Creole restaurant chain delivers authentic taste of New Orleans in Florida
Tallahassee, Fl – Often it’s the casual New-Orleans attitude that
initially attracts patrons to Po’ Boys Creole Café, a seven-unit Creole
restaurant chain that originated in Tallahassee in 1992.
But Po’ Boys head of operations Carmen Calabrese believes it’s the
jambalaya and red beans and rice that keeps guests coming back.
The two are top-selling menu items within the Florida-based restaurant
chain that delivers authentic Creole cuisine at a competitive price.
“The biggest thing to note about the chain is many of the menu items
are made from real recipes that people have used for years,” he said.
“It’s not commercially produced. It has that true New Orleans taste.”
Brought by the Spanish to New Orleans in the late 18th century,
jambalaya is a rice dish that is a Creole version of the Spanish
paella.
A blend of chicken, shrimp, andouille sausage, rice, Tabasco sauce and
cayenne pepper, Po’ Boys jambalaya is a recipe that comes straight from
a New Orleans cook book that Calabrese’s mother gave him more than 12
years ago.
Red beans and rice is a delicious and popular Louisiana dish,
traditionally served on Mondays using the ham bone left over from the
previous Sunday's ham dinner.
At Po’ Boys, the red beans and rice is a popular menu item every day of
the week topped with andouille sausage, blackened or grilled chicken,
cheddar cheese, fresh tomatoes, green peppers and onions.
Gumbo has been called the greatest contribution of Louisiana kitchens
to American cuisine. When the first French settlers came to Louisiana,
they brought their love for bouillabaisse, a highly seasoned fish stew,
but found none of the usual ingredients necessary to make a typical
French bouillabaisse.
Local ingredients were substituted, including okra, a pod-like
vegetable introduced by African slaves and often used to thicken the
stew.
There are no other hard-and-fast rules for the ingredients used in
making gumbo, but most New Orleans foodies will tell you if it
doesn’t contain okra, it’s not gumbo. Okra has a gummy quality which
thickens and gives body to the gumbo.
So when Calabrese developed the recipe for Po’ Boys seafood gumbo, an
oyster, lump crap, shrimp and fish stew, he made sure to incorporate
plenty of the viscous vegetable.
Most of the Creole delights on Po’ Boys menu were developed from family recipes and Creole cookbooks.
Until recently, the red beans and rice, jambalaya and gumbos were also
prepared from scratch in each unit’s kitchen on a daily basis.
But the constant demand for the Creole delicacies took a toll on the speed of service at Po’ Boys restaurants.
“Those recipes in the book are for servings of 10, and we make it by
the five-gallon batch,” Calabrese said. “The jambalaya takes about four
to five hours to prepare because the rice is cooked into it. It takes
five hours to make a batch of red beans to soften up to the right
consistency.”
“We were making them so repetitively, you just don’t have all that time
when you have a restaurant full of customers,” Calabrese said.
Calabrese turned to Mike Maeza for help.
Maeza’s Mr. Mudbugs, Inc. is a restaurant food supplier and catering
business west of New Orleans that specializes in preparing mass
quantities of food for food service businesses.
Today, Maeza is responsible for cooking the gumbo, jambalaya and red
beans and rice dishes in five-gallon batches for each Po’ Boys unit in
Florida.
“I took my recipes and spent three weeks with Mike making jambalaya and gumbos,” Calabrese said.
Although Po’ Boys Creole delicacies are cooked off-site, the consistency and quality has not been compromised.
“It’s vacuum-sealed, flash-frozen and it never touches the air, so it
doesn’t need preservatives to keep the shelf life,” Calabrese said. “So
many people are allergic to all types of preservatives, and I didn’t
what that happen.”
Carmen’s Red Beans & Rice
Prep
Items:
2 1/2 Cups Chopped Yellow
Onions
1 Cup Chopped Green
Peppers
1 Cup Chopped Red
Peppers
1/2 Stalk Celery
(Chopped)
1 Tablespoon Chopped
Garlic
Dry
Items:
2 Tablespoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Thyme
1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
5 Bay Leaves
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
Stock Items:
1/2 Gallons Water
3 Pounds Dry Red Beans
Cooking instructions:
Wash and pre-soak red beans overnight.
Place beans in large stock pot over high heat and immerse in water.
Add in dry items and bring to a boil.
Boil until beans become soft, continually checking the water level so it stays just above the beans.
When beans are soft, reduce to medium heat and add in prep items.
Continue to cook for another hour and stir frequently.
While stirring, smash the beans with the back side of the spoon to make the mixture creamy.
The beans are fully-cooked when they stick to the spoon during stirring.
Mold 8 ounces rice in a cup and invert into center of the bowl.
Ladle beans around rice and serve with French bread or cornbread.
Note: Add two ham hocks in mesh bag at start.
After cooking, remove from bag, tear off meat and put in soup for non-vegetarians
Jammin’ Jambalaya
Prep
Items:
2 1/2 Cups Chopped Yellow
Onions
1/2
Bunch Green Onions
(Chopped)
1 Cup Green Peppers
(Chopped)
1 Cup Red Peppers
(Chopped)
3 Ribs Celery
(Chopped)
6 Tablespoons Chopped
Garlic
Dry Items
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
2 Tablespoons Dry Parsley
2 Tablespoons Salt
1 Tablespoons Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Thyme
2 Teaspoons Tabasco Sauce
5 Bay Leaves
Roux
Items:
1/2 Pound
Butter
5 Cups Olive
Oil
10 Cups
Flour
Stock Items:
32 Ounces Chicken Soup Base
32 Ounces Water
1 Large Can Tomato Puree
1 Large Can Diced Tomatoes
4 Cups Dry Rice
Meat Items:
1 Pound Chicken Breasts or Tenders Chopped
1 Pound Chopped Andouille Sausage
2 Pounds Thawed 71-90 Shrimp
1 Pound Chopped Okra
Note: Add ¼ cup chicken soup base to 32 ounces of hot water to make chicken soup base.
To make roux: Heat olive oil and butter in large stock pot until golden brown.
Gradually add in flower until it comes to a creamy peanut butter consistency.
Add in prep items, reduce heat to medium/low and allow them to sauté for 30 minutes until soft.
Add the stock items (without rice), dry items and meat items (without shrimp) and cook on low heat for 1 hour.
Add rice and cook for another 30 minutes.
Add shrimp and cook for 20-30 minutes.
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Media Contact:
Krista Zilizi
Quantified Marketing Group
(706) 627-3204
(407) 936-1010
krista@restaurant-public-relations.com
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