CHEF LYLE BROUSSARD
Growing up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Lyle Broussard was around cooking from a young age. Lyle fondly recalls visiting his grandparents’ restaurant, gathering with family for boucheries, and picking okra from his grandfather’s garden after church.
Unsurprisingly, cooking came naturally to Lyle. After a few semesters of college, he got a job washing dishes and was promoted to the line. He joined Jack Daniel’s Bar & Grill at L’Auberge Lake Charles in 2005 and was promoted to executive chef three years later. He earned his Certified Chef de Cuisine through the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
Today, Lyle draws on his upbringing for his southwest Louisiana-inspired menu. “If you go around the average Saturday in southwest Louisiana, you’ll see barbecue and seafood,” he says. “That’s what we are.”
Lyle’s menu features bold barbecue dishes and fresh Louisiana seafood, like the amberjack he uses in this recipe. He makes his own tasso—a highly spiced chunk of cured meat—which he pairs with shrimp, smoked Cheddar grits, house-made Louisiana-style barbecue sauce, and Creole slaw for his popular shrimp and grits.
Lyle’s advice for this dish is to get your fish completely dry and your pan really hot. “What a lot of people get wrong when they’re searing fish is that it sticks to the pan. I actually take the back of my knife and scrape all the moisture off the top.”
Recipe
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