davidscooking

Bayona, Peristyle, Galatoire: good choices all. Not surprised that you were disappointed with Emeril. I don't know a single local that would eat at one of his joints. Absurdly-sized portions don't make up for overpriced and decidedly average food. Plus, the guy is a buffoon.... On your next visit, make a trip uptown, to Clancy's or Upperline or Brigtsen's or Jacques Imos or... well, that'll get you started. Ciao, d

Another point: how much roux are you using for how big a batch of gumbo? Too little roux and you won't get the richness/thickening you want, and too much roux, expecially dark roux, could cause bitterness in the gumbo....

Here's a link to a thread in which red bananas came up. Scroll way down, and you'll find my link to a photo. fruit thread

Make your own dried oregano. Cut a bunch of stems (seriously prune back your plants) and spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. When dry, store in plastic bags. Later in the summer, your plant will bloom. Oregano blossoms make a beautiful and pungent garnish.

The Art of Mexican Cooking--Diana Kennedy The Zuni Cafe Cookbook--Judy Rodgers Mastering the Art of French Cooking--Julia Child Bistro Cooking--Patricia Wells Marcella Hazan--Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking Hmm. All books by women. And 6 & 7 would be The Food and Life of Oaxaca (Zarela Martinez) and something by Madhur Jaffrey...

Diana Kennedy, The Art of Mexican Cooking

qsquared, here's your pic of red bananas. Better late than never... red bananas

Good question Lemons Limes Grapefruit Red bananas Mango Medjool dates

Another vote for Bittman here. You might also consider The Zuni Cafe Cookbook--full of wonderful recipes and cooking lessons from Judy Rodgers. The Zuni Cafe Cookbook

I love epazote. Never picked it wild, but I keep it growing amongst my potted herbs. I even have an epazote page on my site. See it here: Epazote pictures and text

I freeze the homemade stuff two. I like to freeze it in an icecube tray, then put the little blocks in a ziplock. Easy to use.

I was thinking of herbes de provence too... And Mexican oregano. I have a couple of plants (unlike Mediterranean oregano, Mex is perennial), and I dry the excess. Quite a few Mex recipes specify dried, and I understand why--it tastes better dried.

A lot depends on where you're going to live. Uptown, there's a huge new Whole Foods Market with carries a lot of unusual/exotic ingredients. New Orleans is not a particularly great town for Asian food, with the big exception of Vietmanese, as there's a large community of Vietnamese here.

I agree with bat girl: 5-10 minutes is too long. I've never done a boil either, but I've cooked plenty of shrimp in the shell, and after 5 minutes, they're overdone, and in my experience, overcooking leads to sticky shells...

Depends on the context, I'd say. "Paw paw" is the name for papaya in Jamaica, so if you encountered the term in a Caribbean context...