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“International visitors to the region should
feel right at home when they wander the
Rouses grocery aisles or peruse our region’s
restaurants’ menus.”
HUNGARY FOR MORE?
Our Gulf Coast specialty, the doberge cake, was inspired by one of
Hungary’s most famous desserts, the Dobos torta or Dobos torte,
which itself was inspired by a Middle Eastern favorite, baklava.
• • •
Greenville, Mississippi, calls itself the Hot Tamale Capitol of the
World. The city even registered the title with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office. Which might seem a little strange since most of
us consider the tamale to be a Mexican dish, right? Wrong.The best
in the world are at Doe’s Eat Place. Check it.
• • •
Mardi Gras is coming up, so let’s take a look at that iconographic
Carnival treat known as King Cake.
First of all, it’s not really cake, but you probably knew I was going to
say that. It’s actually a Danish, which, as you probably know, comes
from — that’s right — Greece.
Yes,even the name of the dish isGreek:“King”cake is named after the
three wise men who arrived at the birth of Christ on the Epiphany,
12 days after Christmas, on the
Twelfth Night — the official
start of Carnival season across
the Gulf Coast.
That’s a Greek word,“epiphany,”
which I think is translated into
English as the day that you start
playing Professor Longhair
music on the radio every day.
Our beloved Rouses Markets make some 350,000 King Cakes
every Carnival season and we ship them coast to coast, bringing the
downhome tradition — if not across the world — at least across the
United States.Those little King Cake babies baked inside the treats
are nothing less than ambassadors of love and culture.
But here’s the thing about King Cake (you knew there was going
to be a “thing” about King Cake, didn’t you?). First, as noted, it’s
not cake. Sometimes it’s a pastry, sometimes it’s a bread. But it’s
actually more like a
tortell
from Catalonia or a
gâteau de rois
from
Provence than anything you’ll likely find in Athens, Greece, where
— remember? — this whole thing started.
• • •
Then there’s that other New Orleans sweet treat, and another Rouses
specialty, doberge? Doberge cake is as New Orleans as second lines,
Jazz Fest and pot holes. Or is it?
Beulah Levy Ledner is credited with introducing the multi-layered
cake-and-butter cream pudding delight (real pudding this time!)
at her New Orleans bakery in 1933. But this iconic New Orleans
dessert is actually Dobos cake, an Austrian/Hungarian tort with
roots in Alsace-Lorraine, by a (barely) different name.
It’s mind-boggling the way food is created, interpreted, influenced and
exported across the globe. And the best thing is: It’s real, not digital,
not virtual, not on your computer
screen— but on the real, physical
plate in front of you.
And you don’t need a plane
ticket to have it all. Ok, you
might need a full tank of gas,
but it’s all right here on the
Coast somewhere!
Scotch Eggs
makes 4
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
7
ounces (¾ cup) Rouses fresh pork sausage, casings removed
4
large eggs boiled eggs
1
cup All Purpose flour
1
cup bread crumbs
2
raw eggs
Rouses vegetable oil (for frying)
Rouses salt and ground pepper, to taste
HOW TO PREP
Divide sausage into 4 equal portions. On a sheet of waxed paper,
shape each portion into a thin patty. Lightly wet your hands. Gently
shape patties around eggs, sealing to close.
Place flour in one wide shallow bowl, breadcrumbs in another. In
separate bowl, whisk together raw eggs. Working one egg at a time,
dip each egg into flour, then egg wash, then breadcrumbs to coat.
Pour oil into a deep fryer or large cast iron pot to a depth of 2
inches and heat to a temperature of 350 degrees. Fry eggs, turning
occasionally, until outsides are golden brown and crisp, about 5 to
6 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Season with salt and
pepper. Serve hot with mustard or mustard-mayonnaise mixture.
Rouses Doberge Cake — photo by
Romney Caruso
GULF COAST