Support
the SFA

Support
the SFA

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region.

< Back to Oral History project: Southern Gumbo Trail

ORAL HISTORY

Vaughn Schmitt

Gumbos all over New Orleans feature Vaughn Schmitt’s sausage. Along with his business partner Deanie Bowen, this second-generation sausage maker is proprietor of Creole Country Sausage Company, which offers a traditional andouille, a special-order mango sausage, and everything in between. Vaughn’s parents, Fab and Ricker Schmitt, started Creole Country in 1979. They felt compelled when their favorite sausage producer in Church Point, Louisiana, went out of business. After a two-week crash course—in Oklahoma of all places—they started filling casings. Today, Creole Country provides sausage to restaurants throughout New Orleans—a vital link in the city’s renowned gumbo tradition.

Date of interview:
2006-09-09

Interviewer:
Amy Evans

Photographer:

Download Transcript

Other Project Interviews

Interview

XTRA: Louisiana Gumbo Recipes

Gumbo recipes vary from place to place, person to person. Across the South, no two people make gumbo alike. Chefs have…

Interview

XTRA: How to Make a Roux

For every roux-based gumbo out there, each cook has a certain kind of roux they like to make. Some people prefer to use…

Interview

World Championship Gumbo Cook-Off

The challenge for all competitors is to produce both roux and stock onsite the morning of the event, beginning when a…

Interview

Vaucresson Sausage Company

Today, Vance Vaucresson carries on the tradition with Vaucresson’s Sausage Company. Restaurants throughout New Orleans…

Interview

Uncle Bill’s Spices

In his thirties, Lionel learned the art of making filé—which involves curing and pulverizing the leaves of the…

Interview

Two Sisters Restaurant

Two Sisters Restaurant, named by a previous owner, is actually run by three sisters and one brother—and their mother,…

Interview

Seafood Palace

The seafood gumbo at Seafood Palace begins with an awe-inspiring, nearly black roux that gives amateur roux-makers…

Interview

Melinda and Donald Punch

Donald Punch was a shrimper all his life, following in the boot steps of his father, until his own son’s Type 1…

Interview

Prejean’s Restaurant

The customers at Prejean’s Restaurant, where Terryl was executive chef at the time of this interview, tend to prefer…

Interview

Olivier’s Creole Restaurant

Five generations of Creole family recipes and tradition inspired Olivier’s Creole Restaurant. Armand Olivier Jr., his…

Interview

Mulate’s

When Kerry opened Mulate’s, in 1980, he branded it “a Cajun restaurant,” which was an innovative term in those days,…

Interview

Mr. B’s Bistro

While she traveled early on in her career, she settled in New Orleans, her husband’s hometown, and has worked for the…

Interview

Mowata Store

Bubba Frey’s Restaurant, which connects to the Mowata Store and maintains limited hours, is where Bubba serves guinea…

Interview

Marie Hebert

Marie is a true practitioner of the pressure canner, but she did not acquire her canning skills overnight. She credits…

Interview

Marcelle Bienvenu

For the past few decades, Marcelle has written several cookbooks, freelanced for national food magazines, taught…

Interview

Mark Callais

Mark eventually moved into a PR job at M&M and C&G Boats, another offshore supply boat company, work that leverages his…

Interview

Lynn Anselmo

Lynn’s gumbo Ya-Ya is a Creole-style chicken-and-sausage gumbo that’s about as different from his mother’s Cajun…

Interview

Louisiana Foods

After a long career in restaurants, Jim entered the wholesale seafood business. These days you won’t find him toiling…

Interview

Robert Collins

Robert Collins is a third-generation shrimp drier in Grand Isle; his teenage son, also named Robert, seems poised to…

Interview

Liuzza’s by the Track

Today Billy makes what he calls a Creole gumbo. The recipe is a nod to his mother’s Cajun heritage, but Billy has…

Interview

Lil’ Dizzy’s Cafe

The Creole filé gumbo ladled out at Lil’ Dizzy’s is the same gumbo that his family has been serving at its restaurants…

Interview

Donna Cheramie

Seafood gumbo seasoned with ham and smoked sausage, crab patties, fried seafood platters, seafood fondue, salads piled…

Interview

Joyce’s Supermarket

The motto at Joyce’s Supermarket – “Where Prices Are Born Not Raised” – is as unorthodox as its sausage selection, and…

Interview

Josephine’s Creole Restaurant

While Josephine didn’t even start cooking until after she was married, she appreciated her father’s cookery, and the…

Interview

John Laudun

Laudun was deep into gumbo research prior to the hurricanes of 2005, the complex aftermath of which drove him to table…

Interview

Gumbo Shop

In addition to iconic New Orleans dishes such as jambalaya and shrimp Creole, the Gumbo Shop’s daily menu offers three…

Interview

French Market Foods

Big Easy Foods (formerly known as French Market Foods) might not be a household name in Louisiana or beyond, but the…

Interview

French Food Festival

Donald Uzee calls theirs a non-traditional seafood gumbo, at least by Lafourche Parish standards, because besides…

Interview

Farmers Rice Milling Co.

Johnny Hensgens knows rice. He grew up on his family’s rice farm, eating duck and goose gumbos made from birds hunted…

Interview

Eric Cormier

While Eric cannot envision ever matching his mother’s platonic gumbos, he is the main cook in his household today (“My…

Interview

Dunbar’s Creole Cooking

Celestine Dunbar learned how to make her father’s Creole seafood gumbo at age six in her hometown of Lutcher,…

Interview

Dooky Chase’s

In 1945, Leah Chase met musician Edgar "Dooky" Chase II, whose parents owned the restaurant. After the two married, and…

Interview

Nick Collins

Nick learned oystering from his father, Wilbert Collins. Of six siblings, many of whom lend a hand in the business, he…

Interview

Cochon-Herbsaint

A native of Crowley, Louisiana, Donald Link began cooking when he was fifteen years old. After gaining experience in…

Interview

Chez Jacqueline

In 2003 Jacqueline Salser opened Chez Jacqueline, “a little restaurant,” where alongside some regional specialties she…

Interview

Café Des Amis

Never in his first fifty years of life did Dickie Breaux, né John Richard Breaux, imagine that he would be tied to…

Interview

Brigtsen’s Restaurant

Chef Paul Prudhomme hired Frank Brigtsen to direct the kitchen at K-Paul's his flagship restaurant. Some decades and…

Interview

Bayou Boudin & Cracklin’

Rocky Sonnier might not have had cultural preservation in mind when he and his wife, Lisa, began building Bayou Boudin…

Interview

Annou Olivier and David Olivier

Ann (nickname Annou) Olivier was born into a family of white New Orleans Creoles on Esplanade Ridge, where she still…

Interview

Ann Maylie Bruce

Ann Maylie Bruce was one of few children in the 1940s and ‘50s to grow up in an apartment in New Orleans’ business…

Interview

Alzina Toups

Alzina’s offers a one-of-a-kind dining experience. In the chef’s own words, it’s more of “get-together place” than a…

Interview

A Short History of Gumbo

Of all the dishes in the realm of Louisiana cooking, gumbo is the most famous and, very likely, the most popular. Gumbo…

Let’s Stay in Touch

Sign up for the SFA newsletter to have the latest content
delivered directly to your inbox.