Aperitif / Bayou La Seine: An American Restaurant in Paris 191
spice and seasoning does tend to be higher than what is generally served in traditional French cuisine.
Judith shares some of the challenges she encountered in adapting this ethnic cuisine to French tastes and
French wines.
‘‘When adapting ethnic or foreign cuisine to the French market, the most difficult obstacle to over-
come is the preconceived notion of the food, which generally is negative or patronizing at best. The
predominant prejudice expressed regarding our Cajun cuisine was that the cuisine is too spicy. To reduce
a number of possible negative associations with the termCajun cuisine,we decided to describe our food as
Louisiana cuisine.This description is a more inclusive term (encompassing both the Cajun and Creole
cuisines as well as the influences of African, French, Spanish, German, and Italian cultures in Louisiana),
takes it out of the realm of ‘‘home cooking’’ and into cuisine (an important selling factor in France), and
reduces the connotations of spiciness associated with the termCajun.
‘‘Spice usage being perhaps the single most important identifying component of this cuisine, I felt
that it was crucial to learn to balance the taste notes of the different spices. This can be accomplished in
many fashions: the combination of the spices in complementary and contrasting interactions, the timing of
the addition of the spices during the cooking process, and different techniques of getting flavor from the
spices, such as heating, grinding, mashing, or infusing in a water-based potion or in an oil.
‘‘In creating the menu, I found there were many aspects to consider apart from the actual flavor of
the item served on the plate. How the taste would develop as one worked through a bowl of Jambalaya?
Would the first sting of cayenne pepper deaden the taste buds to the tangy slivers of marinated pepper
used in the sausage? Would the murky spiciness of Dirty Rice (made with roasted mustard seeds and cumin
as well as three powdered peppers and herbs) complement the smoky, piquant Blackened Rib Eye Steak,
dusted with a sweet paprika, cayenne, and thyme concoction and then seared in a white-hot dry pan? Or
would one overwhelm the other? And, of course, what would these spices do to the flavor of the wines
offered?
‘‘In the best of all possible worlds, a dry but fruit-forward white wine such as a good California
Chardonnay or an Arbois from the Jura region of France is a perfect complement for the spicier Cajun
dishes, such as Jambalaya, Dirty Rice, or Barbecue Shrimp. But in France, red wine outsells white wine in
restaurants such as ours by ten to one, and price is a major factor. Also, many of our customers who are
native or have traveled through Louisiana order beer. Beer is great to accompany fried food on a sweltering
day, but a well-chosen wine accentuates the flavors in our more complex dishes.’’^1
One of Judith’s menu items is a dish she calls Cajun Matriochka, which is a takeoff on a traditional
Cajun dish called Turducken. Turducken is basically a roasted whole turkey that has been stuffed with a
whole duck, which has been stuffed with a whole chicken. Prior to this stuffing process, all of the poultry
bones are removed. This delicacy is becoming popular as a holiday dish throughout much of the southern
United States.^2
A matriochka is a Russian nested doll set that consists of a wooden figure that can be pulled apart
to reveal a smaller figure inside, which can be pulled apart to reveal a smaller figure, and so on. Her Cajun
Matriochka adapts the traditional Turducken into a menu item that can be prepared as an individual portion.
It features red-wine-poached fig quarters rolled in a thin slice of duck breast, which is rolled in a thin slice
of turkey breast, dusted with a mixture of ginger, coriander, sweet paprika, and cinnamon, and browned in
butter. Sliced into rounds, it is served with smothered greens, wild rice, and a Burgundy/balsamic vinegar
caramel sauce.
‘‘Sauces offer a dramatic medium for the dichotomy of flavor,’’ says Judith. ‘‘In the wine-based sauce
for my Matriochka, I infuse star anise, Szechuan pepper, and cinnamon stick in a sweetened, vanilla-scented
merlot that was used to poach the figs and also pears. Reduced to nearly a syrup, the sweetness cut by a
dash of balsamic vinegar, this sauce awakens the fruitiness of the fig as it assuages the meatiness of the
duck and turkey. The Asian spices in the poultry react differently in the meat than they do in the sauce.
The finished dish creates a combination of contrasting sweet, spice, fruity, meaty, and lightly sour elements.
‘‘On the other end of the flavor spectrum is a brown beer Cajun roux-based sauce that I use for
Cajun Boudin Blanc, a fresh sausage made with pork, poultry, rice, and lots of sage. To accentuate the beer