Trout Point Lodge Cookbook Creole Cuisine from New Orleans to Nova Scotia

Daniel Abel grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, center of Acadian culture. His grandparents were farmers who homesteaded in southern Louisiana, eventually becoming hotel owners and restaurateurs. As a student he worked at the renowned Thelma's restaurant in Breaux Bridge, and later became manager of jazz musician Al Hirt's Cafe St. Cecile. He and his partners established Chicory Farm, where they made cheese from the milk of their own goats and sheep, cultivated mushrooms, and grew specialty produce. Mr. Abel also worked as the executive chef and manager of the critically acclaimed Creole restaurant Chicory Farm Cafe in New Orleans, and has taught cooking lessons in Louisiana and Canada. He is the coauthor of a book on children and gun safety and is the author of several legal treatises. Vaughn Perret was born and raised in New Orleans, attending Loyola and Tulane universities for studies in history and anthropology before entering Cornell University Law School. An avid food lover, traveler, and expert on wild edibles, Mr. Perret has eaten his way through Western Europe, North Africa, and Asia since his college days, at one time living in Paris. He shares chef duties at Trout Point Lodge and the Inn at Coyote Mountain and was the principal investigator for a U.S. Department of Agriculture research project on gourmet mushrooms. A master gardener, he has established organic farms in Louisiana, Canada, and Costa Rica, and has acted as an adviser to countless New Orleans chefs on food ingredients. Charles Leary is a one-time Chinese history professor turned cheesemaker, baker, and chef. After earning degrees from Kenyon College and Cornell University, Dr. Leary made accolade-winning, European-style cheeses in Louisiana and Nova Scotia for ten years. He then focused on cooking and helped establish the Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School at Trout Point Lodge and the Tropical Creole Cooking School in Costa Rica. A specialist in desserts, pastries, and breads, he has recently begun experimenting with the culinary uses of tropical fruits while cooking at the Inn at Coyote Mountain. He has written articles for a wide variety of publications, from the New Orleans Times-Picayune to the Dairy Goat Journal. Daniel Abel, Vaughn Perret, and Charles Leary now split their time between Nova Scotia, Louisiana, Spain, and Costa Rica. Among only a handful of North Americans to claim the honor, Abel, Perret, and Leary were inducted into the prestigious French Cheesemakers Guild in 1994. They also won the Tibbets Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration, a national honor. They are members of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and their accomplishments as farmers, innkeepers, and chefs have been praised by The New York Times, Food and Wine, Travel and Leisure, and the Food Network. Their recipes have been published in a variety of places, including Harrowsmith Country Life, Food and Wine, and Louisiana Cookin'. Jamie Shannon, the former longtime executive chef of Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans said, "Every time I talk to them, I learn something."Abel, Daniel G. is the author of 'Trout Point Lodge Cookbook Creole Cuisine from New Orleans to Nova Scotia', published 2004 under ISBN 9781400060597 and ISBN 1400060591.