Danno

I love a few of Chef Paul's books. Louisiana Kitchen, Louisiana Tastes is good also (the Corn and Andouille Soup Recipe is worth the purchase of the book alone), and don't forget the Prudhomme Family Cookbook which contains recipes from all of his brothers and sisters as well as him and his late wife K, a really good cookbook. The best in my humble opinion is his first one Louisiana Kitchen, everything that I've made from this cookbook has been spectacular (I love the Cajun Shephard's Pie. Cook the meatloaf, drain the fat, use the fat to saute the vegetables. :-) Good stuff ) I've learned a ton from reading and trying Chef Paul's recipes over the years. They are very involved but you really learn about the intricacies of real cooking, he describes the smells, and sounds of the pot as it's cooking. The layers of flavor, adding seasonings in stages, tasting and smelling as you go. This isn't the 30 minute meals crap that is popular these days, this is real cooking, for folks that enjoy being in the kitchen. Louisiana Kitchen is a must, if you like that one, pick through the other's to see what suits you. By the way, in all of the cookbooks that I've described above he gives recipes for all of the seasoning mixes for each recipe, admirable in my opinion. In Emeril's latest, he hocks his products in almost every recipe, and his products aren't near the quality of Chef Paul's. Danno http://www.nolacuisine.com

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

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 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. ←

That's a good one! It would probably thicken a Chicken Fricassee up nicely, or any braised dish for that matter, especially game. I make my own File, harvesting leaves from some Sassafras trees I found in my neck of the woods here in Michigan. Here is my post on the Subject of Homemade File Powder: http://www.nolacuisine.com/2006/07/03/homemade-file-powder/ Also here is a link to a few recipes all using File, from Uncle Bill's File: http://www.unclebillspices.com/recipes.htm

That is awesome news! I just had a late lunch last week at Cochon, check out my pics. One of the Sous Chefs invited me back in the kitchen to take some pics, scroll down to see them: http://picasaweb.google.com/nolacuisine/NolaCuisine

I payed the Camelli Grill a visit on my recent visit to N.O., great to see that they reopened! Here is my post with pics: http://www.nolacuisine.com/2007/06/23/camellia-grill/

Those look wonderful, sounds like the kids had a great time! By the way, thanks for letting me know about the misprint on the recipe, it's corrected now. I'll have to take my editor out to the woodshed for that one.

Thanks! Steen's is a great product, I use a lot of it. I'll have to look into the Marzipan filling, sounds like a great idea.

Thanks for the nice compliments, that is my cake in the photo. This year just seems to be flying by. Mardi Gras is an early one this year too, February 20th.

Yes, the Louisiana reincarnation.

Here is my first King Cake of the Carnival season, turned out great! http://www.nolacuisine.com/2007/01/06/king-cake-recipe/

Marcelle: Thanks so much for your reply, I admire your writing and Louisiana food knowledge very much, such a pleasure to have you respond to my post. The Picayune Creole Cookbook along with your side notes are my encyclopedia, your research must have been exhausting. Thanks also for sharing your family recipe, I will make it on my next go round with CCC. Thanks again, ever so much, Sincerely, Danno Danno: Thank you for your kind words. My great aunts and my mother made their own Creole cream cheese for years, but I'm afraid I haven't made it in quite a while. I usually buy the Creole cream cheese at Dorignac's, although I have used John Folse's a couple of times but find it less flavorful than the one at Dorignac's in Metairie. I commend you for making yours from scratch. My recipe for CCC is simple: 2 cups heavy crean 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 egg yolks 2 1/2 cups Creole Cream cheese Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla in a non-reactive saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring the mixture up to a gentle boil to scald it. Remove from the heat. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl and slowly add the cream mixture, whisking to blend. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium to medium-low heat, stirring, until the mixture is thick enough to coat a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and cool (I chill it in the 'fridge). You can then make the ice cream in a ice cream machine or, we used to pour it into a loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap and freeze in the freezer for about 8 hours. ←

Here is my Creole Cream Cheese Ice Cream from today that I made from this batch: http://www.nolacuisine.com/2006/08/06/home...eese-ice-cream/

It has a fairly decent sized curd, not really too solid. Like I said in another response, kind of the texture of a firm cottage cheese.

It has the tang of the philly, but the texture is very different, more like a firm cottage cheese. This looks quite delicious; beautiful photo Danno and the process for making it does look easy and straightforward. I was wondering if you had to compare the taste and texture of CCC to regular Philly cream cheese, what would be the difference? I've made my own yogurt cheese before; is it similar to that? ←