AMUSE BOUCHE                 by Chef Chip Desormeaux

/ah-mooz boosh/ def: A small complimentary appetizer offered at fine restaurants. From French, literally, "it entertains the mouth."

Food & Entertaining Tips from The Portable Chef

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You know, I just didn't feel like writing an article about something technical today. I dunno, maybe it's the heat. I'm feeling bloggish today. (You know what a blog is, those online journals that are all the rage now?)

So I pulled some inspiration from my stove and life growing up in South Louisiana. I hope you enjoy it just as much!

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It's All About the Food

When most people think of Cajun, they think of a land somewhere in the South, around the middle of the country. Good times. Great food. Lots of booze. New Orleans, right?

When I tell people I'm from Louisiana, I almost always hear, "Oh, I love New Orleans!" As though there is no other town in the whole state! (We find that mildly irritating, by the way...)

But "Cajun" means home to me. When I think of Cajun, it has a very familiar ring. It perks my ears, much like when you hear your own name paged over the grocery store intercom.

It really is true that in South Louisiana, we live to eat—we don't eat to live. A typical Cajun lives an agrarian lifestyle, lacking in most of the glitz and glam of the finer things and big-city entertainment.

Because we come from such humble beginnings as far back as the mid-1700's, the one thing Cajuns always have had to offer their guests is deliciously prepared home-grown foods and good conversation over a hot cup of coffee.

Never have I known anyone who can enjoy their own cooking just as much as the people they share it with as we can. When our family sat down to dinner at home, my mom would just go on and on about how delicious her pork roast was. It never crossed our minds that she was bragging, because...well, we all agreed it really was that good! You know, Tom Sawyer once said, "It ain't braggin' if you done it."

I catch myself doing it, too. A guest at one of our parties might come up and comment on something they particularly enjoyed and I'll immediately say, "Oh, that's my favorite! I love the way..." and then I have to check myself... "Thank you very much, ma'am. I'm so glad you're enjoying our food!"

I am eternally grateful to my grandmother for her oblique contribution to my love for food.

I say oblique because she never directly taught me how to cook. But as a child growing up I always held her food as the standard. Not even my own mom, a fabulous cook herself, could make food taste quite so wonderful as Maw-Maw could.

Every now and again, as I deftly push my onions, peppers and celery off my cutting board into a pot, the aroma takes me back some 30 years, with a littler me just arriving in my grandmother's kitchen after a three hour road trip. I smell the smells of her cooking wafting from her tiny kitchen.

My belly gurgles with anticipation.

Then I come crashing back into present time when I realize here I stand before my own stove, some 600 miles from home, carrying on her rich Cajun heritage.

And then I know I'm doing it right.

We all have fond memories of at least one delicious meal our moms and grandmothers were really good at.

I'd love to hear from you. What did your family cook that was so good? If you could have mom or grandma come for a visit, what would you have her cook? Do you have relatives from another country that brought the Old World mystique of their cuisine to your dinner table?

Oh, and while you're at it, give your mom a call. She misses you, you know.

Bon Appetit, Cher!

Chef Chip Desormeaux

But, Wait! There's More!
(Recipes, Nifty Gadgets, & Stuff Like That)

Recipe. All over the South, it's not uncommon at all to have a couple of fried eggs served over some creamy grits. Couple slices of bacon, a biscuit maybe, and a hot cup of coffee, and you're all set!

While we love grits in Louisiana just as much as anywhere else in the South, we probably love our rice just a little bit more! In the Lafayette area one of our biggest farm crops is rice.

Growing up we never had a name for this dish but my kids and I call it Southern Fried Rice. It's the simplest thing in the world to prepare. All you need is some leftover rice (we even enjoy it with brown rice), a little Cajun seasoning, eggs and green onions. Recipe here.

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