Herbology

If you have anything to do with herbs in Baton Rouge, you know Sarah Liberta. A mainstay of the Herb Society of America’s Baton Rouge branch, the woman loves her plants, running workshops, giving talks, setting up cooking demonstrations, writing columns, and contributing recipes that celebrate the leafy, flavorful delights in a career that spans over twenty-five years. (Supposedly, she also finds time to grow herbs herself.)  Last year, Liberta was honored with the Helen de Conway Little Medal of Honor, an annual award given to an outstanding herbalist. On the heels of this triumph, Liberta has restarted her series of lunchtime educational programs at Chef John Folse’s White Oak Plantation. A talk on herbal lore and culture, a cooking demonstration, a garden tour, and a lunch from the rightfully famous kitchens of White Oak—it’s hard to plan a better afternoon than that.

The event I attended was chocolate-themed, and Liberta, who understands human weakness, had set out two different kinds of brownie bites for us to enjoy as she spoke. Each attendee also had a little bag of different kinds of chocolate—the equivalent of visual aids, we learned, as she explained the differences between white, semi-sweet, etc. She also dove into the lore around chocolate, the royal drink of the Aztec that, once sweetened, became a hit in the salons of early modern Europe, where it became a fixture even before that other exotic bean, coffee.

Liberta’s talk was followed by a cooking demo from Jeremy Langlois, head chef at White Oak. Most chocolatey foods require longer in an oven than we had, so, ever-practical, he had switched gears and showed us all the alchemy of sous-vide cooking, which was also how lunch’s lamb loin had been prepared. (The smell of the demo was a powerful appetizer.) Sous-vide makes use of an immersion heater and a water bath to cook food at just-right temperatures, eliminating guesswork and complicated processes like Julia Child’s famously multi-step egg-boiling method. The result is meat cooked exactly to the level of doneness you prefer—no more missing that perfect spot between rare and medium rare.

[Read this: Chef Jeremy Langlois returns to White Oak Plantation.]

The drizzle that had accompanied our entrance had accelerated into a downpour, cancelling the planned garden tour and pushing lunch forward—I missed a chance to see a garden, but the scent of the demonstration lamb had stirred up quite an appetite in me, and I could see other attendees gazing longingly at the demo table. Fortunately, our wait wasn’t long, and the meal itself was nothing short of magnificent. Bisque is my favorite edible liquid, barely edging out its cousins chowder and nog, and the crab and corn bisque served as a first course reaffirmed these standings. Topped with truffle corn cream and full of sweet, tender crabmeat, it was so good that less disciplined writers would have run an index finger along the inside of the cup for a last taste; those of us with more discipline settled for an enthusiastic scrape with the spoon. The lamb loin that followed was a juicy and as perfectly cooked as the sous-vide demonstration had promised, and was paired with near-equally delicious garlic potato puree and roasted vegetables. A slice of chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse and finished with crème anglaise and raspberries rounded off the meal. It was almost too much food, and yet I managed.

Clutching my packet of recipes and a lagniappe gift of a new spearmint plant (which has thrived in a new pot and already flavored the occasional drink), I darted out through the rain. I had had one of the best lunches of my career, made a new friend in the effortlessly charming Liberta, and now looked out on the courtyard behind my new apartment with an appraising eye: savory there, thyme there, maybe a raised bed for lavender in the back…  

Join Liberta for a Mother’s Day Garden Tea Party at White Oak on May 9. Full details here.

This article originally appeared in our May 2018 issue. Subscribe to our print magazine today.