77 replies to this topic

[Jennifer Brizzi]

My favorite of the ones I have is Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz by Howard Mitcham. It's silly, irreverent, full of character and a real education in Louisiana seafood and jazz music. I just adore this book.

My second favorite looks cheesey from the outside but is excellent: The New Cajun-Creole Cooking by Terry Thompson (now Terry Thompson -Anderson).

Don't have any Prudhomme ones yet but will keep a lookout. Has anyone read Susan Spicer's Crescent City?

[John DePaula]

Thanks so much for the kind words Sauturn bar, that put a huge smile on my face. This site is nothing but fun for me, and it makes me extremely happy to hear that someone finds it enjoyable also! Be sure and give me details on your Pontalba, one of my absolute favorites.

Danno
http://www.nolacuisine.com

My favorite cookbook right now is written by Danno and available free on-line at www.nolacuisine.com.  Keep up the excellent work Danno.  I must say that many of your creations look better online than they do in person at the venerable establishments that serve them.  I am thinking Chicken Pontalba this weekend.  Charlie

Hey, I love your site! I made your recipe for Shrimp Remoulade for a Thanksgiving fête last year and WOW it was certainly a big hit; folks loved it!

Next up: that Shrimp Creole is sure lookin' good!

[johung]

I have both official Commander Palace cookbooks (the one by Dick and Ella Brennan in 1984, and the other one by Ella Brennan's daughter Ti Adelaide Martin and the late Jamie Shannon in 2000). The 2000 edition probably is more comprehensive and teaches you how to create spice mixtures like seasoning mixes or crab boil from scratch. I found it very handy for someone overseas like yours truly. Recipes wise, the 1984 cookbook was trying a little too hard to be relevant to contemporary food trends - the gumbos are thinner as roux is left out. The 2000 cookbook is somewhat more sensible.

But I feel a little disappointed that many of the traditional Creole restaurant dishes, even as famous as oyster Rockefeller and crawfish etouffee, are absent because the newer restaurant dishes have occupied their places.

I would recommend another NO restaurant cookbook, preferably one of the grand dame establishments, to complement the two Commander Palace books as good as they are. I found Kit Wohl's Arnaud's Restaurant Cookbook a good title to complement the two discussed so far. It has the old time favourites that are left out of the Commander Palace cookbooks.

It must be seconded recommendations by others the best most comprehensive of all is John Folse's The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine. It is not exhausive but has very broad range of dishes. I don't like the graphics though - as a reviewer on amazon.com has commented, their quality are more akin to the 1980s than one made in 2004.

About Susan Spicer, I think she is more New American but happens to be based in New Orleans. Recipes like seared duck breasts with pepper jelly glaze or seared yellowfish tuna with walnut red pepper sauce would be just as likely to have come from Napa Valley as Louisiana. It is still a good title though and I would say it is a must if you want to build a library of good food from New Orleans and Louisiana in general.

I do plan on getting Emerile Lagasse's specific Louisiana books, Paul Prudhomme's classic and Terry Thompson-Anderson sometime in the future.

Does anyone have Roy Guste's Antoine's cookbook? Is that a good read?

And how about Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food?

Thanks

[faine]

There's a couple new good un's I've run across. I'm very fond of the Cooking Up A Storm book released by Judy Walker and Marcelle Bienvenu of the Picayune. I'm fairly new to real New Orleans cooking and have been getting good mileage out of the recipes here. They're compiled from recipes people wrote to the paper looking for after the storm, and it's an interesting mix of seriously old school stuff (Daube a' glace) , new specialties, and recipes from now defunct New Orleans restaurants and bakeries. I make the Creole Okra with shrimp on a very regular basis now. It's definitely worth a look.

I'm also loving the Crescent City Farmer's Market Cookbook, mainly because it brings together fresh market ingredients and New Orleans cooking in a really nice, approachable way. Haven't been able to cook much from it since I'm away at school, but I intend to get into it in a big way when I come home to California. The barbequed shrimp pie, sauteed sheepshead with tomato Sauternes butter sauce and the gumbo z'herbes perked my ears up. Nice profiles of the people who run the market and sell their produce there as well.

Has anyone picked up Donald Link's Real Cajun yet? Dying to get my hands on that.

Edited by faine, 26 April 2009 - 06:15 AM.

[Harry]

Has anyone picked up Donald Link's Real Cajun yet? Dying to get my hands on that.

I have it. Right now I'm a little disappointed but that has more to do with my expectations than anything else. I bought it sight unseen thinking it was going to be mostly old-fashioned, rustic recipes. There are a few recipes like that but most are fancier than I expected. For example, he calls for poblano and jalapeno peppers in his etouffee and gumbo recipes. His seafood gumbo recipes calls for 3 cups of oil and 4 cups of flour, which sounds weird to me. There's no recipe for crawfish bisque. Duck gumbo and rabbit gumbo are mentioned but no recipes are provided. Come to think of it, I don't think the book contains a recipe for duck or rabbit. I was also hoping for more seafood recipes. Every recipe might be excellent, but the book is certainly not what I expected based on the title and the press.

Edited by Harry, 28 April 2009 - 06:58 AM.

[saturnbar]

Harry, sounds like you are a definite candidate for Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine. ch

[MikeHartnett]

Has anyone picked up Donald Link's Real Cajun yet? Dying to get my hands on that.

I have it. Right now I'm a little disappointed but that has more to do with my expectations than anything else. I bought it sight unseen thinking it was going to be mostly old-fashioned, rustic recipes. There are a few recipes like that but most are fancier than I expected. For example, he calls for poblano and jalapeno peppers in his etouffee and gumbo recipes. His seafood gumbo recipes calls for 3 cups of oil and 4 cups of flour, which sounds weird to me. There's no recipe for crawfish bisque. Duck gumbo and rabbit gumbo are mentioned but no recipes are provided. Come to think of it, I don't think the book contains a recipe for duck or rabbit. I was also hoping for more seafood recipes. Every recipe might be excellent, but the book is certainly not what I expected based on the title and the press.

I definitely expected something a little different, but it seems like a good book. I haven't had a chance to make anything from it yet, but I expect to get a lot of use out of it this summer.

[Harry]

Harry, sounds like you are a definite candidate for Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine.  ch

Somebody gave that to me and I have to say it doesn't do much for me. Too much filler and the recipes seem a little too calculated to appeal to the masses or keep up with the times.

[joiei]

Harry, sounds like you are a definite candidate for Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine.  ch

Another one to consider is Talk About Good from the Lafayette Jr League. I use that for reference a lot. The recipes are very authentic.

[saturnbar]

The Talk About Good recipe for cheesecake is a mainstay at our house around the holidays. Is it still in print? ch

[Jaymes]

Harry, sounds like you are a definite candidate for Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine.  ch

Another one to consider is Talk About Good from the Lafayette Jr League. I use that for reference a lot. The recipes are very authentic.

I really like those Junior League-type cookbooks. Especially fun to see who's on the cookbook committee, and then look for their recipes.

Particularly good.

[joiei]

The Talk About Good recipe for cheesecake is a mainstay at our house around the holidays.  Is it still in print?  ch

I picked up my copy at Hebert's Specialty Meats here in Tulsa. (they are of the Turducken fame). Give Ed Richard a call, if he has one in stock he will probably send it to you.

[Jaymes]

The Talk About Good recipe for cheesecake is a mainstay at our house around the holidays.  Is it still in print?  ch

I picked up my copy at Hebert's Specialty Meats here in Tulsa. (they are of the Turducken fame). Give Ed Richard a call, if he has one in stock he will probably send it to you.

Still in print. Along with 'Talk About Good II.' Great book. Several people have mentioned it in this thread.

You can order here: 'Talk About Good' - Amazon

[saturnbar]

Don't worry, I have copies of both. I just figured that they had gone out of print a long time ago. But I see now that Talk About Good I is on its 23rd printng, rather incredible really. ch

[Jaymes]

But I see now that Talk About Good I is on its 23rd printng, rather incredible really.  ch

'River Roads' is in its 70th. Whomever it was that initially said "I know, let's put out a cookbook!" deserves a spot in the fundraising hall of fame.

[patti]

My Talk About Good cookbook is being held together with duct tape. Time for a new copy, I guess.

In addition to Talk About Good and Talk About Good II, the series includes Tell Me More and more recently, Something to Talk About. I don't have the last one, but will probably acquire it soon.

[Danno]

I was initially a little disappointed, actually looking for more Charcuterie recipes, but this is a really, really good cookbook. I've made over 10 of the recipes and they were all top notch. One of my favorites is the Smothered Pork Roast, the Chicken and Dumplings is awesome as well (they do it with Rabbit a lot at Cochon). Catfish fried in bacon fat. A lot of great stuff in there. I highly recommend it, every recipe I've tried so far blew me away.

Danno
http://www.nolacuisine.com

Has anyone picked up Donald Link's Real Cajun yet? Dying to get my hands on that.

I have it. Right now I'm a little disappointed but that has more to do with my expectations than anything else. I bought it sight unseen thinking it was going to be mostly old-fashioned, rustic recipes. There are a few recipes like that but most are fancier than I expected. For example, he calls for poblano and jalapeno peppers in his etouffee and gumbo recipes. His seafood gumbo recipes calls for 3 cups of oil and 4 cups of flour, which sounds weird to me. There's no recipe for crawfish bisque. Duck gumbo and rabbit gumbo are mentioned but no recipes are provided. Come to think of it, I don't think the book contains a recipe for duck or rabbit. I was also hoping for more seafood recipes. Every recipe might be excellent, but the book is certainly not what I expected based on the title and the press.

I definitely expected something a little different, but it seems like a good book. I haven't had a chance to make anything from it yet, but I expect to get a lot of use out of it this summer.

[Danno]

I came across another great cookbook, out of print, New Orleans Cuisine by Mary Land, also author of Louisiana Cookery, both written during the late sixties.

I always enjoy the Louisiana cookbooks that came before the blackening craze in the eighties, you can really learn some history, before the cajun and creole cuisines started to evolve and somewhat mesh together in some areas. I think that I learn the most from the older cookbooks.

Danno
http://www.nolacuisine.com