixtures was really gilding the lily, and these delicious stuffed breads — or stuffed pistolettes — are now a mainstay at the annual popular music festival.They also show up at other Gulf Coast festivals and small- town eateries. Some are in the shape of a small baguette,while others look like dinner rolls, and there are some that are merely large slices of French bread loaded with the ubiquitous seafood or sausage and cheese stuffings. And yes, some are fried (oh my goodness) while others are baked. I lean toward the baked. Now that we are in a warm-weather mode, with longer days and time for summer outings, you might consider going in search of this delicacy by embarking on a pistolette (stuffed bread) “trail.”My “foodie” scouts have given me some suggestions, which I happily pass on to you.

Poupart’s Bakery 1902 West Pinhook Rd., Lafayette, LA The Crawfish Étouffée Pistolettes sold at Festivals Acadiens and Festival International come from this Lafayette landmark. Creole Lunch House 713 12th St., Lafayette, LA Creole Lunch House’s fresh-baked, fist-sized rolls, loaded with crawfish and gooey cheese, are also a favorite at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Rabideaux’s World Famous Sausage Kitchen 105 US-165, Iowa, LA Here, you’ll find dinner rolls stuffed with shrimp or crawfish étouffée and fried golden brown. Steamboat Bill’s 1004 North Lakeshore Dr., Lake Charles, LA (Additional locations in Lake Charles, DeRidder and Alexandria, LA and Pearland, TX) A favorite appetizer is the fried pistolette roll, split and stuffed with either shrimp or crawfish. The Boiling Point 1730 Beglis Pkwy., Sulphur, LA The soft fried roll found here is stuffed with a cheesy seafood filling. T-Boo’s Sweet Shop 24572 Hwy. 190, Krotz Springs, LA The fried pistolettes at T-Boo’s are stuffed with crawfish with cheese. T-Boo’s also makes stuffed sausage and crawfish breads. Billy’s Mini Mart 24467 US-190, Krotz Springs, LA Billy’s serves crawfish pistolettes. The Original Pierre Maspero’s 440 Chartres St., New Orleans, LA The renowned Maspero’s serves up two golden French rolls (or pistolettes) filled with a creamy cheese sauce and Gulf shrimp, bell

peppers and onions and topped with Parmesan cheese. Fish River Grill 1545 Gulf Shores Pkwy., Gulf Shores, AL (More locations in Foley and Fairhope)

If you liked the Cajun Pistol at Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores, this is one spot to get your fix. Fish River’s Cajun Pistol looks like a pistolette version of New Orleans crawfish bread. Also try the Swamp Soup, which is made with beans and greens. Little New Orleans 25241 Perdido Beach Blvd., Orange Beach, AL The French rolls, stuffed with shrimp or crawfish cheese sauce, are a specialty.

If you want to try your hand at making your very own stuffed bread, on the next page are a couple of recipes so you can start experimenting! “ The stuffed pistolette is a great example of how Cajun cooks guild the lily. Take the best french bread, stuff it with the best seafood, and deep fry until golden brown just for good measure.” —Chef Collin Cormier, Pop’s Po-Boys and Central Pizza, Lafayette

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Marcelle’s Stuffed Pistolettes Makes 12 servings WHAT YOU WILL NEED 12 French rolls (pistolettes) 2/3 cup water ½ cup chopped parsley ¼ cup Dijon mustard 2 eggs, lightly beaten ½ teaspoon dried oregano leaves ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 pound sweet Italian sausage (removed from the casings and crumbled) 1 pound lean ground beef 1 cup chopped onions ¾ stick (6 tablespoons) butter 1 teaspoon minced garlic HOW TO PREP Halve the rolls lengthwise.

Jerry’s Crawfish Bread ( From Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans , Chronicle Books) “I thought you would be interested in my version of crawfish bread,” wrote Jerry H. of Destrehan. “This is fantastic and as good as anything served at any festival. I was moved to create this recipe after my wife and I, who are volunteers at the Destrehan Plantation Fall Festival, ate the wonderful crawfish bread served there by one of the vendors.” ½ cup finely chopped celery ½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped ½ cup dry white wine 1 pound peeled crawfish tails with fat 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cut into small squares ½ teaspoon Creole seasoning, such as Tony Chachere’s, Zatarain’s or Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic, to taste 1 (11-ounce) roll refrigerated French bread dough ½ pound shredded pizza cheese mix or mozzarella cheese HOW TO PREP Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking sheet. In a large skillet, melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the green onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic until wilted. Add the wine and the crawfish tails with their fat. Stir well and add the cream cheese. Stir until melted. Add the Creole seasoning and cook until the mixture is thickened, just a few minutes. Remove from the heat and let the flavors blend. WHAT YOU WILL NEED ¼ cup butter ¼ cup olive oil 1 cup chopped green onions (tops and bottoms)

Carefully remove the soft centers, leaving bread “shells” that are about ¼-inch thick. Let the soft centers you removed dry out a bit, then pulse them several times (in batches) in a food processor until coarsely crumbled. Transfer the bread crumbs to a bowl and add the water, parsley, mustard, eggs, oregano and pepper. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook the sausage, ground beef and onions in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the meat is browned through. Remove from the heat and drain off any excess grease. Cool the mixture for about 10 minutes. Combine the meat mixture and the breadcrumbs in a bowl and blend well. Divide the mixture equally among the rolls, packing it slightly. Place the rolls on an ungreased baking sheet. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the garlic. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Brush the butter over the filling and the edges of the rolls and bake until hot and browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Also Try Savory, crescent-shaped hand pies are one of the most-loved festival foods on the Gulf Coast. These deep-fried delights originated in Natchitoches — pronounced nack-a-tush — one of the oldest known towns in Louisiana. Natchitoches meat pies are a spicy blend of beef and pork. Crawfish pies typically hold a creamy rice and crawfish mixture. Carefully roll out French bread dough to a thickness of ½ inch on the baking sheet. Spoon the crawfish mixture down the center of the dough, and sprinkle with the shredded cheese. Fold the dough over the mixture to make a loaf. Cut 2 small slits in the top of the dough. Place in oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before slicing into serving-size pieces.

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2018

#MadeWithManda

Recipes at MadeWithManda.com Pineapple Sausage Kebobs & Barbecue Cane Syrup Glaze

Great on the

Grill!

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MEMORY LANE by Emily Blejwas + photos by Meredith Foltynowicz

A s the story goes, sometime in the late 1800s, Emma Rylander Lane left her native city of Americus, Georgia, and moved with her husband to the town of Clayton, Alabama. It was there that she created a four-layer white cake made with flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, egg whites and vanilla. She spread a heated mixture of egg yolks, butter, sugar, raisins, whiskey and vanilla between the layers and frosted the whole cake with a boiled, fluffy white

icing. When she entered it in a baking competition at a county fair in Columbus, Georgia, the cake took first prize, so Lane named it Prize cake . But a friend later convinced her to lend her own name to the dessert, and so the cake appeared as Lane cake in Lane’s cookbook, Some Good Things to Eat , self-published in 1898. The modern cake had recently made its debut, thanks to the widespread availability of white flour and the invention of baking powder: a quick, easy and reliable alternative

to yeast. Baking powder revolutionized cake making, which took on a particular fervor in the South, where for centuries “a Southern cook’s reputation was judged more by her baking than any other culinary endeavor,” wrote food historian Damon Lee Fowler in Classical Southern Cooking . Baking powder rendered cake layers airy and fine, so to avoid losing the richness of the old English-style cakes, Southern bakers added dense fillings of fruit and nuts between the cake layers instead of

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2018

EAT LOCAL

[LEFT] Alabama Lane Cake [RIGHT] To Kill A Mockingbird

But Emma Rylander Lane’s hours experimenting in the kitchen, and the time and resources she took to publish Some Good Things to Eat, were not solely about personal satisfaction or sharing good recipes. As she explains in the preface: “The object of this book is to meet some of the most imperative needs of the Southern housekeepers … The first thought of every woman when she assumes the duties of a home should be her kitchen, as the health, happiness, and prosperity of a family depend largely upon the wisdom and economy of the housewife.” Lane was part of a national wave of women writing cookbooks with the express purpose of helping homemakers run economical and healthy households. The second half of the 19 th century saw an explosion of American cookbooks, written mostly by women who were dissatisfied with European recipes that were often viewed as expensive, complicated and vague. As an alternative, American women created cookbooks geared specifically for homemakers that took a common sense approach to cooking. These cookbooks were methodical, direct, easy to follow and comprehensive, often containing several hundred recipes. They were also intended to be universal — useful for beginners or experts, rich or poor. Like Lane, other cookbook authors of the era revered the homemaker’s work as the foundation of family health and happiness. One author compared the government of a family to that of a nation. Another likened the craft of cooking to building a house. As a result, these cookbooks extended far beyond recipes and cooking advice to include instruction in every facet of household management, including food preparation, family health, nutrition, home maintenance, sickness, child-rearing, kitchen organization and equipment, mishaps and emergency situations, rules of etiquette and hospitality, kitchen gardens, and ideas for recycling, repurposing and using things found in nature.

notes in his Lane cake entry in The Encyclopedia of Alabama , “In Alabama, and throughout the South, the presentation of an elegant, scratch-made, laborious Lane cake is a sign that a noteworthy life event is about to be celebrated.” — as in To Kill a Mockingbird , when a Lane cake is baked to welcome Aunt Alexandra to Maycomb. Describing it, the child Scout states, “Miss Maudie Atkinson baked a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight.” Indeed, the Lane cake’s alcoholic edge gave it a slightly wild reputation, especially in Alabama’s dry counties. It was nicknamed the “Ha Ha cake”for this reason and became popular at Alabama eggnog parties held at Christmastime. In Alabama, Lane cake is still tightly wed to the Christmas season. Lane herself had suggested that the cake is best if made a day or two before serving, to allow the flavors to blend. Some Alabamians recall their grandmothers making a Lane cake during Thanksgiving weekend and letting it stand until Christmas, when it was served at family gatherings and holiday events.

directly into the batter. The whole cake was then enveloped in a light, white icing. Southern women invented a number of these extravagant cakes around the turn of the century, including the Lady Baltimore, Moss Rose, Robert E. Lee and Japanese Fruitcake. Lane Cake was an immediate hit in Alabama. Because it was so labor intensive, it was usually reserved for birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions. As Appalachian food writer Fred Sauceman

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T he most famous mention of a Lane cake is in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird . The Finch’s neighbor, Miss Maudie Atkinson, keeps her recipe closely guarded, though clearly bourbon — or shinny, as Scout calls it — tops the ingredient list, “Miss Maudie made a Lane cake so full of shinny it made me tight,” she says in Chapter 13. ​

And 19 th -century cookbook writing was not confined to just white women. In 1881, Abby Fisher authored the oldest- known cookbook written by a former American slave. Fisher was born in South Carolina, likely in 1832, and likely of a union between a slave and her owner. She grew up in plantation kitchens, where she learned to cook, and eventually moved to Alabama. In 1870, Fisher was married with 10 children and working as a cook in Mobile. Sometime in the next decade, the Fisher family relocated to San Francisco, where Abby Fisher began a pickling and preserves business and worked as a caterer for the wealthy. Fisher flourished in San Francisco, winning medals for her pickles,preserves and sauces at state fairs in San Francisco and Sacramento. She was often asked to compile her recipes in a cookbook, and though unable to read or write, she acquiesced, dictating her recipes to several prominent white patrons. In the preface to What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking , Fisher states that the book is “based on an experience of upwards of thirty-five years” and is intended to be “a complete instructor, so that a child can understand it and learn the art of cooking.” As it turned out, cookbooks were only the beginning of a movement of women determined to help each other, families and eventually all of society. During the Progressive Era (1890-1920), as women churned out cookbooks in record numbers, they also stepped into the public sphere in new ways. Technological advances, public education and social trends allowed women to be far more active outside the home than before, resulting in a proliferation of women’s organizations. Though art and literary clubs were founded first, women soon moved beyond goals of self- improvement to societal improvement. As American cookbook expert Jan Longone noted in a lecture she gave at the University

of Michigan in Ann Arbor, women “started with helping themselves and each other and moved into helping all of society.” InAlabama,theAlabamaWomen’sChristian Temperance Union, founded in 1884, addressed a range of social issues including alcoholism, women’s education, poverty, child labor, prison reform, and homes for abandoned women and children. In 1895, the literary clubs of major Alabama cities merged to form the Alabama Federation of Women’s Clubs. The initial 130 members soon shifted the Federation’s focus to civic

affairs, tackling a wide variety of issues including illiteracy, public education reform, juvenile delinquency and treatment of juvenile offenders. As Mary MarthaThomas described in her book, The New Woman in Alabama: Social Reforms and Suffrage, 1890- 1920 , it would eventually become the largest women’s organization in Alabama, and would lay the groundwork for the Alabama women’s suffrage movement. This work is an excerpt from Blejwas’ book on Alabama food history, forthcoming from the University of Alabama Press.

New Orleans Doberge Doberge, pronounced “doh-bash,” “doh-badge” or “doh-baj,” is a variation on Hungary’s Dobos Torta. Invented by Beula Levy Ledner, the “Doberge Queen of New Orleans,” who came from a baking family in Germany, this delicious combination of rich vanilla butter cake and creamy custard is topped with ganache, a smooth blend of chocolate (or lemon or caramel) and cream. Get the recipe at www.rouses.com. [Photo by Romney Caruso]

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2018