Louisiana Cookin’ | November/December 2019 90Q
Q
How does your creative process diff er from
Galatoire’s main dining room to Galatoire’s 33?
In Galatoire’s main dining room, I have certain
parameters. When a guest comes in who’s been coming
in for the past 34 years and orders Crab Maison, they
want to be able to taste that same dish they had 34 years
ago. So, my job is to take that same dish and refi ne it
on the back end to make sure that we’re using the best
ingredients. On the Galatoire’s 33 side... it’s more
about taking the idea of a steak house and modernizing
it for New Orleans. And we have so much more
room for experimentation and bringing in seasonal
ingredients and products that the world is our oyster.What inspired this shrimp and grits recipe?
I really wanted to give grits a whole diff erent idea. At my
previous restaurant, we were playing around with a dish
and we burnt popcorn... and I was like, “How do we
save this?” We boiled it and then actually ran it through
a rice mill, and whatever came out was essentially grit
texture, but the fl avor of the burnt popcorn was still
there. Th en we wanted to incorporate fl avors into it to
help guide that burnt fl avor into something that was truly
palatable. In that same sense, [for this recipe]... I said,
“What if we take onion ash and fold it into grits?” Th ese
are just standard white grits. I added mascarpone cheese
to mellow out that dense texture. I folded in some onion
ash, and it gave it this beautiful gray color and slight
onion fl avor. It’s really about trying to save ingredients,trying to minimize waste, but also [trying] to compose a
dish that’s fl avorful and comforting and diff erent.Tell us about some of the local products you use in
this recipe.
We’re lucky here in New Orleans because we get some
of the best seafood around. Our shrimp is crazy good.
We have a supplier named Ricky Powers. I know he
has the best shrimp. He gives us these U10s, which are
massive. For this dish, we peeled the shrimp and made
a beautiful stock. Now what’s left to do is incorporate
whatever ingredients that we have. You can use tasso,
andouille, or even Italian sausage, depending on what
you can get your hands on. Obviously, my go-to is
always andouille. Th ere are only two places that I get
andouille in this whole world. One is in LaPlace, and
that’s Jacob’s [World Famous] Andouille on Airline
Highway. Th e best andouille on the entire globe. And
if I can’t get to Jacob’s Andouille, I’m over at Best Stop
[Supermarket in Scott].What seasonal produce do you add to this dish?
We have beautiful heirloom tomatoes that go all the way
up until late November, believe it or not. [For okra,] I
usually just cut the tops off and cut it down longwise
and then season it and quick-roast it in the broiler or by
hand with a Searzall (a blowtorch attachment). When
okra’s charred, it’s wonderful. It really brings out special
nuances that you usually don’t fi nd.Q
Q