NARRATOR: Major funding for "Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey" was provided by the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation Incorporated.

Additional support by Zatarain's, bringing the flavors of New Orleans home for over 125 years.

Zatarain's born and raised in New Orleans.

From the spice of jambalaya to the flavors of a classic crab boil, it's a taste of New Orleans made at home.

And by Camellia Beans, rooted in New Orleans since 1923.

A family business with a devotion to beans spanning four generations.

Camellia Beans, a taste of home.

DOOK: This time on "A Chef's Journey," we're in the Garden District at a New Orleans destination that debuted in 1893.

At Commander's Palace, we'll join Chef Meg Bickford for a taste of her new modern Creole menu.

Then we'll meet up with co-proprietor Ti Martin, daughter of trailblazing restaurateur Ella Brennan.

We've got a lot of ground to cover at this legendary establishment, so let's head inside.

♪ (theme music playing) ♪ DOOK: So we're in the kitchen with Chef Meg Bickford.

MEG: Welcome.

DOOK: Thanks for having me.

MEG: Yeah, absolutely, thanks for coming.

DOOK: Tell me what we have going on here, chef.

MEG: Well, today we're going to sear some beautiful red fish, and we're really going to make a dish that is expressing our fabulous summer season here in Louisiana, right?

DOOK: Love it.

MEG: We've got mirliton and zucchini with a little cardamom curry, some heirloom tomatoes, peaches, and padron peppers.

DOOK: We're celebrating summer here in the kitchen.

And as we celebrate, I have to dive into what was your first influences getting in the kitchen?

MEG: Everything we did at anybody's house in my family... Like that?

DOOK: I love it.

(laughing).

MEG: ...everything we did revolved around food.

I actually went to culinary school at John Folse... DOOK: Okay.

MEG: ...in Thibodaux, which was a fabulous experience, and started very young here at Commander's Palace, and I love it.

My dad's from New Orleans, my mom's from Cut Off, Louisiana.

Food was such a big part of life for us at home, and so working in a restaurant kitchen where both of those, you know, Cajun and Creole is expressed and really celebrated just really felt like home for me.

DOOK: Yeah, and now you have your modern twist that you're putting on things.

MEG: Absolutely.

There has been a lot that has happened in this kitchen.

DOOK: I see the tomatoes are going in, bringing that beautiful color to this dish.

Look at this.

MEG: So here we've got a summer squash vichyssoise.

We actually use the whey from our Creole cream cheese... DOOK: Oh, wow.

MEG: ...to puree the sauce so it's nice and tangy and bright.

DOOK: Yeah.

MEG: Put some of our mirliton and zucchini down, and tomatoes.

We threw in some raw peaches for a little freshness.

DOOK: I love this.

This dish speaks freshness, speaks summer.

Look at the bronze on this red fish, y'all.

MEG: Peach jalapeno glaze.

DOOK: Ooh.

MEG: That's it, that looks like summer, right?

DOOK: It looks like summer.

It smells like summer.

You talk about classic.

You talk about just being on a whole another level.

MEG: One other thing for you.

DOOK: Okay.

MEG: I've got a jumbo lump crab Ramos Gin Fizz for you.

DOOK: Oh.

MEG: We're going to top it with a little caviar.

We have such a collaborative group here.

And so we really exploit the food of New Orleans, but that is always changing, right?

It's been an exciting time and, and the menus get really creative, and we get to have a lot of fun with that.

DOOK: Yeah, as my grandmother would say, she was always learning.

MEG: She's absolutely right.

If you're listening, then the story is there.

All right, we have a little Cajun caviar, jumbo lump crab meat, and a shaken Ramos Gin Fizz.

Cheers.

DOOK: Cheers, thank you, chef.

MEG: Isn't that good?

DOOK: You talk about a cocktail in the kitchen.

This is one for the books.

I know we're leaving here, getting a little more history with Ti Martin.

Thank you so much, chef, for allowing me in.

MEG: Absolutely, my pleasure.

Always great to have you.

We just left the kitchen of Chef Meg, and now we're sitting down with Ti Martin, co-proprietor of Commander's Palace.

Ti, thanks for having me.

TI: It's good to see you, darling.

DOOK: I know it, and look, when I always come see you, you always welcome me with a beautiful cocktail, so I know I'm in for a treat here.

TI: You remember the little book we did, "In the Land of Cocktails," this is in there.

DOOK: Okay.

TI: And we invented some, and this one's called the Tequila Mockingbird Number Two.

I happen to know that you travel a lot these days.

DOOK: Okay.

TI: So this is my come home from a trip, and you don't have anything at the house drink.

All you need is tequila.

You always have tequila, right?

DOOK: I got tequila.

TI: You never know when you might make a margarita.

DOOK: Always.

TI: And you always have that bottle of Limoncello you don't know what the heck to do with, right?

And it's very tall and in the way.

So you have some Limoncello, and then you have a gnarly lemon if you have nothing else in your house.

DOOK: Got you.

TI: That's all you need, and some bitters.

DOOK: Wow.

TI: I think maybe you've probably had one of these... DOOK: Cheers.

TI: ...over time with me before, but tell me what you think.

DOOK: Oh, that's awesome.

TI: Goes down well, doesn't it?

DOOK: That is well-balanced.

TI: Yeah.

DOOK: I have to dive into the history of your family, Commander's.

That just speaks of cuisine and New Orleans.

Share the stories of growing up in a family business, and, and how was that?

TI: Kind of like your family.

They're from the Irish Channel, and they went and started a bar down on Bourbon Street, my Uncle Owen.

And then my mom went there at a very young age at the Absinthe House.

Then they bought the lease at the place across the street, the Vieux Carre Restaurant, which was there till recently.

It was a great restaurant, and that was Brennan's.

And so they got going, and they bought Commander's in 1969, and came up here in around '73, '74.

And we like to say it had fallen on hard times.

DOOK: Aye.

TI: The previous proprietors had gotten older.

There was German chefs here and serving like spaetzle or something.

I don't know.

It didn't make any sense for Commanders.

So Mom and Dick and Dottie and John and Adelaide, they started shaking it up.

They found Paul Prudhomme, who was a Cajun, and as you know, we did not eat Cajun food in New Orleans.

There was one Cajun restaurant.

So we were Creole, but we like to say that Cajun and Creole crashed in the kitchen, you were just in here in New Orleans.

DOOK: It was a perfect crash.

TI: Yeah, good things been happening ever since.

DOOK: That's it.

TI: But you know, our family connection has just grown and grown and grown over the years.

And my mother talked so much about your grandmother, and I went to your grandmother when we had this crazy idea to start a culinary school, New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute.

DOOK: Mm-hmm.

TI: And she was with us from the beginning, as was your father, as have you been with us.

DOOK: Yeah.

TI: And you're on our board now.

Seeing, your grandmother and my mother together, that was fun.

DOOK: They were so tough and passionate about what... TI: Right.

DOOK: ...they wanted people to feel when they came in their restaurants.

TI: Right, yeah.

DOOK: And what they wanted the community to experience here in New Orleans.

TI: Look, let's not mess it up.

DOOK: No.

TI: Let's keep this next generation.

Let's focus on them, the family, and the other ones in the business, all right?

DOOK: You're celebrating 134 years and plus.

TI: Yeah.

DOOK: We're getting ready to celebrate 85 years and plus, and we gotta keep this thing going strong.

Welcome to my kitchen, where inspiration and creation come together in a celebration of culture.

Today, we're talking New Orleans classics, trout almondine, and a parsnips puree.

When you go into the grocery store, you're looking for this.

This is a parsnip.

It's earthy, it's sweet, it's in that carrot family.

You wanna peel it just like you would normally do a carrot.

What I have in this pot is a little water simmering.

I have my parsnips cut into a cube about an inch thick, and we're just gonna add them right into this water.

And as you know, the reason why we're starting with this dish is all about making sure we're pairing the cooking times together, right?

The trout is only gonna take five minutes to cook.

We gotta toast those almonds.

This is gonna be the longest process here.

To that, I'm gonna add cream.

I'll save the rest as we're working to start to whip that up, right?

We're looking for that puree, so just about half of that cream it's gone in.

We'll add in a little salt, a little bit of white pepper, and we're using that white pepper, of course, you can see we don't want those pepper flakes coming through.

So white pepper's gonna give you a little bit of that heat, but it's gonna disguise those pepper flakes.

Then I'll add in a little garlic to this dish.

And that's it.

What you wanna be mindful of, as that reduces, we'll just make sure we have enough liquid in there each time.

Not over the top, right?

Just enough to cover so it can cook and become tender.

So we have our pan on a medium heat.

We'll start to add the butter.

And you're looking to just get a nice browning of that butter first before you add those almonds.

So as that butter's coming down and getting hot, you don't want it to brown all the way just yet, 'cause you have to allow these almonds to toast a little bit, right?

You don't wanna over-brown that butter, and before you know it, your almonds are not all the way toasted as you want it.

And you can start to see the browning happening on some of these that's been at the bottom, and you're just moving it around.

So now you can start to see some of that color coming through on some of these almonds.

I want you to notice this one, right?

This is what you're looking for, that toast color that's coming through.

We'll take this out the skillet and then save it.

You're coming right here.

And if you smell this, look at that brown, nutty juice that's right there.

That's just beautiful.

We're gonna keep that.

That's our oil that's flavored.

You wanna make sure you get all of the almonds out because you don't want them to burn.

What I like to do is come right across and just get a paper towel and clean this pot.

So now we have to work our trout.

With trout almondine, you wanna season the flour.

We're gonna bring in a little salt, a little pepper, a little garlic, a little bit of paprika just for color.

And we start working that guy in.

Certainly, these trout get a little season as well.

We have a little salt and just a little black pepper.

To this pot, I wanna add just a little vegetable oil.

Not too much, 'cause the butter is really gonna create the magic.

Then we come, and we just coat these beautiful pieces of trout, right?

Lightly dust.

You're not looking for something that's too much flour.

That's why we didn't go in a egg wash, 'cause I want it just to be lightly coated.

Just enough to give it a little texture.

Before we add that butter, I'll test to make sure that oil is hot.

You see that high sizzle that's coming up, I know we're right where we need it to be.

And then this is right and ready for our beautiful fillets of trout.

Going right in there.

Cook this on each side for two and a half minutes.

Right as it starts to come up, you know you have that color that you're looking for.

And then now we're right where we coming to turn, right?

And that's what we looking for.

Just a little brown, nothing too over the top, because that nuttiness, I say again, is coming from here.

As you start to see that browning on each side, how to protect that, 'cause you wanna make this nutty brown butter sauce, is I add a lemon right on each side.

And I don't press down, just let it work with it.

Here we'll start to work our parsnips.

We're coming over to our food processor.

And what we're going to do is just add this right into here.

So we'll add this back here, and then I'll add just a little bit of our liquid, not all of it, just a little bit.

Give it a little something to work with.

On here, we're going to give it one little pulse.

(whirring sound).

And to that, I'm going to add in some cream.

A little more white pepper.

And we're going to let that cream and that pepper work with the sweetness of that parsnip, and we're going to come right back to another pulse.

(whirring sound).

That's what we're looking for, a little taste.

Oh, that's good.

I want to give it just a little bit hit of, of salt.

You taste that sweetness coming out from that parsnips.

Then we'll add one little cube of butter, just to give it a nice little shine, and we're going to pulse that in and finish it up.

(whirring sound).

That's beautiful.

And we'll pick this fish right on up.

And just look how beautiful that is.

Let that rest.

And of course, we have to bring back our almonds to this fold.

We have our lemons right here.

If you want just a little bit of hint of lemon juice that you have to add right on in there.

(sizzling).

Add a little bit more of that butter just to brown, shine up that sauce.

And then you can start to smell that nuttiness.

And we bring these toasted almonds right back in.

Just look at that.

Look how rich that sauce is.

That's the creaminess of that butter.

That's what's going to coat this beautiful dish here.

That's right where we want it to be.

We'll turn this off.

We'll bring our parsnips over.

The last thing I want to add to it is just some beautiful chives, just for that color, and you can start to see me coming right here on this plate.

I'm coming right in the middle, because I'm going to just make a bed for that trout.

We'll add this trout, and we're going to come right on in here.

Now we're going to add those lemons that we have working.

Put that right there for some color.

Then we come into our brown butter sauce, the toastiness of that almondine.

The smell just, oh, man.

This highlights a dish, a New Orleans classic.

You understand why these will never go out of style.

That toastiness, that trout, adding a little parsnips puree, treating our local bounty with love.

Another New Orleans classic, the bread pudding.

You're thinking Commander's bread pudding souffle, you're thinking the Bananas Foster.

Here, we're going to marry both of them, right?

So we have some cubed French bread here, but we'll start with the eggs.

I'll go ahead on.

And to this dish, you want to use four eggs per half a loaf.

I'm cracking in four eggs right into my bowl.

And this dish is really simple, you know?

Bread pudding is a dish that, in New Orleans, everybody grew up with.

When you're talking about just never wasting, this is stale French bread, right?

It's got a little crunch, a little texture to it.

You don't throw that away.

You use that in your bread pudding.

You use that for bread crumbs.

You always find ways to use leftover product.

To this egg, we're going to start to add some sugar into it, and I like to just whisk, and I'm going to show you the texture that you're looking for.

Right here, that's a little too soupy, so you want to add in some more sugar.

And you see that thickness that we have here is not beating around.

That's when you know you're right where you want it to be.

To that, I'll add a dash of cinnamon.

And then I'll start to incorporate our milk into this dish.

And you can smell that cinnamon.

You can smell that sugar just starting to work.

That's when you know you have the right amount of cinnamon, the right amount of sweetness.

To this, we'll add in our cubes of French bread.

And you want to work that in.

Some people like a mash.

Some people like to keep the cubes together.

I like a mixture of both.

I want that bread to soak it up, but I also want you to get a little bit of texture.

When you come out that oven and you see that peak of that bread that's just sopped up with that egg custard, I mean, you know you have a bread pudding that's just speaking to you.

You have to let this soak.

I want that to soak for five minutes, to just really get all into that bread that we have here.

While that's soaking, we're going to start to peel these bananas.

And you're looking just for a nice little round, right?

You want to layer this ramekin.

Now, we have a little butter that we washed around in this ramekin.

That way, it doesn't stick.

If you want to present it out, you can.

If you want to leave it in, it's up to you.

And we layer that bottom.

Then we'll have our mixture, come over here.

You want to start to mix in that bread with that mixture.

Lightly pressing it, right?

You want to break some down, mash some in, but you also want to keep some of those cubes intact.

You smell that sweetness, that cinnamon coming through.

That's when you know the, the mixture's there.

Here's right where I want it to be.

I mashed a little bit in, so we'll take this ladle, and we're going to spoon just a little right on top.

And then halfway, then we'll come back, and we'll add another layer of our bananas.

And then we'll spoon right on top.

Now, you don't want to go too high over that ramekin.

As you cook bread pudding, it is going to rise.

You want to make sure you have a tray at the bottom.

As this souffles, if it runs over, you're protecting your oven.

We're going to go into our oven.

I have it preheating at 350.

For 30 minutes, this is going into that oven.

And while that's in the oven, we're going to make this rum sauce.

So I'll start to melt some butter.

A little brown sugar for that caramelization to start to happen.

And I'm using dark brown sugar.

When you think of that Bananas Foster, you think of that caramelization.

And if you need a little help, I have a little trick.

You can add just a little cornstarch.

That's going to help the consistency of what we're making here, and that'll speed it up.

You fold that in, and automatically, you can start to see that work.

Add in just a tad bit of our vanilla, not too much.

Ooh, that hits you.

Soon as you hit it, that smell just comes up to you.

And this is the part at home where you want to be careful, right?

We have a little bit of rum.

We're making a rum sauce.

Of course, lower that heat a little bit.

As you add alcohol and fire, it has a tendency it could flame back up on you.

So you just want to come right on in and finish that in, just like so.

Be careful, though.

And what you want to do is allow that to cook out, right?

So this is something that you really have to be careful when you're at home, because that alcohol will cook out and you'll have fire.

So do not let the kids come in the kitchen and play while you're doing this rum sauce.

I mean, look at that, the beautiful richness of the color.

We'll set this on the side.

We're done.

Now we got to go and check our beautiful bread pudding and see if we're ready to roll.

Oh, man.

And this is what you're looking for.

Look how beautiful that is, and we're going to pick that right on up.

Put that right here.

Careful, that's hot.

The last thing to this dish is you just want to drizzle that right with that beautiful caramel rum sauce.

Look at that.

This is where you just dive right on in.

Spoon and all, it'll start to knock it down, but once that hits the table and you drizzle that in, that's when you know you're honoring New Orleans classics, and people will taste every bit of it.

The perfect way to end a classic meal in New Orleans is with a classic cocktail, and we're talking a classic Daiquiri.

Then I'll add the sugar and just mixing that in.

I'll have my water.

You reduce this by half, and you just let that work, set it on the side, and cool.

Now, while that's working, we already have some chilled down here.

This is the consistency that you're looking for.

Classic Daiquiri, you can't get any simpler than this, but you can't get any better than this.

We have lime juice.

We have rum.

You want a light, clear rum.

What we're going to do, though, is we're going to add a twist.

That red plum jelly, we're going to use this in this drink.

So here, we'll start off with a half-ounce of simple syrup.

And I want to show you, we're starting with a mixer full of ice.

That's what you're looking for.

So we have a half ounce of simple syrup going in.

We have an ounce and a half of lemon juice, freshly squeezed.

Go in an ounce, come back with a half, and then we're going with two ounces of our rum.

One and two.

To that, I'm going to add a tablespoon of that red plum jelly.

(shaking).

And then you want to be careful not to get any ice coming out, just that color.

And then you're going right into there.

And look at that rich color coming out.

Bring that here.

We'll add a dehydrated lime to the top.

Let's have a toast.

Cheers to New Orleans classic cuisine and a city that I love.

And I'll see you next time on the next chapter of my journey.

NARRATOR: In his new cookbook, Chef Dook Chase explores the legendary dishes and unique food traditions of New Orleans.

This companion to "A Chef's Journey," with all the recipes from the series and more than 125 color photos, is available for $32.99 plus shipping.

To order, call 1-800-815-3153 or purchase online at wyes.org.

DOOK: It's going to be a ride.

Let's start it.

TI: All right.

DOOK: Well, thank you, as always, keeping the tradition going strong.

TI: But you have to drink.

It's really bad luck.

DOOK: Okay.

Well... TI: Okay.

DOOK: Okay.

We're going to toast again and drink.

TI: Okay, alright.

Sorry, I'm very superstitious.

DOOK: And, and the person who does it best does it.

Like macaroni, I'm not cooking macaroni.

My cousin Wayne is.

PRODUCER: Okay.

DOOK: So.

PRODUCER: Because my wife will be like, "Is this Wayne's macaroni?"

I'm like, "Well, that's kind of hard."

But okay.

(laughing).

PRODUCER: Acomaya, scene four, take two.

DOOK: It's on me.

(laughing).

I'm like, "Wait, what?"

ZOE: Delicious soft shell crab salad.

DOOK: And this was the dish to let you know the fifth generation was stepping into the kitchen.

ZOE: And moving the fourth on out.

DOOK: Bye-bye.

NARRATOR: For more information about "Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey," visit wyes.org.

Major funding for "Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey" was provided by the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation Incorporated.

Additional support by Zatarain's, bringing the flavors of New Orleans home.

Rooted in the city's rich culinary traditions, Zatarain's is born and raised in New Orleans.

From rice mixes to frozen meals, it's an authentic taste of New Orleans.

And by Camellia Beans.

You shouldn't rush a red bean.

Let it cook, then you can gather around with family and share in its distinct culture.

Camellia Beans, a taste of home.

♪ ♪