Crave the Louisiana waterfront?

Try this Oyster Po’ Boy

You need a vacation. All of you. Even if you just got home from a 20-day Caribbean cruise, you probably still need a vacation.

But as the graphs and charts and news reports have been reminding us, Americans aren’t great at taking those vacation days and getting away. So if you’re guilty of not giving yourself the down time you deserve, the least you can do is create a mini-staycation at dinnertime.

On Taco Tuesday, we visit the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas, and on Winesday Wednesday we kick back in the vineyards of Napa Valley. But lucky for you, it doesn’t have to be Mardi Gras Monday or Second Line Saturday (forgive us) for you to visit another food favorite destination, New Orleans. All you need is some sweet jazz music and a recipe.

This Oyster Po’ Boy from The Culinary Institute of America will transport you to a warm afternoon by the Louisiana waterfront. A po’ boy is a Louisiana-style sandwich of meat, fish, or shellfish on soft but crusty French bread. We won’t be so bold as to say what should be on a po’ boy, because from town to town, and even block to block, the rules shift. But in general, po’ boys are simply dressed with lettuce, tomato, onion, and maybe mayonnaise, mustard, and pickles.

Fat and crunchy fried oysters are a natural po’ boy filling because they are abundant in the warm waters of the Gulf, making them readily available and inexpensive. Even if you’re not an oyster person, and we know there are plenty of you out there, a fried oyster is really a horse of a different color. Cooked oysters lose the slimy quality that people usually complain about. Coated in a crunchy, golden-brown cornmeal coating, they become downright tender and sweet.

Just like wine and cheese, oysters are a product of their terroirmeaning the environment in which they grow and live. Water temperature, local ecology, and even weather can influence the texture and flavor of the oyster, meaning that an oyster harvested from the Pacific Northwest will be notably different than ones harvested in the Gulf or off the coast of New England.

“Oysters from the colder north waters tend to be very complex and briny in flavor, while the West Coast oysters tend to be fruity and floral, almost cucumber-like in flavor, and the Southern oysters tend to be the least flavorful,” said The Culinary Institute of America’s

PHIL MANSFIELD — THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA VIA AP Oyster Po’ boy sandwiches