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"Whether you&amp;#039;re re-creating a recipe from his new cookbook, My New Orleans, or relishing a meal at his elegant Restaurant August in NOLA&amp;#039;s arty warehouse district, it won&amp;#039;t take you long to realize that John Besh is a connected guy\u2014deeply rooted in his own family traditions as well as the heritage of his hometown. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Besh mobilized his staff so quickly that they were already set up on flatboats and were feeding red beans and rice to relief workers when FEMA arrived. During the long, slow months that followed, the chef not only rebuilt his own luxurious establishments (Restaurant August and Besh Steak), he also joined the community effort to save the city&amp;#039;s beloved culinary landmarks. The engaging Besh emerged as the face of the region&amp;#039;s culinary revitalization, a role he still willingly assumes as a state-appointed spokesperson and a staunch benefit supporter (a portion of the proceeds from his cookbook sales goes to Caf\u00E9 Reconcile, a local nonprofit that prepares at-risk youth for restaurant careers). Since Katrina, the Besh restaurant group has tripled in size to include La Provence and L\u00FCke, which opened in 2007; in 2009, Besh added Domenica and the American Sector, his nostalgically themed diner in the new National World War II Museum. &amp;quot;New Orleans will always be a special place to cook,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;Food has more substance here, more cultural significance, because our Creole cooking\u2014a mixture of European and Afro-Caribbean\u2014is the only indigenous urban cuisine in the country.&amp;quot; To celebrate the holiday, Besh takes his inspiration from the Creole custom of Reveillon (or &amp;quot;awakening&amp;quot;), an elaborate meal traditionally served on Christmas Eve. Although Besh sweeps up industry accolades for his inventive interpretations of classic regional cuisine, his family menu mixes the chef&amp;#039;s professional skills with a hefty dash of down-home Southern practicality. His dishes are approachable even for a first-time cook. &amp;quot;I mastered proper technique at culinary school and in my European apprenticeships. But I learned to cook from my grandmother,&amp;quot; he says. Showing up on every holiday table is rice dressing &amp;quot;Grand-Mere,&amp;quot; a version of Cajun-style dirty rice using whatever giblets and poultry pieces are at hand. And gumbo z&amp;#039;herbs comes with its own folklore\u2014for each type of green used, you&amp;#039;ll make a new friend in the coming year. &amp;quot;Every year I try to do something innovative, without losing the soul of the dish,&amp;quot; Besh says. Black lacquered duck is enriched by a coffee sauce laced with the flavor of local satsuma tangerines. Mindful that last-minute preparations at a holiday meal can frazzle the best home cook, Besh designed a showstopping dessert, a pillowy sweet-potato souffl\u00E9 spiked with sticky rum goo, as a &amp;quot;day-before&amp;quot; dish, to be finished right before serving. There are always three generations of the Besh family in the kitchen, and while his four sons don&amp;#039;t play a major part in the preparation, their contribution is memorable nevertheless. &amp;quot;They mostly help make the desserts, particularly the brown-sugar pralines, a local confection made with toasted pecans that creates an evocative aroma I remember from my own childhood,&amp;quot; Besh says. To safeguard New Orleans flavors and traditions, the chef relies on a network of farmers and food artisans who produce uniquely Louisiana ingredients. But don&amp;#039;t let that stop you. Perhaps you&amp;#039;ll pick your crabmeat for the &amp;quot;crab apple&amp;quot; salad out of a container from the local fish market rather than the shell, replace the salad&amp;#039;s lady apples with the smallest local cooking variety you can find and swap out the ragout&amp;#039;s root vegetables for whatever grows in your area. &amp;quot;Buy what you can,&amp;quot; Besh says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s the spirit of the food that counts.&amp;quot; Recipes &amp;quot;Crab Apple&amp;quot; Rice Dressing &amp;quot;Grand-Mere&amp;quot; Gumbo z&amp;#039;Herbs Black Lacquered Duck with Chestnut and Root Vegetable Ragout Sweet Potato Souffl\u00E9s with Sticky Rum Goo Pralines Click here to see the resources. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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