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Monday, April 23, 2018
She’s New Orleans’ Biggest Praline Producer and You Don’t Know Her Name
It is without a doubt that Louisiana is one of America’s truest treasures. The creation and influence of jazz and bounce music has influenced American music in some of the most profound ways. The unique and immersive Mardi Gras parades have intensely increased the tourism count in the boot-shaped state. Even the architecture alone in New Orleans makes it feel as if it were a city in a completely different country, thanks to its French and Spanish integration.
Therefore it really is no surprise that one of their most famous desserts, pralines, is absolutely a tradition of the South. A hard candy usually filled with nuts, the simple delicacy is actually a widely-known candy to locals and usually favored amongst other sweets. It’s such a popular treat that even tourists themselves travel all over to indulge in its taste, aside from other Southern staples in the city.
Loretta’s Pralines
Pralines originated in France, when an African-American slave was sent to create a sweet dish for his master’s romantic interests. Although the first version of the praline had almonds, once it made its way to New Orleans the abundance of pecans became a staple ingredient. The common factors of a praline, however, have stayed the same since: melted sugar, cream, and nuts. Of course there are an abundance of pralines. New Orleans is the home to the most diverse. Raisin, coconut, caramel, almond, peanut, chocolate, fruit. You want something totally unexpected and tiptoeing on possibly diabetes-inducing? It’s probably in New Orleans.
Pralines are so diverse culturally that depending on where you are located, the word may sound completely different than in a different location. Some people may pronounce it as “pray-leen,’ which was the Creole interpretation, and some may pronounce it as “prah-leen”, which stems from its traditional French origin. Many generations, however, have adapted both pronunciations, and most tourists pronounce it as “pray-leen.”
If you have lived in New Orleans for more than 10 years, more than likely you will know someone who has a family member involved in candy-making. The food business is a very family-oriented culture in Louisiana. One of the best examples is of Mr. Okra, a recently deceased truck driver who was most famous for his daily trek into the neighborhoods of New Orleans, singing with an abundance of fresh produce in his tiny colorful truck, now being operated by his daughter.
But one of the most well-respected, loved, and appreciated praline stores, is also surprisingly one of the least-discussed places in New Orleans: Loretta’s.
Loretta’s Pralines, Oni Birden
Amongst the many praline shops in New Orleans is Loretta’s, the first African-American female to successfully own a praline business. She’s somehow managed to gain national coverage in numerous forms of media while still being able to keep a quiet, calm location in her local Marigny, where she’s had the shop for over 40 years. Her connection to candy-making is so deeply rooted in family that her close relatives at The Praline Connection have also successfully started and ran a soul food restaurant in New Orleans for over 25 years. And looking at Loretta’s, there’s a reason why.
You can sense the heartwarming dedication as soon as you step into her store in Marigny. Wide, bright, and full of devotional items, it is pretty quiet when you first walk in. On this particular day, the cast and crew of “NCIS: New Orleans” was just there, buying some pralines and beignets to use as props for the next episode. A student chef from Delgado is there, and so are two elderly workers. Red and white checkerboard prints are on the table cloth, traditional sankofa wire shapes in the chairs, a long food display below the counter, and an abundance of sweet smells.
Loretta is all about tradition, but she isn’t afraid to spice things up, in a literal sense. She has numerous pralines that stay within the history of the candy but still add variety for the sweet-obsessed. Rum, coconut, and even nut-less, for people with allergies. The nut-less is just as good, tasting like a block of less chunky sugar and milk. In addition, she even has praline-filled beignets, a personal concoction that has gained massive local attention in the past few years.
Her staple is undoubtedly pralines, but surprisingly, meals also make their way in discussion for breakfast or Friday afternoons. Southern food is always the center of the product. For breakfast, or even brunch, a breakfast beignet or burger beignet is at first a seemingly odd decision, but upon the smell, it hits you. The breakfast beignet is a simple bacon, egg and cheese or sausage, egg and cheese on a flaky crust. Her burger beignets also come as two sliders: flaky, buttery pastry crust as the buns, and beef patties dressed with lettuce, tomato, and an addicting sauce to top. It’s the perfect meal for a person who needs food, but plans on walking around the French Quarters soon after. And when you don’t want a burger, there are also crabmeat beignets: a french doughnut fried and stuffed with crabmeat with butter and mushroom sauté. You won’t find anything like that for miles.
Loretta’s beignet burger, Oni Birden
Fish Fridays are her most popular of the week, and obviously so. Aside from what is on the normal menu of oysters, tuna, fried fish, or shrimp salads, and po’ boys, you also get a the options of catfish plates, stuffed bell peppers, chicken wings, or just your normal fish and shrimp combo. And yes, there is a combination plate for those who are shameless about their soul food.
What is most entertaining about the restaurant are the tiny surprises that show up upon closer inspection of the place. A lively stack of Easter baskets line a wall, a section of the store for ice cream, iron music notes on the walls to help accentuate the musical vibe of the city. And interestingly enough, her non-perishables, stacked neatly by a wall inside of their own little shelves. She makes her own pickles, her own hot peppers, her own jellies (like blackberry and peach) and jams (amongst them, orange marmalade).
Loretta’s status as being the first African-American female praline shop owner is not at all overly exaggerated, undeserving, nor taken for granted. With 41 years at her craft, it’s safe to say that the delicacy is a result of her upbringing and her style. Even at the age of eight, she knew that this was something special.
“The ah-ha moment started when I was 8-years-old. That’s when I started to make pralines. I was allowed to make pralines when I was 12, so I always knew how to make candy. And so, after I graduated from SUNO, I took a job at a medical library. I made pralines during the day, and I went to work from 3 to 11. And I was selling the pralines to the students, they enjoyed it, they loved it, so I continued to make them,” she says.
But it isn’t just her own tradition of pralines that influenced Loretta to start a family business. It was the tradition that came from Louisiana itself.
Loretta’s Pralines/Facebook
“My mom taught me, her mom taught her, and my grandmother’s mother taught her, so we all use the same recipe, nothing’s changed. Except, when I was growing up we only made the original pralines.”
You would think that by having eaten sweets for literally all her life she’d be tired of it, but she swears that it never gets old. “What I do, I don’t work for money, it’s a passion. So I love my candy, I love my job, and I eat it everyday—I have to try it anyways. Oh it was always just fun. When you start having to prove, it’s not fun anymore. It’s fun even now,” she says.
Her secret to maintaining a business full of love and good eats for generations is simple:
“When I come in, I pray for a creative spirit, and He gives me that. So I channel that into what I make. For the praline beignets, I came in one day, prayed about it, and God showed me. And it’s taken off. I’ve made them for six years. We’re celebrating the history of the city, we are a part of that. To be a part of something is awesome. It means that what you do, your contribution matters”.
Keep the Good Times Rolling
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This Tiki-Inspired Pop-Up in New Orleans Is #Goals
New Orleans‘ recent culinary history is littered with restaurants that got their start in less-than-traditional spaces. Chefs with more ideas than capital have set up shop in market stalls, food trucks, or anywhere with a flat-top to spare. Many of the city’s modern success stories found their footing in bars, slinging fresh bites from a take-out window and hoping for buzz from locals who had their own one going.
But if we’re being truthful, all of our restaurants, new and old, kicked off in someone’s kitchen. Tiki Time is just a bit more honest about it.
Tiki Time Viet-Cajun crawfish, Cristoph Dornemann
The inaugural, full-service edition of the tropical fusion pop-up took place earlier this month in the Mid-City kitchen and backyard of Cristoph Dornemann, who dreamed up the combination of Caribbean and Asian cuisine alongside his fellow chefs Sergio Gonzalez Pegan and Fernando Sanjenis Gutierrez after Dornemann ingested the cocktail books of Jeff “Beachbum” Berry while traveling through Asia.
“I don’t remember when this happened but I was told by my boss [at the Quarter’s upscale French 75 bar] Chris Henna to buy the Beachbum Berry cocktail books,” Dornemann explained. “There’s a few of them but I bought ‘Surfin’ Safari.’ And I was on a trip to Thailand and I brought my Tiki cocktail book and read through it. I was really interested in not just the stories but the unique ingredients and just the culture behind it.”
Dornemann’s interest in the book and the logistics of traveling collided. He drafted up a mock cocktail menu while on a long layover.
And when he brought the idea of doing a Tiki cocktail pop-up to friends that he had started a cooking club with while he was still a student at Loyola University, they were interested. But they had one request: They wanted to add a food menu.
“One of my friends asked me if I would want to do like some Caribbean food to go with the drinks,” he said. “But if you read into Tiki history, most of the classic Tiki bars were attached to Asian restaurants. So they had a lot of Asian-focused food. We were trying to do a combination of Caribbean and Puerto Rican cuisine and these Asian dishes that are all over Southeast Asia.”
The resulting menu was a blend of Puerto Rican, Asian, and Southern food traditions, featuring everything from Puerto Rican pincho chicken skewers tossed in a twisted take on Yakitori sauce to fried catfish seasoned with a blend of lemongrass, coriander, and other spices and served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce.
Tiki Time pincho skewer, Cristoph Dornemann
Of course, this whole outing started with the drinks conjured by Dornemann. And they were the star of the show at Tiki Time’s first full outing. The signature drink, Black Pearl, was a refreshing mix of Jamaican rum, mezcal, and citrus served with an arresting black ice sphere made with squid ink.
While Tiki Time is still in its infancy, serving food and drinks out of Dornemann’s home for guests to eat in his backyard, the chef and bartender has big ideas about where it can go. He said he has been heartened by the pop-up pipeline that has grown throughout the city and is hoping that Tiki Time can take the same path.
“I’m sure there are other cities that are having this sort of phenomenon. But there’s so many pop-ups everywhere and there’s so much freedom in this city to be able to do that,” he said. “Blue Oak Barbecue is one of my favorite places and I used to go to them when they were just running out of the Chickie Wah Wah little spot. Watching them have this tiny little basically closet-sized space in a bar and now they have this huge space that’s doing so well. It’s just amazing.”
Dornemann says that the plan for now is to turn Tiki Time into a monthly pop-up in various rotating kitchens and pop-up-friendly spaces throughout the city. “It’s a good way to get my name out there and hopefully build a following and momentum and eventually get a real place.”
With the city’s growing interest in Tiki bars (see: Central City’s Portside Lounge and the French Quarter’s Latitude 29) and the ever-present love of fried food done well, Tiki Time might be leaving Cristoph’s kitchen behind sooner rather than later.
More New Orleans
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Universal Eats: Is the Sandwich the Best Invention Ever?
Who doesn’t love a good sandwich? Whether open-faced, composed between two pieces of bread, or a multilayered behemoth using several slices, there are great sandwiches all over the world, and our newest Universal Eats video explores their allure.
Allegedly invented in the 1700s by John Montagu (the 4th Earl of Sandwich) as a means of converting a full meal into a tidier package he could hold in one hand while using the other to keep playing cards, the portable, ever-adaptable sandwich is humble at heart, yet can reach great heights of artistry when done right—sometimes literally, in the case of the famously towering Dagwood sandwich.
Sandwiches can embrace anything you want to throw at them too, from pâté and pickled onions to braised greens and cured meats, and they can even seamlessly combine different cultural influences, as in the French-Vietnamese banh mi. It’s all about balance, and exciting flavors and textures in every bite. Good bread is a must, too.
There are iconic sandwiches scattered all across the United State alone, from New Orleans’ muffulettas (and po boys), to Miami‘s Cubanos, to New York City‘s deli classics like sky-high pastrami on rye. And then there are the club sandwiches, patty melts, and grilled cheeses that seem to belong to all of us. Go abroad and you’ll find even more to chew on, from Denmark’s open-faced sandwiches (smørrebrød) to Israel’s sabich.
And sandwiches can be a satisfying meal all day long, from breakfast to lunch and dinner to snack time—even dessert! No wonder restaurant critic Stan Sagner, featured in our video, proclaims sandwiches “one of the great inventions of man, alongside the wheel and fire.” We’d have to agree.
Check out the video for more sandwich love, and see our previous Universal Eats installments too: an examination of the perfection of dumplings, a look at the history of frozen desserts, an investigation into porridge, and the immigrant origins of the food you eat.
Chowhound’s Universal Eats is a new video series that explores foods that transcend cultures and borders around the world to globally to connect us all. Episodes will premiere every Tuesday on Facebook Watch, so be sure to follow our page to catch each installment.
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The Miami Marlins Go Above and Beyond to Help the Environment
The Miami Marlins’ team colors are teal, black, silver, orange, yellow, and white. And they might as well add green to the mix.
Marlins Park is one of the greenest MLB ballparks in the country. When the park was built in 2012, in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood about two miles west of downtown, it was LEED certified as the greenest ballpark in MLB—in fact, it was the only LEED gold-certified ballpark in the new construction category (it’s since been joined by a handful of other stadiums). The design idea was simple—to focus on conservation, sustainability, and energy efficiency. And so, more than 75 percent of the construction waste was recycled during construction, and pollution prevention plans were engaged, as well as water reduction and energy efficiency initiatives.
Levy Restaurants, which run some of the Marlins Park kitchens and concessions, are also major players in the ballpark’s environmentally-conscious standards and green-friendly efforts.
Laurie Wilson
The ballpark partners with Rock and Wrap It Up, an anti-poverty, food recovery think tank, according to Jon Erik Alvarez, manager of communications, Miami Marlins, L.P. Through the initiative, the park donates excess stand food that is prepared, but not sold, to help feed the indigent.
The park also participates in Seafood Watch, a sustainable seafood program through approved vendors, says Alvarez. The organization provides seafood advisory lists, recommending seafood purchasing decisions to chefs and businesses. (Wonder if marlin is on the list…)
And the Miami Marlins give new meaning to farm team—a farm-to-fork approach to food is important to the team’s sustainability goals. Most of the fresh food that is prepared and served at the ballpark is grown and selected from local farms within a 100-mile radius, like organic citrus fruits and vegetables, natural beef, free-range chicken, and dairy products, too.
The Marlins also utilize compostable packaging for burgers, says Alvarez.
Go Green at Home
In addition to food efforts, native plant species are featured in the stadium’s landscaping, as well as other sustainable plant species with lower water demands, resulting in a 60 percent potable water use reduction.
The refrigeration systems also do not use CFC-based refrigerants, which are known to deplete the earth’s ozone layer. And the ballpark recycles plastics, metals, paper, cardboard and glass as part of a comprehensive recycling plan.
A healthy indoor environment was also created for fans and employees, thanks to low-emitting interior finish materials like paints, coatings, sealants, adhesives, carpeting, and composite wood components. In many areas of the stadium, including the clubhouses and dugouts, the flooring is created with a synthetic material made from recycled Nike shoes from Ecore Everlast Flooring. The company is all about upcycling or taking a material “at the end of its life” and, rather than tossing it, converting it into something else, and in the case of the Marlin’s ballpark, flooring.
Hoping to check all of this out for yourself? The ballpark gets props for its “community connectivity” and alternative transportation opps, with several bus lines feeding into the park and 319 bike racks for cyclists, too.
More Miami
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12 Coffee Products You Never Knew You Needed
A “good” cup of coffee means something different for everyone, ranging from a cup of dark, almost chewy truckstop coffee to a lighter-bodied pour over made with meticulous measurements and timing. Even if you feel satisfied by your usual go-to cup of joe, there are products out there that can take your coffee to the next level. If you’re willing to step (or even tiptoe) outside of the comfort zone around your tried-and-true favorite brewing process, you may find that an even better cup of coffee is within reach!
Burr Grinders
The simplest and most effective change you can make to your coffee routine, regardless of how you brew, is to grind your own beans. Conical burr grinders allow for more control over the grain size of your ground coffee than more common metal blade grinders. Something like this Bodum Burr Grinder lets you easily switch between a finer and coarser grind, unleashing the flavor inside of whole beans for whichever brew method you choose.
And if you are traveling, this Manual Coffee Grinder is small enough to bring to work or on vacation. Since it’s completely hand-powered, no need to worry about having an outlet nearby, and it goes well with other man-powered gadgets like your mortar and pestle, your hand-crank egg beater, or your old-timey butter churn!
French Press
A French Press might be familiar to you, and perchance you already own one (or three—seems like it’s an easy gift!). But, if you regularly brew with an auto-drip coffee machine, you might want to bust out (or buy) a French Press and enjoy extra-flavorful coffee during mornings where you can devote a few more minutes to your coffee (and, really, to yourself). Grind your coffee extra coarse, and bring out the French Press to add a little romance to your usual coffee routine.
Pour Overs
If you’ve never tried pour over coffee, either at a coffee shop or at home, prepare for a completely different world of coffee. Pour over methods release layers of flavor you never knew coffee could have: fruity, chocolatey, earthy, floral, juicy—coffee can taste like all of these and more!
At home, try brewing with either a Hario V60 Ceramic Coffee Dripper, or using a Chemex – each requiring their own type of paper filter (like these for the V60 or these for the Chemex). Add a little extra time to your coffee ritual, and you will be rewarded with a cup of coffee that will have you savoring every precious drop of flavor.
Gooseneck Kettles
For pour over coffee methods, you’ll want a good gooseneck kettle. Heat up water in something like this Pour Over Kettle, and the narrow spout will give you the control you need to distribute hot water over your coffee grounds, first to help “bloom” the coffee grounds, and then to evenly “pour over” the rest of the water.
Take it a step further with this Bonavita Digital Temperature Gooseneck Kettle, which allows you to select the appropriate temperature you need for your brewing method. The water will heat up quickly and precisely, setting you up for a superbly-flavored cup of coffee.
Kitchen Scale
If you’ve got the pour over and the kettle, and you’re committed to seeing this brew process through to the end, then take the red pill and get yourself a kitchen scale, too. This Ozeri Digital Kitchen Scale will help you achieve the ideal ratio of beans to hot water, so that you don’t end up with a coffee that is too bitter or too weak.
Aeropress
There are still other methods for brewing coffee—and one of these is done via the wonderful Aeropress! Using these circular coffee filters, the Aeropress is small and lightweight, making it perfect for packing in your carry-on. It’s kind of like the next step after the French Press, creating a smoother cup of coffee by way of pushing the coffee through a paper filter. And, cleanup is even easier—you’re left with a puck-shaped cake of coffee grounds that you simply push into the trash (or into your compost bin!), and then a quick rinse of the Aeropress sets you up for the next cup.
Stovetop Espresso Maker
Turn up the whimsy with this Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker, preferably in a bright color. There is something very satisfying about watching coffee bubble up the spout and into the pour section of one of these espresso makers (also called a Moka Pot). As pretty as they are functional, these items are great to leave out as conversation pieces.
Cold Brew Coffee Kit
With summertime vibes fast-approaching, you might be more focused on thoughts of ice-clinking in glasses than of steaming mugs. This Cold Brew Coffee Kit can take you there. The slower process unlocks milder, smoother coffee flavors, leaving you to add milk or sugar only if you’re looking for some extra indulgence.
Automatic Pour Over
If you’re really in the mood to treat yourself, this Gourmia Automatic Pour Over Coffee Maker will do the trick! Take all the guesswork out of a perfectly-crafted cup of coffee—this machine heats, times, and pours the water for you so that you get the pour over flavor complexity without risking a case of “Barista Elbow.”
PS: The Beans
All these gadgets will help you make a better cup of coffee, certainly, but to achieve a truly great brew, you have to start with a strong foundation: the beans! When purchasing a bag of beans, look for a roast date within the last few weeks (or sooner!). Freshly roasted beans will get you the most flavor. A local coffee roaster will be your best bet, but there are online options, too. Bags of Intelligentsia coffee smell amazing, and give you a preview of the flavors you’ll get in your brewed coffee, and some brands of coffee will even benefit a charity, like with Grounds & Hounds (“Every pound saves a hound!”).
Any of the above will help you explore new ways to enjoy coffee, and for some of us, that’s really what life is all about. As Johann Sebastian Bach said, “Without my morning coffee I’m just like a dried up piece of roast goat.” Don’t be a dried up piece of roast goat—make a good cup of coffee!
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