Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 27, 1993 TAG: 9401130006
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARIAN BURROS THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
The larger-than-life impresario of Cajun cooking became a household word in the 1980s when he persuaded Americans to gobble up his spicy food that was bubbling in butter and sizzling in lard. He was in town to say that he had turned in his fat grams.
In pursuit of his ``ideal'' weight, 325 to 350 pounds, Prudhomme, who is 53, started writing a low-fat cookbook, ``Chef Paul Prudhomme's Fork in the Road'' (William Morrow & Co., $23). The cover coyly says that the book represents ``a different direction in cooking from America's favorite chef.'' Not until you turn to the back of the jacket do you get a hint of what that means: ``Your favorite dishes just got a whole lot healthier thanks to chef Paul Prudhomme.''
Playing down the low-fat aspect on the jacket was a deliberate decision and was based on Prudhomme's experience at K-Paul's Kitchen, his restaurant in New Orleans. ``We tried low-fat dishes on the menu, and it didn't work,'' Prudhomme said. ``But we put the name of the book beside the dishes instead, and they are selling real well.''
What kind of ambassador for low-fat cooking is a man who revels in his amplitude, a man who says, ``One of the terrific things about being overweight, dressing all in white and having a beard is that people recognize you''? Does it bother anybody if he is not a walking advertisement for his new cooking style?
It doesn't. At a recent cooking demonstration in Philadelphia, he said, he sold 350 books to an audience of 400 people.
Prudhomme said he was inspired to create recipes that contained no more than 30 percent of calories from fat because people had been asking for them for years. ``Fat is one of the real culprits in disease because the body can't process it,'' he said. ``Americans eat huge amounts of fat, and it is affecting large numbers of the population.''
The recipes in the book, which Prudhomme said he put together in less than six months, are really works-in-progress. ``When I finished a recipe, I said, `OK,' but I knew I could make it better,'' he said. ``I didn't have the time.''
What Prudhomme has already achieved is remarkable. Cooks have been struggling for several years, generally without success, to provide low-fat food that others will willingly eat. Prudhomme understands that to retain flavor while eliminating fat, cooking must be approached from a new direction.
``We can't use recipes from the past,'' he said. ``We have to take ingredients and put food together that never called for fat. I began the process in the book.''
Prudhomme doesn't think the food in the book is as good as the traditional Cajun food that made him famous, but he said: ``I know it can be improved and our taste buds can change. We can move our taste buds away from fat.'' He points to his new feelings about skim milk, something he could not abide in the old days. ``Now when I take regular milk, it feels super greasy,'' he said.
To make the recipes in this book come out as well as they have, Prudhomme marshaled a small arsenal of homemade fruit syrups and thickeners made out of legumes and showed a willingness to use nonfat dairy products. As Prudhomme explains in the book's introduction: ``I was really having a hard time getting a complete `round' taste without using butter or oil. Without a `round' taste I'm not happy or satisfied with a dish. It has to be complete, filling my mouth with all kinds of flavors - sweet, salty, spicy.''
The fruit syrups served as substitutes for butter and oil. But the syrups alone do not give body to a dish. Prudhomme found that chickpeas and other legumes, when cooked and pureed, could be used as nutritious low-fat thickeners.
He used nonfat dairy products to add creaminess, but not without combining them with seasonings. ``By themselves, I think they need help,'' Prudhomme said. ``We tried to help them as much as we could because we needed them to achieve creaminess.''
With a welcoming smile and engaging laugh, Prudhomme confessed that he didn't always eat this lower-fat cooking, even as he tried to get down to what he called his ideal weight.
``When I'm down around 325 to 350 I feel great,'' he said. ``I need only three hours' sleep a night. I'm much better than fine. I'm doing much more exercise now, riding a stationary bike for 40 minutes three times a week.'' As his weight drops, he uses his scooter less and walks more.
Prudhomme also said that, despite appearances, his cholesterol, blood pressure and pulse rate were those of a slim athlete.
Ever the perfectionist, Prudhomme said his low-fat work was not yet finished. ``One of my fantasies is to be able to eat all the food I can eat and still be a normal person,'' he said. ``If I could figure out how to do that, I could be king of America. I don't think I've achieved that in this book.''
\ (see microfilm for recipes) SHRIMP-AND-CORN BISQUE
(Adapted from Paul Prudhomme)
EGGPLANT AND CREAM ON PASTA
(Adapted from Paul Prudhomme)
by CNB