Harvey’s got me thinking. Food occupies our thoughts in different ways during disasters. A storm’s on the way, and we stock up on essentials. If the power goes out, we grill what’s in the freezer and share it with neighbors. When we’re lucky enough to be spared, we bring food to those who aren’t. And when we’re the ones in the path of destruction, we grieve the loss of little things—like preparing dinner in our own kitchens.
This week, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between what’s happening in southeast Texas with Hurricane Katrina and the surprise flooding that devastated our region one year ago. So many narratives emerged from both of those Louisiana tragedies, but one small thread that stayed with me after Katrina was the loss of personal recipe collections for the 250,000 residents displaced from New Orleans and its environs when their homes flooded. It seems like a small thing, but when you’ve lost everything, food brings comfort. And so do beloved recipes. This was 12 years ago, when food blogs were still new, and when you were as likely to pick up a favorite cookbook as you were to do a quick internet search. Paper copies meant something, and for many of us food junkies, they still do.
Readers who were living around the country and desperate to cook the foods of home pleaded with their local paper, The Times-Picayune, for copies of lost recipes. The paper printed these pleas, and encouraged readers who still had their same recipes to send them in. The project was a welcome salve, and it became a favorite temporary column. It led food editor Judy Walker and Louisiana cookbook author Marcelle Bienvenu to compile the recipes in a book they named Cooking Up a Storm, Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. It remains a relevant cookbook and is one that any Louisianan needs in his or her collection.
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Here’s a sample. This recipe was shared by a reader who liked to serve it for game-day fetes. It’s a variation on gougères and is ridiculously easy to make.
Blue Cheese Puffs
Makes 2 dozen
4 tablespoons butter, plus more for greasing baking sheets
¾ cup water
¾ cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
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Heat the oven to 400 degrees and butter two baking sheets. In a heavy saucepan, bring the 4 tablespoons of butter and water to boil over high heat. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the flour to the pan and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a smooth ball. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Stir in the blue cheese. Let the batter sit for 15 minutes.
Drop the batter by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until golden, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Maggie Heyn Richardson is a regular 225 contributor. Reach her at hungryforlouisiana.com.