Coushatta Casino resort chefs prepare crawfish, sweet potato, and tasso chowder

By Claudette Olivier
Staff Reporter
When you help cook for more than a dozen different restaurants, it’s nice to slow down for a day and just cook one dish.
James Hamilton, executive chef at Coushatta Casino Resort, “We have 14 different restaurants at Coushatta Casino Resort — Big Sky Steakhouse, Gumbo’s, Eagle Bar and Grill and so many others.”
Hamilton and Rodrick James, executive sous chef at the resort, presented a cooking demonstration to about 30 people Sunday afternoon at the Experience Louisiana Festival at LSUE. The duo prepared crawfish, tasso and sweet potato chowder. The cooking counter in the Community Education Building’s culinary arts room was covered with ingredients including onions, red and green bell peppers, minced garlic, a range of seasonings, whipping cream and blonde roux.
“Look at all the food,” said Tina Soileau and her daughter, Katelynn Soileau, both of Eunice, watched Hamilton carve a rose from a sweet potato. “It already smells good.”
Hamilton has been a professional cook for 30 years, and he has been with the resort for 10 years.
“I like to cook a little bit of everything,” Hamilton said. “I can also carve things. If you give me a fruit, vegetable or a piece of ice, I can turn it into something.”
The executive chef learned to cook from his grandmother, and his specialties are Creole and Cajun dishes.
“What we are cooking here today is a Creole dish,” he added.
James has been a cook for 24 years, and he has been with the resort for almost two years. His specialty is southern comfort food.
“I’m from Shreveport, but I love to cook Cajun food,” James said. “I also cooked in New York for a while, and I was classically trained there.”
“At Coushatta Casino Resort, we have to be jacks of all trades because we have to be in so many different restaurants at the casino.”
The cooks started off the dish by combining water and seafood base, bringing the mixture to a boil and then adding sweet potatoes. After the potatoes were allowed to boil for 20 minutes, the mixture was pureed and several more ingredients were added. Next, spices, milk and whipping cream were added to the pot, soon followed by the blonde roux. Lastly, the crawfish tails, green onions and more diced potatoes were added to the simmering pot.