-Funding for "The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy" was provided by the... -The landmark New Orleans restaurant Dooky Chase is linked to the music of the city, as well as its food, through Edgar "Dooky" Chase Jr., Chef Leah's husband, who was a talented trumpet player.

Dooky led a big band that toured the Southeast in the 1940s, and he befriended many famous musicians who dined at Dooky Chase.

Chefs Dook Chase and Cleo Robinson salute the musically talented restaurateur with three dishes that hit the high notes.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Today's bronzed drum with summer vegetables was inspired by a dish Chef Leah came across when traveling with her husband's band.

-Today we're making music in the kitchen.

We're talking about my grandfather.

You know, he had one of the original 16-piece big bands, we called it here in New Orleans, and he played his trumpet.

And on those trips, when he would travel, my grandmother would go along with him.

And while they were enjoying the great music, she also would stop in these restaurants and really just do her research and see what other folks was doing.

And she came on this restaurant, and they had a great pan-fried fish that she loved.

Today, what I love is we're going to do a little bronze seared drum.

You know, not only does this bring me back to the days of fishing in the local Louisiana, whether it's Lafitte or Boothville, growing up as a child.

But it's really that research that my grandmother did while she was traveling with my grandfather.

So, we have these beautiful summer vegetables.

You know, of course, growing up in Madisonville and in the garden, they had vegetables galore.

So, I have a little summer squash here I just cut in half, and we're just going to do a little rough kind of half-moons right here on each one.

I have a zucchini here as well that we did the same thing to.

So, that's that.

Here I have these beautiful heirloom cherry tomatoes.

Any tomato will do, if you just want to dice.

I cut these in half and I really just want to showcase their beautiful color.

I have a little oil that we'll go ahead on and get started with -- nothing too much, just enough to kind of glaze the bottom of that pan.

We're going to add some of our shallots.

And if you can't find shallots, just a little red onion will do.

And while that's going, I'm going to take some of our squash here.

Get that going in there.

So, I got my summer squash in here.

I'm adding in my zucchini.

And really, you want to get that started just a little bit before you add your grape tomatoes, right?

Your tomatoes are going to cook fast, and I don't want them to lose their texture.

I don't want to cook them down.

I don't want to smother them.

I want to still maintain some of that shape that they have.

And we're going to hit it with a little salt.

A little pepper.

And you'll let that sweat down a little bit.

Now, while that's going, we're going to get back to this beautiful fish that we have.

So, today we're going to bronze this drum, right?

I know many of you heard of blackening, and we're not going to take it that far, but we're going to use the same spices, same flavor profile for what we want to do with this beautiful drum.

And all you want to do is just season each side of that fish.

I got a little salt going on.

A little pepper.

A little garlic here.

And then my paprika.

That paprika is not only going to give you a slightly smoky taste, that's where you get your color from when you're doing this.

And you can rub that in a little bit here.

Flip them over and do the same thing.

The reason why, you know, I love and we love drum here, not only is it you can catch it anywhere, but when you put it on top of these vegetables, you know, that meatiness, that flakiness that you can get from that drum, it's going to hold well with those summer vegetables.

So, you know, if you have a redfish, you can do redfish.

Another fish that we have down here is trout.

You know, I love speckled trout.

I just love fishing.

And we'll start to add our tomatoes in here.

And you'll see that'll kick out a little bit of the water that'll help kind of mesh all these flavors together for me.

I'm going to add a little bit of my garlic as well.

And this heat that you're looking for, you're on a low to medium heat, right?

Not too high.

Added tomatoes, so I'm going to just hit it with a little more salt.

Little more pepper.

And then we'll throw in our dried basil.

If you have fresh basil, that works just as well.

Don't put it in too early, because as you cook fresh basil, you know, it'll starts to discolor.

But you want to keep that bright green in there, so you can add fresh basil right towards the end of that dish.

We'll get back to our drum.

And you're not cooking anything in Miss Leah's kitchen if you don't have butter.

That's our friend.

See if this pan is hot for us.

And that's about... four little cubes of butter, so almost a half a stick.

You want to let that melt a little bit.

You don't want it to brown now, because you got to cook your fish in it, right?

So not too high.

Just like I took it off the heat, if you saw it was melting too fast, take that pot off the heat.

This guy is looking good.

Moving him around, making sure he's not sticking.

That's right where we want that to be.

As you can see, my butter is not browning, but it's getting ready for this fish.

We'll put that fish in.

And what you're looking for in any meat, and especially in fish, right -- you're watching it rise on the side.

So you'll start to see it turn from this pink to that white color.

I have a little spoon here, and as it goes and you want to just baste some butter on top, you can do that.

You don't have to do that now.

But when we flip it over, we're going to start to baste it just to make sure we're not drying out that fish.

You can see on this fish, we're coming almost about halfway up.

So right when we get there, that's when we know we're getting to right where we want to be.

We'll turn.

And you can see that beautiful bronze color on that, right?

That's that paprika that's giving you that color.

Not too brown.

That fish is almost done.

Two more minutes.

So, while that's going, I'm going to clean all this up and we'll get ready to plate.

We're back.

My fish is looking beautifully bronzed.

I do want to taste this summer vegetable mixture just to make sure we have enough seasoning here.

Got a little squash, zucchini, and tomato.

Mmm.

That basil, that garlic, salt and pepper -- you know, you taste every bit of those flavors, but it won't be too much.

It won't overpower this fish, which is right where we want it to be.

Now, as you cook this fish, right, you think of that brown butter, right?

You start to smell that nuttiness of that butter.

I don't want to lose that flavor.

So I'm going to pull my fish out here.

Set that down right here, and we'll come back to plate that.

But look at this -- look at all that flavor right here.

Right?

We're not going to lose that.

We're going to deglaze it with a little white wine and we're just going to pick it up.

That beautiful flavor that was stuck to the bottom of the pan, now it's all in this sauce.

There's always a way to cream up a light sauce, right?

And you've guessed it -- it's that old trusty butter.

Just one scoop of cold butter.

You can actually take it off the fire, and you just want to cream it all in.

And you can see right here, it starts to thicken a little bit.

This sauce is really going to bring it all together.

I mean, that wine that just kicked up and deglazed.

Look at that.

Look how thick that is.

That's beautiful.

So we're going to get ready to plate here.

Summer vegetables.

Put that on this fish plate here.

Oh, man, this looks beautiful.

You talk about making music.

This is making music in the kitchen, right?

So I always joke when people say, "Man, are you -- Are you a musician?"

I say, "Yeah, I play pots."

That's what we do in this kitchen.

You put this little beautiful bronzed drum right on top of there.

If you smell this, I mean, this just pulls everything together.

And this dish here, this is those dishes that, as my grandmother was on the road traveling and learning -- because she came back with so many ideas.

This is our bronzed drum, summer vegetables, heirloom grape tomatoes.

It is a crowd-pleaser and it is beautiful.

Look at the colors on this dish.

-The Dooky Chase Orchestra stopped performing in 1949, but Dooky's love for music continued throughout his lifetime, as did visits to the restaurant by musicians who performed in New Orleans.

The restaurant was even immortalized by Ray Charles in his song "Early in the Morning Blues."

Daughter Leah Chase-Kamata is a professional jazz singer.

-And he was very young when he started that band.

He was a teenager, and that's incredible when you think of it.

They traveled throughout the Southeast.

They sounded great, by all accounts.

You know, my father tells the story about, you know, other musicians who heard them and thought they were, like, Dizzy Gillespie's band playing or something like that and came running, and it was them.

-He called it the Dooky Chase Orchestra because he liked that kind of that, "We're not just a band.

We're an orchestra."

So he had all the same number of pieces that you would find in Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and all like that.

-Stuffed shrimp, a mainstay of the restaurant, was popular with Dooky Jr.'s musician friends.

-So, Cleo, let's get started on how we make this stuffed crab dressing.

-We're going to start with a little butter, of course.

Everything's better with butter, so we'll start with a little butter.

And then we're going to add some onions and we'll let those sauté.

Not trying to get any caramelization on them.

We just want them to wilt down a bit.

-And when you're talking about making music, what was the musician that really -- I can't remember his name, but really loved that stuffed shrimp.

-Mr. Dave Bartholomew was a big customer for the stuffed shrimp.

He used to come in and discuss his music dealings over a good plate of stuffed shrimp, and he always had to have two extra.

So we always enjoyed Mr. Dave when he came through.

Got to hear what was going on in the music industry.

-And just like the basis of all stuffings, Cleo just added the celery.

So you're building that flavor.

You have the onion, you have the celery.

Next up, we'll add the garlic.

-You always want to be careful not to overpower your seafood with garlic, but garlic does add a wonderful flavor to it.

And we definitely don't want to brown the garlic, because then we'll get some bitter taste to it, and we don't like that at all.

And then because we're going to stuff shrimp, I like to add a little bread that I have presoaked in either some seafood stock or you can just soak it in some water and kind of squeeze it out.

You don't want it runny, but you don't want it where we can't work with it.

So, if we add the bread here, we're hoping that we can get it to stay together because we have to form it -- I do that job that nobody likes -- and get it to stick in that shrimp.

So, if I get my bread consistency just right, then I may not have to add any bread crumbs.

Lesser amount of bread that we add, the better, because we want the crabmeat to be the shining point of this dish.

So, if I take a little bit of the bread that I have already presoaked... and we're going to add -- add it to that.

-And that bread right here is our leftover po'boy bread.

We cut it down in about a cube inch.

She soaked it with a little water, or you can do seafood stock, just really enhancing that flavor.

-For my pound of crabmeat, I think that's going to be sufficient enough.

And at this point, I will season the breading so that my crab can pick up all of the flavors when I fold them in.

I use just a little bit of salt, a little bit of seafood seasoning.

And I'm going to use a little bit of thyme.

And a little pinch of parsley.

And a little bit of paprika for a little color.

Miss Chase was big on saying things needed color.

They all have to look good.

So you always have to put in a little paprika to give us a little -- a little bit of color.

Not too much, because you don't want them red, but you don't want a pale blond.

And for this dish, I like to use claw crabmeat because I find it has more flavor and it stands up to the cooking of this dish better than the white crabmeat.

And if I were to make just the stuffed crabs, I would use the white crabmeat because I want that to shine through and I want it to be nice and visible.

So, we have a couple of variations that we do.

And if it looks like it's going to adhere to the bottom of the pot, we can add a little pinch more butter.

Never hurts.

And it doesn't take long because the crabmeat is already cooked, so it doesn't take much.

We're just heating it up, really, and getting the flavors of the herbs to incorporate in there.

And then we will taste it, adjust our seasonings if we have to, and then we'll let it cool and we'll stuff us some shrimp.

-The bread is really marrying it and holding it together.

You can see it's not too wet, and we don't want it to be wet.

But it looks amazing, it smells amazing, and I'm getting ready to dive in with a taste.

-You get a taste, and let's see what you think.

-Mmm.

Spot-on.

That is where you want it to be.

You want that crab just to shine through, through and through.

That tastes wonderful, Cleo.

-There we go.

So we'll turn it off.

We'll let it cool down for a minute and then we'll stuff us some shrimp.

We've gotten to the point where our stuffing has cooled.

We left it in the refrigerator for a few little minutes, cooled it off, and now we're going to begin to stuff our shrimp.

Our nice, fresh lake shrimp.

I have already taken the liberty of peeling them and deveining and butterflying them so that our stuffing can go into there, and we're going to stuff them.

And then we're going to get some stuffing.

We're going to stuff them in there.

And a little roll technique that I like.

And then we'll get... We're going to get enough so that we'll have a nice meal at one time, and then we will fry them.

I think we should be able to get them all in there at one time without making a mess.

-And you can see who does the rolling of the stuffed shrimp at Dooky Chase, right?

Now, if I'm doing it, I'm over-stuffing them, I'm under-stuffing them.

Consistency is key, and Cleo is consistent.

They all look beautiful.

-If it's shrimp season and you, you know, you have a surplus of them, you can take them to that stage and then put them in the freezer and preserve them for later.

But needless to say, here at Dooky's, they don't get to sit.

So, here we go.

And we're going to roll them in white flour.

And you give them a nice little roll and a nice little squeeze so that they'll stay together.

And then we dip them in some egg wash. Then we come out the egg wash and then we go in the cornflour.

But we got to get a little salt and pepper on there, just to season it.

Our stuffing is seasoned, but we want to make sure that shrimp gets a little seasoning on there.

Then we roll them up.

And there we have a stuffed shrimp.

So, once again, in the white flour.

And then we go to the egg wash and we roll.

-As you can see, Cleo has perfected the skill of wet hand/dry hand.

Her hands are not picking up the flour, the cornmeal.

If I was in a different position, my hands would be total cake.

I would be making a cake batter because I'm -- Wet, dry, doesn't matter.

It just sticks to my hands.

-So, I don't mind doing it, and it's pretty -- it's pretty relaxing to me.

I enjoy it.

-So, when you're at home and you look like you've got a biscuit mix on your hand, you're more my speed.

If you've got a dry hand, you're more Cleo's speed.

[ Chuckles ] I can start to smell my oil getting hot.

Of course, when we're frying seafood, we like that 325 temperature.

These guys are ready to go in a fry.

I just want to make sure our oil is right where we want it to be.

And you want to be gentle with it, right?

You're not just plopping them in, because they're stuffed shrimp, and you want to just be gentle and let them do their thing.

-And if you're at the stage where you're conscious about fried foods, they work wonderfully if you would put them on a sheet pan, sprinkle a little butter, of course, and run them in the oven or right up under the broiler.

They work wonderfully like that as well.

-While I'm frying this, we'll start cleaning this up and getting ready to plate.

When shrimp start to cook, they curl up on you, and that's what you're looking for.

You flip them over and just be gentle with it.

And that's what we're looking for.

You see that beautiful golden brown?

See that curl?

Still stuffed, and it looks perfect.

-Nothing like the smell of fresh shrimp frying.

-Oh, man, huh?

Fried shrimp frying.

That's just... Whew!

You got to love that.

You look at that beautiful golden brown.

You can touch it right here.

It's got that crisp texture.

And when you bite in, you're biting into just a little bit of heaven right here.

-This is the way you get them served up.

And there you have Dooky Chase stuffed shrimp.

-When Dooky Jr. took his place at the restaurant, he remained active in the music business.

He helped organize the first racially integrated concert at the Municipal Auditorium and was on the first board of directors of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

-They would plan the acts for the Jazz Fest.

And it was easy for my dad because all these people came to the restaurant.

So, you know, whether it was James Brown or Duke Ellington or Ray Charles or Dizzy Gillespie, he would just pick up the phone and say, "Hey, Diz," you know, "Hey, Ray," and so they would come.

-But just to think that, you know, he was a musician who kind of sacrificed his band and stuff to come into the family business, to create this environment, to support his family, and to sit on this legacy is incredible.

-Topping off our musical meal is custard pie, a favorite of Dooky Chase Jr., who had a notorious sweet tooth.

-Now we're talking about my grandfather's favorite dessert.

He had a sweet tooth.

He loved custard -- custard this, custard that, ice cream.

And, you know, I think about it, when those jazz musicians needed a late-night treat or just a little sugar fix, this is right where he came.

And he said, you know, "Can you make me a little custard pie?"

So that's what we're going to make.

Really, really simple.

You can do it at home.

But this is just one of those favorites.

It reminds me of my grandfather walking around just eating his custard pie.

-So, we're going to start with three large eggs.

We're going to crack them in.

It's a one-bowl dish that requires a little bit of effort, not much at all.

And we're going to whisk these together.

We don't want them really, really frothy.

We just want to break the yolks and get them so that we can incorporate the milk.

We're going to use 2 3/4 cup of whole milk.

And we're back to baking, so we have to say how many cups and how many teaspoons.

And we're going to add 1/3 cup of sugar.

Not too sweet, but sweet enough.

A teaspoon of vanilla.

And then we're going to add 1/4 teaspoon of fresh-ground nutmeg.

-So, you want to have your oven preheated to about 350 degrees, and you're pouring this in.

So, this reminds me of my grandfather walking around.

"Can you get me a custard pie?"

And you saw how simple that was.

He knew we can make that and whisk that up that fast, get it in the oven, and he's coming back around in 35 minutes and he's looking for it.

So, we have that in here.

I'm going to get you to pour a little bit of that in here.

So, another thing, when you think of custard, you're thinking New Orleans, you start to think of crème brûlée.

It's slightly different, but I got her pouring this into that ramekin because I'm going to do the topping of a crème brûlée on this ramekin, right?

They're both custard based and they have similar flavor profiles.

They both have eggs.

They both have vanilla.

They both have sugar.

-And we place them on a baking sheet so we don't make a mess.

And then we'll bake them in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes.

-So, we've taken the pie out the oven.

When you take it out, you want to let it rest and cool for about 10 minutes.

That what we have here, and you can see how beautiful it is.

We have the little brown sugar here, and I mix it with a little white sugar.

So, I get to have fun with the torch on this show.

We'll get going with this torch.

And what he loved -- not only did he love the custard, but he loved the texture, right?

So you get a little crisp on the top, and all we're doing is just burning it.

And what we're doing is just creating that texture right on top.

Not too close, right?

You don't want to burn that sugar.

You just want to get it enough to glaze it in a nice little crust.

When that cools, that's what you're looking for.

So, while that's cooling down and creating that crust, we'll go ahead on and get to Grand D's custard pie.

And this is a tribute to my grandfather.

He made some beautiful music.

-Chef Leah Chase spent a lifetime uplifting the community and building bridges through food.

For more meals that bring people together, join the Chase family next time on "The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy."

-Leah Chase's iconic book, "The Dooky Chase Cookbook," has been updated and includes all-new recipes from the series you're watching.

The cookbook is available for $27.95, plus shipping and handling.

To order, please call 1-866-388-0834 or order online at wyes.org.

-So, all the African American musicians who would be performing would come here -- Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, James Brown.

Dizzy Gillespie was my daddy's good friend because my daddy is a trumpet player and Dizzy -- great trumpet player.

-It was always a surprise.

You never knew who you would see -- Lena Horne sitting there.

So many other people.

James Baldwin's in here, or even when I was here when the presidents came, it was like, "Whoa," hearing the presidents are here.

-The Jackson 5 used to like her sweet potato pie and stuff, and we have that upstairs dining room that I know you've heard them talk about.

So, they were up there one time, and I mean, I might have been a teenager.

I don't know how old I was.

But I went quietly up the steps and I'm thinking, of course, my mother's going to say, "Do you want to meet The Jackson 5?"

You know, my mother said nothing.

[ Laughing ] And, you know, I stuck my head in and I remember clearly, Michael turned around and just looked my way, and nobody said anything, so I just snuck back down the steps.

-For more information about "The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy," visit... Funding for "The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah's Legacy" was provided by the...