Emeril Lagasse Gets Back To His Roots With Emeril Cooks - Exclusive Interview

The younger generation of culinary enthusiasts may be more familiar with the latest TikTok food influencer than Emeril Lagasse. But little do they know how this groundbreaking chef laid the foundation for the mainstream food media we all enjoy today. The Massachusetts-born turned New Orleans-bred chef made his Food Network debut in the early 1990s with "How to Boil Water" which led to the hit "Essence of Emeril." Then in 1997, "Emeril Live" made its triumphant debut, and with that, a culinary superstar was born, along with a whole new genre of food TV. Three decades later, the show lives on in the lexicon of iconic cooking shows, and chef Lagasse's career has expanded to include dozens of restaurants, cookbooks, product lines, and more, his name becoming a brand even bigger than the chef's persona.

And yet, many have noticed that Lagasse's TV presence has diminished in recent years (though not entirely). While the attention span of Food Network fans has moved on to the next celebrity chef and tournament of champions, chef Lagasse has still been busy running restaurants, managing businesses, and giving back through his foundation. He'd argue that, in many ways, he's returned to his roots, which are in the kitchen first and foremost, finessing the flavors that make him who he is, and throwing a "bam!" out there every now and then for good measure.

Now Lagasse is stepping in front of the camera once again, bringing folks into his kitchen for two new Roku shows. "Emeril Tailgates" which premiered in September 2022, takes a closer look at the tasty football gameday traditions in some of the top sports cities around the country, with Chef Lagasse presenting his creative take on regional recipes from coast to coast. "Emeril Cooks," which is now also available to stream on Roku, looks at some of the chef's traditional culinary inspirations in New Orleans, while also showcasing Lagasse's unique talent for pushing the limits of Louisiana cuisine.

Tasting Table got details on all this and more while catching up with Lagasse. In an exclusive interview, the chef opened up about his love for New Orleans cuisine, the culinary influences that shaped his career, and how he's preparing to carry on his legacy.

What would you say has changed the most about New Orleans food culture in the last few decades?

Well, I think it's getting modernized a bit more. But the thing about Louisiana, it's one of the oldest cuisines in America, so there's only so much change that you can do before the barriers get totally broken. Those barriers really remain on taste and ingredients. I think that's what we really focus on with "Emeril Cooks." Particularly, moving forward for the next season of "Emeril Cooks," we're even really zoning in more on the shrimp person and the squash farmer and the mirlitons being grown. It's a lot of fun. It reminds me of "Essence of Emeril" on steroids.

And I love that it's so hyper-focused on how Louisiana food is the epitome of farm-to-table, which is something you've embraced throughout your entire career.

Yeah, thank you. Well, that's what we're trying to do. What we learned after doing the first season is that we're really going to zero in more on that, on what's really happening in the state, whether it's the shrimp person or the oyster person, or the person making this micro beer or making sake as an example. We're going to keep doing more of that.

What are some of your favorite spots to eat out at in New Orleans today?

I mean, you have the classics, Commander's Palace, of course, and Antoine's and Galatoire's. You have those New Orleans, I hate using the word institutions, but you have those places.

And then, there are places that are still growing strong. I love Frank Brigtsen. I love Susan Spicer. But then, there's these new chefs that are coming up, like the chefs at Saint-Germain, and there's a lot of new things that are happening.

Moving into the holiday season, what are some of your favorite traditional holiday dishes?

I have to say that, during the holidays, the biggest influence is really my mom. Christmas Eve, I took a family tradition and put it into my restaurant in Emeril's Coastal, which is in the panhandle, and we do the Feast of the Seven Fishes. I was growing up with that. I don't know why it got the term seven fishes, because there was always more. I started doing that about three years ago at Emeril's Coastal. But I still do that at Christmas time at the house with family and a few friends. It's just something that's a tradition.

My mom's dressing, or stuffing, whatever you want to call it, is Portuguese dressing that she does called lache. That always has to be a must at Thanksgiving for sure.

What's in that?

It's Portuguese chorizo-based [with] the trinity: bell pepper, celery, onions. It's very simple. It's a bread stuffing. The key is that she soaks the bread. She uses milk, and then you sauté all [the veggies]. It's really delicious.

Oyster dressing in New Orleans would be a tradition. Crab and corn bisque would be a tradition in New Orleans. Cornbread dressing, for sure. Sweet potatoes, of course. You got to have good mashed potatoes and you got to have good gravy, right? No matter if it's Christmas or Hanukkah or Thanksgiving, you've got to have a good gravy.

Do you like a good Cajun spiced turkey?

I did one yesterday. Actually, it's the first time since the pandemic that I had the chance of doing the "Rachael Ray" show again. We were celebrating Thanksgiving, so I did this turkey roulade – which I'm kind of on a turkey roulade kick — where you [just cook] the breast. Everybody complains that the turkey's always dry, right? Because they're trying to cook the legs at the same time as they're doing the breast and the breast dries out but the legs, are they really cooked? And then, God knows about the wings, what's going on? 

I started taking those off, cooking them separately. I take the legs off and you can either simmer them, and then you have turkey stock for your gravy, and then the legs are really nice and tender, or you can slow roast them in the oven. I've been taking the breast and sort of pounding it with plastic wrap a little bit. And then, I make whatever dressing I want to make, my mom's or, yesterday, I did a cornbread dressing with andouille sausage. And roll [the turkey up] and then tie it, sear it in a cast iron pan and then finish it in the oven to the right internal temperature. Then, you let it cool a little bit and you just take a slice of that, the roulade, and the stuffing is in the center. It's really delicious.

I was recently re-watching some "Emeril Live" episodes with Julia Child. She was just so infectious, and she was such a hoot. Do you recall taping those?

I do. Julia was a great friend. She came on "Emeril Live," I think maybe three times. Once we did burgers. Another time we did an apple tartine. The thing about Julia is that, besides being a character and one of the greatest ladies on the planet, she always had to give me some sort of feedback. That's just Julia.

She asked me to do "Cooking with Master Chefs" and cover New Orleans. I made her etouffée and I also taught her how to eat crawfish. I don't know if you've ever had crawfish, but there's an art to sucking head and pinching tail. I have the pleasure of telling people that I taught Julia Child how to do that. We had a ball. It was absolutely one of the best afternoons I could imagine when we did a crawfish boil.

You've also mentioned in previous interviews that she's actually a big reason that you got into TV. How did she influence your career?

I remember, as a young boy, that I would watch her show. I watched her and I watched "The Galloping Gourmet," but it was Julia that really gave me the influence. I think it was because of her style. Julia was just Julia and stuff happens. I'm being polite about that, but stuff happens, and that was her approach about doing that. I remember taking that in — that sometimes when you're cooking, not everything is perfect. Or you drop something on the floor or a carrot rolls off the countertop, things happen. That was one of the things that I learned from her was that you just got to go with the flow.

And then there was always an educational perspective of her show that was important to her, of trying to teach people. At the time, she was trying to teach people French cooking and she was trying to get women in this country to be [less] intimidated about French food, and that stuck with me. When I created any shows like "Essence of Emeril" or "Emeril Live," it was always very important [to have] an educational thing. It always had to be something for everybody, whether they were a novice cook or whether they were even a professional cook. You had to have fun.

A lot of the beginning days of "Emeril Live," it got a lot of criticism because maybe I was having too much fun, but that's what I was bringing out. And then, there was never a script. It was basically a live audience, the band, which was a music connection with me. I just went about it that way, trying to educate people and take the intimidation factor out of it so that people get excited about cooking instead of being intimidated about cooking.