Chef Nathan Gresham

Weaving Southern memories into one sunset dinner

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On October 21, when the sun drops beneath the Natchez bluffs to gild the river, Chef Nathan Gresham will cook professionally in Mississippi for the first time since he was nineteen years old. “I’ve always worn Mississippi as a badge of honor,” said Gresham, who grew up in Louisville, Mississippi, just thirty miles southwest of Starkville. But he hasn’t been homesick in moves from Louisville to Yellowstone to Steamboat Springs to Baton Rouge, where he graduated from the Louisiana Culinary Institute and cooked at Galatoire’s for five years before opening Beausoleil Restaurant and Bar in 2010. Like the best travelers, Gresham excels at finding familiarity wherever he is while continually expanding the boundaries of his comfort: in Yellowstone, they hunted and fished like he had always done in northeast Mississippi—but they harvest elk and antelope; he could clean game and cook it before working at Steamboat Springs’ Epicurean Café—but master butcher Marco Pauvert taught him patés and terrines (all while drinking warm brandy at 8 am), and Pauvert’s wife, Chef Rebecca, demonstrated classical French training applied to global flavors on the restaurant’s daily rewritten menus.

“Something called me back south,” said Gresham of his decision to attend LCI. Now with eight years at Beausoleil, the chef has learned the value in refining his own rich experiences and perfecting complimentary flavors. “That’s where a chef grows up,” he said. Dishes from Gresham’s own kitchen are not especially exotic—they’re resonant, with delicious depths. At one recent dinner for the Delta Waterfowl Association, Gresham riffed on a childhood favorite, from his father’s hometown of Phenix City, Alabama. “There’s a place called The Hidden Grill, and they serve the Scramble Dog. It’s a hot dog with no-bean chili. You never skim the grease off and you serve it with oyster crackers, diced raw onion, and ketchup and mustard on top.” Gresham’s version came in miniature, with duck sausage and rabbit chili. “They were the cutest things you’ve ever seen,” said Gresham.

One Delta Waterfowl board member was shocked: “How do you know about Scramble Dogs?!” He came from Columbus, Georgia, sister city—across the Chattahoochee—to Phenix City and home of the original Scramble Dog. “So we started talking about them, and it made the whole dinner more special.”

What memories will Gresham mine for our Supper Club? He walks us through the menu below.

For the passed hors d’oeuvres:

Truffle fried oysters: “That’s the dish that founded Beausoleil [Restaurant and Bar]. I’d make these at Galatoire’s and send them out as a treat. One day Jeff Conaway, Michael Boudreaux [president of Juban’s], and some friends wanted to get together and get some wine. They said 'We’ll bring the wine, you bring a bunch of oysters.' That day, Jeff, Michael, and I decided 'We’re going to do something we’re going to make this happen.'”

Bacon-wrapped venison sirloin: "When people go to butcher a whitetail deer, they just hack it. They cut a leg off, throw it in the pot. The sirloin in the deer is a little small piece. If you’re not paying attention you’ll cut right past it and get the whole hip and the whole upper round. But to me, the sirloin of a young whitetail deer is the best piece you can get. It’s mind-blowing—smoked for an hour on the pit, sous vide it, then it’s ready to go."

Venison meatballs with madeira: "People do deer sausage all the time. The majority of deer sausage I’ve had has been so dried out. You can’t eat it. So this is a great way to showcase it—it’s one of the moistest meatballs you’ll ever have."

And for dinner: 

Roasted purple and golden beets, whipped burrata, jumbo lump crabmeat, and a tarragon vinaigrette: "The gold and purple beets, with the crabmeat—it makes me think of the Mississippi River at sunset. The purple beets are the water going through, the golden beets are the sun setting, and the crab brings the Louisiana seafood—we’re bringing Louisiana to Mississippi."

Sautéed snapper with olive oil poached shrimp, grilled corn and tomatoes, and champagne butter: "In 2009, I did the Louisiana Seafood Cookoff. I got 2nd place behind Tory McPhail. This is the dish that didn’t win. It’s a version of it—when I was thinking of Mississippi and Louisiana, I was thinking catfish, but I didn’t want to serve catfish at a dinner. So this is a fish I know. It’s literally a macque choux with fish, very Louisiana and Mississippi. At home, we do this olive oil poached shrimp. My wife and I coat the shrimp with olive oil, salt and pepper, and citrus and throw it in the oven for a minute."

Poached pears with blue cheese and candied pecan streusel, whipped goat cheese, brandy and vanilla glaze: "Blue cheese adds a bit of funk. It cuts through the sweetness of the dish."

Tickets on sale for our October 21 Supper Club in Natchez at bontempstix.com.