Schaubhut says love of family, community is the best recipe
Chef Carl Schaubhut’s fried catfish tantalizes the taste buds with hints of mustard powder, creole seasonings and a heritage that beckons from the “Catfish Capital of the Universe.”
His father’s side of the family is from Des Allemands, which has been such a German community that its name means “the Germans.” This is where Schaubhut got his name and the German, French and Cajun influences that lend to his creativity and passion for South Louisiana cooking. His great aunt still lives in the town.
But the influence doesn’t stop there.
As executive chef at Café Adelaide in New Orleans since March 2013, Schaubhut, 33, has thinking more about Des Allemands catfish and how it’s being harvested and increasingly served in higher-end restaurants.
When he came to Café Adelaide in Loews New Orleans Hotel, he immediately added two catfish signature dishes to the lunch menu, as well as “Paradis Potato Salad.”
They were a hit.
“People like it’s a sustainable fish,” he said. “I took that as an opportunity to use a sustainable product in our own backyard that gets them in the door and gives them a great meal that is locally sourced.”
Describing it as a more “rustic” food, Schaubhut said he does brine the fish to enhance flavor but otherwise he lets the food speak for itself.
“I think if we took it off the menu we’d get chased out of here with a stick,” Chef Carl said of the growing popularity of the signature dishes.
It’s so popular, he’s working on a catfish dish for their dinner menu.
“It’s a fish you can do more with than slap on two pieces of French bread and mustard,” he said. “It’s an “underutilized fish that can be gotten year round and I’d like to see more people use it.”
Schaubhut is a self-taught chef who learned young from his father’s German family and his mother’s Sicilian side that everyone loved to cook and that it brought everyone together. His father and family relocated to New Orleans, and he is a native and resident of the city.
“You see that in South Louisiana, where everybody likes to cook,” he said. “People don’t understand it until the come here and see what it’s about.”
Schaubhut is actually a city boy, born and raised in New Orleans, but he has kept connections with this family in Des Allemands. His grandmother is in Paradis, where he visited her and recalled her thick Cajun accent and her excellent potato salad that went with the gumbo. He says it’s the German influence with putting the potato salad in the gumbo.
“The Germans don’t get the respect I think they deserve for their influence in Cajun cooking,” he said. “I think if you look deep there’s probably Andouille sausages and certain dishes with a German influence than people give them credit for.”
In this culture, there’s no question that men, women and children cooked.
In his family, the kitchen was huge and the food brought everyone together.
This was his jumping point into becoming a chef.
At age 25, he became an executive chef in a Florida restaurant, where he got his big break. He tested recipes there for five years. When he got married, the couple decided to move to New Orleans.
After a stint at Commander’s Palace under Tory McPhail and helping to open the restaurant Fire, first in New Orleans and then in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, Chef Carl was promoted to executive chef at Cafe Adelaide. A self-taught chef, Carl attributes much of his cooking style and know-how to his family background.
Describing his work as “playful, modern creole,” Schaubhut said he seeks to take a classic creole dish and give them a modern twist that raises the eyebrows.
“We really want to set ourselves apart,” he said.
And he said Des Allemands and its catfish are built into his creativity and dishing out the flavor, as well as its sense of community.
“Everything revolves around family,” he said of Des Allemands. “History is very important – the social gatherings like the Louisiana Catfish Festival. It’s really neat to see all these family gatherings and I want my family to see them, especially my five-year-old son and see what camaraderie and community is all about. I think it’s very important.”
Be the first to comment