A few weeks ago James Beard Award winner John Besh (photo above) was in town, making two appearances and enjoying the enthusiastic reception for his newest (and fourth) cookbook, Besh Big Easy.
Just before he arrived in the Bayou City we interviewed Besh by phone and asked him about his remaining ambitions. After all, the Louisiana native has already accomplished quite a lot. He has started philanthropic foundations, won James Beard awards, opened eight restaurants and published four cookbooks. His next goal? To support the dreams of others who have supported his own chef career. Besh is dedicated to the promotion and restoration of New Orleans’ restaurants post-Hurricane Katrina. He wants to leave New Orleans, he says, in better shape than he found it many years ago.
Prior to our conversation we had asked our SideDish readers and followers on Twitter and Facebook to send in any questions they had for Besh, and some of them were fabulous – holiday themes and cooking with children were both topics suggested by our readers. Is your question below?
we give cookbooks as Christmas gifts every year. what are the differences between this new book, Besh Big Easy: 101 Home Cooked New Orleans Recipes and your second most-recent book, My Family Table?
Besh Big Easy is a look at my family’s Gulf Coast traditions and is more of an homage to the Creole recipes of my childhood. My Family Table is a great book to introduce the simplicity of cooking some of my favorite recipes. It is great for breaking things down and learning how to get started in the kitchen.
What is your earliest culinary memory?
The first time I smelled speckled trout sauteed with almonds – trout almondine. I will never forget that aroma.
You have four sons. How do you get young children interested in cooking and helping in the kitchen?
In my house, we make the kitchen a fun place. I allow them to join me in the small things such as cooking eggs, measuring ingredients and peeling garlic. I hate measuring things out, but that is great for kids to learn, and they like it. Kids make great mini prep cooks.
What are some of the dishes your sons grew up making?
Chocolate chip cookies is a great first recipe for kids to learn. We also practiced a lot with making gumbo and jambalaya. There are a lot of different things they get to do when making gumbo and jambalaya, and cookies is a good way to introduce them to baking and they can try their hands at chemistry. You’ve got to bring kids to the table.
What are some of your family’s holiday food traditions?
What I love about the holidays is everyone comes to my house, and I get to host and entertain. We have anywhere from 30 to 60 people at Thanksgiving, and at Christmas holiday parties and New Year’s Eve we can have up to 100 guests. The holidays are great because you can make those dishes that you don’t eat all the time that you really look forward to eating just at that time of the year. The menus don’t change a lot, which is comforting, and it is a chance to get back to traditions. Some of the things we make are cornbread, andouille and rice dressing, shrimp and crab-stuffed bell peppers. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when we’ve been eating a lot, we’ll have parties where there isn’t a lot of heavy food served. I love just having appetizers, something light and fun right after days of eating. Maybe we’ll serve something like oysters on the half shell and have drinks. Easy and light and not as indulgent.
What dish do YOU bring to a holiday potluck?
I like to bring one-pot dishes. For instance, I’d bring a pot of turtle soup to a Christmas potluck. Or I’ll just make and bring pate and some bread and a bottle of wine.
Do you have any advice for a novice cooking the holiday meal?
Yes – make a list of everything. Everything you want to serve (both the drinks and the food) and make a list of all the ingredients you’ll need for the recipes. Absolutely write down the menus. Build your plan from there. Whatever you can do and make one to two days before the event, be sure to do that. Do anything complicated before the guests arrive. Cold appetizers and starters are your friend. Don’t forget you can keep it really easy and just pull out and shuck oysters in your kitchen and that isn’t a lot of prep. People love to fill up on those social, easy starters. If your guests see you struggling to do something complicated or finish something, you won’t enjoy that.
It’s a cliche question, but one of our favorites: If you could dine with anyone in the world, who would it be and what would you eat?
To be honest I’ve had some amazing meals with remarkable people, but I would love to have a meal with Pope Francis. I’d like to cook with him. I’d make him something truly Creole, from Besh Big Easy.