From the Executive Editor: Two Reasons Why Louisiana Holiday Dinners are the Best
Bless the traditional American holiday dinner.
While some places might add an indigenous specialty to their feast, we here in Louisiana can be extra thankful. There are two dishes in particular that stand out as products of our geography and cultural mix. One combines the produce of the Gulf of Mexico with the genius of Creole chefs, and the other is tropical in its origin but pure New Orleans in its innovation.
First of the two is oyster dressing. Oysters grow in waterbeds throughout much of the world, but no place produces a better variety than the Gulf of Mexico.
Few great dishes mandate stale bread as an essential ingredient, but day-old French bread gives oyster dressing its body. Chunks of bread are mixed with onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic, plus a heap of raw oysters ladled in their liquid. Once baked casserole-style, even the nearby offering of cornbread dressing has to settle for second place.
The other dish is stuffed mirliton. Referred to in different places as chayote, christophine or vegetable pear, in New Orleans the vegetable is known by the m-word — either “mel” or mirl.” A type of squash, the mirliton is pear-shaped — not particularly beautiful and with an off-green color. The inside has a green pulp, which when mixed and baked, unites the ingredients. Different recipes call for shrimp, crawfish, ham or a combination, plus the usual seasonings before being shoved into an oven. The outer skin becomes the shell into which the final preparation is stuffed for serving. Eating the skin is also part of the experience. It has a slightly sweet taste.
(My dad once grew mirlitons from an arbor in the back yard. The vines were so fast-paced that he thinned the crop by making pickled mirlitons. He boiled, seasoned and canned the produce from a stove in the garage. Had he started earlier, he might have gone down in history as the Mirliton Pickle King.)
Louisiana also provides savory choices for holiday menu side dishes. If you want to go native, have a slice of hog’s head cheese simply served on a cracker. There are also gumbos and étouffées. My favorite dish is good old-fashioned rice topped by a rich brown gravy made from roast debris. The rice may have been packaged in (pardon the expression) “Texas,” but there is a good chance that it was grown in Louisiana. The same goes for sweet potatoes having sprouted from the fields of South and Central Louisiana. (Could there be any other place where three of the world’s stellar foods — rice, sweet potatoes and crawfish — all come from practically the same neighborhood?)
There you have it, the makings of a great holiday meal all with Louisiana flavors. My advice at dinner time is to begin by scooping up the oyster dressing and stuffed mirlitons. All that’s needed are a couple of links of boudin.
Don’t let the others go first.
Errol Laborde
Executive Editor
Errol@Louisianalife.com
Louisiana Insider
Catch up on the latest podcast episodes
Episode 200 | Celebrating our 200th Episode – An Interview with an Award Winner
Kevin Rabalais has been the first-place winner several times as designated by the International Regional Magazine Association (IRMA) for his articles in Louisiana Life. The native of Bunkie in Avoyelles Parish, who teaches journalistic related courses at Loyola University, talks about his experiences covering the state’s landscape including his encounters with feral pigs and a visit to a turtle hatchery.
Episode 199 | Claus Sadlier’s Storyville – An Immersive Experience
Storyville has been closed since 1917 but now there is a great new museum that creates an immersive journey into the city’s, and the district’s, past. Claus Sadlier, the owner/curator of the New Orleans Storyville Museum discusses the museum’s virtual visuals, holograms, videos, vintage photographs, narrations and artifacts. Sadlier is also a compelling storyteller with tales to share about the district — including the music actually played in the bordellos. It wasn’t just the blues.
