The Portland Pickle: Louisa Neumann

At the tender age of 15, Kentucky-born Louisa Neumann scored her first job in a professional kitchen. Since then, she’s been addicted to cooking and to sharing her talent with others through years of leading classes across the US. Today, she shacks up in Oregon where she spends her days developing stellar recipes and teaching Portlanders how to braise, stew, sauté, and wield a knife. The Urban Grocer ‘virtually’ sat down with Louisa to learn more about her work and the granola-crunching Northwest.

TUG: If you could teach your cooking classes anywhere in the world, for just a few days, where would it be?

Louisa Neumann: Well, I’d prefer the roles to be reversed. I’d love to be the student for a change. I’d learn more about Japanese food in Tokyo. And learning how to prepare authentic Thai food, perhaps in Bangkok, would be a dream.

TUG: How does living in Portland influence your recipe development work?

LN: Surprisingly, it hasn’t that much. Developing recipes is usually done in a home kitchen, so it doesn’t really matter where I’m living. Recently, I worked on a giant batch of grilled chicken and steak recipes for Weber-Grill. Their cookbook author lives in California. We communicated almost exclusively through email. I have also done some work for Dulcet Cuisine, a Portland based company known for its sauces, exotic ketchups and mustards.

TUG: Right now, what eatery in the city are you addicted to?

LN: Oh, there are so many. Food carts are huge here. There’s one called Nong’s Khao Man Gai that I love. She serves one perfect dish (Thai chicken and rice) and that’s it. I also love the shrimp tacos at ¿Por Que No? They make a very mean margarita. It’s sort of a dive.

TUG: What’s your favorite urban grocery or farmers market?

LN: Portlanders go crazy for grocery stores. I do most of my shopping at New Seasons Markets. They’re stocked with tons of local-organic-sustainable goods. Sometimes I’ll pick up something special at City Market, a European style grocery store specializing in quality meats, seafood, and fresh pasta.