Cajun cooking

La Crosse Tribune, Oct 01, 2001 by Cahalan, Steve

BARRE MILLS, Wis. - Tim and Brandon Hall have been serving Cajun food at events throughout the area since they started Celebration Catering, LLC, in Barre Mills in May 2000.

Last month, they began going after the retail market. Eightounce canisters of Celebration Seasonings Cajun Style AllPurpose Seasoning Blend made their debut at Festival Foods in Onalaska, selling for $2.79.

"It's our own confidential recipe," Brandon said of the seasoning blend, which is packaged for him and his father by Foran Spice Co. of Oak Creek, Wis. The latter company also custom blends for the Halls the bulk seasonings that they use in their catering business.

The Halls hope their new product - which they also sell on their Web site - will be available in grocery stores throughout Western Wisconsin by the end of the year and throughout the state by the end of 2002. They also hope to distribute it in other states.

The Halls plan to introduce other spice mixes, fish breading mix and buttermilk biscuit mix in grocery stores in the next few years.

Tim, 56, and Brandon, 24, both were raised in Louisiana and made major career changes when they started the catering business.

Tim was a CenturyTel vice president, until he retired from the telephone company in February 2000 after 13 years. Brandon received a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse in 1999, then worked at the Best Buy store in Onalaska for nine months until he and his father started Celebration Catering.

"I've been cooking all my life," Tim said of his decision to switch careers. "I just took an avocation and decided to pursue it beyond avocation status."

"I had a very entrepreneurial spirit in college," Brandon said. "I knew I didn't want to go into the corporate world. I thought by having the catering business, we could give people in the La Crosse area something a little different and fresh. We love to cook and entertain."

Brandon learned how to cook from his father.

And Tim learned how to cook from his mother, who operated a restaurant and catering business in Louisiana when he was a child. "I remember cooking even when I was in elementary school," Tim recalled.

"In Louisiana, it's not uncommon at all for men to cook," he said. "When you go visit folks, it's all about eating and cooking and socializing."

Tim said he has compiled his Cajun recipes over many years. "We got our recipes from all over the place - fine dining restaurants, hometown cafes, fishing camps and back yards," he said. A fishing camp is a cabin or cluster of cabins where people stay when they fish or hunt, he said.

Celebration Catering's most popular foods include fried turkey, jambalaya (chicken, pork and smoked sausage cooked with rice and seasonings), fried catfish, gumbo (chicken and sausage simmered in a dark roux and served over rice) and red beans and rice.

"We also do custom menus," Brandon said, if someone w ants an event catered with non-Cajun food.

The Halls can fry up to 10 turkeys at a time, in a 72-gallon steel pot that they fill with 35 gallons of peanut oil.

They have a part-time staff of 10 people besides themselves, mostly for the Friday night fish fry that they have held weekly since June 29 at the Fox Hollow Banquet Hall in Barre Mills. That's where the business is based.

The staff of 10 includes: Tim's Wife, Carol, Brandon's wife, Abby, and Tim's daughter, Sigried, and her husband, Mark Johnson.

Celebration Catering started the Friday night fish fry to gain more exposure.

"It gives people a chance to try our food for $8.50," Brandon said. Celebration Catering has a minimum charge of $300 for events it caters.

The $8.50 charge entitles customers to all-you-can-eat entrees Southern-style fried catfish or jambalaya with hushpuppies. Dessert is an extra $3.50 and changes weekly. One of the most popular desserts is a New Orleans-style bread pudding. Another Southern specialty, large pecan pralines, are available for 75 cents apiece.

Celebration Catering caters events in the tri-state area. Most have been for 100 to 200 people, although the business can cater events with up to 1,000 people.

The Halls usually cook at the event site. "We're mobile," Tim said. "Every cooker we own is portable."

Celebration Catering has more than 300 names on the mailing list for its newsletter, which also is available on its Web site. The Web site also lists upcoming events where Celebration Catering food will be available and a menu.

The Web site and the Halls' literature feature their mascot, Chef Gaston Gator. "We wanted to pick a French name (Gaston), and alligators are found in Louisiana," Tim explained.