New Orleans

Mardi Gras may have come and gone, but thanks to advocates like chef John Besh, New Orleans cuisine will always be in style. The Louisiana-based culinary personality — who runs nine restaurants, has authored three cookbooks, runs a charitable foundation, and hosts a forthcoming show on PBS — has been one of Crescent City's biggest ambassadors. We caught up with the chef poolside in South Beach, where we discussed everything from life lessons to ingredient obsessions.

POPSUGAR: What's keeping you busy right now?
John Besh: I have a new series coming out this Spring on American Public Broadcasting, which is called John Besh's Family Table, filmed in my house. It's strictly the foods that my wife and I feed our four boys, and the way that we create menus around that idea of cooking and eating as a family. My third cookbook will be released in the Fall; it's called Cooking From the Heart. It's about anecdotes and delicious recipes from my apprenticeships in both Germany and France, a tribute to stepping back good, gutsy food like blanquette de veau, that style of cooking. I wanted to focus on the idea of eating, dining, and learning more about yourself in the process — life lessons about food.

PS: Sounds like John Besh's Family Table is inspired by your book My Family Table. Tell us more about it.
JB: I created a book because my wife challenged me to the fact that I was running all over, sourcing ingredients for all of our wonderful paying customers. But at home, I kind of left that up to my wife. [She said], "If you cared half as much about what we're eating as [you do] your customers, then we would be a lot better off." That had me really think about why is it that I do what I do. It can't be just to make a living; I need to spread this kind of passion, and it starts with family. So I started operating the kitchen at home like I would operate a professional kitchen. Let's say I'm making this great centerpiece with pork shoulder and black-eyed peas; I'll take that shoulder and create anything from a green chili to Vietnamese noodle bowls to Cuban sandwiches.

PS: Why public broadcasting?

Find out his answer when you keep reading.

If you're hosting a Mardi Gras brunch, there's only one drink to serve, and no, it's not a bloody Mary, it's a Ramos gin fizz. However, if your soirée is after dark, you've got to make a huge round of hurricanes! This classic recipe comes from Dale DeGroff and features two kinds of rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, and passion fruit nectar. To batch it, multiply the ingredient amounts by the number of people who will attend your party. For those who don't have time to make a libation from scratch, I recommend ordering hurricane mixer from Pat O'Brien's; it's the bar in New Orleans that made the hurricane famous.

To see my favorite recipe, keep reading.

New Orleans cuisine: boy, it may have a richly-colored heritage, but unless you're from around there, it sure can be confusing. Not only is it hard to keep track of which dishes are Cajun and which ones are Creole, but those rice dishes can be pretty tough to keep straight! So gumbo, jambalaya, étouffée: what's the difference, anyway?

Think of jambalaya as a distant relative of paella. It's got protein and vegetables (sometimes tomatoes, sometimes not), with rice and stock later simmered together or combined before serving. In contrast, gumbo — a mix of vegetables and meat or shellfish with thickened stock — is thinner and served as a soup alongside rice that's cooked separately.

Different from gumbo (which is considered a soup), étouffée's a main course, made of one type of shellfish (crawfish or shrimp, for instance) that's been smothered in a thick sauce and sometimes served ladled over rice. Don't confuse any of these, of course, with the city's historic Monday favorite: red beans and rice. Got all that?

As we head into the weekend, it's time to turn our attention to the very important topic of brunch cocktails. Though a bloody mary or mimosa is the obvious choice, I find that a Ramos gin fizz functions as an excellent morning drink.

If you're a fan of fizzes, you'll find plenty of the gin-infused variety. This classic version, invented by New Orleans barkeep Harry Ramos in the late 1800s, uses orange flower water as a French twist. Though it sounds heavy, it's surprisingly refreshing and frothy. To get the recipe, read more