Announcer: Funding for "Louisiana Coastal Cooking" was provided by the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation, Inc. and by the Plaquemines Parish Tourism Commission.

A short drive from New Orleans, Plaquemines Parish offers a diverse variety of fishing, fresh seafood, rich history, and environmental activities in Louisiana's Delta Country.

Learn more at... [ Birds chirping ] Courtney P: At the southernmost point of Jefferson Parish on the Gulf of Mexico lies Grand Isle, Louisiana's only inhabited barrier island.

This time on "Louisiana Coastal Cooking," we'll travel to the popular sport-fishing community for Paddlepalooza, a Kayak Fishing contest that's the inspiration for our catch of the day -- two Gulf seafood specialties.

[ Country music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The pirate Jean Lafitte frequented the Grand Isle area, and legend has it that some of his hidden gold may be buried there.

Participants in the Paddlepalooza Kayak Fishing tournament seek a different kind of treasure, one pulled from the waters of Bayou Lafourche and the Gulf.

The 20-year-old competition is hosted by the Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club.

This is our 20th Paddlepalooza, and I've been a member from the very beginning.

When I got in it, it was like 25 people in the whole club.

And at one time, we were over 500 members that had come every year to our two big tournaments.

It's just -- It's like a family reunion now, they've been coming so long.

We have a lot of women, and generally, we have a lot of kids, too.

We have a kids division, a women's division, and we also have a seniors division.

When I joined, there was probably about four of us.

This past year, it started -- I mean, I think we have double digits now, which is great.

We love it.

And the club is awesome to all the ladies that join.

They show us all respect.

I didn't start fishing until four years ago, And so it was like a fast track and being on the water all the time.

Courtney P: This year, the fishing contest that winds down Bayou Lafourche from Golden Meadow to the Gulf presented even more of a challenge due to wind gusts of 20 to 30 miles per hour.

The wind was brutal today.

Today was one of the hardest ones as far as the wind goes.

You just had to find pockets that didn't have it, which is hard in Grand Isle.

So it was an all-day battle.

I had a blast no matter what.

I had a blast.

Courtney P: Over the years, the fishing club has responded to changes anglers have observed in the coastal marsh.

I've been fishing this area since I was 5 or 6 years old, as soon as my Daddy would bring me down there.

But the changes are just unbelievable.

Just right up the road in Leesville, they used to have orange groves growing natural, and they had a cemetery on the corner back there.

All that's gone.

I mean, even the cemetery is gone.

It's just eroded away.

Those last two hurricanes really were brutal to this area down here.

The fish just aren't here, as good as -- They're starting to make a comeback, but they're just not like they used to be.

When the club started 20 years ago, people -- we would have tournaments where people would keep their limits, which was back in the day, 25 trout, 5 redfish, 10 flounder.

A lot of the people in the club realized fishing these tournaments every year, we see when the redfish population is declining, the trout population, the flounder population.

We've taken I think a conservative approach now.

We have had different formats in our kayak tournaments.

Some events, we'll do a catch, photo, and a release.

And, then, some tournaments, we'll do just, like, a string-them-and-bring-them tournament, if you will, where we're frying the fish that we catch here for everybody's enjoyment.

The rules today are a slam tournament.

It is the aggregate weight of three species -- the redfish, the flounder, and the speckled trout.

This is one of the few tournaments where we actually keep the fish, we bring them in, we weigh them.

People donate the fish, or they take some of the fish home.

And, then, afterwards, we clean all the fish.

And we have Ryan Gaudet and Spahr's here today, and we do a big fish fry.

Courtney P: For Ryan Gaudet, Kayak Fishing Club member and executive chef for Spahr's Seafood and 3 Piers Seafood Market, the sport combines his hobby with his love of cooking.

I pretty much touch fish every single day.

If I'm at work in the restaurant, I'm cooking fish.

If I'm at the seafood market, I'm cleaning fish.

And if I'm off for the day, I'm typically in my kayak in the Louisiana marsh, trying to catch fish.

You know, being in a kayak is awesome, because we can typically go where boats don't go.

We can get real shallow, redfish in the Louisiana marsh.

When they get real shallow, it's very easy to target them.

You can pretty much just see them -- see them swimming, throw your favorite lure right at them.

And it's a thrill to be pulled around in the marsh while you're sitting in a little, you know, plastic boat.

They call that, you know, riding the bull.

Courtney P: Next, we're off to Spahr's Seafood in Des Allemands to join Chef Ryan in the kitchen for tuna sliders.

Today we're making some ahi tuna sliders.

They are topped with a lemon-ginger aioli and a cucumber, red-onion salad.

Typically, what we're trying to get out of the tuna is the loin, which every tuna has four loins.

And from those loins, you get steaks.

And that's what everybody wants to buy, is those steaks.

So, we end up with a lot of leftover parts?

This is a collar.

This is a -- part of the tail.

And what we found is that we can scrape this meat off, which is a lot of reusable meat, and we can make something else with it.

So, starting with this collar... you can see that it's all this bright-red meat is just -- it's perfectly fine.

We're just gonna cut a little bit of it out... as best as we can.

[ Down-tempo music plays ] ♪♪ So, pieces that we can't cut out, something as simple as a spoon will allow us to push it right out.

And we'll just -- We'll get rid of this.

And we'll take this.

♪♪ It gives the meat the consistency that we want to make a patty.

It kind of grinds it up for us in a sense.

This is probably enough for three or four orders of our tuna sliders.

And we're gonna give it a nice, little chop, make sure it's all minced up really good.

♪♪ ♪♪ Next, we've got to season that.

And to season it, we've got this kind of Asian-inspired mix.

We're gonna start with some fresh-grated ginger.

We've got some minced garlic.

♪♪ Fresh-diced jalapeño.

♪♪ Fresh cilantro.

This is a little bit of soy sauce.

Every chef's secret ingredient -- a little bit of fish sauce -- well, a lot of fish sauce.

And a little bit of sugar to sweeten that up.

♪♪ [ Blender whirring ] And so what we're looking for is for that cilantro to just break down really good.

Alright.

Got a nice, little puree in here.

All of our seasonings.

So, we've got about... a pound of meat here.

And we're gonna add 2 -- 2 or 3 tablespoons.

We're gonna give that a little mix.

Just looking for the overall consistency here.

Just looking at how much -- I mean, you can really put as much as you want, as long as the tuna stays kind of packed together.

We're gonna use a little portion scoop... to scoop some of this mixture.

Take a little bit of our mixture here.

And... portion it right onto this plate.

Using that spoon to scrape the meat, it kind of smashes the tuna... and it really holds its shape... kind of keeping everything tight and together.

So, we've got our tuna sliders.

We've got a very hot griddle.

You can do this in a skillet.

You can do these on the grill outside.

They're really quick.

The hotter the cooking surface, the better.

[ Sizzling ] You don't need any oil.

Tuna when it's ready to be flipped will just kind of release from the grill.

We just like to use the scraps, as it gives us a way to utilize that product without it going to waste.

And it's really about 30 to 45 seconds per side.

It's really not very long.

They hold together very well.

Alright.

So, these are done.

Our tuna patties are done.

We're ready to throw them on our slider buns and dress them and serve them.

So, we'll start by mixing our cucumber... and our red onion.

And we're gonna add just a little bit of sweetened rice wine vinegar.

That's gonna kind of help pickle these vegetables just a little bit.

Alright.

We'll let that sit.

This is our aioli.

This is a brioche slider bun.

We'll dress the tops of these buns with a little bit of our aioli.

You got to give it enough aioli for the cucumber salad to hold in place.

Alright.

And now we can go with our patties.

And we can top them off.

There you have an ahi tuna slider, lemon-ginger aioli, and a little cucumber salad.

[ Animals calling ] I typically hit a couple of different marsh ecosystems throughout South Lafourche or South Terrebonne Parish.

And almost every time you go out, it's a little different.

So you might throw off this one, little specific point in the marsh that has a little drop-off, but now that point's gone, and you don't know where that drop-off is anymore.

So you do see a lot of changes, more so after, say, a significant storm, like, right after Ida.

If you fish the same area every day for a year, when you went back out after Ida, it's a whole new landscape.

Courtney P: Our final stop is New Orleans East for a Jamaican classic prepared by Jessica Dandridge-Smith, director of The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans, an organization that focuses on water justice.

At the home of her grandmother, Betty Palmer, and with support from her mother, Dinah Campbell, Jessica makes escovitch fish -- a salute to her late grandfather, Cecil Palmer, who established New Orleans' first Jamaican restaurant.

Today, we are making escovitch fish, which is a traditional Jamaican dish.

And the reason why I chose it is because it's something that my grandfather made for us as a family, but also made at a lot of festivals.

Courtney P: Escovitch is typically made with red snapper, but any white, flaky Gulf fish can be used.

The scales and fins of the fish have been removed.

Traditionally, and for escovitch fish, you normally actually keep the head on for it.

Courtney P: Boneless fillets can be used instead of whole fish.

I like to start with a little bit of thyme.

Some black pepper, a good amount.

And then some onion powder.

And ginger.

I like a lot of ginger, 'cause I like the flavor, but I know sometimes it's a bit pungent.

And, then, this is not a typical way to do it.

I put Creole seasoning on it, and then a little bit of salt to taste.

So we're just mixing that up.

And, then, the most important ingredient in all Jamaican cooking is Scotch bonnet peppers.

Even though these are dried, they came shipped straight from Jamaica, so right from the source.

So, as you see, I'm using just, like, a little teaspoon.

And, again, this is enough for all of the fish.

So, now that it's now -- the seasonings are all mixed, I usually like to use gloves for this part.

Again, I have the fish in.

I'm just gonna squeeze a little lime juice on them.

And then I put a little bit of oil.

This is, again, just to stick it -- They're gonna fry in the pan.

So, the oil that I'm using for the fish is avocado oil, and the reasoning is it has a high smoke point.

Alright.

And I just... sprinkle it on there with the oil and the lime juice.

I'm gonna rub it in, and I'm gonna turn them around in just a moment.

And I, also, when I did the fish, I cut little slices in there so it gets in.

You want to put it in the cavity of the fish, as well.

Alright.

That looks beautiful.

So, we're gonna let these marinate for a little bit.

We don't need to do too long although you could do it overnight if you absolutely prefer.

The other part of the dish is also gonna be rice and peas, which is also a traditional side in Jamaica.

But, again, because we're living in Louisiana, it's not that easy to find peas, so you can always substitute red beans.

It's a very common substitute.

Had these boiling for about 20 minutes.

It's kind of reduced down a little bit, but that's actually perfect, because we're gonna add our seasonings to the beans.

And they're still a little tough.

And that's okay.

That's expected.

So we're gonna put a little bit more water in here.

[ Sizzling ] And so I have some coconut milk here.

I'm gonna open that up.

I'm gonna put about half a can.

You don't need the full can to be in there.

Traditionally, you want to have a little bit of fresh thyme.

So, you just want to have a small handful.

This is again for flavoring the rice and the beans.

And, then, a few stalks of green onion.

Some folks also say spring onion.

And, then, I'm gonna put one clove of garlic, just for the flavor.

And put that in there.

And I'm gonna let that boil up for another 10 to 15 more minutes, because, again, the beans are already a bit soft.

Alright.

So, again, I have the beans getting cooked in there.

They need to kind of get a little bit more salt.

You want to put it on a medium-high heat, because we're really trying to get a nice fry on them.

I'm gonna put a good amount of avocado oil, because, again, we're frying.

These are five whole fish, so you need a nice amount.

And that's pretty good right there.

[ Mid-tempo music plays ] Courtney P: While the oil heats up, Jessica reminisces about her grandfather.

Jessica: So, my grandfather had the first Jamaican restaurant in New Orleans.

He immigrated here in the '70s, opened up his restaurant in the '80s with my grandmother.

Over time, he started doing Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest and Gumbo Fest.

He probably did every festival in the city at one point.

He passed away, and, then, suddenly, overnight, I was like, "I guess I have to cook."

Now me and my mom run the business all together.

My grandmother still helps.

She still pitches in.

We just do one festival, though.

We just do Jazz Fest.

And these are actually our Jazz Fest aprons.

I always feel after watching him for so long that he's always with me when I'm cooking.

I feel his spirit all the all the time.

The avocado oil is nice and hot.

I can feel the heat rising from it.

And so now I'm gonna add my fish to it.

I have, like -- again, these are a whole fish, so I probably add comfortably maybe two or three.

[ Sizzling ] I have one headless fish for my grandmother, who requested no head.

So... We're gonna let those be.

We'll fry up for give or take I would say about five minutes, because we're gonna put the sauce on top and let it finish cooking later.

So we don't want to overcook that fish.

Courtney P: The lives of Jessica and her family were turned upside down when their homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters.

Now as director of The Water Collaborative, she focuses on water management and hazard mitigation.

She gave testimony at a House Congressional National Resources Committee and has advised other countries on climate-resiliency strategies.

Even though we're focused on New Orleans as a solution hub, we're, also, really, really interested in taking the work that we've done here and bringing it across the nation and across the world.

In Louisiana, we have major water-quality issues because communities living below Baton Rouge, which is the state capital, southeast Louisiana -- we all drink water from the Mississippi River.

So we drink everybody's agriculture runoff, everybody's contaminants, everybody's pollutants.

Being a city that's over 300 years old, we have a lot of lead lines, and so we focus on ensuring that that's mitigated.

And when we're not focusing on water pollution, we're also thinking about accessibility and affordability.

[ Sizzling ] It's super tender.

Look at that.

That's what we want -- that nice crisp like that.

And it's ready to go.

I've transferred some of the bottom parts of the pan.

So, if you look inside here, we have some of the crust and the thyme, and some of that -- again, that fish oils that are in there.

I'm gonna let that take about a few minutes to heat.

But right now I'm going to check on our beans.

So, we have our dry beans there.

And as you can see, they're nice and soft.

They're starting to break apart, which is exactly what we want.

I'm gonna cover this so it can start to boil for a sec, but I think our pan should be in a good place.

So we're gonna take some carrots, some red bell pepper, some yellow bell pepper.

And at the bottom that you can't see I have some white Vidalia onions.

Just pour it in there.

There's no particular way to do it.

[ Laughs ] It's hot.

[ Sizzling ] You hear that sizzle?

And let that cook down for a second.

Gonna put my lid on and let that heat do its job.

It looks like the water is boiling.

This is a great time to add the rice.

And, so, here again, I've washed this rice already.

It's nice and ready to go.

This is a nice, heavy pan, so hold your pan.

I'm just gonna drop that in gently.

And then...

I'm going to stir that in.

I'm gonna give it about 10 minutes to boil, and then I'm gonna let the rest of it steam out so it won't be overcooked.

And now we're gonna check on our vegetables.

Look at that.

You can already smell it.

We're gonna add a little bit of seasoning to this.

Courtney P: The vegetables are seasoned with whole allspice cloves, salt, black pepper, onion powder, minced garlic, and ginger.

I'm gonna stir those in, as well.

It's already getting translucent.

Alright.

So I have here about 2/3 cup, depending on how you look at it.

I don't know.

But just a little bit of vinegar here.

And then I have here some seafood bouillon.

I really love the flavor of this.

And added to it, it gives it a much richer flavor.

I'm gonna actually put my fish back.

So, this is the really cool part here.

Nice.

I'm gonna rest it in between the sauce here.

I'm gonna put it on top.

Typically, you don't actually have to do this.

I've seen some traditional folks that literally just take it, put it on top, and serve it as-is.

But I find that the fish really does really well when you put it back into the pot.

We're gonna do some cabbage, but it's not typical.

Normally they use green cabbage in Jamaica.

It is a slightly different flavor than green cabbage, But if you don't feel comfortable using purple, you can always use the green.

Also, I liked it because it's a smaller [laughs] cabbage.

Cabbage gets really big.

So I use just 1 whole cup.

That's enough water to steam it down.

You have a full deck of items here.

And then I have here some butter, a little bit of that.

Put it in there.

So, now that our rice is done, I'm going to remove it.

And that way, I have a little bit of cooking space here.

And take a look at it.

I know the lid is hot.

Look at that.

It's beautiful.

It's perfect.

So, we're on our last step.

You don't need a whole bunch of oil for plantains.

Alright, so, now that our pan is heating up, let's take a look at our fish and see how it's doing.

Wow.

Look at that.

You can smell everything that went into it -- the allspice, the Scotch bonnet.

Can't wait to taste that.

I just use my hands to drop in the plantains, although if you're one of those people that hate the heat, feel free to use a spatula.

But because plantains are basically a very soft banana, it might not make it through the tongs, you know?

And when you're picking out a plantain, because it's more dense than a banana, you actually want it to be much softer and almost have, like, the way a banana looks like when it's too overdone, when you want to toss it out.

In the case of a plantain, that's how you want it to look.

Yeah.

Look at that nice, crisp, brown color here.

So, now that look how the color's getting a little bit more deep of a purple, I'm gonna let this cook down for about 5 to 10 more minutes.

And then we're gonna plate.

Alright.

Look at that color.

Dinah: That looks great.

Yeah.

Y'all ready to eat?

Yes, we are.

[ Laughs ] She said, "Uh, yeah."

Courtney P: Before serving, the escovitch fish and side dishes are garnished with green onions.

Tastes just like your grandfather's.

Aww!

Well, that makes me feel good.

That's a great compliment.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you, Granny.

Courtney P: The impact of hurricanes on the barrier islands of the Pelican State is visible in years-old storm destruction on Grand Isle.

As coastal advocates explore restoration strategies, these islands remain an important line of defense for the people, communities, and natural resources of Louisiana.

There's a lot of theories, but, you know, I think it's ultimately land loss.

I would really like to see them do everything they can to save our precious resource.

[ Country music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Announcer: You can find recipes for all of the dishes in this series, chef profiles, and more information about "Louisiana Coastal Cooking" by visiting wyes.org.

Funding for "Louisiana Coastal Cooking" was provided by the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation, Inc. and by the Plaquemines Parish Tourism Commission.

Nature, tradition, and culture come together in Plaquemines Parish, where the Mississippi River and the Gulf meet in Louisiana's Delta Country.

Learn more at... [ Birds chirping ]