Читать книгу Reel Masters - Susan Schadt - Страница 9

BEING REARED IN SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA, with its vibrant shallow salt-marsh estuaries that breed life for the entire Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, informed my palate at a very young age. I vividly remember cane-pole fishing for bull croaker along these very bays and bayous I fish today with my children. Those experiences of long ago instilled a love and respect for our marsh and the foodways it gives birth to.

JOHN BESH

NEW ORLEANS, LA

Besh’s restaurants include: August, a Gayot Top 40 Restaurant, Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Restaurant, and two time James Beard Award, Outstanding Restaurant nominee, Besh Steak, Lüke, Lüke San Antonio, La Provence, Domenica, Pizza Domenica, Borgne, Johnny Sánchez New Orleans and Baltimore, Shaya, and Willa Jean. Eunice, in Houston, is scheduled to open late 2017. Food & Wine’s Top 10 Best New Chefs in America and the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2006. Four cookbooks: My New Orleans (2009), My Family Table (2011), Cooking from the Heart (2013), and Besh Big Easy (2015, all Andrews McMeel Publishing). Hosted two national public television shows based on his books.

I WAS BLESSED with an avid outdoorsman as a father, and I found my identity as a boy by losing myself deep in the briny hot marsh in the spring and summer. As children we tried it all. We were fly fishing for reds with popping bugs, casting double sparkle beetles for specks, trawling with our 16-foot net for brown shrimp, thrashing scoop nets in the grassy shallows for soft shells, crabbing with chicken necks and hoop nets, running trot lines, gigging for flounder, casting dead shrimp at crab trap floats hoping for a blackfish to bite, and frogging with flashlights in the starlit night.

The marsh has a sound of its own, from the humming of bugs’ wings to the faint drumming of the diesel oyster luggers and shrimp boats, the splashing of lake runners and reds feeding on the brackish surface while nutria call out. I found them all captivating and peaceful.

We ate what the marsh gave us, cooked based on what our delicious culture passed on. When I came home with a meaty redfish, it would be stewed down with onions, garlic, celery, Creole tomatoes, crabmeat, and shrimp into a luscious court bouillon and served over rice. If I came home with specked trout, the flaky white filets would be dredged into flour and sautéed with brown butter, lemon juice, and parsley for a heck of a trout meuniere or almandine, if mom had some almonds to add to the pan. The croakers we’d pan-fry whole and pick its sweet flesh from the bone.

The combination of our rich ecology and deep cultural traditions has allowed me effortlessly to represent our region as a chef and steward of these great traditions. I consider it an honor to be in a position today to use our many resources to help sustain these crucial but fragile wetlands through a variety of programs.

One could easily say that I have not evolved much since those early days of my idyllic youth. I am just as comfortable today lost in the Louisiana marsh with those same fellows I once fished with as a child as I am in one of our kitchens. I am blessed to be living on the same bayou that I started on, surrounded by the same fellows that I’ve hunted and fished with in these very marshes my entire life. I now have the honor of passing this beautiful tradition along to my sons, allowing them to grow in their affection and understanding of this bountiful and complex landscape as I did many decades ago.

Today I have the opportunity to take my youngest son Andrew, or Drew Drew, on a fishing trip with my lifelong friends: Jeff Rogers, Drew Mire, my business partner, Patrick Berrigan, my brother–in-law, and his son, Big Pat. We are hunting for red drum (or reds) deep into the shallow ponds of the Delacroix marsh. Fishing from Jeff’s tower boat, designed with an extremely shallow draft and an 8-foot tower, allows us to spot the reds and cast artificial lures out in front of the fish and reel the bait just over them, creating a scenario that the fish often finds too tempting to resist.

Jeff, acting as our guide and teacher, is targeting redfish with certain genetic traits that distinguish these redfish from those most often found off-shore. These are only found in the shallow clear waters of Delacroix, where they develop a deep bronze color and are shorter, stockier, and have more girth than the reds in other areas.

Targeting fish is a bit more challenging but much more exciting. The water clarity is crucial when spotting the fish, so it’s best to target fish on a sunny day with falling high tide.

“The reds race to the buoyant lure, break the surface with a sequence of mighty splashes. Hooking our first fish is dramatic, especially as our lighter tackle makes for a heck of a fight, which I gladly pass on to Drew Drew.”

Wearing polarized sunglasses and dark-brimmed caps, we can see fish in the shallow waters finning their way through the grass beds, feeding on baitfish, small crabs, and brown shrimp. Drew Drew and I cast more often than not right on top of our targeted fish, spooking them and forcing us to find more targets. Eventually we get the hang of leading the fish by a couple of yards with our casts as Jeff or Drew poles the boat in the foot-deep water.

The reds race to the buoyant lure, break the surface with a sequence of mighty splashes. Hooking our first fish is dramatic, especially as our lighter tackle makes for a heck of a fight, which I gladly pass on to Drew Drew.

His face lights up with excitement and a sweet impish grin as we continue to pass him the rods to reel in the ferociously fighting reds. I jump to net them as he works them close to the boat. It’s safe to say every man on the boat reverted back to the 11-year-old version of himself, giggling, laughing, and bragging about who has landed the biggest one or who could cook the best fish.

Realizing that Drew Drew will inherit the very love of the marsh from my friends and me that I took from my dear father and his friends fills my soul with happiness. Through that love of our rich ecosystem, the truest sense of stewardship evolves. Knowing that our children have that same attachment brings me deep pride as I watch the next generation of conservationists being formed through an exceptional morning of fishing in the salt marsh.

“Realizing that Drew Drew will inherit the very love of the marsh from my friends and me that I took from my dear father and his friends fills my soul with happiness.”

“One could easily say that I have not evolved much since those early days of my idyllic youth. I am just as comfortable today lost in the Louisiana marsh with those same fellows I once fished with as a child as I am in one of our kitchens.”

“The marsh has a sound of its own, from the humming of bugs’ wings to the faint drumming of the diesel oyster luggers and shrimp boats, the splashing of lake runners and reds feeding and on the brackish surface while nutria call out. I found them all captivating and peaceful.”

CREOLE SEAFOOD JAMBALAYA

SERVES 6

In Cajun country, they wouldn’t think of using tomato in their Jambalaya. In New Orleans, we do like our tomato, but not too much. We don’t want it looking like Spanish Rice. What’s really important is to not overcook the shrimp. You want them gorgeous and plump. I add them at the very end and try not to stir the pot too often to check on them.

• ½ POUND ANDOUILLE OR OTHER SMOKED SAUSAGE, CHOPPED

• 1 POUND FRESH PORK SAUSAGE, REMOVED FROM THE CASINGS

• ½ CUP BACON FAT OR CANOLA OIL

• 1 LARGE ONION, CHOPPED

• 1 BELL PEPPER, SEEDED AND CHOPPED

• 1 STALK CELERY, WITH LEAVES, CHOPPED

• 3 GARLIC CLOVES, MINCED

• 2 CUPS WHITE RICE

• 1 TEASPOON DRIED THYME

• 2 BAY LEAVES

• 1 TEASPOON CAYENNE PEPPER

• 1 CUP CRUSHED TOMATOES

• 4 CUPS CHICKEN STOCK

• 1 ½ POUNDS MEDIUM WILD AMERICAN SHRIMP, PEELED AND DEVEINED