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Hi all, hope everyone's recovered from Mardi Gras. I have no disagreements with all the above listed titles. And I echo endorsement of anything authored or coauthored by Marcelle Bienvenu. I've found Paul Prudhomme's Louisana Kitchen helpful in guiding me with my first seafood gumbo (my mom never made it -- just got it at Don's!), and for a novice to Louisiana cooking, it has a nice color picture guide for things like what your roux should look like at various stages. Speaking of cookbooks, the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women at Tulane has a collection of some 3000 cookbooks. I worked there as a student, and this single donation of several thousand cookbooks came in one day -- sort of a white elephant for a place that tried to widen the horizons for women beyond domestic duties. The books are not in circulation, but they are really cool to go through to pick up historical and anthropological tidbits. For example, I remember a Russian cookbook with a recipe for some cake that called for something like 100 egg yolks -- think of who could afford that many eggs, or who could afford the staff to separate them all! Very pre-Bolshevik. I like to look at the Junior League and church cookbooks in the same way. For example, it's interesting to compare the types of dishes found in Talk About Good and Talk About Good II -- the later edition features (some) lighter fare, and seems a bit more cosmopolitan to me.

Oh my God, Lucky Dogs! Yes, somehow, I consumed my share of those in my youth. My college student budget usually called for things like that and Popeye's (the one on St. Charles near Lee Circle became quite the party spot one year). And Cajun burgers at Fat Harry's. Later when a friend had a house Mid-City, we'd cook up large batches of Houston's spinach and artichoke dip and have plenty of pistolets and deli meats on hand for sandwiches. And king cakes we got at McKenzie's (sp?), Gambino's, and Mr. Wedding Cake. Ah, the memories... When I was growing up in Lafayette, Borden's ice cream (on Jefferson) was a must on Mardi Gras day. Will be making king cakes for friends this weekend here in the Mid-Atlantic where the big event is the Superbowl. They know not what they are missing!

I can imagine that being sickening smell. When I worked in a diner (long before I was pregnant) I grew abhorrent of the smell of catsup. I've been thinking food smells could be pretty devastating to the pregnant chef. I'm lucky to have the option of just abandoning my home kitchen.

I'm currently pregnant with number 2 (first trimester), and hubby is bumming cuz I'm in no mood to eat, much less cook. About the only appealing foods are incredibly boring -- rice, cheerios, mac-n-cheese, etc. I remember from last time a total aversion to onions -- sort of difficult when you like to cook, right? Once I passed the eternal nausea, I also craved spinach and lots of protein -- meat, meat, meat, eggs, eggs, eggs -- not so surprising, I guess. And I also had less of an appetite for refined sugars. Any good stories? Any good recipes?

Excuse me for my unclear message. By "throw out" I meant that I was presenting a suggestion. I DO recommend Cafe des Amis. Sorry!

Hope you enjoy Cajun Country! While I have been away from my hometown of Lafayette for 10+ years now, and I haven't read through the suggested threads, I would throw out Cafe des Amis and Mulate's. My feeling is that Mulate's has gone a little commercial over time, but I have an affinity for it as it was where my parents met some 40 years ago. Pretty good dancing there. In Lafayette, I like Cafe Vermilionville for a nice dinner or lunch, and Old Tyme Grocery for killer poboys (my faves are fried shrimp, pastrami, and roast beef). Knock this back with a bottle of IBC root beer and a bag of Zapp's potato chips. There are lots of new restaurants that have crept up in my absence that serve non-Louisiana fare (Thai, Mediterranean, etc.), but the ones I've listed are all places (other than the kitchens of family and friends) I like to visit on my trips home. Have fun!

I think I paid $13/pound last year at Whole Foods in Annapolis. And I don't always have a choice of Louisiana versus Chinese crawfish if I'm buying up here, but I always give a speech to grocers, restauraters, etc. that they should get the LA stuff. What's worse though, is when the Chinese crawfish still costs >$10 per pound. I know the prices are insane (comparable to beef tenderloin, etc.), but believe me Fist, if the choice is to pay dearly and have it, or not pay and not have it, it's SOOOO worth the cost. And cheaper than a plane ride, to boot. Here's another goodie -- I pay $35/head to go to the Tulane Alumni crawfish boil every year. Not a snooty private school thing either -- the other crawfish boils held in the area are comparable. Of course, that does include transporting cooks and equipment from LA plus a band (local to DC) for entertainment. Last year the last batch of the boil didn't get finished by the crowd, so I loaded up a grocery bag to take home. I'm actually thinking of hosting a boil at my house this year if my friends don't choke on the price to chip in.

So when you say cheap, how cheap? 'Course, I'm in MD, so I'm sure I'll pay more, but it's nice to know what the price at home is. Looks like cajungrocer.com has tail meat for as low as $48.50 for 5lbs. Merci

Industry practice or not, we should all refuse to give a credit card number to anyone who CALLS US. Anyone heard of fraud? identity theft? On a different note, what's scarier for a proprietor...bad press on EGullet or bad press in Tom Sietsema's column? Hmmm....

Yes, NO is always expensive and always hot. I personally like October if you want to wait that long. The spring is a little more rainy than the fall. Also, to try to save dough on a hotel, avoid the French Quarter. Try Uptown or the Garden District. If you find a place near St. Charles Ave. (easy to do), you can just take the streetcar down into the Quarter (if you must...). Shameless plug for my friend's hostel/saloon in Lafayette: check out The Blue Moon Saloon and Guest House -- a great place to stay and/or see a bit of live music. Have fun!

So I've promised some of my Maryland friends some Louisiana fare for New Year's Day. My family usually did gumbo and or black-eyed peas and steamed cabbage. I figure I'll do chicken and sausage gumbo, and black-eyed peas and rice, but I was hoping someone might have an interesting suggestion for cabbage. What do/did you Louisiana folks do traditionally for New Year's fare? Merci, et Bonne Annee!

Hey y'all, I've been away for a while, and as usual, the Louisiana page is a welcome reminder of home. My parents have been raving about the oranges and satsumas that all their friends have been giving them, making me quite jealous. But here's my question. I don't remember a largesse of citrus when I was growing up (I'm 31, BTW), would this be due to the storms to which Brooks refers? Or maybe I was just clueless to things culinary at the time.

Wow, Sam. I am bowled over. Care to share your pecan tart recipe? It looked beautiful. I made pecan pie for the first time yesterday (well, I baked it Wednesday, actually), and something didn't work. I used the recipe on the back of the dark Caro syrup (I can see how Steen's would be more interesting -- a good Louisiana product ). Anyway, I know the filling ran over the edge of the crust a bit, and got between the crust and the pan, which made it hard to cut, but in addition to that, the filling didn't "gel" at all. I'm open to suggestions.

My one trip to Paris was in 1998, and on a pretty meager budget. I don't remember specific restaurant names, but I do have some general memories: -yummy crepes filled with just about anything can be picked up at many corner cafes or street vendors -my favorite lunch was camembert on a baguette in one of the many great people-watching cafes or brasseries -probably best to avoid the Champs-Elysees -- a bit touristy, I thought -I definitely don't buy the whole "Parisians hate Americans" argument. People in cities are usually more standoffish than those in more rural areas, and people anywhere prefer to have their customs and cultures respected -- just common sense to avoid any ugly Americanism. If you travel outside of Paris, I recommend the little inn at which we stayed in Provence. A family ran the hotel (about 15 rooms) and restaurant. La Galinière Route Nationale 7 13790 Châteauneuf le Rouge Tel : 04 42 53 32 55 Fax : 04 42 53 33 80

Greetings, everyone. While I am familiar with the culinary customs of my Cajun heritage, I'd like to expand my repertoire and branch out into some regional French cuisine, and thought that Christmas might be a good place to start. My mother's heritage is Alsatian, and my father's side is Cajun of unknown French origin (I've read that Cajuns came from Brittany, Normandy, Poitou, Picardy, and Provence -- so who knows!?! ) I welcome any and all suggestions fo menus/books/recipes/etc. Merci beaucoups!

You are just as likely to find a couple of ghetto cats eating pho in some dive soup shop as you are a couple of little old Jewish Ladies mowing through tacos and salsa at Taqueria Corona. Nobody here cares where it came from or who cooked it , it's all about the taste and the experience. I think Jaymes hit the nail on the head with her comment about seaports, though. We do seem to be listing an inordinate number of them. As my friend Fred Flames once said, "New Orleans is a city with a low standard of living and an incredibly high quality of life." ← Oy ve! I do miss Taqueria Corona. And I would love for someone to explain to me what the difference between "ethnocentric" and "ethnoinclusive" is supposed to be.

Given my world travels include France (Paris and several towns in Provence), Mexico (nasty border towns and Isla Mujeres), Costa Rica, and most states within the US, my vote goes to New Orleans. Represented cuisines I've sampled there include Cajun, Creole, French, Cuban, German, Italian, Spanish, and Carribean. And this was all while I was a poor college student. But beyond the fact that it is so cosmopolitan, New Orleans is a city that worships food (and drink). It truly is difficult to find a bad meal there. And what is so interesting to me is the local twist on an original cuisine. For example, Central Grocery on Decatur Street, or better yet, Mandina's in Mid-City -- both serve "Italian" fare, but those muffalettas and turtle soup with a wop salad (though I think they've changed the name for pc reasons) arent' what you're likely to find on Italian menus elsewhere. Perhaps this stamping of local flavor is common for cities with large immigrant populations in general.

Smithy, here's a http://www.cooking.com/techniques/vidtech.asp?id=29 with a video for making roux. I had a little bit of technical glitch in viewing it, but there are also frame-by-frame still photos with directions. When I make gumbo, my roux is a little darker than what they show as a "brown roux". Other roux tips: -Play with the ratios of flour and fat. For soup/gumbo dishes you'll probably want more flour than fat (I use 2:1), but for something like an etoufee, a 1:1 ratio might work better for you. -Also, you can make up a big batch of roux and store it in the fridge. I've also used store-bought roux, which was ok. -Be very careful when you make roux as it gets VERY hot and can cause major burns. -I've also had success making roux in the microwave in small batches. Combine fat and flour in a pyrex or corningware type container. Microwave on full power for about 1.5 minutes at a time, stirring in between. When roux starts to darken, shorten heating times to 20-30 seconds at a time. Stirring often will prevent a lump of coal/fire from forming in the center of your roux. That's all I can think of for now. Oh, and I also like the Junior League of Lafayette cookbooks, Talk About Good and Talk About Good II, both available on Amazon. In a way they remind of Neiman Marcus catalogs, (with which I play, how-much-does-that-cost?), except with them I play how-much-fat-is-in-that?

We always get Community, ordered through their website, www.communitycoffee.com. I definitely prefer it over CDM, but have never tried Seaport, that I recall. The website is pretty user-friendly, and when I placed an order in September, they offered gifts for placing standing orders -- including a Bodum grinder.

Again, I concur with Mayhaw Man on the coffee. We always order Community. Here's a tip -- if you place a standing order, you can choose from several thank-you gifts, including a Bodum grinder. At least this was the case in September. I've not placed any orders as mom and dad have come through with freebie shipments. I do endorse Poche's based on my brick-and-mortar experience with them!

And PS, I NEVER buy anything an a restaurant that claims to be "Cajun". I am all too sure that I will be disappointed. Case in point -- an $18 plate of jambalaya. Sure, it might have a couple of bites of andouille, and a couple of shrimp, but, please, it's mostly about 5 cents worth of rice!

As usual, I think Mayhaw Man represents my native state well. I grew up in Lafayette, my dad spoke only Cajun French until he started school, his parents were share-croppers in addition to trappers and other odd-job workers. So to me, in many ways, "Cajun" food is synonymous with "not much money in the pot". The trinity (celery, onions, bell peppers) are always at the base. Usually a roux (brown flour and a fat - I use canola oil), maybe some tomatoes, okra, seafood, chicken, sausage, game. Usually lots of heat. Supper for us growing up often meant some sort of meat (pot roast chicken, smothered pork chops) and rice and gravy. In these low-carb-crazed days, I shudder at how much white rice I've consumed in my lifetime. My grandmother also was famous for her crepes and coush-coush (a sort of cornbread, milk, and sugar mixture). I think Marcel Bienvenu's Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux? is a good survey of what Cajuns often eat throughout the year. As usual, all this talk about LA food is making me homesick -- maybe more so since I'm considering a move back!

Thanks for starting the thread, Bleach Boy -- I was thinking of doing the same myself. I'm down with the cornbread and sausage (Jimmy Dean-esque) dressing. I always think about experimenting with Thanksgiving dishes, but my family balks. If I want to experiment, it's on TOP of all the must-haves. Our family cornbread dressing is along the lines of Bleach Boy's recipe, but with ground pork sausage instead of andouille. And true to my Louisiana hreitage, lots of Tony Chachere's seasoning. The cornbread is crucial. Must be fresh and from scratch (it's really so easy, so what's with the Jiffy?). And NO sugar! That will just give you cake. Now that I live in Maryland, I'm tempted to get into the oyster thing. But maybe for Christmas. Anyone have a good recipe?

oh... please hang a pot rack from the ceiling! you can free up a ton of cabinet space that way. Good luck!

Congrats! And good luck! I'd go for Nora for the restaurant and then the Jefferson Memorial for the proposal. Oh, and skip the hiding the ring in cake/champagne business. As with this and any other wedding plans -- keep in mind that the proposal/wedding isn't what makes the marriage. Keep your perspective!