Emeril's Delmonico: A Restaurant with a Past

by Emeril Lagasse, Kerri McCaffety (Photographer)

Overview

For more than 100 years, Delmonico has embodied the spirit of New Orleans. First opened in 1895, Delmonico Restaurant and Bar in New Orleans reopened its doors a century later to tremendous acclaim as Emeril's Delmonico. In his latest cookbook, America's favorite celebrity chef presents a collection of recipes that are adapted and simplified for home cooks, featuring a combination of Creole classics and Emeril's kicked-up creations.

Emeril's Delmonico is full of recipes for hearty, innovative food steeped in New Orleans style. Illustrated with both contemporary full-color and vintage black-and-white photographs, Emeril's Delmonico paints a lively, evocative portrait of Emeril's classic cuisine and the rich culinary history of New Orleans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062007735
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/01/2011
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	575,566
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Emeril Lagasse is a chef, restaurateur, and the author of eighteen bestselling cookbooks, including the recent Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches and Sizzling Skillets and Other One Pot Wonders. He is the proprietor of thirteen award-winning restaurants across the country and is the host of The Originals with Emeril and Emeril's Florida, both airing on the Cooking Channel. He has been the food correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America for fourteen years. In 2002, Emeril established the Emeril Lagasse Foundation to support children's educational programs that inspire and mentor young people through the culinary arts and promote nutrition and healthy eating.

Hometown:

New Orleans, Louisiana

Date of Birth:

October 15, 1959

Place of Birth:

Fall River, Massachusetts

Education:

Culinary degree, Johnson & Wales University

Website:

http://www.emerils.com

Read an Excerpt

Emeril's Delmonico

A Restaurant with a Past

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By Emeril Lagasse

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2005 Emeril Lagasse
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0060740469

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Fried Soft-Shell Crabs Amandine

Makes 4 Servings

The blue crabs native to the Gulf South and Atlantic coastline shed their hard shells (or exoskeletons) many times as they grow. Before molting, the crabs form a soft new shell under the old one, which hardens within twelve hours. The crabs caught in this soft-shell state are a popular delicacy in south Louisiana. When the LaFranca family operated the restaurant, the menu often offered soft-shell crabs broiled, fried, or stuffed, and served with lemon butter sauce or Creole meuniere sauce. The classic French beurre meuniere sauce is made by browning butter to a light hazelnut color and then adding lemon juice and parsley. Many New Orleans restaurants have their own particular version. Some meuniere sauces are made by combining a rich brown stock with butter, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and minced parsley. The LaFranca version was simple--their regular lemon butter sauce was cooked just a bit longer to give it a richer color and deeper flavor.

Ingredients:

4 soft-shell crabs, about 4 ounces each
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 cup cracker meal Vegetable oil, for frying
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup blanched sliced almonds
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 ½ tablespoons Worcestershire
Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Using kitchen shears, cut each crab across the face to remove the eye sockets and the lower mouth. Carefully lift up the apron and remove the gills. Gently rinse under cold running water, pat dry, and set aside.
2. Combine the flour with the salt and cayenne in a shallow bowl. Whisk together the buttermilk and eggs in another shallow bowl. Put the cracker meal in a third bowl.
3. Heat enough oil to come H inch up the sides of a large cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking, about 350°F.
4. Dredge the crabs in the seasoned flour, and then dip in the buttermilk mixture, allowing any excess to drip off. Dredge the crabs in the cracker meal, making sure that the legs are well breaded.
5. In 2 batches, add the crabs to the pan, top side down, and cook until golden brown and just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.
6. Pour the fat from the pan and wipe clean with paper towels. Return the pan to medium heat and add the butter. When the butter begins to foam, add the almonds and cook, stirring, until fragrant and beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Remove the almonds with a slotted spoon, reduce the heat to low, and cook the butter until it begins to brown and smell nutty, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice, Worcestershire, and salt and stir to
7. combine. Return the pan to low heat and cook until the butter is browned, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, add the almonds, and swirl to coat with the sauce.
8. To serve, place 1 crab in the center of each of 4 large plates. Spoon the sauce over the crabs and serve immediately.

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Absinthe Suissesse

Makes 1 Cocktail

The Swiss Absinthe is a reference to one of the three categories of absinthe made in the 1800s. The name refers not to the manufacturing locale but to the highest grade of absinthe made.

In this cocktail, the anise-flavored liqueur is combined with cold half-and-half, but you can certainly use chilled milk or heavy cream. Orgeat syrup is made with almonds, sugar, and rose water or orange-flower water. It's available at most wine and liquor stores, and also can be found through online retailers.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces Pernod or Herbsaint
3/4 ounce orgeat syrup
1 large egg white
4 ounces cold half-and-half
Crushed ice

Instructions:

Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled martini glass or white wine goblet and serve.

Continues...

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Excerpted from Emeril's Delmonico by Emeril Lagasse Copyright © 2005 by Emeril Lagasse. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

The name "Delmonico's" resonates with restaurant history. The New York original began as a modest café and pastry shop in 1823, later evolving into the favored dining spot of the city's elite. The New Orleans version opened in 1895 and rapidly became a standard setter for Creole dining elegance and sophistication. In 1997, the restaurant closed its doors, but only long enough to be restyled and refitted by its new owner, Emeril Lagasse. In this truly mouthwatering book, the beloved TV chef offers Delmonico restaurant recipes adapted and simplified for home cooks. The easy-to-fix Big Easy fixings include barbecue shrimp, grilled fish, roast duck, pastas, and showstopping desserts.

bn.com

Delmonico, in New Orleans' lower French Quarter, is a vital part of the city's gustatory past: for 100 years, devoted regulars have been served lovingly prepared Creole food and cocktails. In 1997, New Orleans native and Food Network star Lagasse bought and remodeled the place, offering a menu drawing from the restaurant's history and using the chef's signature innovative methods to, well, kick things up. Absinthe is prominent in the cocktails section, and oysters play a leading role in the "Down by the River" chapter. Soups, salads, entrees and brunch fare vary from simple (Creamy Carrot & Apple Soup) to complex (Hickory Roasted Duck with White Cheddar Grits, Collard Greens, and Dried Cherry Cane Syrup Reduction); desserts show similar range, from crepes and puddings to Delmonico Fluff (a chocolate sundae). Purists will be delighted to find recipes for hamburger buns and mayonnaise; Lagasse also includes directions on stove-top duck smoking and even hard-boiling an egg. He pays tribute to the restaurant's former owners and staff in the book's dedication as well as in its color photos of old menus and other mementos. This is a nice melding of ideas and food present and past, classic and new. (On sale Oct. 4) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

In 1997, Delmonico's, the venerable New Orleans institution, briefly closed its doors after more than 100 years. It reopened later that year as Emeril's Delmonico, another entry in the celebrity chef's growing restaurant empire (Emeril's Delmonico Steakhouse opened in Las Vegas in 2004). Although there are certainly contemporary dishes on the menu, many of the recipes included here are New Orleans classics and other traditional favorites: Shrimp Remoulade, Oysters Rockefeller, and Frog's Legs Bordelaise, for example, are in the appetizer chapter. Vintage black-and-white photographs show the restaurant in its (original) heyday, and color photographs illustrate many of the recipes. Sure to be popular, this is recommended for most collections. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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