Above, Matt Reed’s winning dish at Fête Rouge. Photo by Chelsea Caldwell
Matt Reed of Reed’s Cakes and Catering won “Best in Show” for the second year in a row at Fête Rouge in Baton Rouge Friday.
Reed’s dish—a jambalaya sandwich—sounds simple enough, but it includes nearly 20 ingredients.
The sandwich starts out like an everyday pot of jambalaya—a cast-iron pot full of onions, peppers and garlic. The next addition is usually chicken or sausage, but Reed one-upped traditional jambalaya by adding Manda sausage, Chappapeela pork belly, pork shoulder, duck and local bacon.
|
|
|
“We had this idea one day,” Reed says. “What if we skipped out on the rice and made it into sandwiches instead?”
Well, he and his culinary team didn’t entirely skip out on rice. They followed up on the idea by making rice flour biscuits glazed with honey jalapeño butter.
But the sandwich wasn’t complete yet, Reed says. It needed something to add a little crunch.
Using an Abita beer batter, Reed pan-fried mini sweet peppers to top the jambalaya mix.
The sandwich still wasn’t perfect. As a finishing touch, Reed added a Creole tomato and onion relish, sort of like a chutney, and Creole dijonaisse sauce.
|
|
|
The sandwich was served with a side of baked green beans dusted with Parmesan cheese.
Reed’s dish not only took Best in Show, it also took first place in the meat category. Last year, Reed took home Best in Show for a dessert dish called “Twins Duet,” inspired by his newborn twins. See all the winners from the 2015 Fête Rouge here.
Reed’s business, Reed’s Cakes and Catering, specializes in customizable catering and specialty desserts. He also hosts monthly cooking classes at Acadian House Kitchen and Bath Design.