El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-02-21

I compounder thereof is to enjoy an en-
| viable fame.
| 1t is the favOrite refreShment at the
! Saturday night balls, so popular among
that simple people. The invitation for
! these festivities, which is never written.
but always conveyed from house to
house by word of mouth, always meets
with reader and more joyous accept
! ance if coupled with the statement that
'there'1 be gumbO by Madame Paul
! or Madame JEAN" or some Other-Sreole
/ dame. locally noted for her housewifely
/ experiences.
Jambalaya is another Creole dish. the
/ origin of which is unknown. It's es-
sential ingredient is rice. With the
rice may be cooked a dry stew of
| chicken. or sausage, or shrimp, or ham.
! or tomatoes. In Louisiana rice IS used
as a vegetable, and may appear upon
tho table three times a day, to be eaten
with gravy, with butter, or by itself
Tho Creole cook steams rice, but never
boils it. Other people may fill a pot
with cold water. put in the rice, and
bring both together to a boil; but she
scorns so primitive Il method. First,
the water must come to a boil, then
! the salt is added and then the rice. An
other popular way Of cooking rice IS
TO use what the CreOIes call q .bain
Marie" This is double pot, the outer
full OF water, and the inner containing
the rice Boiled in this way. the rice
issues dry and delicious, every grain
separate from every other grain.
Creole CONNECTIONS.
! The Creole cook book contains half
a dozen cOnfections which are purely
local OF these the Gala, or sweet cake,
made OF rice, is one Of the best known.
The Gala vendors have nearly disap-
peared from the streets OF New Orleans,
| but there may still be seen under the
arcade, near the Tulane theater, ven
cradle old negress, with her hamper
draped in pink tarletan. and a whisk-
/ broom Of brown paper to drive away
the flies, who sells the true Gala. The
typical Creole candy is the ''praline"
fPraline" is a word which describes
the process Of coating broken pecan
meats with sugar by stirring them in
the boiling sweet until it graduates,
but In New Orleans it is applied to any
kind Of candy made in flat round disks,
six or seven inches in diameter.
Perhaps the sweet which is pre-emi-
nently Creole was cutie" But cutie
is now difficult TO procure. and must.
as the years pass, entirely disappear
from the Louisiana dietary. Cutie" is
the juice Of the sugar cane boiled till
just about to granuIate into the sugar
open kettle process of making sugar,
and does not develop in the modern cen
trifugal process. Cutie" is delicious
with batter cakes, or especially with
the corn bread which is made so deli
cately with eggs and milk by the deft
old NANNY" IN the plantation kitch-
en-.
Creole Coffee
Any description Of the Creole kitchen
would be incomplete if It did not in
clude some reference to the celebrated
Creole coffee" Creole coffee is drip
ped, not boiled. Boiled coffee, the
Creoles are fond of saying, is quite
another beverage, made by a distinct
process, and having an altogether diff
ferent SAVIOR In the Creole method the !
bean is first parched till absolutely
black. and by preference is subjected
TO this treatment only a few hours
before tho beverage is to be drunk The
ground coffee is placed in tin or
earthenware receptacle with a perforat-
ed bottom, and boiling water is slowly
poured thereon and allowed to perco- |
late through into a second re-
ceptacle below, both vessels being her
metically sealed wherever possible. |
Coffee thus made is, in fact, distila-
ton At the Creole breakfast table !
il may be drunk with milk and sugar.
but when served in tiny cups after
dinner it should be taken alone. Or if |
not taken alone, then with the addition /
OF single lump OF sugar melted in a
spoonful of burning brandy.
Wines and Liquors.
The Creole has always boosted q fine
discrimination in wines and liquors /
He has even invented two or three |
drinks which are his alone. OF these, |
the most distinctive are the roffignac /
and the bruleau. The rOffignac is a \
combination OF syrup. whisky and soda /
water, introduced by one of the first /
mayors of New Orleans. whose name il /
still bears. The bruleau is a more pic 1
turesque and complicated beverage tt /
is prepared from fruft-any fruit par i
the juicy ones, being accepta-
bic. DiveSted Of the skin or rind. the
fruit is heaped in a pyramid in a shall
low pan previously filled with brandy /
in which as much sugar as possible
has been dissolved A lighted match /
sets the brandy on fire. Then the
burning liquid Is carefully ladRd over
the fruit. suffered to trickle slowly
down, absorbing the flavor and odor as
it descends; until the last blue flame /
flickers out. The syrup that results is
imbibed in tiny quantities from slender |
glasses.
Tomorrow = George washington's
Will.