The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy

-Funding for "The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy" was provided by the... -At Dooky Chase's, the celebration of Mardi Gras is a cherished tradition that includes a toast to King Zulu as a parade passes in front of the restaurant on Fat Tuesday while friends and family gather on Orleans Avenue for a joyful street party.

This time, chefs Dook and Zoe Chase let the good times roll with two carnival food favorites served with a special cocktail from Eve Marie Haydel.

We kick off our carnival party with that ubiquitous New Orleans dish, red beans and rice.

-It's Mardi Gras time.

And when you're walking down the neutral grounds of the parade, you're going to see people out there barbecuing.

And one thing that you will always see is a great bowl of red beans and rice.

So we're getting started with our red beans and rice.

-Alright.

To our pot, we'll add our meat stock.

-This is a stock that we make with a smoked ham shank.

We also going to add in our smoked ham hock as well as we cook those beans.

As the ham shanks get tender in these red beans, what you want to do is pull it off the bone, cut it up and add it right back to those beans.

Great ham shank smoked is just something that's -- that's beautiful.

Another thing while Zoe is adding those beans, right, there's always the story, the struggle between do you soak them?

Do you not soak them?

You know, we've soaked these beans here for an hour.

And as you touch them, you can see they softened up.

And what you find is if you soak your bean flour, it tends to let them cook faster or soften up faster.

But if you're at home and you just picking through the beans, you don't have to soak them.

You can store them in a pot.

It may take you an extra 15 or 20 minutes, and that's perfectly fine.

-Got enough beans.

-So the one thing I want you to notice as we put in those beans, right, you see some to the top.

I am going to add a little bit of water to it.

So beans take a lot of water.

Right?

So if you think about when you cook your beans, and we're going to slow cook them, as you go back in, you may need to add water to it.

It's almost about 4.5 inches above that bean when you look in the pot is the amount of water that you're going to need to finish that bean.

You can add it up front or you can add it gradually as they cook.

-Also to our pot, we'll add two bay leaves.

Our onions.

Our green bell pepper.

Some garlic.

Some salt.

And some dry thyme.

-And when you think about Mardi Gras, right, you're thinking about showing up early to that parade and you're showing up hours and hours early to get your spot ready so you can be at the front with your family and the kids saying "hey," you start putting those beans on right then and there.

So by the time that parade comes, these beans are going to cook for about an hour to an hour and a half.

When everybody comes to celebrate with you, they'll be ready.

-And you could cook your onions and bell pepper on the side, but we like to add our peppers and onions to our stock so it can pick up that great flavor.

-Mardi Gras time is just a fun time where people are out in the street and enjoying the carnival, enjoying the parade and enjoying each other.

We have a blast I know on Mardi Gras day here on Orleans Avenue.

The family sets it up.

-Oh, it's an amazing time.

You know, we have our red beans, our Creole spaghetti.

Of course, we have our nachos that I love.

Our hot dogs, hamburgers, you name it.

One year we did a whole hog.

It's just a great potluck.

All of our family's around.

You're having a great time.

-We're very fortunate on Orleans Avenue.

We have Zulu's parade route has always ran down Orleans Avenue.

You know, we have pictures from my grandfather toasting King and Queen Zulu back in the day here in front of Dooky Chase Restaurant.

And that's another part of how we continue that legacy.

We want to do the same as they did before.

So we certainly set up a stage and we toast the King and Queen Zulu every Mardi Gras day.

And we're so grateful that they choose us to stop and allow us to toast them.

And each year it gets bigger and bigger.

So we're cooking more red beans and more meatballs and more hot dogs and hamburgers and whatever food that we just say, "Hey, let's do this year for Mardi Gras."

It's not work for us, right?

We enjoy going out there and seeing all our family and friends and everybody's having a good time and they love it.

You're almost all the way in with your ingredients here, with your red beans.

This is the part where you're just going to let these guys simmer and cook slow for about an hour and 15 minutes.

You can see we still have some of our smoked sausage, and we're going to add this towards the end.

When you talk about a creamy red bean, right?

We're going to show you what we do with this smoked sausage, not only to add that sausage to it and that flavor, but to help cream our beans.

-Now we'll let our red beans cook.

You want to let it at a medium boil for about that hour and 15 minutes, and then we'll go ahead and cook our smoked sausage.

-So our beans have been cooking for about an hour now.

So this is the point where we want to start to add our sausage and we start to think about creaming our beans, right?

They're getting soft right where we want them.

So we'll add a little oil.

And then I'll add in this smoked sausage.

[ Sizzling ] And the reason why we do this, we do this for two reasons.

One, we want to kind of fry and seal up that smoked sausage because it gives it a different texture when you add it to those beans.

And then two, we want to flavor that oil, right?

So when you're thinking about creaming a bean, you're adding some type of fat to that bean.

We add oil to that bean at the end and that creams them up.

And of course, here, we don't want you to add just oil.

We want you to add some flavor to oil.

So we're going to flavor it with the smoked sausage.

Seal that sausage up.

Right here we're just trying to fry it.

Let that release some of its oil.

You can see here, the oil started to pick up that color from the sausage.

You can see that I've sealed in those edges on that sausage right here.

This is what I want, right?

You can smell that smoked sausage flavor through this oil.

I flavored my oil, and I sealed in my sausage.

Now I'm getting ready to add this to our red beans.

They're going to go right on in.

And here, and this is when we start to cream them in, right?

You want to start to just stir, and as you're stirring around, you'll pick up 1 or 2 and just mash them aside that -- into that pot.

And you can start to see that... You see how that is liquidy, but as I continue to do it, that cream is going to come through.

And our ham hocks are doing well, and there they're getting tender, and that's what you're looking for.

I like to watch it.

So, you can do the last 15 minutes uncovered so you can see if you reduced too much and you need to add water.

What you don't want to do is scorch the red beans, right?

And that's the key.

And I tell people all the time, if you start to smell that smoky flavor of it scorching, you have to get it out of the pot.

Right?

So hurry up, switch it into another pot.

Do not touch the bottom.

Don't try to pick it up.

Don't try to do any of that.

Pick this pot up, pour the top into a new pot, and then you can save it.

But if you let that scorch go all the way through, it's going to cook all the way through your beans.

And if you can start to smell that flavor, I mean, already that oil and that sausage is just...whew!

This is red beans and rice on a Monday in New Orleans.

This is a Mardi Gras day in New Orleans.

This is just a dish that we're known for.

-And don't forget our last ingredient, black pepper.

-My grandmother would always say with her red beans, she wanted you to taste the pepper.

You have to taste that pepper.

So we added some of that in, and we're going to taste it because I got to make sure I'm doing Ms. Chase right by tasting that pepper or we're going to add some more.

-Mmm.

-That is good.

That is spot on.

-Taste like childhood.

-You taste the smokiness of that ham shank.

You taste just that flavor of that oil.

You're not only tasting that bean, but you sure can taste that pepper.

-Now that our beans are ready, let's plate.

We have our white rice.

-Some sausage I want you to have.

You talk about something that's just phenomenal.

-A little parsley on top.

So delish.

-And I'm gonna add a bay leaf.

I always like to give you a little look of what's in there, right?

Certainly you don't eat the bay leaf, but it enhances that flavor of our red beans.

And you're talking about Mardi Gras Day carnival celebrating up and down Orleans Avenue, stopping by and seeing family and friends on a neutral ground.

Everybody has a plate of red beans for you.

-On Mardi Gras, Leah Chase went all out, sewing elaborate matching costumes for herself and her four children.

At the restaurant, her musical husband, Edgar Dooky Chase Jr., played the trumpet for an appreciative audience.

-She made Eskimo costumes.

We were Eskimos.

She made what was my favorite, the Matador costume.

My daddy, of course, would play at the bar all day, and with Curtis Trevigne and Vernel Fournier on the drums and all the people from his big band, and the doors of the restaurant were was open and there'd be crowds of people dancing in the street here.

-Growing up, Mardi Gras, of course, like everyone in the city, was a special day, from the costuming that was created in each home.

So everybody had their theme and looked alike.

You know, my mother, you know, just like her mother, created costumes for all of us.

Decorating the family truck for the truck parades was a big thing.

And of course, Grandmother had to prepare all the food for us to eat after we got off the truck and so forth.

But Mardi Gras here at Dooky Chase's was something special as well, because for many generations we were able to toast the king and queen of Zulu.

But also on Mardi Gras day, my grandfather would play.

That was his one day a year by any means he was going to perform on the bar, and that was something that everybody looked forward to because they knew that Dooky was going to play on Mardi Gras day.

-No Mardi Gras at Dooky Chase's would be complete without Creole meatballs -- the hands-down favorite of the queen of Creole cuisine.

-It's funny how Chef Leah Chase, the queen of Creole cuisine, and her favorite dish that she loved to eat was her Creole meatballs and spaghetti.

So today, we're going to show you how to make those beautiful meatballs.

-Yes.

So to our bowl, we have some hot sausage.

So we're going to put half of this.

And we also have some ground beef, and we're going to do half of that.

To that, we're going to add a little bit of green bell peppers... and a little bit of onion.

Also some garlic.

Some breadcrumbs.

And two eggs.

-And, you know, we add the eggs and the breadcrumbs to soften that meatball up, right?

You know, when you adding the ground beef and the sausage, that is a pork shoulder.

So if you can't find that chaurice sausage, ask your butcher for some ground pork and that works well, just use it 50-50.

You can add a little seasoning if you wanted to heat it up a little bit with cayenne pepper.

But that breadcrumbs and that egg is going to soften that meatball up.

And that's what we're doing here.

-I also added a little salt and pepper as well.

So we're just going to give this a good old mix.

-And you're looking to mix it all in, right?

When you bite into that meatball, you want to get a little onions, you want to get a little green bell pepper, you want to get a little garlic all the way through.

-Alright.

Now we could build our meatballs -- maybe like three-ounce, two-ounce meatballs.

And just like that, perfect little circles.

-And for when you're building these meatballs, what we'll do, because we're starting to getting this pot hot and we're going to add a little oil in there, I like to dust those meatballs and to protect them with the little flour, right?

So you'll see as we go to brown these meatballs, that little flour and that dusting is going to create that little glaze at the bottom that will deglaze when we start to build our sauce with.

So here I have the oil.

I'm just going to add a little oil to the bottom of this pan, get it warmed for us.

And as Zoe continues to work these meatballs, I'll start to add them right on in this pot.

-This is also a great dish to do with your kids.

It's a fun dish.

And then you can have all your family come join you and help prep to make the meatballs.

-We do an annual trip with the family to the beach, right?

And meatballs was always on that menu because that was my grandmother's favorite dish.

And her meal, we'd each separate who's doing what, and she would always cook meatballs and spaghetti.

So this year, when you're cooking for 60 people, we have the fifth generation kids come in and just learn how to make the meatballs.

And they really created Chef Leah Chase's dish on each beach trip annual that she wasn't to be with us physically, but she certainly was there with us spiritually and with the Creole meatballs.

We continue that legacy.

And you can see here this is fairly simple.

I'm just putting them in the bottom of this pot, letting them start.

I'm not going to turn them around.

I don't want to beat them up.

But what I'm looking to do is just let them to seal in those flavors, seal in these meatballs.

I'll give these guys a turn.

And you can see this is what we're looking for.

See that color?

We sealed in that meat.

Sealed in those juices.

[ Sizzling ] And that's what we're looking for.

And you can see I didn't put in too much of these meatballs at once.

As you're doing this at home, if you're cooking for a lot of people, just cover the bottom of that pot, right?

We're going to take them out.

They won't always be cooked, but as you go, you'll just refill.

So we'll take this layer out, add in some more.

And just look at that beautiful color on there.

And you know, the other thing that that flower allows you to do is create that texture on those meatballs.

Right?

And that's the thing I don't want you to forget.

As we cook, you're looking for those textures, those layers of flavor.

You're just building upon... different elements.

We started serving this at Mardi Gras.

It's not your traditional, right?

You have your red beans and rice and your fried chicken.

But of course, we're doing a big old family gathering.

We're going to make sure the queen is happy.

And by making sure she's happy, we know we have her favorite dish out there.

And when we put it out there, you'll be amazed.

People love meatballs and spaghetti.

So every Mardi Gras, you know, of course, they're looking for the red beans and rice and fried chicken, but they're looking for these meatballs and spaghetti.

This is right where we want it to be.

You can see I sealed them in nice.

I'm going to put it on this plate here because as you set them aside, a little more juice is going to come off as they rest.

And we want all that great flavor, right?

Don't lose any flavor.

That guy there.

This guy here.

And this is where we start to build that sauce.

So I have some onions here.

I have our bell peppers... ...right there.

I'm going to sweat those down a little bit.

And when I talked about deglazing, right, every time you deglaze, it doesn't have to be with the liquid.

It can be with these vegetables.

You see when I put in these vegetables, those onions and that bell pepper picked up that seasoning right off the bottom of the pan.

I'm going to let those sweat just a little bit.

I have a little flour here.

I'm gonna add a little flour.

Again, this is going to create that body and that sauce that we're looking for.

Not too much, because I'm finishing this with a tomato sauce that we have, so that already has a little thickness to it.

Here, I'm just about ready to add my garlic.

This is perfect time to add in our tomato sauce.

What I want you to do is you're going to use this same can amount.

Rinse this out with water.

You will rinse your can out and pour that water in.

That's your measurement.

That's where we got all our good tomato sauce out of there.

And that's the consistency we're looking for.

So this will start the season that tomato sauce.

Got a little salt.

I have a little cayenne pepper.

And we have some whole dried thyme leaves.

Now, I also have oregano on this board, but we finish with the oregano, so we're going to cook those meatballs back in here, and oregano is going to be the last thing that we'll add to this.

I want to bring this up to a simmer, and then we'll add those meatballs back.

So this is right where we want it to be.

It's at a nice simmer.

And this is where we bring our meatballs right back in.

And all those great juices go right back into this pot.

So you're going to keep this on a medium heat for 15 minutes.

You're going to allow those meatballs to cook through.

They're going to continue to add flavor upon flavor to this good tomato gravy here.

So, now that our meatballs have been simmering for about 15 minutes, it's time to start to finish this dish.

And we finish it with a little bit of red wine here.

And then we'll pour that in and just mix this in.

And of course, you have to add your oregano.

And we add that at the end because we want that to be the main herb that's sticking out, right?

We use dried thyme and we love to cook with that for that savory flavor.

But for these Creole meatballs, we want you to get a hit of that oregano first.

We got to give this a taste, Zoe, make sure we're there.

The gravy is looking beautiful.

Oh, wow.

This is it.

This is Grandmother's meatballs.

Chef Leah Chase would be happy, and she would get the first plate because this is her favorite.

So we'll get our pasta, our spaghetti, that we have.

Put our meatballs right on top.

And then we just come with our beautiful... beautiful gravy.

And this... Oh, man.

This is -- This is bringing me back.

This is it.

This is our beautiful Creole meatballs.

-And we add a little chopped parsley... and, of course, some Parmesan.

-Oh, man.

And you talk about Mardi Gras, you talk about the queen of Creole cuisine's favorite dish.

You're talking about our Creole meatballs and spaghetti.

-The last stop on the Krewe of Zulu parade route is Dooky Chase, where the landmark Creole restaurant hosts its annual Mardi Gras party, keeping a tradition of food and fun alive for the next generations.

-We would toast Zulu here, and my daddy would go out.

We had always a balcony in front to toast Zulu.

And so that's Mardi Gras.

Carnival has always been big for us.

And still we do a good job on Mardi Gras day.

-Now we host Mardi Gras in the parking lot because it is gotten beyond the walls of this restaurant and you want to be outside toasting.

And it's such a cool environment because the kids are just running.

It's safe, so it's just a community partnership that we support what the Zulu Club is doing, the Social Pleasure Club is doing.

They do a lot of outreach as well.

-We finish with a pineapple-laced cocktail named for Eve Marie's grandmother, Leah's Creole Crown.

-Well, today is Mardi Gras, and our family, we love to celebrate Mardi Gras.

And the cocktail of choice is the Leah's Creole Crown, named after my grandmother.

And it's a family cocktail, so when we host our family here for Mardi Gras, this is what we're drinking.

So in our Creole Crown, we have pineapple, and then a little lime juice, whiskey, amaretto, and a peach schnapps.

And so it's a little sweet balanced whiskey cocktail.

Today, we're going to shake this one and give us a nice frosty coupe.

So we're going to have 0.5 ounce of lime juice.

1 ounce of pineapple.

Alright.

0.5 ounce of peach schnapps.

And our amaretto here, we're going to do 3/4.

And then we'll do two ounces of our... ...our whiskey.

It goes in -- It goes well with any whiskey.

And we'll give it a good... shake there.

Put that aside, and we'll strain that right into our coupe.

A coupe is like an old champagne glass.

You can garnish it with a fresh lime.

I have these dehydrated lime wheels here, which brings another element.

It makes it look a little more refreshing.

So this is Leah's Creole Crown.

Cheers to Mardi Gras.

-Chef Leah Chase spent a lifetime uplifting the community and building bridges through food.

For more meals that bring people together, join the Chase family next time on "The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy."

-Leah Chase's iconic book, "The Dooky Chase Cookbook," has been updated and includes all-new recipes from this series you're watching.

The cookbook is available for $27.95 plus shipping and handling.

To order, please call 1-866-388-0834 or order online at wyes.org.

-My grandparents, just like my mother and my father, they were giving people.

They were loving people.

They were religious people.

-She didn't want to be just a cute little girl that sat on the porch in the city and waited for a boy to come and notice her and take her out.

She wanted to be a woman on the move that could set her own pace, determine her own life, determine her own direction.

-She didn't really come into the restaurant until I went to school, so prior to that, she was home.

And she was a wonderful homemaker.

But I think -- I think she was happy to come and start getting involved and being part of the family more and battling her way in, and then ultimately, you know, turning it into what it has come to be.

-I hope she is proud.

I hope she knows that we're doing everything that my grandparents and my great grandparents taught us to do and set that foundation.

And I hope when we misstep, it's a little birdie that comes in our dreams and says, "Hey, hey, get back on track."

-For more information about "The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy," visit wyes.org.

Funding for "The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy" was provided by the...