A FINE COGNAC

After an especially special six-course dinner at Emeril’s Delmonico in New Orleans complete with complementary wines, I strolled into the bar to stretch my legs and allow my meal to digest. I was thinking that a snifter of cognac might aid my digestion and perused the bottles lined up behind the bar. One, in a beautifully shaped bottle, caught my eye.

The bartender brought it over to me and explained that this Kelt Petra Cognac (a Grande Champagne Cognac) has an interesting story behind its aging.
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My friend, Stan Dry, a former editor at Food and Wine Magazine, shared some Louisiana food trivia with me. Some of his finds are quite interesting.

For instance:

Q: Rice is an integral part of Louisiana cooking, particularly in the southern half of the state where it is eaten daily. Gumbo and jambalaya are the two most famous Louisiana dishes that depend upon rice. When did rice become a staple of the south Louisiana diet?

A: Not until the early 20th century when rice became a commercial crop. Until that time, rice was a marginal crop and corn was the staple of the diet.
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The hamburger is celebrating it’s 100 birhtday this year. Although there is some question as to who exactly created it, there is no doubt that it’s an American favorite since over 11 billion are consumed annually.
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In reading a 1963 revision of James Beard’s HORS D’OEUVRE AND CANPAES first published in 1940, I found a list of terms used for hot hors d’oeuvre that I think you might find interesting.
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Today is National Baklava Day. Baklava, the purported ancestor of streudel was brought to Hungary by Turkish invaders in the 16th Century.
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You know that knobby, fleshy, fatty thing that sticks our from the rump of a turkey (or chicken) - the part from where the tail feathers hail? On a fried chicken it’s that super crunchy, extra greasy part that almost everybody loves although they may not know what it is or that it has a nickname and a legend.
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The famous coffee that climaxes Creole (and sometimes Acadian) cooking is usually made more pungent by the addition of chicory imported from Europe.
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Did you know that condensed milk is 151 years old? Its creation in 1853 gained popularity wherever milk was unavailable or undrinkable in the heat.
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Are you ever curious as to how some dishes got their names? For instance, did you know that Peach Melba was created in the late 1800s by the famous French chef Escoffier for Dame Nellie Melba, a popular Australian opera singer.
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The first time I heard of a bouillabaisse was from a delightful lady by the name of Carmen Bulliard Montegut, now deceased. She was the unofficial “keeper” of old traditional recipes that were held sacred by the people of St. Martinville, a small yet sophisticated town sometimes referred to as Le Petit Paris by the French royalist who migrated there during the French Revolution.
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