Secret of Louisiana Wine & Dine crawfish dinner

louisiana wine dinner

I just gotta say this:

connie hb blog

Look ma! My blog is on display! smirk

live crawfish

I was at the Secret of Louisiana Wine & Dine event on Monday. It’s a four-course dinner paired with wine and there are various exhibits of Americana (or should I say Louisiana) on display during cocktails. There’s a tank of live crawfish for one. I’m not sure if I ate one of them later but at this point they’re all alive. πŸ˜‰

bayou

I like how the canopy is set along the lake so all dining is al fresco. There are videos and cooking demonstrations (had some pretty good Cajun shrimp made with just 4 spices) and I love how they printed the menu on re-labelled wine glasses together with the table number.

New Orleans Chowder
A wonderful rich soup, loaded with clams, shrimp & calamari, slow simmered with diced potato, onion and celery in a creamy thick soup.

dessert wine

This was paired with a Kim Crawford Pinot Savignon Blanc that I thought was very appropriate – it’s very refreshing, bubbly and easy-to-drink, a perfect starter wine. The chowder each had a whole crawfish inside too!

new orleans chowder

I loved the creamy soup – I had two in fact. There’s loads of seafood treasures inside and you can crack the crawfish and eat it if you want, although it’s meagre pickings. Crawfish like this doesn’t have a lot of meat inside but the soup more than makes up for it! Lovely!

Louisiana Bayous
Best ingredients from the bayou. Creole crawfish, creamy seafood gumbo & crabmeat mashed potato on corn fritter.

This is a dish of three different small appetizers. I like the crab meat mashed potato on corn fritter but I felt that this dish came out too late – it was already slightly cold (room temperature). The timing was a bit off for this one, some things are no doubt meant to be served cold and vice versa, but not at ambient temperature.

louisiana bayous

I can understand that cooking for so many people presents a unique challenge, but this was the only dish that was served slightly late. All the other dishes were nice and warm (even the dessert!). However, I can see the awesome potential – I loved the crab meat on corn fritter! πŸ™‚

Trinity Jambalaya
Famous blackened red fish and jerk chicken with a rice dish consisting of onion, pepper and celery which makes up the β€œholy trinity” of Cajun cooking.

trinity jambalaya

I absolutely adore this dish! It’s full of seafood – huge shrimps, mussels, scallops! The red fish was wonderfully spiced – I love the hearty dose of pepper coating the fish. It’s a very heavy dish, broken up with several asparagus stalks.

wine hb

This is paired with a Wente Bayer Ranch Zinfandel, a nice red that goes against the guidelines of white meat with white wine and red meat with red wine, yet pulls it off with panache (it’s just a general rule of thumb many wine dinners I’ve been to has espoused). Absolutely the best dish of the night – perfect representation of Cajun style cooking and everything was still smoking hot!

(except the wine, as far as I know mulled wine does not originate from Louisiana)

Mud Pie & Praline
A rich New Orleans treat – roasted pecan on buttery praline and rich warm chocolate cake.

mud pie praline

A wonderful end to the dinner. It’s paired with a McGuigan Black Label Moscato, a sweet dessert wine. I liked the mud pie but what really got me was the buttery praline!

It’s awesomeness distilled into a messy chunk on your plate. I loved it so much I ate the entire caramel-like praline that left me wanting for more!

eiling hb

A great finish to a wonderful dinner! Eiling and Ziling was there too – good to see you again!

blog post signing

Oh, and here’s one of me signing the printed out Secret of Louisiana review of the first dinner. Heh.

kings and queens

Thanks again to Connie for a wonderful dinner! I learned a great deal about how to properly pronounce the etymology of the word β€œjambalaya” from the US Embassy representative.

us embassy

It’s sham-pal-ha-ya. πŸ™‚

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21 thoughts on “Secret of Louisiana Wine & Dine crawfish dinner”

  1. Food looks good…but if that’s a soup o=bowl, that crawfish is mighty small. Ah!!! The Lim sisters we3re there too. Hi, Eiling!!! Bet you all had fun! Is that how you pronounce it? Gee! Looks like the Foochows got it right all along…*runs & hides* ROTFL!!!

    Reply
    • Yup, I liked the food! The Louisiana Bayou was a bit lukewarm due to late serving but the others were great. I especially liked the Trinity Jambalaya – lovely Cajun style spiced fish, scallops etc. πŸ™‚

      Haha! Yeah, that’s 2/3 of the Lim sisters. Yiling isn’t here.

      HAHAHAHAHA at the Foochow reference, I didn’t realize that until you mentioned it. Cheers buddy! πŸ˜€

      Reply
  2. HB, glad you are now interested in Southern cooking and crayfish in states is low cost. We sometimes have crayfish boil and spread table with newspaper have boil crayfishes, crabs, shrimps and corns and potatos, sausage. Wear plastic gloves and bibs. I like clams with mine boil.

    Reply
    • Yeah, there’s a lot of crayfish in Australia too. Had a lot when I was studying there. πŸ™‚

      There’s something called a yabby there that’s kinda like this, except yabbies are very small and this crawfish is a super armored version of it.

      This is a larger different species that I think is Louisiana crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) – a freshwater version of crayfish.

      I don’t know for sure, I forgot to ask but it looks like it.

      Yup, I love crayfish – that crayfish boil of yours sounds good. πŸ˜€

      Reply
  3. Wow..lucky boy you! Surrounded with good food and beautiful women.

    Have a fun Saturday and a sunshiny Sunday, HB πŸ˜‰

    Yvonne

    Reply
    • Yeah, the crayfish is pretty good, but technically they’re not lobsters per se, except for the Moreton Bay Bug. Still in the crustacean family though.

      It’s pretty good – a chill place that they managed to expend on Friday to cover the entire “pier” of the lakeside.

      Cheers buddy! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  4. Dude…disappointment, I thought you were going to have a real crawfish dinner….like 3 Kg of suck the head and pinch the tail goodness per person. Make sure when you visit Louisianan during crawfish season.

    Btw Creole= City, Cajun = bayou. Creole cuisine is more refined, using a lot of tomato (Italian influence), fine dining experience. Where as Cajun cuisine is stick to your rib good, robust flavor, use a lot of roux and down to earth ingredient….with not presentation to speak of.

    Yeah..I am very much into the food, music and culture of Louisiana……I think I’ll buy a vacation home there when FF gets her promotion to the executive level..

    Reply
    • Heh! I’ll get that when I come over buddy! πŸ™‚

      I got an offer from your sis to crash at her place in San Francisco, now I’m thinking of a way to get a US visa which can allow me to visit the country for at least 30 days so I can do a coast to coast. It’ll be fun!

      Cheers for the information mate! I got some of that from the US Embassy guy who was speaking.

      Hey, congrats to FF on the impending promotion and a vacation home in Louisiana! Now, that really sounds awesome!

      Hope to see you soon mate! πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Hello Mel! πŸ™‚

      It’s good to hear from you again!

      Haha! I think it was coz I was having a few issues during the Melaka trip back when we went. It’s all good now.

      Thanks for the compliment – I think it’s the camera angles too, I like the group photo where us two guys are sitting and the black attire forms one oblique line and the lighter shirts form the other axis.

      Hope you’re doing good Mel, catch up soon! πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Hello Charmaine! πŸ™‚

      Yup, I especially liked the Trinity Jambalaya – awesomely spiced red fish, scallops, shrimp, asparagus, chicken. A white surf and turf, so to speak. Heh.

      I’m a bit hungry too, woke up for a quick swim before heading back to bed. Don’t want to break my stride, I’m actually training a bit.

      Have a great weekend! πŸ˜€

      Reply
  5. Hey HB, it’s nice to catch up with you again. We should do this more often and it was a fun night out! I love your pictures btw and it must be due to that nice camera that you have!

    Reply
    • Yup! It was great hanging out with you too! πŸ˜€

      Thanks for the picture of me, loved it so much I made it my profile pic. Haha!

      Catch up soon Eiling!

      Reply
  6. Absolutely LOVE crawfish. The best I had was in New Orleans, just chilled and seasoned with salt and pepper. that’s all! Bought it straight from the wholesalers and ate it outside.. just like that.. YUM!

    Reply
    • That sounds sooooooo awesome! πŸ™‚

      I’ll love to go to New Orleans someday on my Grand US and Canada Coast 2 Coast Up ‘N Down Come Hell or High Water Tour once I sort out how to get a long term visa (at least 30 days).

      Cheers for sharing!

      Reply

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