After a decade working for Emeril Lagasse in New Orleans, Louisiana native Isaac Toups and his wife Amanda decided to go out on their own. So eight years ago they opened Toups Meatery, a restaurant inspired by Isaac’s Cajun upbringing that he melded with his training in fine dining kitchens. He draws on his family’s 300 years of living in Louisiana, serving dishes like his grandmother’s Gulf seafood couvillion, house made charcuterie and crispy turkey necks.
In this episode of Robb Report Culinary School, Toups joins culinary editor Jeremy Repanich to show how he makes a Cajun classic he’s been cooking all of his life: gumbo. Toups explains the holy trinity of Cajun cooking, the importance of making a dark-but-not-burned roux, how to adjust the recipe for a seafood version, what he serves with gumbo and details the cooking projects he’s tackled during the pandemic.
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