Annie Laura Squalls and Her Mile High Pie
In “Annie Laura Squalls and Her Mile High Pie,” Gravy producer Kayla Stewart tells the story of Annie Laura Squalls, who, in 1960, became head baker at the Caribbean Room, the popular in-house restaurant at New Orleans’ renowned Pontchartrain Hotel. It was there where Squalls created her “Seven Mile High Pie,” known colloquially as the “Mile High Pie.” But while many people know the legendary pie, most don’t know the baker behind it.
Squalls was no ordinary baker. Though she never attended culinary school, she could make sweet magic happen, often thinking on her feet to tweak a recipe to perfection. Chef Nathaniel Burton and activist and socialite Rudy Lombard included Squalls’ Mile High Pie recipe in their 1978 book Creole Feast: Fifteen Master Chefs of New Orleans Reveal Their Secrets, writing, “No one could duplicate her expertise.”
The Mile High Pie is a twist on a Baked Alaska, with layers of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry or peppermint ice cream in a pie crust, topped with tall peaks of meringue and chocolate sauce. The dessert is prominently on display in New Orleans. Vogue once named it one of the city’s most decadent desserts. Still today, it’s the first item listed on the dessert menu in the restaurant at the Pontchartrain Hotel. The hotel promotes their long-running Mile High Club, an exclusive dining experience named for the dish. Yet Stewart found no reference anywhere to Annie Laura Squalls.
That lack of recognition speaks to a bigger issue. Despite the multicultural influences that have made New Orleans cuisines so globally-lauded, Black pastry chefs, cooks, and culinary innovators have rarely been given adequate appreciation or recognition for their invaluable influences on the city’s cuisine.
In this episode, Stewart speaks to Zella Palmer, chair and director of the Dillard University Ray Charles program in African American Material Culture who aims to trace and amplify the work of Black chefs and cooks in and around New Orleans. She also interviews historian Theresa McCulla, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and Kaitlin Guerin, pastry cook and owner of New Orleans’ Lagniappe Baking. In her reporting, Stewart shows how remembering stories like Squalls’ allows us to understand a true, fuller history of New Orleans.
Temp-tations Floral Lace Set of 2 9 Deep Dish Pie Plates with Mary Beth Roe
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Deep South Dining | Thanksgiving Friendsgiving with LeAnne Doss Gault and Chef Enrika Williams
Thanksgiving is a season of harvest, a time to come together, share and to unite. Carol Puckett and Malcolm White continue their Thanksgiving countdown, with a true Friendsgiving style conversation. Friends LeAnne Doss Gault and Chef Enrika Williams join the conversation to talk Thanksgiving, pie baking tips, Thanksgiving memories and favorite side dishes.
Email the show: food@mpbonline.org.
How Ina Garten Does It | The New York Times
An intimate conversation with everyone’s favorite East End home cook.
Watch as The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, joins New York Times Food reporter Julia Moskin to share the process and personal stories behind her latest cookbook, “Go-To Dinners,” focused on satisfying and uncomplicated meals.
#nytfoodfestival
New Orleans Street Vendors, Then and Now
In New Orleans Street Vendors, Old and New, Gravy explores the history of street food vendors in New Orleans, from Mr. Okra to the pralinière, or praline vendor. A conversation with urbanist Amy Stelly, who grew up in Tremé and remembers when street vendors populated her neighborhood, reveals that there is a fraught line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. What is the legacy of street vendors today?
We Have Bill Neal to Thank for Shrimp and Grits
Before celebrity chefs became a central part of American food culture, Bill Neal was changing the face of Southern cuisine. In this video from Southern Foodways Alliance, Neal is remembered for his handmade approach to restaurant cooking, the legacy he began at Crook’s Corner, and of course, for pioneering shrimp and grits.
For more information about SFA, click here:
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