Several years back, Chef Alex Harrell was part of a group of young chefs who challenged the status quo in New Orleans by adapting the traditional cuisine from the South and leveraging seasonal local ingredients. He started at Sylvain, then at the famous Angeline and now at The Elysian Bar. Chef Harrell likes to say that he is not cooking for himself. He is providing for someone. A lot of times it gets lost. Chefs and cooks often miss the mark. They are just cooking at people and they are not necessarily cooking for people.

Chef Rebecca Wilcomb

When it comes to pork chops I typically always brine them. Pork loin and the rag are usually leaner cuts and to brining them helps to add flavor. It’s just a standard salt sugar herb brine that I’ll put the chops in.

I love to smoke them and then grill them a little bit because it imparts a little bit of that kind of barbecue flavor from that Southern barbecue culture. And then after that, something really quick and bright because it’s a delicate in my mind. Pork chops, even though they’re very substantial, they’re still kind of a delicate flavor profile. So I don’t like to cover them in anything really heavy. 

We’ve got these beautiful baby spring onions and we simply grilled them and then chopped them up, and I made a real quick relish with a little aged white balsamic vinegar and some extra virgin olive oil. Or even something as simple as a bunch of bright fresh herbs right out of the garden for a salsa verde or something like that. So keep it pretty simple. I think if you pull from what’s around, what’s local, or what’s seasonal, then you can definitely add those little nuance, kind of southern southern flavors.

Chef Alex Harrell – It is essential to pay respect to the traditional cuisine of New Orleans – especially when you are located in the Historical district of the French Quarter

The South is a huge melting pot of different traditions, different technique, and different styles that really has kind of grown into what modern Southern cooking is – Chef Alex Harrell

Chef Alex Harrell – I just applied my method of studying. The way I studied biology, I applied it to my career and to cooking

Chefs and cooks often miss the mark. They are just cooking at people and they are not necessarily cooking for people – Chef Alex Harrell

Chef Alex Harrell

The Elysian Bar

Birrieria Zaragoza 

Susan Spicer

Gerard Maras

Ancora Pizza

Maypop Restaurant

Spitfire Coffee

Cooking By Hand – Cookbook

Southern Table – Cookbook

On Vegetables – Cookbook