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20
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2016
You Say Potato Salad, I Say Rice
by
Mary Beth Romig
J
ust as the culinary debate with regard to
gumbo continues — seafood vs. meat vs.
poultry, lighter roux vs. darker roux, tomato
vs. no tomato—another debate has surfaced:
gumbo served with rice or potato salad, or
possibly both? Chef Johnny Blancher of Ye
Olde College Inn serves his award-winning
turkey and andouille sausage gumbo with
rice. Potato salad either as a side or a base is
not even in consideration.The restaurant and
neighboring legendary bowling alley/music
space, Rock ‘N Bowl, owned by the Blancher
family, serves his mother’s recipe. Deborah
Couvillon Blancher hails from Vermillion
Parish in the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun
Country, where it is said the tradition of
serving potato salad with gumbo was born.
“It was always and only rice for my family,
but then again we were rice farmers,” says
Deborah. “In fact, we had some form of a
rice dish with every meal, boiled rice, dirty
rice, jambalaya, rice and gravy. Maybe if we
grew potatoes it would have been different.
But then as an adult, I heard one of my aunts
say she served her gumbo with dirty rice.
And that is the beauty of gumbo in general.
Everyone has a preference and can serve it
how they like it, and that is just great.”
If you’re dining at Prejean’s restaurant in
Lafayette and you order gumbo, the wait
staff will likely ask, “Would you like potato
salad with that?” There it is common for
diners not only to ask for a side of potato
salad, but to stir the salad directly into
the gumbo. Their recipe calls for not only
mayonnaise, but a bit of mustard as well,
and hard-boiled eggs — another source
of debate. Prejean’s serves the potato salad
cold; hence, when adding it to the gumbo, it
adds a cooling creaminess.
B
eer is a noble addition to stock, along
with wine or water in a recipe. Food
is all about flavor, so a reduction of a
compatible liquid is an enhancer.
It has versatility based on the type, lager,
ale, stout, popular brands or home brew.
Lower in alcohol and lighter in flavor, it has
ingredients that can give the recipe a boost.
Just like white and red wine, light and dark
beers have distinct flavors and aromas, and
you need to consider the right type with the
right dish. Unless you have a really good
reason, avoid the novelty flavored beers
for cooking unless, of course, it is for your
pleasure as you cook.
This range of flavor makes beer extremely
fun to play with in the kitchen. As with
wine, a poor beer will not improve your
recipe either. It you wouldn’t drink it, don’t
use it in a recipe.
Family gumbo was the first time I saw beer
used as part of the stock, and it made perfect
sense. Like wine or spirits in cooking, the
alcohol cooks off, leaving the subtle benefits
of the beer’s flavor profile.
Brew Up A
Pot of gumbo
by
Kit Wohl
Stews and soups are recipes that beer can
enhance. It can also be used as a braising
liquid in pot roasts. Unfortunately, using it
in a slow cooker doesn’t allow the alcohol to
burn off, leaving a bitter taste.
Beer can chicken is a popular excuse to use
the barbecue grill.The first half of the beer is
for the cook, and then the chicken is inverted
with the cavity shoved down over the open
end of the can, which acts as the stand. The
grill is covered, which heats the beer, and the
resulting steam helps cook the chicken.
Try cooking with beer by adding half a can
of a light lager to a skillet of pre-browned
Italian sausage. Add onion and sliced
apples. When the apples are tender and
the onion is translucent, incorporate the
rest of the beer, cover the skillet and allow
it to simmer another few minutes until the
sausage is cooked through and the liquid
has been reduced to a nice sauce.
There’s not a lot that can go wrong, so feel
free to experiment. If a recipe asks for wine
or another spirit, consider beer. There is just
not enough alcohol in beer to flambé, so Beer
Bananas Foster just isn’t going to happen.
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