Trout Point Lodge Cookbook: Creole Cuisine from New Orleans to Nova Scotia
- Book Review,
by Daniel G. Abel
Amazon.com
As many readers know, Cajun cooking began with the Arcadians, French settlers who made their first home in what is now Nova Scotia. The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook offers more than 150 uncomplicated recipes, from the title's eponymous Nova Scotia inn and dining spot. Its owners--the book's authors--have perfected a cuisine that embodies both Cajun, Creole, and original Arcadian cooking, and offer a wide range of traditional and innovative recipes for the likes of Grilled Eggplant Tart, Finnan Haddie Jumbalaya, Creole-Stuffed Bell Peppers, and Braised Haddock with Summer Vegetables. The book emphasizes the natural foods of the region, and readers will find particularly worthwhile recipes for mushrooms, such as Grilled Oyster Mushrooms and Garlic, and Shiitake Mushrooms Rockefeller. Formulas containing more exotic natural ingredients include Sole in Wild Sorrel Velouté Sauce, and Beer-Battered Elderberry Flowers. (A source list helps readers procure some of the unusual ingredients.) Menus, and an extended section on smoking seafood, with instructions for building and using a smokehouse, round out this special exploration. --Arthur Boehm
From Publishers Weekly
The three authors—founders of Trout Point Lodge, as well as the Inn at Coyote Mountain in Costa Rica and the Granada Cooking School in Spain—successfully merge the flavors of their native Louisiana with ingredients indigenous to Nova Scotia, where the inn and cooking school of the title sits on 200 acres of Acadian forest. The book opens with a stern warning to eat wild plants or mushrooms only with "expert guidance," and for good reason: dishes such as Mussels Cooked in Pine Needles; Bullrush Blinis Topped with Salmon, Crème Fraîche and Beluga Caviar (made with bullrush flour you grind yourself); and Yellow Water Lily Leaves Stuffed with Purple Rice are so intriguing, overzealous readers may be tempted to forage unwisely. Seafood is a strong point; there's an entire chapter on smoking it, which includes instructions for making Salmon Bacon; and recipes like Crawfish and Carrot Jambalaya and Spicy Cornmeal-Crusted Scallops with Wild Sweet Fern Butter do a bang-up job of merging two cultures on the plate. Although desserts aren't as inventive as the savory fare, and occasionally the authors exaggerate the availability of ingredients like the beans in Sea Bean and Mussel Salad, this book's enticing food is notable for its originality and quality. Photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Having created a successful New Orleans restaurant that relied on local ingredients and Creole traditions, chefs Abel, Leary, and Perret pulled up stakes and moved to Nova Scotia. In so doing, they brought full circle the migration that began hundreds of years earlier when French-speaking Acadians sailed out of Canada to Louisiana and became Cajuns. Moreover, these re-immigrants brought an advanced culinary tradition to a land not noted for its cuisine. In Louisiana, the chefs had learned to work with locally harvested wild foods. In Nova Scotia, they find familiar fiddlehead ferns and the less known, but tasty, roots of cattails. Pine needles offer a way to flavor mussels, and wild sorrel's lemony acidity pairs well with just about any seafood. Along the Atlantic coast, shellfish abound, so the chefs prepare lobster salads and entrees. In addition to Creole favorites such as red beans and rice and stuffed peppers, there are Acadian traditions, too, on the order of rappie pie--layers of grated potatoes stuffed with scallops and clams. Regional collections should not miss this unique volume. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
From Sugarcane Vinaigrette to Tuna Daube to Smoked Trout Cakes, Abel, Leary, and Perret are up to their usual brilliant adaptations of Louisiana cooking. They know it’s best to create dishes with a rich understanding of the past. Ever since these guys started showing up at the back door of Commander’s Palace with some of the best cheese we’ve tasted, we’ve known they do it right. These are our kind of guys and this is our kind of cookbook.”
–ELLA BRENNAN and TI ADELAIDE MARTIN, Commander’s Palace
“In New Orleans, we know that Creole is the original ‘fusion’ cuisine, and therefore ripe for exploration and expansion. In The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook, Abel, Leary, and Perret have forged a new road for the future of Creole cuisine by lovingly exploring its past. They know that great cuisine is timeless, yet reflects the evolution of taste. Enjoy a fresh look at fresh foods with the gentlemen from Trout Point Lodge.”
–FRANK BRIGTSEN, Brigtsen’s Restaurant
“The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook provides yet another example of how the grand culinary traditions of the Creole style have been successfully adapted to different geographic and cultural circumstances. And it does so with clarity, grace, and recipes that are true to the spirit and the vivid flavors of Creole gastronomy.”
–GENE BOURG, food critic
From the Inside Flap
In the early nineties, friends Daniel Abel, Charles Leary, and Vaughn Perret noticed something significant about Louisiana’s culinary landscape: the many of the indigenous foods and techniques that had once been so integral to Cajun and Creole cooking had vanished. Fueled by their appreciation for Old-World French farming and cooking styles, as well as New World native products, the three founded the renowned Chicory Farm and Chicory Farm Café. Their distinctive cheeses, mushrooms, and organic produce were soon featured in the best New Orleans restaurants, and brought about a renaissance in small farms and local produce.
Continuing their search for the roots of Cajun/Creole cuisine, in 1996 the trio traveled to an area in Nova Scotia originally known as Acadia, where French settlers early in the seventeenth century founded North America’s first culinary society: the Order of Good Cheer. When expelled by the British in the eighteenth century, these French Acadians moved to Louisiana, where they were called Cajuns.
Out of the three partners’ trip came the idea for a center for food learning that would also be a vacation destination. Trout Point Lodge, a cooking school and resort located in the spectacular beauty of the Nova Scotia wilderness, was born. Called “extraordinary” by Food & Wine magazine, Trout Point has become one of the premier culinary destinations in North America.
The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook explores the fascinating merging of the Creole, Cajun, and Acadian cuisines–what the authors call New World Creole. Cooking with the most diverse, healthful, and fresh ingredients, the authors present original and enticing dishes tailored for the home cook. Here you’ll find recipes for Wild Mushroom Pâté, Finnan Haddie Jambalaya, Cashew Chili, Lime-Grilled Cattail Root, Sesame and Dill—Encrusted Haddock, and Blueberry Bread Pudding.
Historical and cultural tidbits, useful sidebars, and unique cooking tips–such as how to forage safely for wild mushrooms and how to smoke fish–complement the delicious culinary creations within these pages. Beautifully illustrated with photographs of the amazing dishes, the dramatic wilderness, and the stunning lodge itself, this unique and inspiring cookbook brings a new cuisine–New World Creole–to the table.
About the Author
DANIEL ABEL, CHARLES LEARY, and VAUGHN PERRET, founders of Trout Point Lodge and the Inn at Coyote Mountain in Costa Rica, have been food entrepreneurs for over fourteen years. Originally based in Louisiana where they opened the Chicory Farm and Chicory Farm Café, they have drawn the attention of the Food Network, The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, and Food & Wine. They recently opened the Granada Cooking School in Spain.
WAYNE BARRETT, co-founder of Barrett and MacKay Photography with wife and fellow photographer Anne MacKay, has won numerous photography awards, including an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History. Barrett’s photography has appeared in over twenty-five books, as well as in National Geographic, National Wildlife, and Readers Digest, among other publications. He lives in Prince Edward Island.
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