NARRATOR: Major funding for "Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey" was provided by the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation Incorporated.

Additional support by Zatarain's, bringing the flavors of New Orleans home for over 125 years.

Zatarain's, born and raised in New Orleans.

From the spice of jambalaya to the flavors of a classic crab boil, it's a taste of New Orleans made at home.

And by Camellia Beans, rooted in New Orleans since 1923, a family business with a devotion to beans spanning four generations.

Camellia Beans, a taste of home.

DOOK: This time on "A Chef's Journey," we're on Magazine Street, a six-mile stretch with a unique flair, to visit Dakar NOLA.

At his award-winning restaurant, Chef Serigne explores the culinary connection between West Africa and New Orleans, blending Senegalese food traditions with Louisiana ingredients.

So let's join Serigne to hear about a chef's journey that spans two continents and sheds new light on Creole cuisine.

♪ (theme music playing) ♪ DOOK: I'm so excited to be in the kitchen with Chef Serigne, not only to explore the beautiful ingredients here, but really to learn more about your story and the influences that your cuisine and West African cuisine had on New Orleans and the Creole cuisine.

SERIGNE: I'm really honored to have you in our kitchen today and very excited to share this beautiful recipe with you.

Today, we're going to make a smothered black-eyed peas dish.

So we have some black-eyed peas that we soak overnight to kind of make sure it's extremely tender.

And then we have our palm oil, which is something that I really grew up a lot back home in Senegal.

And over here, we have our Dakar spice.

It's a homemade spice in-house.

She is extremely hot.

DOOK: I can't wait to get it started in the pot.

Let's get to the stove and get it cooking.

SERIGNE: So first, we're going to start with a little bit of oil in the pot.

My mom had a Senegalese restaurant in Harlem before I was born.

The reason for that restaurant was to give folks from Senegal something that they can't experience, that they could only get in her house.

But the restaurant closed before I was born, but our house became the restaurant.

So as a kid growing up, I got to see so much amazing things.

So as the pan getting a little hot quickly, so we're going to add a little bit of onions.

So you always want to hear that sound.

We're going to add a little bit of salt to help us sweat it.

We just want to sweat the onions.

So we want to get the onions nice and golden brown, and then I'm going to have you help me.

We're going to add our spices.

Add the Dakar spice.

Yeah.

DOOK: Now, you said this one's a little heat, so... SERIGNE: She got a little... DOOK: Yeah, this is good?

SERIGNE: Just a little bit, just a little bit.

DOOK: Just a tad?

SERIGNE: Just a little tad.

But we can always add more, we can't take out.

All right, and now let's add some more paprika.

We got all of it.

DOOK: Oh, I can drop, I can drop it on in.

SERIGNE: Yeah, now we adding the palm oil.

Get that beautiful color.

So now let's add a tomato paste into it.

You can add all that tomato paste.

DOOK: It's getting nice and smoky.

SERIGNE: And then we have some stock, some fish stock that we made in-house, just a little bit to deglaze.

DOOK: We think of New Orleans, our okra gumbo, we don't have a roux.

We have tomato paste.

SERIGNE: Right.

DOOK: That we thicken our gumbo with, that okra gumbo.

SERIGNE: And that's one thing I love about food from Senegal that I grew up eating and the Creole and Cajun food.

You can see a lot of similarities in between the two cultures.

So now, I'm going to add the fish stock.

Add a little bit of black-eyed peas in it, just a little.

Yeah, you can add a little bit more.

You see that beautiful simmering happening?

It's a little warm over there, huh?

DOOK: Oh, I love it.

SERIGNE: You see that little tiny bubbles?

Well, you want it to come to a nice simmer.

So now it's on a really low simmer.

We're going to close it.

We're going to let her go for another 30, 45 minutes.

We're doing the black-eyed peas with rice, right?

So kind of mimicking red beans and rice.

Now I'm going to show you how, I'm giving you my childhood favorite dish.

So we do this thing called cassava, which is known as yuca.

We first boil it until it's soft, and we pound it to get that fluffiness.

We then put it in a sheet tray, bake it for a little minute, and then we cut it.

So now these are the cassava I was talking about, right?

So if you look at it, it's extremely delicate.

So when we fry it, we can't fry it until the oil is about 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

We probably could put two at a time.

I don't want to put too much in the pan because what I don't want is to drop the temperature.

You see that beautiful bubble that I'm putting kind of almost like basting it?

DOOK: Right.

SERIGNE: We want it to be nice and crispy, but not too overcooked because what happen is when you bite into it, we don't want it to be hard.

We want it to be still nice and creamy on the inside.

This one's ready to take out.

DOOK: As you can see, while you're doing this and focusing on this, it's giving those peas that time to build that flavor.

SERIGNE: Yeah, yeah.

DOOK: So you're in the kitchen, you're sharing your story.

SERIGNE: Yep.

DOOK: You're going through the steps of the components, and everything's working.

SERIGNE: We're going to slide back here.

Come, right, so we're going to add a little bit of salt.

Once the black-eyed peas is finished, we add it right on top.

We do some fun things.

So we're going to add some mushrooms, some little bit of aioli, and some beautiful chive for garnish for that dish.

DOOK: Well, look, I'm getting ready to go in the dining room.

SERIGNE: That's right.

DOOK: I know you're going to finish it up, plate it up.

SERIGNE: I got you... DOOK: And we're going to dive into the history... SERIGNE: Man.

DOOK: Of West Africa to Creole cuisine.

Chef, a beautiful display.

Not only can I smell the culture... SERIGNE: Yes.

DOOK: ...but just the technique and the presentation.

There's some culinary school behind this.

But also tell me about working in a two-star, not just a two-star Michelin restaurant, but also a three-star.

SERIGNE: Before we get into it, I want you to get a bite of this, fried cake, and then, because I want you to hear that crunch sound.

DOOK: Mm-hmm.

SERIGNE: Mm.

DOOK: Oh my goodness.

SERIGNE: Mm-hmm.

DOOK: The flavors that those peas picked up.

What's the sauce that we finished it with?

SERIGNE: So the sauce is a little bit of aioli.

DOOK: Okay.

SERIGNE: Kind of referring to some, some of the experience that I have been in all these restaurants.

And working at two Michelin, three Michelin, it really allowed me to see food from a different perspective.

Early in my career, I learned food from my mom, Nie, where it was all about her childhood and where she grew up in Senegal.

And then when I went to culinary school in Vermont, I learned a lot of technique about just the basic of French cooking.

From there, when I came to the South, I really had very deep understanding of Southern cooking by West Africa, by, you know, through Senegal.

DOOK: When you look at this dish, right?

SERIGNE: Right.

DOOK: This speaks New Orleans to me.

SERIGNE: Right.

DOOK: Shrimp and grits.

SERIGNE: Right.

DOOK: Right?

Okra.

SERIGNE: Right.

DOOK: Louisiana ingredients.

SERIGNE: Yeah.

DOOK: But this tells the story of West Africa.

It tells the story of Senegal.

SERIGNE: So this dish is my take on shrimp and grits.

So the grits itself is actually not grits.

We use this grain called this couscous called thiere.

Thiere is something that I grew up eating a lot back home in Senegal.

Thiere consists of 90% millet and 10% corn.

And back home, pre-colonization, we didn't consume a lot of dairy.

So this dish is not only is delicious, but it's complete, completely gluten-free and also completely dairy-free.

DOOK: Oh, wow.

SERIGNE: The sauce, even its richness, is coming from a little bit of coconut and tamarind to give a little bit of that tanginess.

We're using beautiful shrimp coming from the Gulf, and these little okra that I picked up from the farmer's market.

DOOK: Mm.

I'm telling you.

You get that coconut essence come through.

SERIGNE: Yeah.

DOOK: You get that beautiful char you have on this okra.

That sauce that just coats the shrimp but doesn't overpower it.

SERIGNE: Yeah.

DOOK: You still get the sweetness... SERIGNE: Yeah.

DOOK: ...of that beautiful shrimp that we have.

SERIGNE: One point in time, it was majority of our ancestors from the Senegambia region arrived to New Orleans, right?

And when they came here, they really brought everything with them.

Their culture, their food, and their history with them.

The word gumbo actually borrow from West Africa.

Classic New Orleans gumbo is okra and seafood.

DOOK: Mm-hmm.

SERIGNE: In Senegal, we have a soup called soupe kandia, which mean okra soup.

And the classic soupe kandia is also okra and seafood.

I had an opportunity early on to meet your grandma, Ms.

Leah Chase.

You know, she encouraged me.

She said, whatever I do, make sure that I connect with the community.

And that voice is leading me on to what Dakar it is today because I could not have, I could not have done Dakar being James Beard Award best new restaurant without the support of the community of New Orleanians.

DOOK: This has inspired me to get back in the kitchen and really cook with the flavors and the history and the culture that I learned here today.

SERIGNE: It's truly an honor to have you in our kitchen, man.

Thank you for coming here.

It's you know, I could not be more happier.

DOOK: Thank you, and I'm diving back in.

SERIGNE: Come on, let's do it.

DOOK: Welcome to my kitchen, where inspiration and creation come together in a celebration of culture.

What an exciting day.

We just left Chef Serigne, and we're talking greens right now.

I'm going to show you how to make greens with coconut milk, with a dash of cayenne pepper, and that heat is going to sing to you.

We'll start, I have my pot that's on a medium heat.

We'll start to add in it a little butter here.

And we'll add the onions.

You can notice my onions are cut in half moons, right?

That's cutting the onion in half and then doing a slice.

I want to do this for presentation at the end of this dish.

So here you just want to sweat these onions.

And we're not looking to brown these onions, just soften them up, make them a little pliable.

Right here, this is where we'll bring in our garlic here.

And at this stage, we'll add just a little salt.

As we add, you add.

And a little black pepper, just a tad bit of black pepper.

You can see how soft those onions are getting.

It's the stage right before that caramelization.

We're going to add in our coconut milk.

To this, I'm going to add just a little bit of chicken stock.

Not too much, because there's a lot of water in each one of these greens.

We have collard greens.

We have mustard greens.

I like to balance those out with a little bit of spinach.

The reason why I chose to do this dish after speaking with Chef Serigne is you realize the influences of African cuisine on New Orleans, right?

You're thinking of greens, you're thinking of yams, you're thinking of okra, and black-eyed peas, and all the dishes that came from that influence that we may do differently, right?

If I'm doing greens at the restaurant, I have a smoked ham shank.

I have all these different flavors because of the bounty that we have here and the flavors I grew up with.

But when you go over there, they have coconut milk that they infuse with a lot of their dishes.

So I wanted to really, I was inspired by that.

So I said, "Let's do a coconut-braised greens."

I'll leave out the ham shank just for this one and just go through.

You can see my pot start to simmer.

This is where you want it to be.

You know, as we add, it's going to continue to reduce.

And as we add this, it's going to release some of that liquid.

I'll add the collard greens first.

I know this looks like a bunch of greens, but as that water releases, those greens go down.

They cook out.

So you can see I chopped these collard greens, but before I chopped them, I de-stemmed them and I washed them, right?

And we come right in here.

Now I'll start to stir these around, fold them over in this coconut milk, and make a way for our mustard greens are coming in next.

But I want to show you, you can see just in that little bit of time those collards reduce as we put it in.

It made way for my mustard, so we're coming right into mustards.

Same thing as we prepared it, right?

De-stemmed them, cleaned them, make sure we got any of that residue left on it, and we add in right to this pot.

And the reason why we use, I call mixed greens, because they each have different flavors.

You have a powerhouse of a collard.

You have a powerhouse of a turnip.

And that spinach is going to come in and really marry those two together.

And this is why I saved some of that coconut milk.

I see I need a little more.

I can always add just then to help fold in those mustards, and we've made rum-file spinach now.

I have baby spinach leaves here.

You don't have to do much.

We're not de-stemming these.

We're just giving it a rinse and going right on in.

Now we start to fold in our spinach.

I want to make sure there's enough liquid to go through this cooking process.

Add the rest of that coconut milk, work that around, and just a dash more of this chicken stock.

And that's it, not much.

And we'll finish this with a little salt, and we'll start a little heat.

We won't do it all just yet, as this reduces.

But I will add a little cayenne just to have it welcoming to this stage of where it has to just braise down and smother down.

And that's it.

You let this cook for 25 minutes.

That coconut milk is going to reduce, it's going to be real creamy, and you're going to have a magnificent side dish.

So we're just about two minutes out, but I want to give it one last taste because we have to add that dash of cayenne pepper at the end.

But before I do, I want to see where we are with it.

And you can see the creaminess of that coconut milk.

Those greens are talking to me.

That garlic, that onion, that's coming through.

But it needs that balance of heat.

So we'll add a pinch of cayenne pepper, and then I'm going to throw in just a dash of salt.

Fold that in here.

Here we're ready, so we'll plate this up.

Coming right on in.

Coconut milk just to finish.

And look at that.

Braised mixed greens, the sweetness of that coconut milk, that creaminess, with a dash of cayenne pepper.

You should try these.

They're going to be a family favorite.

Another dish, as we explore the West African influence on New Orleans, they have yams.

Down here, we have sweet potatoes.

So I'm going to show you how to make a sweet potato casserole.

I started by peeling the sweet potatoes, letting them boil just at a simmer, but you strain it.

Make sure all that liquid is out, and this is what we have here.

They have to be fork-tender because we have to mash them.

So we're going right into this bowl here.

I'll set this on the side.

And we'll get in, and we'll just start mashing.

And this is what you're looking for.

Something where you don't have to put too much force.

You're going right in, and you're just mashing them down.

This is where you want it to be on the mash, and now we'll start to add the flavor of what makes this casserole taste so delicious.

I use both white sugar and brown sugar.

So we'll start to kick in a little here.

And I may use more brown sugar than white.

And that white sugar is going to bring out the sweetness to this dish as well, so we'll hit it with a little white sugar.

A little bit of cinnamon.

We'll fold in two eggs.

And you just want to make sure you mix those in well.

This is about a fourth cup of milk.

I know some people use heavy cream.

That's okay, too.

You're choosing.

Some people only use brown sugar.

That's perfectly fine, too.

It's up to you.

We don't mess with family recipes, but I can tell you what, this one's going to taste delicious.

Then I have a little bit of melted butter here that we're going to fold in.

And one ingredient that I add that you may not use is a little bit of orange juice.

I just love that citrus balance when we're talking sweet potatoes.

And at this stage, we're mashed where we want it to be, so I'm going to switch tools because I don't like to leave anything on the side of the rim.

So I bring in this spatula, and we're going to make sure everything that was left on this side is going to get worked in.

Now I'll set this on the side because if you're talking sweet potato casserole, you know there's a crust that has to go on that top.

So let's start working that.

I have a half a cup of flour, brown sugar, and some soft butter.

It's about a half a stick, and you just want to work those in.

And now we'll add some of these pecans to here.

And when I add that in, I'll add just two more cubes of butter.

And now we'll start.

You're not looking for a dough.

You're just looking for almost a crumble that you're going to spread on top of this sweet potato casserole.

If you don't like pecans and you want to use another nut, it's perfectly fine.

If you don't want to use any nut because you have nut allergies, that's fine, just leave all the nuts behind.

And we are there.

You can see here some of that clumped together.

You can see some of those pecan pieces.

You know, as we add this in the oven, it's going to be perfect.

So we have our sweet potatoes done.

We have our crumble done.

Now we just need to bring it to the casserole.

Take this here, and you're just going right at the bottom, making sure you get every little bit of it.

Right, somebody's going to want that last spoonful.

That looks beautiful just like this.

But to get that texture and that flavor and that taste, you have to add this crumble.

And we coming just right on top, just a sprinkle, right?

Be generous.

This not only adds a little more sweetness to it, but texture, right?

I'll say it each and every show.

Texture, flavor, color.

We try to hit it on every mark.

So now we're ready to go to our oven.

The oven's been preheated at 350 degrees.

It's going to take 30 minutes.

At that 30-minute mark, I want you to check it.

I want you to see the toastiness of those pecans.

You don't want them to over-toast or burn, so always check at that 30-minute mark.

Go right in.

We'll let this go for 30 minutes.

We'll get in the kitchen, clean this up, and we'll show you how it looks when it comes out.

That toastiness we got on those crumbled pecans, this is when you know this is going to be good.

Look at that.

Sweet potato casserole.

Don't just save this dish for the holidays, because this dish speaks family.

For the final dish, that memory of that black-eyed pea dish that Seraine did, I just can't get it out of my mind.

So I'm going to show you a black-eyed pea stew.

We have some lamb shanks right here that I want to season, and as I'm seasoning this, I have my pot getting hot on a medium heat.

You want to flip it over, season both sides.

And just like most of meats when you're making a stew, you want to brown that meat first.

So I have a little bit of oil I'll help to go in here just to protect my butter.

Now we'll add the butter.

And we're going to let that melt just a little bit.

As it melts, we're going to know this pot is right where we want it to be in terms of heat.

So we'll brown these lamb shanks on each side.

I've decided to do lamb because you can do this dish without meat, but when I'm thinking of something that marries that flavor, I'm thinking of something that's coming from West Africa or even going up north in Africa, in Morocco.

They use a lot of lamb in those dishes.

Here's where we want it to be.

We'll flip that over and look at that color.

That's what we're looking for, right?

This is right where we need it to be, and we'll pull this out.

We'll start to add in our onions.

And this washes the bottom of the pan.

It deglazes, picks up all that seasoning as those onions start to sweat.

Now we'll add our bell peppers.

I'm on a medium heat.

And we'll come in with our garlic right on top.

And as we add, we're going to add, so we'll hit it with a little salt and just a little bit of cayenne pepper at this time.

We'll certainly add a little bit of our tomato paste going right in, and we want to mix that around.

And each stage just looks so beautiful.

Look at the colors in there.

We're going to add a little thyme to this.

And now we're going to deglaze with a little chicken stock.

Work that around just a bit, and then we bring our lamb back to this pot.

And I have water here.

You're going to come up halfway.

You still have to add those black-eyed peas, so you're going to bring in some more water, as those need a good bit of water to cook.

We'll put a cover on this, and we'll bring this to a simmer and let this simmer for 10 minutes before we add these peas to this Dutch oven.

Well, this is perfect.

We'll turn this down to a simmer.

So I've soaked my black-eyed peas overnight just to soften them up.

We've rinsed them, and we coming right on in.

All right.

To this, we're going to add our bay leaf.

As we add it, we're going to add a little more salt, little hit of cayenne pepper, and of course, those peas need a little more water to cook.

As they blossom, they're going to soak up that water, and the water's going to reduce through this cooking process.

So we'll cover this, and we won't touch it until 45 minutes.

Just let the magic happen.

You know it's happening.

It's smelling great.

Now is the time we have to add in our butternut squash.

So we cover this up.

Let that go for 15 minutes.

The next time we open it, we're going to taste it for seasoning, and we're going to plate it up.

Let's give this a taste.

I don't even need anything else to it.

I was going to taste it for salt and a little cayenne pepper, but it made its magic in there.

Just look at that.

We're going to get a lamb.

We're going to put this one here.

Look at that, just falling off the bone.

You can actually cut that lamb shank right off the bone and make sure you add that lamb back so everybody gets a taste of that goodness.

And this is a very hearty meal.

Finish that off right here.

You're really going to enjoy this black-eyed pea stew with lamb shank and butternut squash.

This dish really pays homage to our West African influence on our New Orleans cuisine.

So thanks for joining me as we explore the traditions of New Orleans cuisine and the reason why we cook what we cook.

I'll see you on our next chapter of "A Chef's Journey."

NARRATOR: In his new cookbook, Chef Dook Chase explores the legendary dishes and unique food traditions of New Orleans.

This companion to "A Chef's Journey," with all the recipes from the series and more than 125 color photos, is available for $32.99 plus shipping.

To order, call 1-800-815-3153 or purchase online at wyes.org.

DOOK: We'll see.

It's just starting.

We'll see.

We got, what, seven more to go?

Five more to go?

It can go downhill fairly quickly.

WAYNE: Some of the finest oysters you got in the Gulf Coast right here.

Locally homegrown.

That's our headers right there.

It don't get better than that.

DOOK: Oh, you can't taste anything.

WAYNE: With a cup of coffee.

DOOK: With a cup of coffee, I love it.

Breakfast of champions, all local.

This is one way to get your day going.

Highlighting that seafood, oysters are perfect.

That saltiness coming through.

Man, you just started my day.

CLEO: We just got critters everywhere.

We got duck, rabbit, quail, pheasant.

She said, "Go get that gumbo pot."

I said, "Oh, no way in the world."

She said, "That's it."

And she threw everything in, and she said, I said, "Now what do we call this?"

She said, "Critter gumbo."

VINCE: At the end of the day, a good farmer always puts his tractor up.

DOOK: Okay.

Well, I'm going to get on this tractor, and I'm taking it all the way to the kitchen.

NARRATOR: For more information about "Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey," visit wyes.org.

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey" was provided by the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation Incorporated.

Additional support by Zatarain's, bringing the flavors of New Orleans home.

Rooted in the city's rich culinary traditions, Zatarain's is born and raised in New Orleans.

From rice mixes to frozen meals, it's an authentic taste of New Orleans.

And by Camellia Beans.

You shouldn't rush a red bean.

Let it cook.

Then you can gather around with family and share in its distinct culture.

Camellia Beans, a taste of home.

♪ ♪