Reviewer Rachel Jagareski Breaks Beignets with Eric Cook, Author of Modern Creole: A Taste of New Orleans Culture and Cuisine
“That’s what we do in New Orleans, we invite the world to our table, and we share our love for food and culture with everyone. We don’t just want to tell you our story, we want to feed it to you.’’ -Eric Cook
Top restaurants all have personality—a vibe and style complemented by creative food that leaves diners with a heightened feeling of both satiety and contentment. Most often, that personality reflects the chef’s approach to cooking, the strong or subtle or exotic flavors, the elegant or rustic presentations that all bring about an experience beyond the individual parts.
And—inquiring cookbook lovers want to know—if the chef of a successful restaurant endeavors to create a cookbook, will that winning personality make it to the page? It’s not such an easy thing, as many a publisher knows.
Eric Cook, gregarious as the city he hails from, can be added to that short list of restaurant chefs who pulled it off. The chef and owner of two of New Orleans most beloved restaurants, Eric’s Modern Creole leans on the French, Spanish, Caribbean, and African influences of that great city to both honor the long evolution of Creole cuisine but also make it contemporary. In her review for Foreword‘s September/October issue, Rachel Jagareski calls the book an “exuberant showcase of a talented chef’s vibrant Southern food style,” and she is a personality we’ve learned to listen to after ten-plus years of cookbook reviews.
If cooking is on your mind, check out these other splendid projects from our Sept/Oct cookbook feature, and then grab ahold of your free digital subscription to the only review journal devoted to independently published books.
What is your process like from the time you first dream up an idea for a new recipe to the time that the dish ends up on one of your restaurant menus?
Believe it or not, a lot of our menu ideas are developed very organically. We are pretty inventive about things we snack on during the long work days, and we tend to lean towards things that we fall in love with and want to share with each other and our guests. Most of them are inspired by very old books or menus from restaurants of the past and show our love of bringing them back to life and telling the story of its origins. It can be as simple as saying the word shrimp and then the process becomes a working conversation during service with ideas coming from every member of the team; it really is one of my favorite things about being a chef in such a storied city like New Orleans. We keep our history very close and the next big thing is always right under our noses.
Your memories of fishing, crabbing, and rambling around outdoors add evocative detail to your cookbook. Is there any one standout youthful memory that you wish you could dive back into for one day?
I used to fish a lot with my dad when I was very young and we often went fishing with one of our neighbors, Mr. Joe or Uncle Joe. There is no other feeling in the world that I miss as much as the anticipation of a morning boat ride through the marshes and bayous of South Louisiana; it was and always will be the greatest memories of my life. There is not much I wouldn’t do to have just one morning in the boat with my dad sharing a snack of Vienna sausage and Barq’s root beer.
I loved reading about all the inventive mocktails and cocktails in your book. What is the secret to crafting flavors and garnishes for a memorable new beverage?
Cocktails have evolved so much in a very short period of time and the process of pairing drinks with food is a daily conversation in the restaurants. Giving your staff the same freedoms of expression behind the bar as we do in the kitchen opens the door to seasonal and historical concoctions that can be just as exciting if not more for everyone involved, and, of course, in New Orleans we take our cocktails very seriously.
As you hilariously note, “Springtime in New Orleans is the most amazing eleven days of the year.” What is your favorite ephemeral local product and how do you like to prepare it?
Definitely strawberry season. New Orleans has so many amazing natural resources from local seafood to bright citrus trees and abundant wildlife surrounding our great city, but when those Ponchatoula strawberries come in season you will find them on every menu in every restaurant. Fresh strawberries on a buttermilk biscuit with whipped cream is the greatest thing ever.
Creole cuisine is such a melange of cultural traditions and you blend in so many personal twists. Who are some of your culinary heroes and influences?
We truly are so lucky to have grown up in such a storied food city like NOLA. The list of culinary greats is very long and very prestigious. Warren Leruth, Michael Roussel, Leah Chase, Paul Prudhomme, I could go on and on, but the great thing about New Orleans is that the list of the future legends is looking just as impressive.
What tunes are on the kitchen playlist when you are prepping for a big night?
Foo Fighters are a favorite of the crew while we are prepping and we couldn’t have a great day in the kitchen without the Doctor getting us through; Dr. John is definitely a house favorite.
You currently run two restaurants and are an active volunteer with various New Orleans and military/veterans groups and have now written this cookbook. What other personal and professional projects are on the horizon?
We have another restaurant in the future that will be attached to a hotel being built in a great neighborhood of the city but that is some time away still. In the meantime, I am getting back in the kitchen and getting our restaurants ready to host some of the biggest events in the country and welcome the world stage for the Super Bowl coming up next year. That’s what we do in New Orleans, we invite the world to our table, and we share our love for food and culture with everyone. We don’t just want to tell you our story, we want to feed it to you.
Rachel Jagareski
