Chef Jeffrey Hansell

Growing up in Waveland, Mississippi, Jeffrey Hansell remembers seafood as supremely fresh and rarely far from his fingertips. He’d watch for the daily hauls from docking boats and catch trout with his friends and family. “Everyone loved the fact that they could go out on the river, the bayou, or the gulf and fish for what they’d be eating,” said Hansell, whose family wouldn’t buy fish if they didn’t catch them. “People could fish, crab, trap, catch, shrimp, harvest oysters. It was all right there.”

Now the chef-owner of Oxlot 9 in Covington, Louisiana (as well as the barbecue joint Smoke, just down the road from Oxlot), Hansell sounds a note of caution that the number of boats docking daily has dwindled in Waveland and elsewhere along the coast. “All that overseas, farm-raised seafood—the competition is killing them,” said Hansell of the local fishermen. 

Still watching for those daily hauls from the Gulf, the chef uses the tools available to him to spread the increasingly urgent gospel of sustainable seafood. On his rotating menu at Oxlot 9, diners can look with confidence for at least one local-caught, sustainable fish given a delectable, dignified afterlife. This month, Hansell will be dockside again, preparing a four-course dinner at Baton Rouge’s new Water Campus for Country Roads’ April Supper Club, “Dinner on the Docks.” The chef talked us through the hors d’oeuvres and each thoughtful course.

[Read more about the Water Campus and the programming we have lined up.]

Raw Grand Isle Oysters (cucumber lemon mignonette, fennel pollen)

They’re unbelievable oysters. They are farm-raised, but in Louisiana waters in hanging baskets. They’re much more controlled than the traditional on-the-bottom oysters. These baskets can be lowered or raised in the water column depending on salinity, temperature, current, everything. It’s an unbelievable approach—they’re sweeping the whole industry.

Smoked Shrimp Fritters (fines herbes, pickled jalapeño tartar)

Shrimping is one of the biggest industries in Louisiana. These guys are on the front line of what we’re trying to protect here: whether it’s the marshes, the gulf, or the river. If they see something bad happening, they’ll be standing alongside us trying to fight the same battle. Just buying seafood from Louisiana fishermen is the best way anyone can help the movement.

We’ll leave the shrimp whole, heads on and everything, and coat them in our creole seasoning, then we put them on the smokers at Smoke. It cooks so low it’s like they’re poaching in their own shell. It imparts this flavor of smoke which is really fun, especially with shrimp. They stay so tender. We peel them, chop them up a bit, then fold them into a fritter batter and fry them.

Citrus Cured Lionfish (avocado, blackened pineapple, lemongrass aioli, basil, cured roe)

The lionfish is extremely poisonous. But no one eating it will have to worry about anything! We snip the barbs, which carry the poison. It’s not like a pufferfish where the internal organs carry the poison. The people who catch them actually snip the barbs, so when we get them they look like any other fish. It’s an invasive species, which is exactly why I put it on the menu. That was brought to my attention by one of our fish purveyors. I said, “What the hell do you want me to do with lionfish?” He said, “There’s this guy in Baton Rouge doing a study on them. They’re completely invasive in the Gulf now. It’s only growing. I’ll do my part and eat as many as I can.” So I started buying them and people loved them. It was a cool menu item—it was fun, and they cook beautifully.

The flavor is almost like speckled trout. It has just a little bit more of a delicate flesh. Trout’s firm, but this is a little bit less flaky than a trout. It’s pristine, white, and completely non-fishy. This one will be done in a raw preparation, where it’s cured and shaved really thin in a crudo. Everyone at the Supper Club is going to do their part in killing off the lionfish.

Stuffed Blue Crab (brown butter & lemon sabayon, farm greens, fried leeks)

I grew up eating stuffed crabs. That was my dish—I loved them, loved them. I used to work at a restaurant in Waveland called Little Ray’s. It was just a little seafood place. Just eating stuffed crabs was one of the highlights of my day. I’d sneak ‘em! Then I’d get caught … I couldn’t do it too much. My grandma made them; my friends made them. Using the carcass of the animal as the presentation I think is very cool too. It’s not done that much anymore. Nowadays people use the little aluminum pressed shells. But when we see this—it’s a crab. I think eating it just makes it that much more fun. Then with the sabayon, the farm greens, and the fried leeks, it makes it into a full dish, instead of a little appetizer.

Cobia en Crepinette (ramp pistou, local mushrooms, roasted fennel puree, new potatoes, baby radish, lemon and chili emulsion)

The cobia are fished wild and they’re starting to be farmed as well. There’s actually a huge movement into cobia farms. It’s easier to grow. It grows fast. They do well in captivity. But what’s really cool is that they’re in the current, they’re not in some pond inland. They’re still in the current and they’re still seeing baitfish swim through the net. You’re not having to go catch them because you’ve already got them in the net. They’re doing it with a lot of different species, but it’s really taking off with cobia.

It’s probably one of the best fish that come out of the Gulf, as far as meaty fish. We’re not having a meat on the menu, so I want this to feel like a meat but you’re still eating seafood. It’s a very steaky fish. It’s very firm. It almost has the big eyes like a tuna, how the flesh is curled over and circular. I’m wrapping it in caul fat [the fatty sac that holds all the organs together], which is the crepinette. It’s pure pork fat. It’s like this netting. I’ll do the ramp pistou, then wrap the fish in that and bake it. So you’re getting the fish basted in this pork fat, and it’ll take on this meat-like flavor. So it’ll be fun to play with that.

It’s fun as a chef to have a little molecular gastronomy in your wheelhouse. I think there’s a place for it and then a place to not do it. It’s fun to do but you don’t have to be so whimsical. Like sous vide is not all that crazy. You’re just putting food in a bag and cooking it at low temperature. There are all kinds of little powders and droplets that you can do things with.

I use fennel a couple of times on the menu [roasted fennel puree and fennel pollen]. It’s just one of my favorite vegetables. It’s very versatile: raw and shaved, it has that anise flavor. If you roast it, you get this caramelized, really deep, rich flavor, almost like caramelized onions. Then the fennel pollen is very cool. It’s this little pop that’s almost floral. I think it’s a really cool vegetable. It lends itself very well to seafood. It’s a great base for bouillabaisse, fish stocks, and everything. It should definitely be on any menu with seafood.

Louisiana Strawberry Shortcake (sweet biscuit, strawberry, blood orange preserves, lavender goat cheese gelato)

The strawberries were picked about thirty minutes down the road in Ponchatoula. For the biscuit, we take sugar in the raw, heavy cream instead of buttermilk. It’s a little denser, a little richer. Almost sconelike. And the lavender goat cheese gelato—dude, it’s good. We make an ice cream base by steeping lavender, lemon zest, and cream overnight then strain it. Then we thicken the cream with sugar and whisk in goat cheese and a little bit of egg yolk to set it. You know when there’s milk left in your cereal bowl? That sweet, almost salty milk? It’s like that. The goat cheese is tangy too. And goat cheese and lavender make a terrific combination.

Tickets for the April 20 Supper Club are available at bontempstix.com.

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