Let the good times roll - Laissez les bon temps rouler!

This week we’re polishing off our plastic beads, undoing our shirt buttons, getting our dancing shoes on and celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans!

Fat Tuesday is the pinnacle of Mardi Gras, the final blow out before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.  Traditionally the last chance for Catholics to over indulge before the sun rises on Easter.  Or nowadays, simply an opportunity for tourists to revel in the greatest free show on earth and who am I to hold anyone up to the religious significance when I could simply be getting buzzed with the best of them?

But New Orleans is so much more than Bourbon Street, so much more than the celebrations during Mardi Gras.  Colonised primarily by the French its history is both its shining light and its dirty past.  But what’s left is a truly unique city with a European heart and a Southern drawl.

I’m told that a trip to New Orleans should not be measured in days but in the amount of meals eaten and to get a sense of the history and diversity, you should approach it one dish and one drink at a time.  If you’re willing to undertake this foodie mission then come with an empty stomach as there’s plenty on offer: Café au lait and Biegnets at breakfast, Bloody Mary’s and Milk Punch if you’re looking for a heady brunch.  Perhaps the famed Po boy or Muffuletta sandwich at lunch.   Anyone for late afternoon cocktails?  Sazerac libations or frozen Hurricanes should ease you into your evening meal.  Then it’s time for the famed Creole or Cajun cuisine that has earned the city its trademark as a foodie destination.  Enjoy heartily as the food and drink can be danced off at the legendary jazz clubs before you clamber into your bed and let the crickets lull you to sleep. 

Mardi Gras may be what draws people from across the US and around the world but as the sun sets on the hundred and seventy third Mardi Gras parade, as the litter gets swept up and the revellers tuck their dignity back into their bras I’ve learnt three very important things about  New Orleans: firstly, don’t ever call it The Big Easy, that’s marketing talk and the locals call it the Crescent City.  Don’t ever wear plastic beads outside of the Mardi Gras celebrations; everyone will know you’re a tourist.  Finally, eat.  Eat with unbridled enjoyment and a sense of adventure.  As Tom Robbins muses in his novel Jitterbug Perfume:  The minute you land in New Orleans, something wet and dark leaps on you and starts humping you like a swamp dog in heat, and the only way to get that aspect of New Orleans off you, is to eat it off!

A basic definition of just some of the popular dishes to be had in New Orleans:

·      Beignets – A light holeless donut customarily served with café au lait

·      Creole – French technique, subtle but sophisticated flavours, blending the different flavours and influences of this ex-port city.

·      Cajun – Bolder flavors than Creole cuisine and slow cooked, typically a one-pot cuisine, historically eaten around the swamps and waterways of Louisiana.  Popularised during the 80s by celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme.

·      Crawfish – Freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters

·      Café au lait – Strong chicory coffee and hot milk with a smoky aroma

·      Dirty rice – White rice cooked with giblets and gravy

·      King Cake - Cake that’s typically eaten during the Mardi Gras celebratons. A small plastic baby is baked inside the cake and whoever gets the slice with the baby in it has to buy the next cake. 

·      Muffuletta – Round Italian loaf filled with deli meats and cheese, topped with an olive salad (typically crushed olives and some sort of pickled veg with plenty of garlic and oregano)

·      Milk punch – Holiday cocktail typically made from light cream and a dark liquor (bourbon or brandy) with different grace notes (vanilla, sugar, grated nutmeg) 

·      Po boy – (called subs or hoagies in other parts of the US but always called a Po Boy in New Orleans) should be made with good quality French bread, typically filled with meats or seafood

·      Pimms Cup – A British import made with Pimm’s liqueur garnished with cucumber.  Recipes vary. 

·      Sazerac – The city’s trademark whisky drink (a long history and unique set of rituals goes into this drink depending on where you have it)

·      Turtle soup – A spicy, savory and rich soup with finely diced turtle meat in it, bits of hard boiled-egg and a dash of sherry. Traditionally eaten in Creole restaurants.