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Leah Chase head shot - Epicurious

Leah Chase

Contributor

Leah Chase was a ground-breaking American chef and restaurateur based in New Orleans. Nicknamed the “Queen of Creole Cuisine,” Chase cooked for such artists and luminaries as James Baldwin and Ray Charles, civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr., and generations of United States presidents. She graduated high school at age 16, authored three cookbooks, and was the inspiration for the character Princess Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, Disney’s first animated feature with a Black protagonist.

Dooky Chase, the legendary New Orleans restaurant that Chase led for more than 50 years, became a fine dining pioneer amid Jim Crow segregation. Initially a sandwich shop owned by her husband’s family, Chase transformed it into a white-tablecloth establishment that specialized in Creole fare like crab soup, gumbo, and shrimp Clemenceau. The restaurant welcomed Freedom Riders and National Association of Colored People members as well as local families celebrating anniversaries, graduations, and other special events. “We changed the world over a course of gumbo and some fried chicken,” she used to say of the civil rights strategy sessions held in her dining room. Chase died in 2019 at age 96. dookychaserestaurants.com

Recipes & Menus

Potato Salad

This Southern-style potato salad recipe comes from legendary chef Leah Chase. Bookmark it for cookouts, potlucks, and any other delicious occasions.
Recipes & Menus

Creole Jambalaya

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase and are part of our story on Mardi Gras.
Recipes & Menus

Baked Ham

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase and are part of our story on Mardi Gras.
Recipes & Menus

Southern Fried Chicken

This fried chicken recipe is excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase.
Recipes & Menus

Red Beans

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase and are part of our story on Mardi Gras. Chase also shared some helpful tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. In Madisonville, where I grew up, we would use smoked ham to add flavor to our red beans. In New Orleans, they would use pickled meat. Pickling of pork was done in the Creole community. Pickled ribs with potato salad were popular. The meat was pickled in a brine, more or less, along with seasonings. There is a market in New Orleans that still makes pickled meat, in just this way. They might also use some kind of vinegar. In this red beans recipe, I stick with the smoked meats, just like in the country.
Recipes & Menus

Chicken Clemenceau