Lagasse - From Emerils Kitchens

In memory

I dedicate this book in memory of my dear friend and pal Louis Mr. Lou Lynch. Loving husband, father, grandfather, and a rock to all who knew him.

One of the greatest pastry chefs in America, he started with me in the beginning at Emerils New Orleans, and created many of the signature dishes that so many people still enjoy today. He will be greatly missed but always remembered.

With love from Emeril and Alden Lagasse, Emerils restaurants, and Emerils Homebase family

Chef Emeril Lagasse's portrait by artist Rise Delmar Ochsner, Emeril's New Orleans

A new cookbook always gives me the opportunity to communicate with my fellow foodies and fans. And you know who you are! Youre the folks who watch Emeril Live and The Essence of Emeril, the visitors who enjoy eating at my restaurants, and the home cooks who love to prepare recipes from my cookbooks.

From Emerils Kitchens is my eighth cookbook and soon we will open our ninth restaurant. Can you believe it? Writing each cookbook and opening each restaurant has represented a particular creative phase in my life, and its gratifying to look back and trace this culinary evolution.

Born and raised in Fall River, Massachusetts, I had a love of food instilled in me by my parents at a very early age. Not only is my mom, Miss Hilda, a terrific cookand particularly when she makes the traditional Portuguese dishes of her heritagebut my dad, Mr. John, always did a fair amount of weekend cooking that reflected his French-Canadian background. Wow! Talk about a food-of-love flavor explosion! In high school, I worked in a local Portuguese bakery, and then graduated from the prestigious culinary school, Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

The university inspired me to be creative and gave me an understanding of how important discipline is for the practical challenges that a cook faces. I then worked as an apprentice in Paris and Lyon, France, where I refined my knowledge of classic French cooking. Time in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia restaurants gave me perspective on current American food trends and spurred my love of farm-fresh ingredients.

The Brennan family hired me as executive chef of Commanders Palace Restaurant in 1983. When I started, I was awed by the great tradition of haute New Orleans Creole cuisine for which the restaurant and the city were known. The bountiful fresh regional produce, game, and seafood equally stunned me. The Brennans were eagerly marrying the nouvelle cuisine that had emerged from France the decade before with a New Orleans sensibility and local culinary traditions. While taking Commanders to the next stage was a tall order, I was ready to learn and create, and I was passionate to succeed. I accepted the challenge and never looked back. What evolved was a dynamic new era, and my new New Orleans cuisine began to take root.

Eric Linquest and I worked together at Commanders Palace; he in the front of the house, me in the kitchen. We became fast friends. When I was ready to strike out on my own and open Emerils, I knew Eric was the only person I wanted to manage my restaurant. Over many meals and many glasses of wine, we discussed what was important to us. Although we had big dreams, we also had a limited budget. Everything had to be considered very carefullyfrom the number of menu items, food costs, and kitchen equipment to the wine list, linens, and storage facilities.

When we opened Emerils on March 26, 1990, my goal was to take contemporary Creole cuisine to the next level and make the menu a reflection of my culinary thinking. For instance, barbecued shrimp had long been served in New Orleans restaurants, but instead of baking the shrimp in their shells with butter, garlic, and seasonings, I intensified the flavors by making a robust stock and sauce base first, and then, after sauting, cooking the shrimp in a rich cream reduction for a concentrated flavor.

Ive given new twists to other classic dishes and made them my own. When Emerils opened, we developed a savory appetizer cheesecake to take the place of the usual dessert one: the Home-Smoked Salmon Cheesecake is on the menu to this day. Same thing with my ultra-rich Banana Cream Pie, which continues to be one of our most-ordered desserts.

My goal at Emerils was to serve flavorful, unique food that was creative and exciting. I wanted all of our ingredientsherbs and lettuces, rabbits and pigs, quail and seafoodto be fresh from the gardens, farms, and waterways of Louisiana and Mississippi, or wherever the best sources might be. (Dan Crutchfield of Crickhollow Farms still provides fresh rabbits and hogs.) To this end, we made our own breads, pastries, ice creams, andouilles, tassos, sausages, spice blends, and more in-house (just as they are made today at each of the restaurants). In addition to borrowing from local cuisines, I introduced techniques and ingredients from Asia, Europe, and the Southwestern United States. From the day we opened, our customers were enthused and ate everything up!