By Margaret Engel
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Ever since my twin sister and I began researching America's superlative regional food producers about 25 years ago, we have been giving food for the holidays. A piece of taffy is always the right size and never requires batteries.
This year, we're ordering unique foods from New Orleans and Biloxi in a small effort to help the mom-and-pop foodmakers who are still suffering more than a year after Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster to strike our nation. As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told a group of us who toured the region recently: "The real tragedy of Katrina is the aftermath. We're crippled and trying to get back on our feet."
It's about helping our Southern neighbors as well as giving first-rate taste treats to everyone on our gift lists. From chocolate-iced Doberge cakes to Cajun kringle and seafood gumbo, the area's cooks ship their delectables nationwide and beyond.
Dozens of food artisans in southern Louisiana and Mississippi are worthy of holiday orders. Those featured here are some of the smaller purveyors, many of whom had to rebuild decades-old businesses from the ground up.
As always, try to place holiday orders before Dec. 15, unless an earlier date is given. Prices do not include shipping unless noted.
* * *
Driving down St. Charles Avenue near Loyola University this fall, I was stopped by the sight of a vintage wooden cart being pulled by a white mule. Roman Chewing Candy was painted on the side. Driving was Ron Kottemann, whose grandfather, Sam Cortese, began selling his mother's soft Sicilian taffy from the very same cart on the streets of New Orleans in 1915.
The seven-inch sticks of candy are cooked, flavored and pulled by Kottemann inside the tiny carnival-style cart, which his grandfather had built by a wheelwright. (A second cart operates in the city's Audubon Zoo.) Generations of New Orleanians have been alerted to the cart's arrival by the clanging of its bronze bell as the mule, these days one named Patsy, clops down the street.
Walk-ups can buy a single taffy stick, wrapped in white waxed paper, for 75 cents. They're sold via Web site by the dozen, for $7. They would look lovely in a Christmas stocking or even hung on a tree. The flavors (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) are delicate and not overly sweet, the kind our grandparents enjoyed. If the candy hardens during shipment, microwave it one stick at a time for five seconds to bring it back to an easy-chewing state, Kottemann advises.
"Katrina destroyed our stable, and I had to operate out of a truck for almost nine months," Kottemann said as he deftly wrapped a mound of candy. "Business isn't the same because people aren't here."
Roman Candy Co., 504-897-3937;http://www.romancandy.com. Accepts MasterCard and Visa.
* * *
Ten years after the Roman Chewing Candy cart debuted in New Orleans, bank teller Henry Kepler started importing coffee beans into the French Quarter and roasting them according to precise shades, temperatures and timetables. Eighty-one years later, his grandson, Robert Lutz, is continuing to sell the city's Try Me Coffee, despite having to completely rebuild after Katrina.
His wife, Cynthia Crifasi, is one of the firm's four employees. "Our building was a total gut job," she said, estimating that it cost the family $100,000 to resume business after the hurricane. "We had no loans and no outside help." The original roasters had to be stripped, cleaned and retooled.
Their loyal customers stood by them. The employees roast beans on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in quantities as small as 10 pounds. They ship orders within hours to ensure freshness. Their most popular coffee is Ruth's Blend, a Columbia Supremo blend chosen by legendary restaurateur Ruth Fertel, founder of Ruth's Chris Steak House. It's a medium-shade roast with very low acidity and is sold as whole beans or ground for a bargain $5.85 for 14 ounces. A decaf version is $6.40 for 14 ounces.
Try Me Coffee Mills, 504-945-4314;http://www.trymecoffeemills.com. Accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. (Order by Monday.)
* * *
The shrimp boats along the shores of Gulfport and Biloxi remain hard hit. Several once-flourishing fleets are down to a single boat. Desporte & Sons, which has been in business for 108 years, had its nearly new building in Biloxi reduced to a shell by Katrina.
"We had to start over, but we're still here," said Artie Desporte, whose great-grandfather began the business. Using FedEx next-day delivery, the firm ships every manner of seafood: shrimp, peeled or unpeeled, with or without heads; crabs, picked or live; oysters by the 100-pound sack or shelled, in gallons and quarts; and a variety of fish. The prices are bargains by Washington standards: five pounds of peeled medium shrimp (70 to 90 per pound) cost $20.
A welcome gift would be a gallon of Desporte's homemade gumbo or crawfish etouffee, made from recipes devised by his mother, Shirley. Each costs $35 a gallon and arrives frozen. The gumbo is filled with shrimp, crabmeat, okra and oysters and is mildly spicy. The etouffee has a butter roux base and a large dash of cayenne pepper. Both stews are customarily served over steamed rice.
Desporte & Sons Seafood Inc., 228-432-1018. Accepts all credit cards.
* * *
A kringle is an oval Danish or Norwegian pastry ring that is most often found in Racine, Wis., and is a welcome addition to any holiday breakfast. New Orleans's venerable Haydel's Bakery makes a Cajun version, filled with praline cream cheese and studded with pecans. Haydel's, which closed for a month after the storm, sends a package of French roast coffee with the kringle for $28.95, delivered by UPS the next day.
Its five-layer chocolate cream-filled Doberge cake makes an impressive holiday dessert, for $46.95 delivered. Chef David Haydel, the third generation of Haydels to run the bakery, also has created an unusual Russian cake: a delicious combo of almond, chocolate and yellow cakes, bound with raspberry jelly, rum and anise and frosted with buttercream. It costs $35.95, also including next-day delivery.
If you don't order by holiday time, remember that Jan. 6 begins king cake season. Haydel's is among a dozen area bakeries that will ship the braided yeast rings, decorated with gold, green and purple sugars; the price of $36.49 includes a pack of French roast coffee, a Mardi Gras guide, carnival beads and next-day delivery.
Haydel's Bakery, 800-442-1342;http://www.haydelbakery.com. Accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa.
Margaret Engel of Bethesda is co-author with Allison Engel of "Food Finds: America's Best Local Foods and the People Who Produce Them" (HarperCollins). The book is the basis of the Food Network show "Food Finds."
View all comments that have been posted about this article.