Many of its foods had little in common with those of the South I grew up in. Nearly everything was new and exciting and exotic. Some things, like the sherry-rich turtle soup and the spillway crayfish, I loved. Others, like the alligator sausage, I could never quite get used to.

But the thing I loved best was the Mardi Gras king cake. The original puff pastry version of “la galette des rois” was made by the occasional “French” bakery and was a simple, yet sophisticated affair with a beautiful flaky dough powdered with sugar. And, of course, a ceramic “baby” baked into it.

But the modern day king cake is a sweet Louisiana extravaganza and comes in more than 60 different “coffee-cake” like flavors, including king Creole pecan, apple, strawberry cream cheese, Bavarian cream and pina colada.

It is shaped like a great big baked donut and has a plastic baby stuck into the cake before it is decorated in purple (representing justice), green (representing faith) and gold (representing power) icing or sugar. The king cake party tradition dictates that the person who gets the baby in his or her slice must host the next king cake party during Mardi Gras season.

During Mardi Gras, I would have a king cake party almost every day, and over the course of a few years I tried almost every flavor made.

My favorite bakery boasted a “queen cake” made with Louisiana sweet potatoes. It was my favorite. And every year since moving away, I crave it.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that I could take all the rich flavors of my favorite “queen cake” and make a sweet potato bread pudding (also very popular in New Orleans). I use stale raisin bread to achieve the cinnamon coffee-cake like flavor and texture of king cake, and baked garnet sweet potato puree to make the bread pudding custard rich and moist.

I also honor the revelry of Mardi Gras by topping it with whiskey hard sauce while it is still warm.

Whiskey hard sauce is one of my favorite secrets to dressing up almost any warm cake, pie or pudding. Contrary to what it sounds like, it’s not actually a sauce. It’s more like a spread, until you put it on a hot dessert and the butter and sugar and whiskey melt and become a heady “sauce” that is truly the icing on the cake.

Hide a “baby” in the bread pudding once it comes out of the oven and before you ice it with the hard sauce, then carry on the Mardi Gras tradition.

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SWEET POTATO BREAD PUDDING WITH WHISKEY HARD SAUCE

Want to prep ahead? The bread pudding can be made the day before it is baked and stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes (20 minutes active)

Servings: 10

For the sauce:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon best-quality bourbon or rye

Pinch of salt

For the bread pudding:

8 cups torn or cubed stale raisin bread (about 1 large loaf)

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 cups half-and-half

1 cup heavy cream

4 large eggs

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup mashed baked garnet sweet potatoes

To make the sauce, in a large bowl use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla, liquor and salt. Continue mixing until smooth and creamy. Cover and set aside. Also can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a month.

For the bread pudding, heat the oven to 350 F. Coat a 2-quart baking dish or individual ramekins with cooking spray.

In a large bowl toss together the raisin bread with the pecans, then set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and salt. Toss the sugar mixture over the bread and pecans, then stir well. Drizzle everything with the melted butter, then toss to evenly distribute.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, cream, eggs and brown sugar. Add the vanilla and sweet potatoes, then mix well. Pour the sweet potato-cream mixture over the bread mixture and stir until well blended. Let stand for about 5 minutes, then spoon into the prepared baking dish or ramekins.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes (bake ramekins for just 15 to 20 minutes), or until set.

As soon as the bread pudding comes out of the oven, top with hard sauce so that it melts into the crevices. Serve warm.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 620 calories;360 calories from fat (56 percent of total calories); 40 g fat (19 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 175 mg cholesterol; 62 g carbohydrate; 8 g protein; 3 g fiber; 220 mg sodium.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Elizabeth Karmel is a grilling and Southern foods expert and executive chef at Hill Country Barbecue Market restaurants in New York and Washington, as well as Hill Country Chicken in New York. She is the author of three cookbooks, including “Soaked, Slathered and Seasoned.”

Standing in a vacant Southern California store set to be refurbished and reopened this summer, Obama lauded efforts to bring large grocery retailers to inner-city areas that traditional supermarket chains spurn.

“That’s how we solve this problem _ one community, one household at a time,” Obama said, speaking in front of a display depicting an old-fashioned grocery store with crates stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables. “We’re not just making this generation healthy. We’re making the next, and the next and the next.”

Obama, who is on the second day of her two-day visit to the Los Angeles area, made the stop in the blue-collar, largely Hispanic neighborhood as part of her “Let’s Move!” campaign to boost healthy food and fitness.

Part of the campaign includes promoting initiatives such as the $264 million California FreshWorks Fund, which finances grocery businesses willing to open in urban areas.

One of the fund’s first projects was a $20 million loan to Anaheim-based Northgate Gonzalez Markets, which operates 34 supermarkets around Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, to build the Inglewood store and two others.

The FreshWorks Fund is one of a mushrooming number of initiatives to tackle so-called “food deserts,” which are mostly urban areas where conventional supermarket chains are reluctant to operate because of the low-income customer base and safety concerns.

Nutrition experts point to food deserts as a key reason why obesity and weight-related ailments beleaguer inner-city residents, since they must buy much of their food at overpriced corner stores that sell a lot of highly processed packaged foods and snacks but little fresh produce, meat and dairy items.

The FreshWorks Fund, which is a partnership of The California Endowment, banks and health organizations, was launched last July at the White House.

Besides Northgate, other projects include financing a farmer’s market near a housing project and a food delivery service for outlying rural communities, said Tina Castro, director of impact investing for The California Endowment, a Los Angeles-based foundation that focuses on health issues.

“Health really happens in neighborhoods,” she said. “We’re looking for those small to medium-sized, independent grocers to give them access to capital and real estate.”

Northgate opened the first of the three new markets last fall in the City Heights area of San Diego. The next will be a renovation of the Inglewood building. The third will be the construction of a store in South Los Angeles, slated for completion next year. Each store creates about 120 jobs.

The locations match the company’s three-decade-long focus of providing quality, affordable foods in low income neighborhoods, which primarily comprise Hispanic immigrants but also include black and Asian residents, said Carl Middleton, president of Northgate Gonzalez Real Estate Co.

“We provide that homeland experience for immigrants,” Middleton said.

The stores typically offer tortilla and taco counters, as well as products from Mexico and Central America, including Coca-Cola made in Mexico, as well as fresh produce, meats, seafood, dairy and bakeries. It also caters to its immigrant customers by providing payroll check cashing and wire transfers.

Part of the company’s mission has been to promote nutrition by providing lean cuts of meat, preservative-free baked products and good quality fruits and vegetables, Middleton said.

The chain has launched a “Viva la Salud” (Long Live Health) campaign, which puts a special tag to denote healthy foods, such as olive oil rather than lard, and holds cooking classes in stores.

The company was founded by Mexican immigrant Miguel Gonzalez in 1980, who came to the United States after his shoe store burned down in Jalisco.

After working for several years in various jobs, he had saved enough to buy an old liquor store in Anaheim and convert it to a grocery store that became a community gathering spot, recalled his youngest son Oscar Gonzalez, who heads the company.

Seeing a niche in catering to fellow immigrants, he expanded the business with the help of his 13 children. It now employs 5,000 people.

Obama said she was impressed by the family’s commitment to the communities they serve. “Their story is so inspiring on so many different levels,” she said.

After the Inglewood event, Obama was scheduled to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and to deliver a luncheon speech at the Democratic National Committee.

Which is too bad, because a baked potato topped with a plethora of barbecue-friendly toppings _ think grated cheeses, chili, barbecue pulled chicken or pork, maybe some avocado and crumbled tortillas _ is perfect for outdoor eating. Especially since most of those items can be prepped well in advance.

Which got me thinking… While you might not crank up the oven to bake potatoes, chances are you’ll have the grill going. Why not do grilled baked potatoes?

It ended up being a delicious approach to this have-it-your-way meal. The following recipe will walk your through the grilling process (it’s pretty effortless). As for assembling your toppings, there are many ways to go. You could select a theme (say, Mexican) or go crazy and just offer tons of options.

Either way, your work serves two purposes. Many of the toppings you set out for the potatoes can do double duty on hot dogs and burgers. Let people choose their base (burger, dog or potato), then build up from there. It’s also a great way to include a vegetarian option without resorting to veggie burgers.

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GRILLED BAKED POTATOES

Start to finish: 50 minutes (10 minutes active);  Servings: 6

6 large russet potatoes

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

Heat a grill to high.

Wash and pat dry each potato. Use a fork to gently pierce each potato several times. Tear 6 large sheets of foil, then use the fork to pierce each one several times. Place a potato on each piece of foil, then drizzle each with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roll the potatoes a bit to coat, then wrap in the foil.

Reduce one side of the grill to medium. If you are using a charcoal grill, bank most of the coals to one side. Arrange the potatoes on the cooler side. Cook for 40 minutes, or until tender and cooked through.

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TOPPING SUGGESTIONS

_ Baked beans

_ Refried beans

_ Black beans

_ Grated cheese (pepper jack, mozzarella, cheddar, Parmesan, etc.)

_ Sour cream (or plain Greek-style yogurt)

_ Crumbled bacon

_ Avocado

_ Diced tomatoes

_ Chopped ham

_ Barbecue pulled pork or chicken

_ Grilled sausages

_ Corn kernels

_ Salsa

_ Grilled onions

_ Grilled mushrooms

_ Crumbled tortilla chips

_ Potato chips

_ Grilled asparagus

_ Grilled steak strips

_ Diced red onion

_ Roasted red peppers

_ Black and green olives

_ Baby spinach

_ Chopped peperoni

“My Curry Chicken Strips with Cheesy Mac & Broccoli meal is fun to make with my kids and one of their favorite meals that I prepare. What I like most about this dish is that it is a great way for them to enjoy a meal that is nutritious and delicious, which is important to me,” states Francis.

Known for his success as Executive Sous Chef working alongside Famed Restaurateur Todd English at the Award-Winning Olive’s Restaurant inside the Bellagio Resort Hotel, Francis has founded True Caribbean Foods. True Caribbean Foods is an  up  and  coming manufacturer of authentic Caribbean  foods  such  as   Caribbean  Ready-to-Eat frozen and non-frozen meals, dinners,  Caribbean  fruit  based  salad  dressings, marinades, sauces, and spices.

Corey’s Curry Chicken Strips with Cheesy Mac & Broccoli

Curry Chicken Strip Ingredients

1 Lb of Boneless skinless chicken breast or dark meat

4 tablespoons curry powder (not spicy)

2 oz. white onions (Julienne preferred)

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 ½ tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon of Olive or Canola Oil

Pinch of white or finely ground black pepper

Pinch of sea salt (optional)

Mac & Cheese/Broccoli Ingredients

6 ounces broccoli florets or chopped broccoli

½ lb of your favorite pasta

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

7 ounces of shredded mild cheddar (Add more or less to your liking)

Pinch of white or finely ground black pepper

Pinch of sea salt (optional)

Chicken Preparation

First, cut chicken into small strips and season with dash of Salt and Pepper, Curry powder to taste. Second, sauté Onions, Garlic, and Thyme in Olive/Canola oil until all ingredients are soft. Third, add the curry powder and stir for one minute to extract the flavors and aroma of the curry. Fourth, add chicken strips and sauté for two to three minutes. Then, add enough water to barely cover the chicken. Finally, add salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked and add the cilantro.

Mac & Cheese / Broccoli Preparation

First, boil two small pots of boiling water, in one pot cook and strain the pasta of your choice, and in the second pot, place broccoli in salted boiling water and cook for three to four minutes or until done. Second, place the pasta in a separate dish. Third, add heavy cream to the pot of boiling water and bring to a boil. Fourth, whisk the cheese in slowly and simmer until sauce gets thick enough to coat the pasta. Then slowly add the pasta and broccoli back into the pot with the cheese sauce, mix together and ENJOY!

But Oliver’s recipe has uncharacteristically curdled since he arrived in Los Angeles last fall to shoot his second U.S. TV series. “I’ve had a tough time here,” he conceded wearily in an interview. “Nothing that was planned has come off.”

The six-episode show was to revolve around one of Oliver’s favorite causes _ making school lunches healthier _ but ran under a rolling pin when the Los Angeles Unified School District objected to the chef’s key ingredient _ TV cameras.

“We’re interested in Jamie Oliver the food activist, not Jamie the reality TV star,” said Robert Alaniz, district spokesman. “We’ve invited him to work with our menu committee, but there’s too much drama, too much conflict with a reality show.”

It was quite a twist for Oliver.

The 35-year-old is a household name back home, where he’s been decorated by the Queen and cooked at 10 Downing Street. He heads a multimillion-dollar eponymously branded empire that has produced 20 TV series and specials, 14 bestselling cookbooks, 20 restaurants, cooking schools, a catering company, an array of cooking and dining products, supermarket endorsements, as well as a charity for disadvantaged youth.

You’d never know it, though, from his tousled hair that looks like he just rolled out of bed and a wardrobe of jeans and plaid shirts. The one-of-the-lads demeanor underscores the earnestness of his pitch for home, not haute, cuisine.

The son of a publican, he grew up cooking “pub grub.” He quit school at 16, after struggling for years with dyslexia and hyperactivity, and enrolled in catering college. In 1999, he landed his first TV show “The Naked Chef” after the BBC was filming the restaurant where he was working and saw he was an on camera natural.

Oliver’s concept is simple: obesity kills and cooking meals from scratch using fresh ingredients will save lives. It’s a message he wields with zeal in home kitchens, school classrooms, and corporate boardrooms.

He encourages the food industry to believe that caring can be commercial.

“They can make ethical change that will genuinely shift toward health and away from obesity,” said Oliver, who’s in constant motion_ even seated his leg bounces furiously.

School lunches are a particular passion for Oliver, a father of four. He revamped cafeteria cuisine in Britain and then turned his sights to Huntington, West Virginia, for his first U.S.-based TV show after an Associated Press poll labeled the area America’s unhealthiest.

Part of the show focused on a menu makeover in Cabell County Schools, a 12,700-student district. It wasn’t easy, said Jedd Flowers, district spokesman.

Oliver’s recipes didn’t adhere to state standards, food costs were higher and new suppliers had to be located, staff had to be rejiggered and new equipment bought _ a $200,000 industrial potato peeler, for example _ to stick to the freshly prepared mandate.

Cabell County kids weren’t enamored of new dishes like honey carrots and more started bringing brown-bag lunches. Lunch participation has since rebounded as kids’ tastebuds are getting used to the new food, which includes Oliver recipes like creamy coleslaw and chili con carne, Flowers said.

“He had the children’s interests at heart. The quality of the food is much better,” he said. “But the TV show was quite an ordeal. It was disruptive and used gimmicks. I can’t say the television show was a benefit, but looking at the process was.”

Oliver decided to set his second U.S. series in Los Angeles, home to the nation’s second-largest school district, which enrolls 650,000 mostly low-income children and serves 1.2 million meals daily.

“It’s such an amazing amount of meals a day,” said the chef.

The district said no. A previous sour experience with reality show “School Pride,” which used reenactments of made up incidents and left the school district with a bill, factored into Superintendent Ramon Cortines’ decision, as well as reports from Cabell County Schools, district spokesman Alaniz said.

However, West Adams Preparatory High School in Central Los Angeles, which is run by nonprofit MLA Partner Schools under contract with LAUSD, allowed Oliver on campus as a curriculum addition. After two weeks of filming, the district caught wind of it and booted the show.

“We aren’t happy about it,” said Mike McGalliard, president of MLA Partner Schools. “I told the district you guys are making a big fuss over nothing. It’s not an expose. It’s an incredible program.”

Nearly half of West Adams students are obese, he said, and all qualify for free lunches which feature items such as chicken nuggets and corn dogs, with sides like raw broccoli.

Oliver planted a community garden, mentored culinary arts students, lectured about portion size, caloric intake and diet-related disease, and set up a nearby community kitchen to give free classes in cooking fare such as roast chicken.

“They think Jamie is the threat. The threat is diabetes and high cholesterol,” said senior Caleb Villanueva, 17.

Sophia Ruvalcaba, 17, who has diabetes, as do her mother and sister, said Oliver came to their home for dinner. “He was just trying to make a healthier meal for us,” she said.

Oliver said he’s not trying to cast the school district in a bad light. He calls his style “documentary with stunts.” For example, he filled a school bus with 57 tons of white sand to represent the amount of sugar LAUSD kids children consume weekly in flavored milk.

Those kind of made-for-TV stunts are exactly what LAUSD finds unappetizing.

Alaniz said the district remains willing to work with Oliver _ off camera. They’ve suggested that he lend his expertise by coming up with three weeks of meal plans, adhering to the district’s food budget of 77 cents per meal and state standards.

Alaniz noted the district has been on its own culinary crusade for years, banning junk foods, soda, additives, dyes and certain fats and oils. Next year, chicken nuggets and pizza will be taken off the cafeteria lineup, replaced by student-taste-tested dishes such as California sushi roll, chicken tandoori, and Israeli couscous and veggie salad.

Oliver, however, is not one to give up a food fight.

He has a team of chefs working on the district’s menus and hopes the new superintendent slated to take over in April will be more flexible. In the meantime, he’s setting up four more community kitchens around LA, funded by the American Heart Association at a cost of about $180,000 each, to offer free cooking classes, and will be taking his mobile kitchen set up in an 18-wheeler around Southern California.

“I want the American public to expect more,” he said. “It might take a couple years to get there, but I’m deeply passionate that when everyone comes together, stuff changes.”

“It is so much more than just grabbing a jar of generic sauce at the store, boiling some water and mixing it all up in a bowl,” said Dave Hirschkop, the namesake of the Dave’s Gourmet (www.davesgourmet.com) line of sauces and veteran pasta and sauce aficionado. “There are subtle secrets in every step of the process, from choosing the sauce, boiling the water, and plating the finished meal that can take an everyday dull meal and turn it into a gourmet dining experience.”

He should know. His sauces have been named tops in the industry by the Sofi Awards two years running, making him a recognized expert in designing the perfect bowl of pasta. His tips include:

• Choosing the Pasta — If you want a great pasta experience, choose a variety of pasta that receives the sauce and spices well. Thinner more delicate shapes should pair with lighter thinner sauces.  Pick pasta made from durum wheat and a slightly rougher pasta or shaped pasta holds the sauce better.

• Choosing the Sauce — Good marinara is made primarily from tomatoes, not tomato paste. If your sauce ingredients list paste, water or sugar as the first ingredient, then you need to put the jar down slowly and back away from it.  Some sauces make a better base so don’t be afraid to doctor it with meat, cheese, or fresh veggies.  Also, to keep your pasta love life interesting, experiment with different flavors of sauce (tomato cream, butternut, wild mushroom, etc.).

• Boiling the Pasta — Use plenty of water, add salt to it, and never put dry pasta in the water until it has reached a rolling boil. Stir occasionally and, once the pasta nears the minimum cooking time on the package start tasting it. Take the pasta out when it is al dente or a little firm.  The pasta will continue to cook a little after you take it out.
• Heating the Sauce – For an even more flavorful pasta dish take the pasta out of the water a few minutes early and let it finish cooking in the sauce.

• Plating the Pasta — When you strain the pasta, do not run water over the pasta unless you are making a cold pasta salad.  Make sure to strain really well as nobody likes watery pasta. Place a ladle of sauce at the bottom of your serving bowl before dumping the cooked pasta in. Then, ladle generous amounts of sauce into the bowl, and toss the pasta so the sauce is evenly distributed. Then you can add extra sauce to each plate according to your dinner guests’ taste.  You might want to garnish each plate with some fresh basil or even parsley.  Freshly grated Parmesan or Parmesan Reggiano is a great touch and tasty

• Preparing the Bread — The bread is important, because at the end of the meal, a good textured bread can be used to soak up the excess sauce in the plate. To make the most of the bread, bake it for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees. This will make for toasty nooks and crannies that will capture the sauce in your plate without letting the bread go limp or soggy.  Garlic bread can also be a delicious alternative.

“A great pasta meal is all about the details and the creative flair,” Dave added. “If you take care to pay attention to those details and put forth a tiny bit of extra effort, every pasta meal at home can be a gourmet meal you can be proud of.”

Russ Handler
Print Campaign Manager
News and Experts
1127 Grove Street · Clearwater, Florida 33755
Phone: 727-443-7115 EXT 206
www.newsandexperts.com

This year, ditch the messy brines, the crazy deep-frying or the tedious smoking. Big, boldly flavored herb-and-spice rubs offer easy 5-minute solutions that give turkey (and, if you like, its side dishes) a powerful punch. Whether you prefer classic American or international accents, a seasoning rub will make your Thanksgiving cooking easier and more flavorful.

“Your big three are sage, thyme and rosemary,” says Laurie Harrsen, spokeswoman for McCormick & Company. “They work well together so you get a nice balanced flavor.”

For example, if you lean traditional, a couple tablespoons of dried sage, rosemary, thyme, a sprinkle of garlic powder and a big dash of salt and ground black pepper capture that classic taste. For color, you can add a pinch of paprika _ sweet or smoked. For a bit of kick, try a hint of cayenne or mustard powder.

Whatever your combination, the method is the same. Combine all of your seasonings (any large leaves or whole spices should be well crumbled or ground) until evenly blended. Rub the inside and outside of your raw turkey with oil or melted butter, then rub the seasoning blend over both the inside and outside of the bird. For even better flavor, rub some of the mixture under the skin of the bird, too. Then simply roast as normal.

And be sure to use the pan drippings to make gravy, as they will be well seasoned and pair wonderfully with the turkey meat.

For a crunchy twist on the classic rub, combine those same herbs and spices with a cup of crumbled, day-old cornbread. Gently pat the mixture onto the turkey to create a golden crust. “It’s like you’re stuffing inside out,” Harrsen says. Just be sure to cover the bird with foil to avoid burning the crust.

While you’re at it, a sliced lemon or orange tossed into the cavity with a bay leaf and a quartered onion seasons the bird from the inside and creates richly-scented pan juices.

For sides that continue the classic theme, sweet potatoes mashed or roasted with a sprinkle of cinnamon, powdered ginger, brown sugar and a bit of dried thyme go nicely. And all mashed potatoes need are a handful of fresh parsley to get an herbal, fresh taste that contrasts nicely with the rich cream and butter in them. Keep the stuffing traditional, Harrsen suggests, with either white bread or cornbread, celery, onion, broth and some of the spices you used on the turkey.

But let’s say you’re tired of eating like the Pilgrims. Go Asian. Pick a pre-made spice blend, such as Chinese five-spice powder, suggests cookbook author Andrea Nguyen, and amplify some of its flavors.

“Take star anis and toast it in a skillet, then grind it up,” she says. “Do the same with Sichuan peppercorns. Then add light brown sugar and soy sauce, and you’ve got a little rub.”

A sticky rub made by whirring shallots, garlic, lemon grass, fish sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and black pepper in a mini-food processor also delivers Asian flavor that can stand up to turkey. Make sure to spread it under and over the skin. Tweak the pan juices with hoisin, sesame oil and rice wine or dry sherry for a Peking duck-like dipping sauce.

Nguyen suggests starting the stuffing with fully cooked, short-grain rice and adding scallions, garlic, cilantro, shiitake mushrooms, rice wine or sherry, and maybe a little Chinese sausage. A drizzle of sesame oil and a handful of fresh cilantro added just before serving brightens the flavors.

And instead of creamed spinach, stir-fry greens with garlic and sesame seeds, Nguyen says. And the sweet potatoes couldn’t be simpler _ roast them in the jackets until they’re good and caramelized, then sprinkle them with a bit of salty soy sauce.

“Thanksgiving is a fun day to blend a lot of culinary traditions,” Nguyen says. “That’s what Thanksgiving is.”

If you’re feeling truly adventurous, delve into the flavors of North Africa. It’s unlikely you’ve got a turkey-sized tagine, but a blend of powdered ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric and black pepper mimics the classic Moroccan preparation.

The big flavors of schawarma _ cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, sumac, black pepper and mahleb (crushed sour cherry pit) _ also work well on turkey, says Aziz Osmani, an owner of the New York specialty food shop Kalustyan’s. Spike the pan juices with spicy harissa for some kick.

Start your stuffing with cooked couscous, and add chopped dates, toasted pine nuts, orange zest and a sprinkle of powdered cumin and coriander. Mash or roast your sweet potatoes with fresh orange juice and more zest. For a delicious shot of authenticity, drizzle the green beans with argan oil, a nutty, peppery oil made by pressing the almond-like fruit of Morocco’s thorny argan tree. Finish them with toasted almond slivers.

But if all you want is a fresh take on good old American food, try barbecued turkey _ right in the oven.

Paul Kirk, a charter member of the Kansas City Barbeque Society, suggests starting with a half-cup of white sugar and a half-cup of brown sugar, massaged with a tablespoon of cornstarch to dry it out. Then play mix-and-match with your favorite flavored salts _ seasoned salt, garlic salt, celery salt, onion salt _ until you have 1 cup of them. Add a half-cup of paprika for color, a couple tablespoons of chili powder and an equal amount of black pepper.

“Those five ingredients are a basic rub,” Kirk says. Make it your own by adding a teaspoon of other flavors you enjoy, such as oregano, allspice, chipotle powder or lemon zest. And when it comes out? “Delicious,” he says. “Turkey with a slight smoked flavor.”

Kirk thickens the pan juices with water from his mashed potatoes and a bit of flour. Cornbread stuffing made with celery, onions, stock and poultry seasoning creates a perfect match.

Instead of green beans, consider serving corn on the cob. Instead of mashed potatoes, why not baked beans? “I love baked beans,” Kirk says. “I doctor up canned baked beans and get all kinds of compliments.”

To follow Kirk’s lead, rinse the canned beans, add brown sugar, barbecue sauce and a dash of the rub. A hit of mustard and pork _ bacon, hog jowl, brisket ends _ fills out the flavor.

The ordinance, passed unanimously by the five-member board, comes up for a final vote next week, said county spokesman Brian Lew. If it is passed it will take effect 30 days from that date, Lew said.

It will require food trucks and also smaller pushcarts operating in Los Angeles County to provide health inspectors with their routes so they can be scheduled for surprise inspections, just as restaurants are. They will be issued A, B and C grades, depending on their cleanliness. Any vendor who scores lower than a 70 _ the lowest C grade _ can be shut down immediately.

Food truck operators, who are quick to point out they already are inspected twice a year, said before Tuesday’s vote that they welcomed the opportunity to be graded. Current regulations call for them to be inspected annually on the road and also at the commissaries where they park their trucks to be cleaned overnight. But they are not issued grades.

“It’s like a course in college where you do all the work and don’t get the letter grade,” said Matt Geller, vice president of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association. “One of the things you see as a result of that is this myth that gets propagated that, ‘Oh, those trucks aren’t even regulated, they’re rogue trucks.’ There’s a whole lot less opportunity to say that when there’s a big A staring you in the face.”

For trucks that operate inside one of Los Angeles County’s 88 cities, that city must also pass a companion ordinance before health officials can conduct the inspections.

An estimated 10,000 food vehicles traverse the streets of Los Angeles County when both small carts peddling things like churros and hot dogs are counted alongside the full-scale, rolling restaurants like the Kogi Korean BBQ wagon that launched the so-called gourmet food truck phenomenon in Los Angeles County two years ago.

Since then trucks offering such delicacies as crepes, exotic desserts and various forms of fusion food have proliferated in front of office buildings, nightclubs and a handful of lots set aside just for them.

Dr. Jonathan Fielding, head of the Los Angeles County Health Department, said they won’t charge the operators additional fees for the first year after the changes, but will study whether the cost of regulating the trucks increases. He said having them post their schedules may make it less costly to find them.

The trucks’ explosion in popularity called for health officials to push for the grades, Fielding said.

“We had people say, ‘Why can’t you also give us a grade for food trucks?”’ Fielding told The Associated Press before the vote.

“Like everybody else, I’d like to know the grade,” he added, acknowledging he eats at the trucks from time to time himself.

Or, as Terry Lee Stone, co-author of the recently published “Booze Cakes” cookbook puts it, “Baking is fun and drinking is fun _ let’s combine them!”

Stone and Krystina Castella, friends from teaching at a design college in Pasadena, started working on the book after Stone was inspired when making an old cake recipe of her mother’s that called for adding alcohol.

But the concoctions they came up with for their book go well beyond the typically tame “add a tablespoon of kirsch” school of cooking with liquor.

“It was really important to us that you tasted the alcohol,” Castella says. “When we first developed the idea, there really wasn’t much out there. We found people adding different liquors and alcohols to food, but not much in baking.”

The recipes they did find generally used liquor as a substitute for vanilla. “So we would find (recipes calling for) one teaspoon of rum. One teaspoon of rum is not going to really give it a rum flavor. You might need 1/4 cup of rum and then soak it in rum and having rum frosting.”

Castella and Stone have invited readers to explore variations on their themes and bloggers have enthusiastically taken to it, posting their results on the “Booze Cakes” Facebook page.

In fact, there seems to be a surge of interest in baking with libations. A second book, “The Boozy Baker,” by the aptly named Lucy Baker, also was released this year.

Baker sees a general trend toward slow-paced activities like baking that she views as a reaction to a high-speed, 24-7 world. “People are looking for ways to relax, to kick back, to reconnect. Having a speakeasy inspired cocktail is one way to do that and another way to do that is baking.”

Baker was inspired to try adding liquor while looking for something to do with a bottle of ouzo that ended up in her pantry. The anise-flavored drink worked surprisingly well in a cake, and soon she was “pouring in a little bit of this and a little bit of that into all my different recipes and finding that it really worked well.” The alcohol enhanced the flavor and made dessert “seem a little more indulgent.”

Her book covers pies, cookies and other desserts as well as cakes, and recipes include a margarita meringue pie and Champagne layer cake. Among her discoveries, ginger liqueur goes great with peach and Port is surprisingly good with fruit.

In their book, Castella and Stone tackle a little chemistry along with confectionery, providing a chart on how much alcohol is likely to remain in cakes depending on how large they are and how long they bake. Some of the alcohol burns off, but not all. And whatever you use for soaking or put in frosting, stays there.

They cook with spirits, wine and beer and went for some unusual combinations, such as their Jagermeister Deutsch German chocolate cake.

They have a chapter on the classics, such as fruit cakes and Black Forest cherry cake, as well as new twists, such as a cocktail cupcake chapter that incorporates the flavors of classic drinks.

As they explored alcohol as a flavoring, they found some spirits work better than others.

Castella, who isn’t fond of gin in drinks, didn’t like it in cakes either. “I felt like it was too antiseptic tasting.”

But bourbon turned out to be a winner, as did the combination of tequila and chocolate.

Cooking with liquor is something that French pastry chefs have done for years, notes cookbook author Dorie Greenspan, whose latest is “Around My French Table.” Those chefs “always had a little liquor cabinet, often under lock and key, used for flavoring,” she said.

What seems to be new about the approach is marrying the trend of culinary cocktails, in which liquors are being used in new and creative ways, with baking. “This is a rebirth and a rethinking,” she said.

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Online:

Booze Cakes: http://www.boozecakes.com

The Boozy Baker: http://www.abookintheoven.com

Dorie Greenspan: http://doriegreenspan.com

Most grocers carry chai concentrates that can be diluted with milk and heated for a comforting beverage. If you can’t find the chai cream liqueur called for in this recipe, substitute an equal amount of the concentrate.

BRANDY APPLE CHAI CAKE

Start to finish: 1 1/2 hours

Servings: 10

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups canola oil

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped

3 1/4 cups apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

1/4 cup brandy

For the chai glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 Voyant Chai cream liqueur OR 2 tablespoons heavy cream mixed with 2 tablespoons chai concentrate

Heat the oven to 325 F. Coat a 10-inch Bundt cake pan with cooking spray and flour (or baking spray).

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the oil and sugar until thick and smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Stir in the walnuts, apples and brandy. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a knife inserted at the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients.

Remove the cake from the pan by inverting onto a plate or platter. Pour the glaze over it.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 761 calories; 409 calories from fat (54 percent of total calories); 46 g fat (5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 69 mg cholesterol; 85 g carbohydrate; 7 g protein; 3 g fiber; 166 mg sodium.

(Recipe adapted from Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone’s “Booze Cakes,” Quirk, 2010)

His winning burger _ a beef patty topped with his own pastrami, Swiss cheese and coleslaw on a brioche bun _ edged out a spice-crusted burger with slaw and barbecue sauce by fellow Food Network star Bobby Flay.

“It’s unbelievable. We’re here with some of the best chefs and some of my best friends,” Symon said.

The award is part of the Burger Bash, an annual event at the festival hosted by Rachael Ray. Chefs from around the country gather on the beach for a massive grill session and let attendees vote for best burger.

Last year’s winner, Spike Mendelsohn, this time offered up a burger topped with applewood smoked bacon and American cheese, as well as a cotton candy milkshake.

Symon’s winning burger is a menu staple at his B Spot restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tigeorges Chicken is located in Echo Park

Jean-Marie Monfort Hebert Georges Fils Laguerre is out to lend his considerable name to efforts to revive “Haitian Bleu,” a specialty coffee from the Caribbean island nation.

Laguerre is also putting his nickname — Tigeorges — behind the cause.

Both names have special meaning in this campaign, because Laguerre is a native of Haiti and also the owner of Tigeorges Chicken, which does a brisk business inside its modest quarters at 309 N. Glendale Boulevard in the Echo Park district northwest of Downtown.

The restaurant is one of several business lined up in row, occupying spaces in a workmanlike building that fronts the traffic zooming down Glendale Boulevard enroute to the Westlake district and Downtown. The interior is a different story — colorful, unique, aromatic. Then there’s Leguerre, who remains as passionate about cooking as the day his grandmother began to show him around the family kitchen in Haiti.

Tigeorges offers free coffee to curious tasters

Turns out that Laguerre is just as passionate about the organic coffee beans he brings from Haiti to roast, brew, and serve to customers at Tigeorges.

“When people come to the restaurant, I want them to feel at home,” says Laguerre. “I am actually taking Haiti from Haiti and bringing it to California. And I am the only Haitian for the last 40 years who has managed to hang on to a Haitian restaurant” in the area.

Customers have long come from all over the city and region to enjoy the rotisserie chicken and other specialties at Tigeorges. The Haitian Bleu Cafe Au Lait is just as popular lately. Laguerre whipped up a cup for a customer on a recent afternoon, insisting that she add sugar in order to bring out the flavor. He didn’t hesitate to tell her that Haitian Bleu is “the best coffee in the world.”

The young lady took a sip, smiled — and agreed.

Haiti’s Heroes of Independence is part of the display at Tigeorges Chicken

The tasty delight traces its roots to a country that has a tortured history in many respects, with nearly non-stop political tumult and foreign interference since slaves won their freedom by overthrowing Haiti’s colonial masters in 1803. The history also includes the development of a coffee industry, although that page has been blotted out of the minds of many by the most recent cycle of political and economic problems that have washed over the land in the past few decades.

“When I was a child in Haiti, there were three countries in the world known for the best coffee: Brazil, Columbia and Haiti,” Laguerre says, offering some insight on the potential he sees in Haitian Bleu as a comeback candidate.

He should know, too — his father was a coffee grower who also owned a coffee mill on the island. That background no doubt helps when Laguerre travels to Haiti and personally picks out the coffee from the local farmers, importing the stuff back to Los Angeles for roasting.

Colonial-style decoarations on the wall

The history of Haiti is inescapable for Laguerre, though. His restaurant prominently displays a Haitian flag alongside miniature models of French colonial style homes with symmetrical facades and cable roofs. The models rest amid colorful paintings of Haiti and its people.

The nation’s rugged journey through history plays a backhanded role in the coffee that Laguerre serves. French traders of yesteryear brought slaves to work on the plantations in Haiti and returned to Europe with their ships filled with valuable timber stripped from the country’s mountain slopes. Colonial landowners could often make more money on the timber and other crops grown for export — such as coffee — compared to food raised for local consumption.

So agricultural production for Haiti itself got short shrift, and the chronic food shortages remain part of the country’s living history. Many other downsides of colonial times remain in Haiti — but so does the coffee, offering at least a silver lining for the country’s difficult history.

Laguerre honors Hatian history, but he’s also fully engaged in the present. He takes great pride in his cuisine and his business, as well as his role as a prominent member of small-but-vibrant Haitian emigre community in the Los Angeles area, a group that numbers 3,000 or so.

“I started telling family and friends that I was going to open a restaurant in 1997,” Laguerre says “I built a rotisserie in my backyard and began preparing different foods and invited neighbors to sample the Haitian experience.”

Tigeorges Chicken became a reality in 2002, and folks have been getting information on Haiti served up with their Haitian food ever since.

Now Laguerre is committed to Haitian coffee, so just stand by.

Or sit down and have a cup while Laguerre gives you the background.

“Haiti was the guru of producing coffee, before Jamaica was crowned supreme,” he says. “Somehow Haiti ended up being on the back burner. I’m working to bring Haiti to the front burner.”

Sheannette Virtue is a writer for Carib Press.

Photos by Carib Press