Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-25
CREOLE COOKING
By Frederic j. HaSkin


an enviable fame. 1t is the favorite
refreshment at the Saturday night
balls so popular among that simple
people. The invitation for these feS-
tiVities, which is never written, but
always conveyed from house to house
by word of mouth, always meets with
a reader and more joyous acceptance
if coupled with the statement that
"therell be a gumbo by Madame Paul,
or Madame JEAN" or some other creole
dame locally noted for her housewifely
eXpertness.
Jan1balayo is another Creole dish,
the origin of which is unknown. It's
essential ingredient is rice. With the
rice may be cooked dry stew of
chicken, or sausage, or shrimp or ham
or tomatoes. In Louisiana rice is used
as a vegetable, and may appear upon
| the table three times a day, to be
eaten with gravy, with butter or by
| itself. The 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 boil;
but she sCorns so primitive method.
First the water must come to boil,
| then the salt is added and then the
rice Another popular way of cooking
rice is to use what the Creoles call a
"bain Marie" This is a double pot,
the outer full Of water and the inner
contains the rice. Boiled in this way,
! the rice issues dry and delicious, every
grain separate from every other grain.
The Creole cook book contains half
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 Or
leans, but there may be still be seen
| under the arcade near the Tulane the
ater a venerable old negress, with her
| hamper draped in pink tarletan and q
whisk broom of brown paper to drive
away the flies, who sells the true GALA
The typical Creole candy is the "pra-
| line" "Praline" is a word which de-
scribes the process of coating broken
pecan meats with sugar by stirring
| them in the boiling sweet until it gran
ulates, but in New Orleans it is ap-
piled to any kind of candy made in fiat
round disks, six or seven inches in
| diameter.
Perhaps the sweet which was pre-
| eminently Creole was "cuite" But
"cuite" is now difficult to procure. and
must as the years pass entirely disap-
pear from the Louisiana dietary.
| Cutie" is the juice of the sugar cane
boiled till just about to granulate into
| the sugar of commerce. 1t was a,
product of the open kettle process of
making sugar, and does not develop in
| the modern centrifugal process.
Cutie" is delicious with batter cakes.
or especially with the corn bread
which is made SO delicately with eggs
| and milk by the deft old "mammy" in
| the plantation kitchen.
| 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 dripped,
not boiled. Boiled coffee, the Gre
! oles are fond of saying, is quite an
other beverage, made by a distinct
process, and having altogether differ
| ent 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 be-
fore the beverage is to be drunk. The
| ground coffee is placed in a tin or
| earthenware receptacle with a perfor-
ated bottom, and boiling water is slow
| ly poured thereon and allowed to per-
! colate through into a second recep-
tacle below, both vessels being herme-
tically sealed wherever possible. Coffee
thus made is, in fact, distillation. At
! the Creole breakfast table it 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 a
single lump of sugar melted in a
spoonful Of burning brandy.
The Creole has always boasted a
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 it
still bears. The bruleau is a more pic
turesque and complicated beverage. 1t
| is prepared from fruit-any fruit, par
! ticularly the juicy ones being accepta-
BILE Divested of the skin or rind, the
fruit is heaped in a pyramid in q
shallow pan previously filed 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 ladled
over the fruit suffered to trickle slow
ly down, absorbing the flavor and odor
as it descends, until the last blue flame
fickers out. The syrup that results is
imbibed in tiny quantities from slender
| glasses.
Tomorrow-George Washington's WILL.