Peppery Cajun foods followed shortly by chalky St. Louis TUMS are an annual part of the Soulard Mardi Gras festival for many of us. Although Fat Tuesday doesn't roll around for a few more weeks (March 8 to be exact), the festivities commence next weekend.
New this year, the Soulard Mardi Gras Gourmet Weekend means more tastes, more fun, and possibly more antacid during the pre-Lenten bacchanal.
The three-day culinary fest, from February 17 to 19, is actually not in Soulard -- it’s at the 1904 World Fair’s Pavilion in Forest Park, so steer your golf cart to the north, if you will.
Thursday night’s Champion’s Dinner will be coordinated by Chef Jack MacMurray, formerly of Sage, the 2009 Crystal Cajun Cook-Off Champion, 2010 Crystal Cajun Cook-Off Runner Up, and Winner of the 2010 Taste of St. Louis Master Chef Competition. His five-course dinner (preceded by cocktails under the Bud Light Tent), includes Cajun shrimp-and-crab bisque; warm goat cheese/spinach salad with spiced pecans, strawberries, and hot bacon dressing; smoked duck breast with a spiced bing cherry glaze over scallion grits; Andouille-sausage-stuffed Berkshire pork loin with sweet potato gratin, spinach Cajun cream, and fried spinach; and chocolate truffle cake with pistachio brittle and a duo of spiked raspberry sauces.
Friday night’s Wine & Beer Taste is one of those events where you buy a booklet of tickets and redeem them for samples at dozens of tables. The wine comes courtesy of the Hahn Family of Wines (featuring the Bin 36 group), Missouri Beverage portfolios, Brown-Forman, and those tried-and-true Missouri wineries.
Saturday afternoon’s Crystal Cajun Cook-Off is a sort of foodie purgatory – you get to look, and you get to taste, but because of health regulations, you can’t taste the competition dishes. Ten professional and 10 amateur chefs compete for the title of Best Cajun Chef (in their respective categories), and Johnny's will provide samples of Cajun and Creole favorites. (Of course there will also be live music, and the standard deluge of adult beverages.) Recipes from the competing chefs are available for download at stlmardigras.org.
The thought of erecting a tent in a quiet corner of Forest Park and stumbling into and out of it for the weekend’s besotted festivities is tempting, especially since the weather forecast calls for a bead-bearingly balmy sixty degrees.
The following weekend and the weekend after that? More events. Then, finally, thankfully, officially: Mardi Gras.
