DESSERT!
Cookies, candies, pies, cakes and beyond

 
You already know that New Orleans is one of the best food cities in the world, but you haven't started thinking about dessert yet, have you? Here, the artistry of the chef comes into full bloom with delightfully elegant and very rich desserts that take root in our Creole culinary tradition and have in recent years taken off in exciting new directions. Here we'll give you some old classics, as well as some of the newer and incredibly yummy desserts that you'll see popping up all over town. And remember ... there's ALWAYS room for dessert!

 

Sorbets, Granitas and Ices

I love sorbet.

I've been collecting great sorbet recipes for a while, and I thought I'd share them with you here. While stuff like this might not be traditionally Creole, you'll find fresh house-made sorbets as a dessert item on the menus of many great New Orleans restaurants, including Emeril's, Bayona and Brigtsen's to name but three. This kind of dessert is a great idea if you feel you've been overindulging yourself with butter and cream. (Note: Any of the granita recipes can be made into sorbets by pouring the mixture into an ice cream freezer, instead of pan-freezing and scraping, and vice-versa.)

 

Other Desserts I've Collected

These desserts aren't particularly Louisianian, but they're mighty good.

 
The April 22, 1995 issue of the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran an article on the front page of the Living section on sinful desserts from some of our restaurants. Among those mentioned:

Antoine's: Baked Alaska
One half-oval of this dessert contains 1,061 calories. [Trivia question: what's different about the way Antoine's serves Baked Alaska as opposed to the usual way it's served?]

The Pontchatrain Hotel: Mile-High Pie.
One pound of ice cream topped with a thick meringue and chocolate sauce. Each piece is at least 10" high.

Emeril's: Banana Cream Pie with Caramel Drizzle Sauce.
Chef Emeril's signature dessert, and the best one in town, arguably one of the best in the country. One slice contains 1,548 calories and 85.5 grams of fat.

Palace Cafe: White Chocolate Bread Pudding.
951 calories, 23.9 grams of fat.

Clancy's: Lemon Icebox Pie.
Relatively simple, but you don't want anything overly fancy after dinner at Clancy's.

Brennan's: Bananas Foster, of course.
587 calories per serving, and an impressive show as it's prepared tableside.

Commander's Palace: Bread Pudding Souffle.
465 calories, 23.9 grams of fat per serving. Absolutely wonderful.

Andrea's: Chocolate Mousse.
Only 237 calories, 15.8 grams of fat.
"Desserts are one of the things you don't eat every day."
-- Chef Emeril Lagasse
"Desserts like [Baked Alaska] are splurge items. Anybody concerned about their diets needs to just forget about it and enjoy."
-- Bernard R. Guste, fourth-generation proprietor of Antoine's
"How true. How New Orleans."
-- Edward Branley, former owner-moderator of the old New Orleans Mailing List, commenting on the above quotes.
Enjoy.

For more desserts, check the desserts link of the Culinary World Tour Page.

 

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Chuck Taggart   (e-mail chuck)