Thanksgiving in New Orleans

Dedication

This article (and its accompanying web page on Virtually New Orleans) is dedicated to Mr. Frank Davis of WWL-TV, Channel 4 in New Orleans. Frank is the star of "Naturally New Orleans," a bi-weekly segment he does on the evening news on Channel 4. An accomplished chef, Frank also does bi-weekly segments on the Channel 4 Morning Show. This morning show is so popular locally that Channel 4 (the local CBS affiliate) doesn't pick up the CBS Morning Show. Each year in November on the morning show, Frank Davis does a series of cooking segments called "Franksgiving," where he cooks up lots of the country, Cajun, and Creole recipes that we all enjoy in New Orleans. It's a wonderful spot, and sadly missed this year, since Frank is recovering from heart surgery and some complications that followed that surgery. Look for a "heart healthy" Frank Davis cookbook sometime in the coming year, no doubt. Anyway, Frank's "Naturally New Orleans" spots are part of the spiritual inspiration for Virtually New Orleans, my city guide on the web. This is my way of letting Frank know he's missed, and how much we're looking forward to his return to the tube.

Introduction

Thanksgiving is only one of two days where it's common practice in New Orleans for families to watch a parade on television. The Macy's parade never ceases to amaze local kids because it's all those people are out on the streets and nobody's throwing anything to them. Still, the balloons are fun, and there's the occasional year when there's a local band marching down Broadway. Thanksgiving is a relatively quiet day in New Orleans. Kids in schools in the metro area traditionally have the entire week off, so it's the fourth day they're home. Some families take advantage of the school downtime to take a fall vacation; others get things ready for the invasion of out-of-town relatives. New Orleans is still very much a destination city, a place people come home to. Those who still live here, be they parents, brothers, sister, or cousins, are charged with making things ready for the family.

Which, of course, brings us to the subject of food. Gorging ourselves on Thanksgiving is a national pastime. That makes it different here is that we do it with such style. We don't differ much from the traditional turkey-with-all-the-trimmings dinner you find from Main to California, but the differences are delicious. We're not beneath a fad or two as well.

Fads -- The TurDuckHen

Turkey. Duck. Chicken. Put them together and you get a TurDuckHen. The first time I heard of this dish was about ten years ago when Paul Prudhomme was making his rise to fame and fortune. He was on TV this time of year back then talking about this traditional Cajun dish. I'd never heard of it (if you have knowledge of this earlier than the '80s, please drop me a line). That's neither here or there by now; the dish is now a part of New Orleans.

It works like this: get one of each, a turkey, a duck, and a roasting hen. Bone each one. Yup, that's right, bone them. Rub them inside and out with herbs and spices (bet you can't guess what the primary spice is in Prudhomme's version). Stuff the chicken. Put the stuffed chicken inside the duck. Put the chicken/duck combination inside the turkey. Bake several hours until done. The idea is the the flavors from the three different types of fowl, along with the seasonings and stuffing all blend together. It's overkill in the worst way, which is the perfect way to give thanks for an abundant harvest.

Since Prudhomme gave this dish life, lots of variations have popped up. The most interesting I've heard of is an Italian deli on the west bank that does the three-bird combo with lots of sweet basil, several Italian cheeses, and tomato sauce. Sounds decadent.

Country Traditional - The Deep-Fried Turkey

Take a beer keg and cut the top off, so the keg is essentially a very large, tough pot. Fill that pot with cooking oil and put it on top of a propane burner, the type you use for a crawfish boil. Heat that oil up to frying temperature, and drop in a turkey that has been rubbed with salt, pepper, and a little seasoning. The end result: a crispy-fried skin with juicy meat on the inside. I first discovered this dish a couple of years ago working at a client site in Norco. Definitely an outdoors, country sort of thing to do. You don't just heat up a keg full of oil to frying temperature in your backyard. This is one of those "don't try this at home" dishes.

Creole Thanksgiving Dishes

We do the turkey thing here, of course, but it's the side dishes that make for a Creole Thanksgiving. Everybody's momma has one dish or another that makes its annual appearance on either Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Appetizers

We always begin a meal in New Orleans with something to pick on. When the whole family is gathered, that's a great time for one of your sisters or cousins to try out some sort of hors d'oeurve that she's been wanting to do for a while. These usually include a hot crab dip, cold shrimp spread and artichoke balls.

Soup

In spite of the fact that the words "soup" and "gumbo" are almost interchangeable here, many families here choose a different soup for special occasions like Thanksgiving. There are two main reasons for this: First, you're usually preparing a lot of food for a number of people, so it's easier to make a simple soup rather than a gumbo. Second, we eat gumbo all year 'round. Popular soups for Thanksgiving include a cream of vegetable soup, like cream of broccoli or cream of asparagus, or perhaps an oyster-artichoke soup. The gumbo comes after Thanksgiving, when you've got leftovers to get rid of. That's when it's time for turkey gumbo.

Da Bird

In his cookbook The Frugal Gourmet Cooks With Wine, Jeff Smith (who, by the way, is my favorite TV chef) says that New Orleanians use more thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco (although we locals prefer the more generic term "hot sauce.") than just about any other place on the planet. If you want to do a New Orleans-style turkey, liberal use of these three ingredients would not be that far off the mark. Others use cayenne pepper, some add a bit of sweet basil for an Italian touch. These are the most common flavors you'll find in our cooking, so it's natural you'll find them in the turkey.

Stuffing

The most popular variation on the traditional meal is in the stuffing. Instead of a standard ground-meat or cornbread stuffing, many New Orleanians do an oyster dressing. Some are based on bread crumbs, others on cornbread, but they're usually spicy and chockfull of oysters. Another popular stuffing uses andouille sausage or tasso instead of regular ham. Still others make "dirty rice" and give up on bread crumbs altogether.

Vegetables

Thanksgiving dinners are often family efforts, where folks make something at home and bring it with them. That's why you see a lot of casseroles, vegetables au gratin, and other "made dishes." Common this time of year are sweet potato or green bean casserole and cauliflower au gratin.

Bread

"Ooh, la Leidenheimer's,
That's what I said.
Ooh, la Leidenheimer's,
That's French for 'bread.'"

That about sums up the bread situation.

Dessert.

It's pie. The traditional dessert here is pecan pie, although some transplanted Yankees may choose pumpkin pie. Those who find pecan pie too sweet may opt for a lemon meringue or chocolate whip-top.

Coffee

With chicory, of course.

Enjoy!

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