I don't need any convincing about the glory of the po' boy. It's just that when I think of the New Orleans sandwich, my mind immediately imagines fried oysters or luscious roast beef—never bad things to think about. That was until I was flipping through Crescent City Cooking by Susan Spicer. She writes, you shouldn't "overlook a spicy sausage filling." More

Shaved ice in Louisiana is a simple affair of ice and flavored syrup, yet not just any shaved ice joint can produce a cone as fine as Hansen's on Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans. Hansen's stainless steel ice-shaving machine is the key to its success. This beast yields shavings of ice as light as snowflakes, finer than any I have tasted before. More

Austin Leslie is known in New Orleans as the "Godfather of Fried Chicken." He died tragically in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but his legacy lives on through his signature dish, Fried Chicken with New Orleans Confetti. Adapted from The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook, it's easy to see why Austin's chicken is the gold standard of New Orleans chicken. It includes the unlikely addition of evaporated milk, which adds a bit of sweetness and an incredible crunch once fried. More

Not sure what to do with that leftover turducken? Po'boy-ify it. That's what chef Steve McHugh of Luke Restaurant in New Orleans does. More

Angelo Brocato, a Sicilian immigrant, opened the New Orleans shop more than a century ago in 1905, as one of the city's first sit-down parlors. Now in its third generation of the Brocato family, Angelo's original recipes are used to this day. More

I like to think of the muffaletta as a distant relative of the Italian sub. They both layer on the various meats and cheese—ham, capicola, salami, mortadella, provolone—and rely on something piquant and lively to stand up to all that meat, whether that's hot peppers in an Italian or the famed olive spread of the muffaletta. More

It's such a simple sandwich, yet when you sit down with one of these, it's hard to imagine anything tasting better. The oysters are tossed in a flour and cornmeal mixture, then fried for just under a minute so the crust is crackly and golden brown, yet the oysters are still gushing with juice. The bread is important. It needs to be soft, but still have a nice crackly texture. Then it's just iceberg lettuce and mayonnaise. More

New Orleans has always had great ways to make the best out of its sweltering days. A sno-ball from Hansen's Sno-Bliz is definitely one of my favorites, a strawberry daiquiri from any number of drive-thru outlets falling shortly behind, and an ice-cold Abita root beer will always do the trick. But recently I discovered some refreshing homemade popsicles from Meltdown Popsicles, located in the French Quarter. More

In honor of St. Joseph's Day, a feast day for the patron saint of cabinetmakers, engineers, Canada, and confectioners (which is where the sweets come in), try this recipe for St. Joseph's fig cookies. They're like a better, homemade version of Fig Newtons. The figginess is much less cloying and sticky and gets combined with a nice mix of sherry, orange, lemon, raisins, and walnuts. More

In this recipe for Trout Amandine, trout fillets are dredged in flour, pan fried in browned butter, and finished with parsley, lemon juice, and toasted almonds. More