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Liam Hetherington
Liam Hetherington
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45) Old Orleans – Jamabalaya, Crawfish Pie, Filé Gumbo

45) Old Orleans – Jamabalaya, Crawfish Pie, Filé Gumbo

United States of America – 22/07/09

Whenever I talk about my Around The World In 80 Meals quest the same comment gets made over and over again: "What are you going to have for America? A Big Mac?" It would be fair to say that American cuisine does not have the best reputation in the world…

Yet if we look beyond the prediliction for fast food, massive portions and extra-large trousers the USA really should be a haven for great food: high standard of living, stringent hygiene laws, a famously-friendly service industry, abundant and diverse natural resources from Arctic seas to lush fields and rolling meadows to semi-tropical heat. And as a nation of immigrants a veritable encyclopaedia of national cuisines to pick and choose the best from.

So it was that Paul and I decided that for our American meal we were ragin’ to go Cajun. This is the country food of rural Louisiana, based upon that of the French settlers (‘Arcadians’) expelled from Canada by the British. As such it marries French techniques with southern flavours, overlaid with the tastes of African slaves. This truly is the ‘melting pot’ of which America should be proud.

The easiest way for us to get a handle on Cajun food was to visit Old Orleans in the Printworks complex. It goes for the ‘Irish pub’ school of decoration: throw enough crap at the walls and see what sticks. It is a riot of trellissed ironwork and weathered stone supporting coloured streamers and Mardi Gras flags, musical instruments, masks and costumes. I expected this as it is part of a chain with 26 restaurants up and down the country. I used to frequent the branch in Cambridge – though that was less for food, and more for their impressive cocktail menu.

And speaking of the cocktail menu, cocktails were on special offer – Buy Two For £6.00 (I think). So ahead we went. In keeping with the New Orleans vibe I ordered a French Quarter Martini, a cherry red concoction where the vodka was cut down with raspberry-flavoured Chambord, pineapple juice, and a twist of lime. Thankfully our server asked whether I wanted it in the classic ‘girly’ martini glass, or decanted into a more manly-looking vessel, thereby removing my one main concern! Paul turned his back on Louisiana however, and headed north-east for a Long Island Ice Tea – the heavily-alcoholic mix of vodka, tequila, rum, gin, Triple Sec and cola always made this a favourite cocktail back in my Cambridge days.

I’m sure that Cajun purists might scoff at the menu on offer here, but they do try their best at achieving a ‘down-home’ range of fare, and New Orleans celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme does lend his considerable weight to many of the dishes with a signiture range of Cajun spices. They might not serve all the food in the Carpenters’ song (while they have jambalaya and gumbo the nearest you will get to crawfish pie is their coconut shrimps), but they have a menu that ranges from burgers and fajitas to Southern-fried chicken, sticky racks of baby-back ribs, and blackened catfish. I was tempted by the catfish, but eventually decided on gumbo.

Gumbo is a classic example of the merging of different tastes. Essentially a French stew or bouillabase, it takes its name from an African term for okra. If it is described as ‘filé gumbo’, the ‘filé’ is a Choctaw native American phrase for sassafras. It uses the most local ingredients – onions, celery, jalapeno peppers, okra, tomatoes. Its meat came in the form of prawns and slices of chorizo sausage. In all it came served up in a blackened iron skillet, with two hunks of corn-bread on the side. And very nice it was too for £11.95. The prawns were small shrimps, and a little overcooked to be honest, but the chorizo gave a good smoky heat to the dish. Having finished my martini by this stage I ordered a bottle of beer to accompany it. At just £1.90, the bottle of Dixie lager (from New Orleans itself) came at an excellent price. Paul was not quite so authentically N’awlins with his choice of a lightly lime-ginger-and-chilli-marinated yellow-fin tuna steak served on a spring onion risotto with salad (£12.50). We were both slightly taken aback when he was asked how he wanted his tuna steak cooking. I’d probably have just replied ‘properly’, but Paul went for ‘Medium’ and the fish did turn out to be very flavourful upon arrival.

As soon as we finished our meals the plates were whisked away by the ever-attentive wait staff. In fact, if I had a criticism it would be that they were too quick to respond; we felt that we were being hurried along, despite the fact that only a quarter of the tables were occupied. We had a while to wait before a friend was turning up to go to the cinema with us, so we decided to order dessert. Paul headed slightly north from Louisiana to have a Mississippi Chocolate Puddle Cake (£4.25), a wickedly clogging rich chocolate slab of cake that managed to fill him up pronto. I took a bearing south-east for a Key Lime Pie "made with real Florida Key limes"! I have to say this was not as sharp as I was expecting it to be, and was more of a chewy slightly-citrus flavoured yellow cheesecake. It cost £4.50.

All this was a pretty good meal, and one that while it had its base in Louisiana also paid detours to Mississippi and Florida for the desserts and New York for Paul’s cocktail. The music was mostly acceptable soul tunes (Gladys Knight’s Midnight Train To Georgia and Bobby Womack’s version of Califiornia Dreaming added two more states to our voyage). But a real kicker came from overhearing a couple on the next table over when they came to pay – apparently if you had valid tickets from the cinema next door you got 2-4-1 on main meals (cheapest main course free). As we were heading to the cinema next Paul quickly darted out and bought the tickets. This saved us £11.95 (the cost of my gumbo) off our bill. I have to say that in itself is enough to make me consider returning to Old Orleans if I am planning a cinema trip!

It still wasn’t late enough for Bryan to have joined us, so once we had paid and been practically hustled out the door we headed up to another ‘American’ place, Henry J Beans, for a drink. Here too they serve up burgers and sticky ribs. We were full though so only ordered drinks. To add another state to our American trip I ordered an Alabama Slammer cocktail. Paul, while not a Scotch drinker, thought he would go for a Kentucky whiskey. Not knowing much about the subject he asked the bartender. Brilliantly we were then treated to a five-minute master-class on the differences between rye and maize whiskeys, allowed to sniff a few bottles, and then finally made a decision to get a Buffalo Trace Sazerac with soda.

So all in all, we had big fun on the bayou!

(Other than your run of the mill McDonalds / Burger Kings / KFCs it is hard to think what would count as ‘American’ in Manchester. I’m aware that there is an American Bar & Grill in Hale and a Fatty Arbuckles in Salford Quays. Frankie & Benny’s is a chain of New York style Italians (!) with branches on St Ann’s Square and at Parrswood. And for further Cajun cookin’ I believe that up in Rochdale there is a restaurant called Bayou Louisiana)

From journal Around The World In 80 Meals! (part 5)

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