Evening star., 1947-11-06
By Violet Faulkner
Food Editor

Newspaper food editors from all
over the Nation fiocked to New
orleans last week to attend the
Fourth Annual Food Editors Con-
ference. With true Southern hos
pitality New Orleans handsome
young Mayor, De Lesseps S. Nor
rison, welcomed the editors to this
gay, charming part Of the South
and all but gave us the key to the
city.
Mrs. Mildred H. Thomas described
for us the history of Southern cook
ing and stressed the point that
almost without exception the famous
Creole dishes, and the famous dishes
Of the Deep South, are basically
thrifty foods. Many of them utilize
fish and vegetables, rather than
meat. She went on to explain how
location and nationality has COM
bined to produce what is probably
the best known single type of cook
cry In the Nation. The French
brought their fair for subtle blend
ing of flavors. the Spanish con-
tributed their high, spicy seasonings.
the Choctaw Indians their knowl-
edge of herbs and. finally, the
Negro cooks with their instructive
facility and Unborn genius for mixing
and baking. And that's how Creole
cooking was born.
During the week we had many
opportunities to sample the "Spe-
cialties de la Maison" of some of
the most famous restaurants of all
New Orleans, in fact of all the
world. We dined on Oysters Rocke-
feller, Chicken Rochambeau, Turtle
Soup au Sherry, Gumbo, Trout Mar
query, Shrimp with Remoulade
Sauce and Fillet de Pompano en-
Papillotte, to mention a few of the
dishes served. Incidentally the
night we dined at Antoine's my
order OF Oysters a la Rockefeller
was 1,226.888; they have kept q
record of the number of orders
served since 1899, when this dish
was first invented by Jules Alciatore,
the father of the present proprietor,
Roy Alciatore.
They say of the Pompano en- Pa
pillotte that it was especially Great
ed In honor of distinguished
French balloonist who was enter
tanned at Antoine's, the paper bag
being fashioned to resemble the'in
f1ated gas bag of balloon. It's
main purpose, however, is to retain
the seductive favors of the fish
while it is cooking Potatoes Souf-
f1e are another of the Specialties
served at this renowned restaurant.
I was told one chef does nothing
else but prepare this dish. On Mon
day I'm going to give you the recipe
for potatoes done in this manner
and you can try them for yourself.
It Is not a soufie in the ordinary
sense of the word; they more closely
resemble French fried potatoes but
they're not that, either. AS one wit
later on in the week described them,
"ze potato Eat ees blew up with
bicycle pump" and that seems to
hit it pretty close. Needless to say,
they are delicious and you could
easily sit down and eat whole
platter full of these light, airy sticks.
Many of the restaurants serve
Shrimp with Remoulade Sauce; the
sauce is made of Creole mustard,
Creole horseradish, shallots, garlic
salt and paprika Creole mustard
contains special variety of mustard
seeds, considered indispensable in
the making of this sauce. File
powder is another of their favorite
seasonings and used in the making
of gumbo. File powder comes from
dried sassafras leaves: originally the
Choctaw Indians used sassafras for
medicinal purposes, then developed a
profitable trade with the Creoles,