Mar-Apr2016_Final-FlipBook

CHEF FRANK BRIGTSEN

K-Paul’s. We’ve been serving rabbit since the day we opened Brigtsen’s. We get in fresh whole rabbits from a farm in Mississippi.The hind legs we debone and pound out like veal. That part of the rabbit is pannéed: breaded, pan-fried and served as an entrée. The loin of the rabbit, or tenderloin as we call it, is deboned and served as an appetizer. We braise the front legs and belly for our gumbo to get 100% yield from the rabbits. BRAD: Gumbo is such a personal food. FRANK: Of all the wonderful dishes in Louisiana cuisine, it is gumbo that defines us as a culture. There are many types of gumbo and that diversity is reflected in our families and in different regions of the state. I generally make filé gumbo with meat and okra gumbo with seafood, but there are many roads that lead to the same happy place! BRAD: Do you think there will always be a place for more traditional food and chefs here? FRANK: There was a time when I was considered the “New Guard,” and now I’m considered “Old School.” I’ll take that — I carry that torch very proudly. When you have everything in your life taken away from you, like we did in Katrina, you realize how precious and unique New Orleans culture and cuisine are. I came back after the storm with a sense of mission that, “I’ll be the guy that makes the gumbo. I’ll be the guy that makes the meunière.” Chefs are always creative and coming up with new things, and that’s a good, healthy thing, but there also has to be a place for those traditional Creole sensibilities. It’s what I love, it’s what I grew up with, and I want to make sure generations to come appreciate it. BRAD: You’ve long shared your knowledge with students at the New Orleans Cooking Experience and more recently at NOCCA, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, and at Nicholls State’s John Folse Culinary Institute in Thibodaux. What effect has teaching had on your life? FRANK: Teaching is the best education a person can have — you know, I had to learn to verbalize what I felt in my heart about Creole cuisine before I could teach it to other people. And then to see the appreciation the students have for cooking and food — the things I do and make everyday — that’s just wonderful. Working with young people is just the most rewarding thing in the world. If you believe in a person, often all it takes is to give them an opportunity, to give them a chance. In my kitchen, I have five chefs, and right now, three of them are graduates from Nicholls, which speaks volumes to the quality of the training they’re receiving over there inThibodaux. And you knowThibodaux is where Rouses’ homebase is. BRAD: I’m certain that you buy your Blue Runner beans at Rouses. FRANK: Oh, they’re a great Louisiana, local company, with an emphasis on local. What impresses me about Rouses is their commitment to local sourcing, whether it’s seafood or meat or produce.That’s what people want today — they don’t want generic;

Rabbit Tenderloin

Brigtsen’s Restaurant, New Orleans

they want quality, local foodstuffs, and if they’re delivered with great, friendly, professional service, that’s the formula for success. Rouses does a wonderful job with that. BRAD: Tell me about the Veggi Farmers Cooperative in New Orleans East. Some of the farmers use aquaponics, which is similar to how Rouses grows herbs on the rooftop of their store in downtown New Orleans. FRANK: After the war in Vietnam, a lot of Vietnamese immigrants settled in South Louisiana. Many of them continued their ways of life, which included fishing and shrimping. But when the BP spill happened, much of the northern gulf and Louisiana shrimping waters were shut down. These shrimpers and fishermen couldn’t work, so the older generation of one particular family went back to

[TOP LEFT pg 34] Brad Gottsegen and Frank Brigtsen [BOTTOM RIGHT pg 35] Marna and Frank Brigtsen

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