Gumbo New Orleans Recipe Seafood

Gumbo New Orleans Recipe Seafood

Gumbo New Orleans Recipe Seafood

Cajun Chef Paul Prudhomme and Television Chef Emeril Lagasse may be the icons of New Orleans cuisine these days, but the Big Easy owes much of its current food popularity to three women: Restaurateur Ella Brennan, Creole Chef Leah Chase and Avant Garde Chef Susan Spicer.

For starters, it was Brennan who gave Prudhomme, Lagasse and a few dozen other chefs their big breaks in the restaurant world. She is credited with turning Commander’s Palace in the New Orleans Garden District into something of a graduate school for chefs who moved on to operate many of the city's top restaurants.

Brennan Gave Prudhomme the Go-Ahead on Blackened Catfish

At Commander’s, she gave Prudhomme the go-ahead for his blackened redfish, a dish that became so popular nationally that the catching of the fish had to be put under special controls to save the species.