Associated Press

Ment’or Team USA

Story by Stephen Smith and Kevin McGill

Team USA Chefs Bring New Orleans Flavors to Life in the Bocuse d’Or  Americas selection competition

You don’t think corn dogs are haute cuisine? These chefs, using alligator sausage, beg to differ.

The chefs heading Team USA at an international food competition this week in New Orleans are incorporating flavors of their native California in dishes featuring New Orleans regional ingredients.

Stefani De Palma, an award-winning chef and head of the a team vying to represent the Americas in a French culinary competition in January, knew she wanted her team’s work to feature flavors of her native California.

The challenge at the Bocuse d’Or Americas competition this week in New Orleans was to also incorporate regional ingredients from the host city — specifically wild boar, alligator sausage, grits and Gulf of Mexico seafood.

Among the results: a corn dog.

Their corn dog features alligator boudin battered in a mixture using buttermilk, ground grits and corn meal.

There’s also what DePalma called a “California Celebration of Louisiana shellfish.”

“We incorporated beautiful tomatoes, corn, squash, squash blossoms. So, really, really fun things that really spoke to just the bounty of California,” she said during an Associated Press interview at Emeril’s, the namesake restaurant of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.