Text by Chef John D. Folse, Photography by Steve Rizzo, Food Styling by Vanessa Rocchio, Styling by Lucy Finney.
As the holiday season rolls around, I cannot help but ponder the culinary ghosts of family Thanksgivings, Christmases, and New Years past. A cup of gruel may have satisfied Ebenezer Scrooge on that fateful Christmas Eve, but to that dreary meal, I respond, “Bah humbug!” We may have been poor chaps growing up on River Road in St. James Parish, but the swamp floor and our gardens provided an abundant pantry of holiday fare that I taste in my memories even today.
We celebrated the holidays at Mamere and Papere’s house, where the table became a groaning board of our favorite foods. Often, we had wild boar ham, the animal caught and fattened for several weeks for the occasion. Daddy and my brother Bo’boy harvested wild turkey from the swamp for the table, and in the spirit of brotherly love, we all fought for the turkey neck.
LIKE CLEMENT C. MOORE’S “VISIONS OF SUGAR-PLUMS,” THESE CULINARY SPECTERS OF LONG AGO DANCE IN MY HEAD.
Once the prize was claimed, a feeding frenzy ensued over the side dishes, which often upstaged the main course. There was cabbage with andouille sausage, steamed cauliflower with vinegar, green beans with small potatoes and bits of bacon, sweet peas, candied yams, and butterbeans with shrimp, but the dressings somehow stole the show. There was sweet farre dressing, cornbread dressing, crawfish dressing, and dirty rice made with chicken livers and gizzards. However, the favorite by far was brême au riz, a.k.a. rice dressing, that was all gussied up with eggplant, ground pork, smoked sausage, and shrimp!
A cadre of desserts tantalized us from the sideboard as we ate. Awaiting our chubby hands were petits gâteaux, jelly rolls, divinity fudge, fruitcake, and la neige, or floating isles. Papere and Daddy finished the meal with a taste of anisette and a few too many sips of cherry bounce.
Like Clement C. Moore’s “visions of sugar-plums,” these culinary specters of long ago dance in my head. My brother Jerry and I have recreated these dishes over the years, and we do a pretty good job. But somehow, these favorite holiday foods never quite taste the same without the Cajun patois ringing through the house, the clatter of our uncles’ laughter shaking the shingles on the rooftop, our aunts gathering like a covey of quail whispering in the kitchen, and unconditional love flowing from every crevice in the house. “As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,” so do these delicious memory-makers of long ago.
Chef John D. Folse is an entrepreneur with interests ranging from restaurant development and food manufacturing to catering and culinary education. Similar recipes can be found in Can You Dig It: Louisiana’s Authoritative Collection of Vegetable Cookery (Chef John Folse & Company).
- 3 large eggplants (2½ pounds), peeled and diced into ¾-inch cubes
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound smoked sausage
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- ½ cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced green bell pepper
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups long-grain rice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon granulated garlic
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¾ pound peeled and deveined large fresh shrimp
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- Bring a stockpot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add eggplant, and cook until tender and fully cooked, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain in a colander, and set aside.
- In a Dutch oven, cook pork over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Add sausage, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, and minced garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are wilted, 5 to 10 minutes. Add eggplant and stock, and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat, and add rice, stirring well. Stir in salt, granulated garlic, and black pepper. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook for 30 minutes. (Do not stir or remove lid during cooking process.)
- Add shrimp and parsley to rice mixture, and stir well. Cover and cook over low heat until shrimp are pink and curled, 10 to 15 minutes.
