Mary Patou brings great flavor to any dish she cooks with seasonings like mustard, microgreens, and a myriad of sauces. She invited me to cook with her at her home in St. Martinville. There, she inspired me with her passion for sauce and shared her story of living a life of “having to feed” people.
Her sister cheerfully greets me on her front porch near Bayou Teche and shows me around Patou’s wonderfully unique kitchen. To one side was a dramatically dark charcoal-colored cabinet, and the space was surprisingly bright and illuminated by windows on two sides. Bright green plants were perched on various levels. The walls were decorated with art and a carefully selected collection of knives. Comfortable chairs are lined up in the room surrounding the island, where Patu chops green onions and greets me with a smile.
Mary Paout’s knife in her kitchen in St. Martinville.
We started with wine and vinegar. The cold white vinegar was easy to drink, and she was excited to use the black vinegar in the sauce for the dumplings we were making.
Patou draws inspiration for her cooking from her life as the daughter of a U.S. Air Force officer from the Northeast and a mother from Japan, living throughout the United States and overseas. When Patou moved to Louisiana with her family when she was 18, she learned from her mother, who used to cook foods like egg rolls and dumplings at her home, that people needed to feed. Inheriting this, I added gumbo and etouffee to my repertoire.
Inspired by her mother, Patu and her late husband Roy Patu became charter members of the Lafayette Farmers and Artisans Market, where they surprised people with special treats like homemade mustard, homemade ramen, and takoyaki. I did. After seeing her homemade mustard recipe in her Unique Christmas Gifts article, Mary Patou started talking about this often misrepresented condiment.
Her freshly made mustard included a healthy dose of experimentation. She had her husband as her main taster as she sampled a variety of drinks, including local beer, lavender, port wine, and champagne grapes that caught her eye at her shop. She grows mustard greens and incorporates young microgreens to further enhance the mustard flavor. People loved it and it often sold out.
Mary Patou in the kitchen.
For several years, Mary Patou has been growing microgreens and specialty herbs such as coriander, tarragon, and a Japanese herb similar to basil called perilla, at restaurants such as Social Southern Table & Bar and French Press in Lafayette. Local restaurants provided an element of surprise in many dishes.
Her husband built a greenhouse to protect her precious produce, but she smiles as she recalls how he was overzealous in weeding the outdoor perilla that chef Manny Augello had once reserved. Giving her forgiveness and calling her fellow growers saved her predicament. Mary Patou rose to fame and she was frequently approached by local chefs looking for ways to make their creations even more delicious.
Umami, or earthy flavors, is her specialty. Three types of sauces are prepared for the gyoza: fermented black bean sauce, Mary’s Bulldog sauce (okonomiyaki sauce made with oyster sauce, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce), and the dipping sauce listed in the accompanying recipe to embody the flavor. .
Having fun is also one of Patu’s strengths.
Mary Paout and her sister Janet Hanneman make dumplings in Paout’s kitchen in St. Martinville.
After demonstrating how to carefully make the pleats of the dumplings, she and her sister quickly pinched the unadorned sides to demonstrate how moms would make them. As we were folding dumplings, their late mother jokingly reminisced and told us about when her family moved from Satellite Beach, Florida, to Anchorage, Alaska. Near the end of the 5,000-mile road trip, during the 13th time changing a flat tire, her mother decided she had had enough and started walking all the way to Florida. Reason prevailed and the whole family was eventually able to make it to Alaska. But even decades later, the two women still felt relieved that their families made the journey north safely.
Sitting around the table with Mary Patou, her sister, and brother-in-law, I felt like she was at the beginning of a new journey. Since she is no longer involved in growing microgreens, she said she would like to teach cooking classes. Her dumplings were delicious, gaining more flavor each time they were dipped in different sauces.
Please register.
Dumplings with rice and three different sauces at Mary Patou’s home in St. Martinville.
Gyoza with dipping sauce
Serves 6-8 people
Recipe by Mary Patout
For dumplings:
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
Divide 2 cups + 1 tablespoon of sake
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or black pepper
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 pinch of ginger (grated or chopped)
Finely chop a handful of chives or green onions
1 12 oz packaged dumpling wrapper
vegetable oil for browning
For dipping sauce:
1/2 cup Japanese black vinegar or Chinese black vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
Chili crisp flavor
1. Let the wrapping paper come to room temperature so that the edges stick together.
2. In a large bowl, mix the meat, sake, sesame oil, and 1 tablespoon each of soy sauce. Add salt, pepper, garlic, ginger and chives/green onions. Mix well with a spoon or your hands and set aside.
3. Optional: Fry a small amount of the meat mixture in a pan until thoroughly cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
4. Mix the dipping sauce ingredients.
5. Assemble the dumplings. Place 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture in the center of the dumpling skin, fold the skin in half, and pinch the seam edges together to seal. Make sure the edges of the wrapper are tightly sealed.
6. Continue assembling the dumplings until the meat mixture is used up. Cover the finished dumplings with a wet towel to prevent them from drying out before cooking.
7. Using a medium nonstick skillet with a lid, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil. Add the dumplings one at a time, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Brown the dumplings on one side and carefully peel away anything that might stick to the pan before proceeding to the next step.
8. Add 1/4 cup of sake (or water) to the frying pan. Cover and steam for 3 to 4 minutes.
9. At each place setting, heat dipping sauce in small bowls and serve.
