Cuisine in Balance
While there's never any lack of delicious food in New Orleans restaurants, winter holidays always provide a chance to gather your loved ones and enjoy a big, home-cooked meal.
With that in mind, Where Y'at asked some chef friends to share their favorite Thanksgiving side dishes to provide some inspiration for your own kitchen and dining room tables.
Adam Biderman | The Company Burger
Sweet Potato Soufflé
"It's savory, but pecans and brown sugar offset it, kinda like [a] first dessert but not that sweet. [It has] a little bit of rise, so it's not as dense as typical sweet potatoes." Biderman spins glazed sweet potatoes and classic New Orleans sweet potato casserole into a soufflé with some evaporated milk alongside the expected ingredients. "We only have this on Thanksgiving, my family's most sacred holiday. Any other time just feels wrong."
Alfredo Nogueira | Cane & Table
"Simple" Gravy
Nogueira swears by his gravy. "I'm very proud of it. It has bacon and turkey liver and tastes very similar to Popeyes' gravy."
Aom Srisuk | Good Catch Thai Urban Bistro
Massaman Curry Roasted Sweet Potato Boats
Srisuk makes sweet potato "boats" by slicing baked sweet potatoes in half and then mashing each half a little bit with a fork. She then tops them with a traditional Thai massaman curry. "It's a natural fit for Thanksgiving because of its warming spices: cardamom, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and star anise."
Cristina Quackenbush | Tatlo
Fresh Cauliflower Salad
Quackenbush makes this annually for her family by cutting fresh cauliflower into bite-size pieces and mixing with crisp bacon, thinly sliced red onion, and plenty of shaved parmesan. She coats it with a creamy, tangy dressing made of Blue Plate, vinegar, sugar, and black pepper. "[I] heavy hand with the black pepper. Thanksgiving sides don't have to be complicated or fussy. Sometimes simple ingredients and a great sauce are all you need to make something memorable."
Eric Cook | Gris-Gris
Grandma's Oyster Dressing
Cook loves making his grandmother's dressing. He makes sure to put it out last and watch everyone smile when it hits the table. The dish is primarily local French bread and fresh, salty Gulf oysters. "Nothing can compare to the smell of bacon rendering with garlic and butter coming together—a timeless family tradition."
Jacques Leonardi | Jacques-Imo's Café
Dirty Macaroni and Cheese
"I make a dirty rice meat mixture—no rice this time—and add it to a traditional mac and cheese," Leonardi smiled knowingly.
Jason Goodenough | Goodenough Events
Creamed Corn
Goodenough cuts fresh sweet corn off their cobs and puts it in a high-sided pan. He adds heavy cream to level with the top, brings to a boil, and drops the boil to a simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Then, he food processes half the mixture and combines it with the remaining corn and a little salt. "It's my kids' favorite Thanksgiving side dish. It kind of runs against my beliefs as a chef about seasonality, but my kids eat a lot of stuff I don't really agree with."
Mason Hereford | Turkey and the Wolf
Chicken Wing and Sausage Stuffing/Dressing
You can follow Hereford's evolution as a cook by the stuffings from his first five Thanksgivings as a professional chef. "I started at showy and ended at Stove Top, but, you know, the good homemade kind. Now, I go in the middle and make this stuffing, or dressing because Louisiana—big flavors. It includes hot dog buns, winter herbs, Totole Chicken Powder, meat from chicken wings, and juicy, porky nugs of Jimmy Dean—the best sausage on the planet." Hereford also encourages that we "break whatever national puritanical fever has convinced us that stuffing should only be made once a year."
Nathan Barfield | Hot Stuff
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Barfield loves to break out a charcoal grill for Thanksgiving. "You can bury your sweet potatoes in the coals while you grill or smoke a turkey. The char and smoke flavor nicely cut through the richness of a Thanksgiving meal."
Nikki Cabrera Mills | Pêche Seafood Grill
Soy Sauce & Chicken Liver Gravy with Cauliflower Gratin
Mills honors her Filipina heritage with a lechon-style turkey complemented with a gravy made from Silver Swan soy sauce and chicken livers. The classic Pêche cauliflower gratin is also a Thanksgiving staple her family expects. "It's like mac and cheese but with cauliflower, rice, and fontina cheese. It's labor-intensive, but it makes an appearance at my house on Thanksgiving."
Shirley Lee | Miss Shirley's Chinese Restaurant
Green Bean Salad, Sticky Rice Stuffing, Mashed Mirlitons
Miss Lee puts her own spin on Thanksgiving essentials. "People like to bake green beans, but I do mine as a salad." She serves hers cold with lemon, cilantro, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Her stuffing is steamed sticky rice with Chinese sausage, dried mushrooms, and dried shrimp "inside the bird." She also mashes mirlitons with dried shrimp, bacon fat, reduced chicken stock, and diced Chinese shiitake mushrooms. "I season both hot dishes with salt, pepper, and just a little bit of oyster sauce."
Sophina Uong | Mister Mao
Spicy Satsuma Salad
Uong's love for spicy, bold flavors and varied textures is even in her salads. This one is fresh satsumas tossed with fried garlic oil, chopped hot chilies, scallions, cilantro, gray salt, "and some crispy shallots you steal from the green casserole."
Todd Pulsinelli | LeBlanc & Smith
Loaded Cranberry Sauce
Pulsinelli elevates classic cranberry sauce with simple twists. "When I make it, I load it with orange juice and fine-diced jalapeño. [It] really takes it to a new level."
