The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-24
A Creole Dinner


 During the recent visit of MT. Taft and his charming wife to New Orleans the world at large has been greatly interested in the wonderful efforts put forth by the famous chefs of the Crescent City. Noted for being among the best in the world the cooks made the one great effort of their lives on this occasion.
 A correspondent tells me that the great event from culinary standpoint of this visit of the First Lady and Gentleman in the Land" was the Creole dinner given by the New Orleans Progressive union to Mr. Taft at the Grunewald Hotel An mex, the unfinished top floor being used for that purpose after having been trans formed into a bower of flowers and deco rated by Louisiana State Museums Direc- tor Glenk with fruits, sugar cane and other things characteristic of, the state and people, Mr. Gunewald had called to his assistance a dozen or more of the famous chefs of New Orleans, each re- nowned for his art in preparing a single Creole dish, and with this force at his command. and the oldest wine cellars sub ~1ect to his orders, he devised and served a dinner which even the best flyers Tn New orleans pronounced wonder and success.
 Tine day being Friday, fish dinner was in order Here New Orleans is at it's best, for with the great fish and oyster producing waters of Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne, many bayous and the bays, inlets and banks of the Mexican gulf to draw from, there is a marvellous variety of the finest fish in the world available.
 To the uninitated the menu of the dishes served at this dinner would be meaningless save for the reputation en- joyed by the cooks of New Orleans who cooked it. A better idea, however, may be gained from the following recipes, whic-. after much persuasion by my cor respondent, MT. Grunewald inducing his ..court of cooks to part with their inmost secrets they wrote down. These are the component parts of their best dishes. There is an art about the thing that can not be reduced to writing, but by follow ing directions closely any good cook who can appreciate Latin temperament may produce either of the dishes given below, which were regarded as the piece de re- sstance of the famous winner
 BOUILLABAISE.
 Six clices of red snapper, 6 slices of reddish, F bottle of white wine, E lemon. large fresh tomatoes, 8 onions. 1 herb bouquet, 8 cloves of gar lie, bay leaves, 8 sprigs of thyme, 3 sprigs of parsley, allspices table spoonfuls of olive oil, I good strong pinch of saffron, salt, pepper and cayenne to taste
 This is the dish that drew from Thack- cray that famous tribute to creole cook cry:
 "In New Orleans you can eat bouil- labaise, the like of which was never eaten in Marseilles or Paris
 The reason is clear for In those old French cities the bouillabaise is made from the fish of the waters of the Med- iterranean sea, notably the sturgeon and the perch combined, while in New Or leans 1t is made from those matchless fish of the Gulf of Mexico, the red snap per nd the reddish (poisson rouge). It will be noticed that 1t takes two kinds of fish to make bouilla baise The first bouiilabaise was made in Marseilles, and the old Creole tradition runs that 1t was the discovery of two sailor fishermen, who were disputing they were in the schooner as to the proper way of cook ing sturgeon and a perch combined. Both essayed One succeeded in making a delightful dish that would have glad dened the heart of any old French .sbon vivant." The other failed. The success ful one enthusiastically offered to teach his friend and as the latter was follow ing the directions implicitly and the fin- ishing touches were being given to the dish the teacher seeing that the critical and important moment had come when the fish must be taken from the fire or 1t would be spoiled if it cooked mo- ment longer. cried out, bringing down his hand emphatically: "Et quanl ca com