A Very New Orleans Celebration of a Very American Holiday
Just when you take pride in your recently gained knowledge of cuisine and drinks, along comes some other idea or suggestion that makes just as much sense.
We are about to face the ultimate test of dining rules—Thanksgiving. Here's the ultimate day of feasting, football, family, and friends. Nowhere in America is the celebration as broad or as inclusive as it is here in New Orleans and, by extension, South Louisiana.
Not only do we bring America's greatest native cuisine to the party, but we also bring together people who know the ingredients well and can use them to ultimate expression. Gastronomic challenges do not come bigger or trickier than Thanksgiving in New Orleans. Fortunately, we have a well-defined path and, if we don't stray far, success is practically guaranteed. Even given the seemingly impossible playing field, we can put ourselves in the winner's circle. There are really only two rules to follow and both of them are truly easy: keep it local and keep it simple.
What you are faced with at Thanksgiving is a seemingly impossible and challenging playing field. Many people around the table, or in front of the TV, each with their own distinct palate and each liking what they like. Yet, it is expected to offer dishes and drinks to accomplish a singular purpose—tasting good. This is where New Orleans shines, and this is where New Orleans wins the marathon.
Let's put together a full Thanksgiving feast and, at every step, let's fill in with local ingredients and local preparation. Not many places on the planet can accomplish this. In New Orleans and South Louisiana, we can do it with some ease.
Begin the festivities in true New Orleans fashion. Your attention is directed to the Where Y'at series "Cocktail of the Month" on cocktails invented in or made famous through New Orleans. The Sazerac, truly New Orleans' signature cocktail with Louisiana Legislature affirmation, is a great way to start the calendar's greatest culinary day (for background and the proper recipe, check out the "Cocktail of the Month" edition on the Sazerac). While you are there, you can also look up several other great possibilities such as the born in New Orleans Ramos Gin Fizz and the French 75, both beloved and made famous right here.
Maybe your gang is more attuned to malt beverages? New Orleans has become a center of the brewery universe, with most products home-grown. Abita Brewing now has a brewery in the city, and Urban South is located on Tchoupitoulas, while Port Orleans is also on the same street. Some newer breweries, which provide products you can pick up at their breweries and take to the feast are Brieux Carré on Decatur, Roulaison Distilling on S. Broad, Second Line on N. Bernadotte, Miel on Sixth, and Parleaux on Lesseps. If you want to add to the mix breweries in our region, such as Parish Brewing Co., you can continue the quest knowing that these breweries make full use of local ingredients. Also, these beers are available in cans or bottles at retail level.
Let's build in some food to our feast before we get to the main course. Oysters, in good season now, are always a popular choice rather raw or chargrilled. If you go for the grilled route, save yourself the knife-wielding shucking effort. Place the entire closed oyster on the hot grill, shut the top, wait 10 seconds, open the grill, and you will note that the oyster has "popped" open a little bit. Remove them off the grill, pry the top shell off the oyster, douse the oyster with your butter and garlic sauce after putting it back on the grill, still affixed to the bottom shell. Close the grill cover back down for about 15 seconds and then scoop out the oyster, tossing the shell into the trash. Every guest can participate.
As an added treat, Louisiana shrimp, boiled with their heads on and then served cold with any number of sauces, can be added to the fun.
It's hard to believe, but the main course is still to come. Start with boudin balls, and then move on to the plated treats. Oyster dressing, sweet potatoes (or yams) possessing a hearty dose of Louisiana pecans, andouille sausage slices with Creole mustard for dipping. There's so much to choose from.
Then the star of the show arrives—fried turkey. Fried turkey has no batter but is moist, giving all the flavor a fresh bird is supposed to present. If you've never had turkey prepared in this fashion, you have denied yourself a treat you won't stop talking about or enjoying for the rest of your life.
Beverage service accompanying the main course are wines. Due to climate and soil conditions, wines are not our region's strongest play, but there are a few wineries doing solid work. Right across the lake is Wild Bush, which mostly repackages raw materials from other places in their facility. North Louisiana boasts Landry Vineyards, which grows and vinifies wine in the traditional manner, working with grapes that are able to flourish in our climate and in our soils.
We did not forget dessert, and there can't be a more fitting end to our Louisiana Thanksgiving feast than Bananas Foster, direct from Royal Street to your table.
There you have it. The most traditional eating and drinking day in America with New Orleans and Louisiana as the featured source of it all. As we said, it is likely no place else on Earth can pull off this feat.
