Product Description
More than 100 Cajun and Creole recipes. ... Read more

Product Description
Table of Contents: A "Cajun Country" Experience Seen through the eyes of an "outlander"; Who are the Cajuns in Southwest Louisiana?; This is Crazy Charley; Cajun Sauce (all purpose and BBQ) and Recipes; Marinade and Recipes; Piquante/Salsa and Recipes; Gumbo and Recipes; Cajun Powder & Jalapeno Heaven; Menu Planning and Recipes; Are You a Cajun? A Test; Glossary of Terms; Resources (Touring Information; Restaurants; Hotels, Motels, Bed and Breakfast; Cookbooks; Recommended Readings); Index of Recipes ... Read more

Product Description
Chef Folse's seventh cookbook is the authoritative collection on Louisiana's culture and cuisine. The book features more than 850 full-color pages, dynamic historical Louisiana photographs and more than 700 recipes. You will not only find step-by-step directions to preparing everything from a roux to a cochon de lait, but you will also learn about the history behind these recipes. Cajun and Creole cuisine was influenced by seven nations that settled Louisiana, from the Native Americans to the Italian immigrants of the 1800s. Learn about the significant contributions each culture made-okra seeds carried here by African slaves, classic French recipes recalled by the Creoles, the sausage-making skills of the Germans and more. Relive the adventure and romance that shaped Louisiana, and recreate the recipes enjoyed in Cajun cabins, plantation kitchens and New Orleans restaurants.Chef Folse has hand picked the recipes for each chapter to ensure the very best of seafood, game, meat, poultry, vegetables, salads, appetizers, drinks and desserts are represented. From the traditional to the truly unique, you will develop a new understanding and love of Cajun and Creole cuisine. The Encyclopedia would make a perfect gift or simply a treasured addition to your own cookbook library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

John Folse Does It Again
A fun and fascinating book that does a great job of covering a multitude of recipes that are popular in the South. Colored tabs divide it into easy-to-use sections like "Gumbo & Soups", "Seafood", "Meats", "Desserts", "Wild Game", etc.The book also contains lovely color illustrations by the well-known Cajun artist George Rodrigue.Historical information is included which gives the recipes an added depth. This book is completely different from John Folse's huge 842-page tome with the same title and is much easier to use in the kitchen! If you are a John Folse fan then you will surely enjoy this book.

john folse
Great cookbook!

Shares a lot of history about the origins of the recipes.
Would recommend this book if interested in traditional Louisiana meals.

It can teach you to cook.
This book is the bible of southern cooking. It can teach you how to cook. This is by for the greatest cookbook I have ever read/used.

If you want to cook the BEST Louisiana food....
I saw this book in a small cookbook store in the French Quarter in New Orleans recently and didn't buy it. The next day, I went back to purchase it and it was gone! The owner had teased the purchase with a sign stating, "Dollar for pound, our best deal in the store". So beware, this book is immense. What drew me to the book were the delicious recipes with gorgeous pictures, what confirmed my purchase was the history lesson. I love local history and this book draws on not only the local cuisine, but all of the different classes of people that migrated to the state and what they brought to their tables. It all culminates in a mixture of ingredients, flavors & culture. It took me a week to read all of the history to include the Author/Chef's personal stories and I couldn't put it down. I have since created over 3 recipes and they are all fantastic! This is one cookbook that my family members will have to inherit!

Excellent recipes, but cumbersome.
This book is fabulous.When I don't know where to start with a recipe, I see if there's something in here, and I'm never disapppointed.My only complaint is that it is more of a coffee table book - I can't keep it in my kitchen because I don't have enough counter space for it...and running back and forth makes it tricky when I'm trying to cook.Would love it if they'd come out with a slightly smaller version that's more kitchen counter-friendly. ... Read more

Product Description
Two deliciously distinctive cuisines united in one comprehensive, easy-to-use volume. Elegant and sophisticated Creole cooking ideas are presented alongside hearty and rustic Cajun food, so you'll never be stuck for inspiration. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

It's good
This book is small in page numbers but it has great pictures and good recipes.

Great Book for La. Native Creoles & Cajuns
I am always scared to buy books on Louisiana cooking because I am a La. Creole and can usually predict the recipes ahead of time but this book has some really great down home Country-Creole French cooking styles. Very easy to get ingrediants, and even a Louisiana native with a flare for cooking can learn something new and exciting. I love this book. Just got it an hour ago and I have already went to the store, picked up some items and the food is on the stove and smelling BON!!! Love it!!!
I also am one of the rare Louisiana natives that do not eat seafood and while there are many, many great seafood recipes there is also plenty for non-seafood eaters.
The only issue I have with this book is the fact that follows the typical post 1890's Louisiana racist writing styles, meaning that obvious food dishes created by Black-mixed race Creoles (the dominant Creole group in New Orleans during most of the 1800's) are not given credit for obvious African-Native American style dishes like Gumbo and Jambalaya.White Creoles didn't cook using "slow cook African blending methods"-in fact they didnt cook at all being that many had slave girls doing it for them. So, the history is wrong in the "intro" chapters.

Cajun & Creole 50 Classic Recipes
Great cookbook for the region of New Orleans-very authentic.Although, some ingredients are hard to find outside of New Orleans, I was able to find some at specialty stores.

New Orleans Cookbook
Of all the NO cookbooks I have this is one of the better ones.It is clear, Ingreaients arre readily available and the recipes are great.I would recommend this cookbook to anyone. ... Read more

Product Description

Here for the first time the famous food of Louisiana is presented in a cookbook written by a great creative chef who is himself world-famous. The extraordinary Cajun and Creole cooking of South Louisiana has roots going back over two hundred years, and today it is the one really vital, growing regional cuisine in America. No one is more responsible than Paul Prudhomme for preserving and expanding the Louisiana tradition, which he inherited from his own Cajun background.

Chef Prudhomme's incredibly good food has brought people from all over America and the world to his restaurant, K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, in New Orleans. To set down his recipes for home cooks, however, he did not work in the restaurant. In a small test kitchen, equipped with a home-size stove and utensils normal for a home kitchen, he retested every recipe two and three times to get exactly the results he wanted. Logical though this is, it was an unprecedented way for a chef to write a cookbook. But Paul Prudhomme started cooking in his mother's kitchen when he was a youngster. To him, the difference between home and restaurant procedures is obvious and had to be taken into account.

So here, in explicit detail, are recipes for the great traditional dishes--gumbos and jambalayas, Shrimp Creole, Turtle Soup, Cajun "Popcorn," Crawfish Etouffee, Pecan Pie, and dozens more--each refined by the skill and genius of Chef Prudhomme so that they are at once authentic and modern in their methods.

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen is also full of surprises, for he is unique in the way he has enlarged the repertoire of Cajun and Creole food, creating new dishes and variations within the old traditions. Seafood Stuffed Zucchini with Seafood Cream Sauce, Panted Chicken and Fettucini, Veal and Oyster Crepes, Artichoke Prudhomme--these and many others are newly conceived recipes, but they could have been created only by a Louisiana cook. The most famous of Paul Prudhomme's original recipes is Blackened Redfish, a daringly simple dish of fiery Cajun flavor that is often singled out by food writers as an example of the best of new American regional cooking.

For Louisianians and for cooks everywhere in the country, this is the most exciting cookbook to be published in many years.

Chef Paul tested all of his recipes in a homekitchen using common culinary tools--no professional equipment neededhere. These are recipes that are high in spice, so remember to have alarge vat of water on hand! --Schuyler Ingle ... Read more

Customer Reviews (56)

Classic.
More than 30 years ago, I moved from the Midwest to New Orleans, Louisiana.Although I had spent a year in Europe, I lived in a part of Germany where the food (except for superb basic hams and sausages) was pretty awful, and thus my palate remained essentially tuned to meat and potatoes, burgers, hot dogs, tuna noodle casserole, rotisserie chicken, Franco-American spaghetti, and so on.My mother, whom I considered a good cook, didn't normally use exotic spices, like salt and pepper.She reserved paprika for Hungarian dishes.Salt you could add yourself at the table.I don't remember a pepper shaker, except for company.

My wife and I had eaten French food in France and Italian food in Italy and loved both, but I considered it all beyond me.Only really great cooks, those touched by genius, could cook that well.Or so it seemed to me.A few years later, we had moved to New Orleans from Michigan -- a move more or less forced upon us by the economy at that time.We got jobs in New Orleans.The first night we were there, we went to a little hole-in-the-wall joint (went out of business about 20 years ago), and I had a revelatory meal for little more than the price of McDonald's.I tasted for the first time in my life full flavor.Furthermore, it seemed like simple food, although extraordinarily good, and thus near my skill level.My cooking experience was limited to student co-op food, my mom's recipes, and (for special occasions) Szechuan.I wanted to eat this stuff every day of my life (NOT a good idea, by the way, even if it is delicious), so I bought a Creole cookbook (Richard and Rima Collin's classic The New Orleans Cookbook) and jumped in.

We went to K-Paul's about a year after it opened, when it was still trying to remain a neighborhood joint (Chef Paul's original conception), and, again, I had another revelation.I also knew that I, a very picky eater, would eat anything this guy put in front of me.When Prudhomme came out with his cookbook, I snapped it up. At the time, however, it was beyond me, even though every recipe I tried came out beautifully.Everything seemed to have 30 ingredients and involved at least 10 steps.To me, this was a book for people who already knew how to cook, whereas I merely followed recipes.Consequently, I reserved it for "special occasions."I kept at cooking (even took lessons) and became a good basic home cook.Prudhomme's book then began to make sense to me, and the recipes were no longer a chore or a PhD thesis.

When we lost the city and our house to Katrina, we moved to Texas.I had to replace my cookbook collection, because the only noteworthy things in the Texas repertoire are chili and barbecue (no comments, please).I didn't intend to cook either one every day for the rest of my life.The first things I replaced were the two volumes of Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Beard on Bread and his general book (baseline reference), Mrs. Chiang's Szechuan cookbook, Sara Kasdan's Love and Knishes, Collins' New Orleans Cookbook, and Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen.

By the way, this is NOT Creole food, but Cajun.The cuisines differ significantly -- like Normandy peasant food and Michelin haute cuisine.Both are delicious.Both come from the same family, but Cajun food is heartier.Furthermore, Prudhomme cooks like nobody else in Acadiana, except his sister Enola.A Cajun friend of mine, from Opelousas -- Prudhomme stomping grounds -- claimed that "All them Prudhommes cook alike -- too much pepper."I don't agree.Unlike, say, chili fanatics, Prudhomme's goal isn't heat, but "roundness" of flavor.The comment about the pepper creeping up on you is right on -- a bite of something gives you many flavors that arrive in layers and all work together.If you don't like the heat, cut down on the pepper.Besides, not all the recipes are hot.The sole recipe that disappointed me was the jambalaya, in which the *only* thing I could taste was black pepper.But one disappointing recipe out of an entire book makes this an incredible bargain.

Prudhomme also did a cookbook, Seasoned America (didn't sell as well), on US regional cooking, taking the tuna hot dish of my youth and spinning it his way.This is a fine book, and one that I used to turn to a lot for everyday cooking.It's nice to know that my mom's recipes, with tweaks, can stay with me.

Paul Prudhoome's Louisianna Kitchen
I found this book at a Church Rummage sale.It was the find of the year.Every time I open it I wish I had bought it long before that day.His recipes are uncomplicated and full of Louisiana charm.

Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen
Once you've had Cajun Chicken and Dumplings, there's no going back to the plain version.Mmmmm, THAT'S comfort food!

Louisiana Kitchen
The seller did describe the books as some being worn and very used and they were right. No problem with the seller. I received my book quickly and I am very satisfied with the seller. The price was right, so I can't complain about the book's condition. I will use it often.

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen
I cannot believe anyone gave this less then a 5 star rating!!!A 'Perfect 10', they don't have a ten so here it is **********.This is not one of those cookbooks you will use 3 recipes out of it and be disappointed with the rest.You will wear it out.This cookbook will teach you to be the king/queen of your kitchen.Your guests will love you.Your friends will adore you if you give them a copy.

We have a library of cookbooks and had this since originally published.Wore it out and bought a couple more.Can't believe you can get a used copy for $4.No better steals on the internet.

If you want to start out with easy the cornbread is simple and to die for.Impress your friends with a main course you can't screw up just follow the recipe to the 'T'.My ex used to short cut these recipes just due to being so busy, still outstanding.These recipes are awesome.

The Enchiladas (we use chicken due to the lack of fresh seafood and it is still fab!) are one of the best recipes in here.Not spicy at all, but definitely a heart attack waiting to happen!Your friends will be wanting to come back as soon as their bypass surgery has been completed.If you are searching for that perfect recipe to impress a wide range of guests.Not a typical Mexican recipe (and I love Mexican), everyone will love it and they won't call it Mexican.We call it Cajun Enchiladas just because it is so unique.

Lots of 'hot as you can handle it' recipes in here.As one reviewer said, 'if you don't like spice reduce the cayenne by half or completely if you don't like it or reduce the amount of seasoning blend.'

The sticky chicken is a classic as well.Could just almost copy the table of contents to this page to list the outstanding recipes.The shrimp picante will hurt you so beware, still great though.

If you want something really special make the BBQ shrimp for an appetizer when you do one of his main courses.You won't be able to run your guests off till all the food is gone!

When you get this you will wonder why you had never heard of it before! ... Read more

Product Description
A 160-page hardcover book containing 100 recipes selected by the editors of Acadiana Profile, “The Magazine of the Cajun Country.”For example, Boudin, Couche Couche, Maque Choux, Mirliton, Crawfish Etouffee, Chicken Fricassee, Pralines–the classics of South Louisiana cuisine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Awesome, Useable Cookbook
This is the best of Cajun cookbooks. The recipes are easy to do and the flavor and taste is pure LA!! AWESOME BOOK!

Great
I Love it.I actually purchased it as a Christmas gift.I know my son will love it. Linda Hime Stelly

Delicious recipes
I am so glad I bought this recipe book. There are so many wonderful recipes and I've tried a few already. I love Cajun cooking and I wanted an authentic "on the bayou" recipe book to keep on hand for inspiration. I am so delighted with this book and have recommended it to friends and family. For me, there's nothing better than cooking a meal steeped in love and tradition, and one that is truly tasty for sure. I grew up on similar recipes that took hours to make, that is the essence of comfort food. I love to prepare and then be near a pot of Cajun goodness simmering away on the stove top for hours, having some wine or beer, and enjoying the company of my family or friends while the promise of good food scents the air, rich with savory meats, seafood, veggies, and spices. Top 100 Cajun Recipes of all time - Heaven!

Excellent survey of homemade Cajun recipes. Buy It.
`The Top 100 Cajun Recipes of All Time' from the editors of `acadiana profile' and `The Justin Wilson Cookbook' are two excellent little sources for Cajun (Arcadian) recipes. Their primary value lies in both their relative authenticity and in their low cost. For a more complete source of `relatively authentic' Cajun recipes at a slightly higher cost for over twice as many recipes, I suggest `Cajun Cuisine' from the Beau Bayou Publishing Company.

It's interesting that all these books come from very local sources. In this regard, they share a characteristic of some of the best Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks. This is easily understandable, as unlike `Southern' cooking and `Tex-Mex' cooking, Cajun and Pennsylvania Dutch cooking both come from just a few counties in just one state (Louisiana and Pennsylvania respectively).

While both of these books are inexpensive and `kitchen friendly' (will lie flat on the kitchen table while you cook), there are some important differences. The `Top 100' book is simply recipes and nothing but recipes. Justin Wilson's book has fewer recipes (and NO INDEX!) but lots of homey observations so familiar to anyone who saw him on his PBS cooking shows. Another big difference is that in spite of the fact that Wilson was an `amateur' cook, he was an `amateur' in much the same way as Julia Child was an `amateur', in that they did not cook in professional (restaurant) kitchens, but they knew a whole lot about cooking technique and their technique did show a lot of professional touches. To be sure, Child was a much more accomplished teacher and literally a more accomplished researcher into her chosen field than Wilson, whose primary attraction was not `technique', but `bon hommine' (sic).

Two things which set Wilson apart from `The Top 100' is his use of stocks and his cooking with wine. Wine certainly appears in some `Top 100' recipes, but it appears in almost half of Wilson's recipes and many recipes are named for their use of wine (even the French have just a few recipes named for their use of wine).

The biggest question I have about `The Top 100' is whether this means the best recipes of the 100, or the 100 most distinctively Cajun recipes. Since the latter is much less subjective, it would be much more valuable than the former, as one can always use the book to find the most distinctively Cajun recipes and feel free to improve on them. The introduction suggests that the editors had both objectives in mind. I will concede to them the claim that these are the 100 most typical Cajun recipes, as no one should be in a better position to know than a local publisher of local recipes which has been in the business for many years.

On the question of quality, I remain agnostic, but I will do a little survey on my favorite recipe, the turtle soup, to see if there is a chance that `The Top 100' does have `the best recipe'. First, a look at the recipe itself reveals that it is truly a recipe for the amateur cook, as it does not use a prepared stock, unlike both Justin Wilson, Emeril Lagasse (see `Emeril's Delmonico'), and Paul Prudhomme (see `Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen'). Thus, it reflects a home kitchen that does not have the resources to prepare stock in advance or a nearby supermarket with ample supplies of chicken stock. It's interesting to see the progression of complexity from the home recipes to Lagasse to Prudhomme to the ultimate classic French recipe in `The Escoffier Cookbook'. On the basis of this little survey, I have to believe that one should qualify the book's title to be `The Best 100 HOME Cooked Cajun Recipes of All Time'. This is evident from the fact that almost all recipes have a source of a local Louisiana home cook! It's also interesting to see the progression in this series from no stock to chicken stock (Wilson and Lagasse) to combination of chicken and turtle stock (Prudhomme) to pure turtle stock (Escoffier).

One thing I notice in both books which simply has never come up in all the hours I have spent watching Emeril on the Food Network. This is the common use of `oil' rather than either butter or pork fat in many recipes. Wilson goes further to specify olive oil, and this is well before we all became familiar with how good olive oil and the whole `Mediterranean diet' was for us. It would be the ultimate irony to find that Justin Wilson's red wine and olive oil recipes were `healthy'.

To make up for this, there is also a fairly common use of `prepared' staples here, such as `American cheese', Worchestershire sauce and Lea and Perrins sauce. (What is surprising is to see Emeril use `A1' sauce also in his Turtle Soup). `The Top 100' uses a bit less of the prepared stuff, but does use `oleo' more often. Please replace `oleo' with real butter. It's actually better for you.

Both books fully embody everything I ever heard about `Cajun' cooking, most especially the use of the trinity of onions, celery and sweet peppers (replacing the French carrots in the classic mirepoix). Even where the three are not used together, celery and sweet peppers seem to find their way into just about everything, especially given the high number of braised and casseroled dishes using lots of aromatics.

I confess that like Jean Shepherd's writing, Justin Wilson's Cajun accent and wry expressions simply don't come across as well in print as they do on the screen, so the extras in his book have limited value.

For the price, I recommend both; however, `The Top 100' may have a longer shelf life.

Do you really want to know how to cook Cajun Food?
My wife and I are avid fans of Cajun and Zydeco music, and we take trips to Louisiana as often as possible to go to festivals and dance.On one of our trips we stopped by The Cajun General Store in Lafayette to do somesouveneir shopping.I spied "The 100 best Cajun Recipes of AllTime" on a book rack.It was a humble little pamphlet and veryreasonably priced.I figured that any book that made that boast for solittle a financial risk was worth a try.That gamble paid off with yearsof great eating.

I haven't tried all the recipes, only about 20.Notonly have I not been disappointed, I have eaten some of the best food of myentire life.You won't find Paul Prudhomme in this cook book, but you willfind Manning "Pete" Broussard of Lafayette Parish.Never heardof him. Well, don't feel bad, no one outside of his family has probablyheard of him either.You see, these recipes were collected by AcadianaMagazine over a period of 20 plus years. The were sent in by true Cajunswho probably learned the recipes from their family members who had beenperfecting them for generations.Most of the recipes are very simple.Forexample, there is a chicken stew recipe that I frequently make, and most ofthe time, I only need to buy chicken to have everything I need to prepareit.If you follow the instructions, you really do not need to be a greatcook to prepare great Cajun food.But you do need patience, because mostof the recipes require several hours to be prepared right.

I can'temphasize enough what a great buy this book is.If you like to eat greatcomfort food, you will be forever grateful that you purchased it.If youdon't believe me, try this recipe and see if you are convinced.

ChickenStew

2 tablespoons butter - 1/2 cup flour - 1 onion, chopped - 1bellpepper, choppped - 1 rib of celery, chopped - 1/2 cup of choppedparsley -2 cups of water - 1 chicken, cut up - Salt and pepper to taste -1 teaspoon of garlic salt.

1.Make a roux by blending butter and flourin a sauce pan and continuously stirring over medium high heat until darkbrown.Stir vigourously and don't burn.

2.Add everything and cookuntil the chicken is boiled off the bone.Cull out all the bones,cartiledge and skin.Serve over rice.

Mrs. Mary Colar Franklin, (St.Mary Parish) ... Read more

Product Description
If you love the spice that Cajun food adds to your life, but not what it adds to your waistline, then Enola Prudhomme's Low-Calorie Cajun Cooking is for you.

Customer Reviews (5)

Good eating with no love handles
For those who love the aroma, taste, and challenge of cajun cuisine but want to eliminate its correlation with the human waistline, this book will be a welcome addition to the culinary library. It is packed full of hints for preparation and of course many excellent recipes. It is quite common in low-cal cookbooks that the flavor and texture get sacrificed in the quest to maintain the hourglass shape, and to some extent this is true here. But the author/chef has done a good job of preserving the bare essentials of the Cajun cooking experience. Recipe recommendations: 1. Seafood gumbo. 2. Shrimp Salad 3. Crabmeat Casserole 4. Shrimp and Crabmet Jambalaya 5. Shrimp Creole 6. Blackened Catfish 7. Cajun Catfish 8. Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya. 9. Blackened Chicken Breast 10. Cajun-Style Chili 11. Blackened Pork Chop 12. Blackened Lamb Chop 13. Sweet Potatoes with Orange 14. Dirty Rice 15. Cajun Couche-Couche 16. Jalapeno Cornbread

one of the best!
I first bought this book about 4 years ago.I used the recipes for dinner parties, and my guests loved the food (of course I did, too)!I loaned the book out several times, didn't get it back the last time, and now I amordering it again.The recipes are authentic Cajun, easy, and delicious. Shrimp etouffe and shrimp Creole are our favorites.

One of the Best Cookbooks on the Market!
Enola Prudhomme's Low Fat Cajun Cooking is not only filled with fantastic recipes.It includes nutritional information on every meal, basic cooking tips for low fat cooking, and cooking techniques for all cooks.This is afantastic recipe book as well as a necessary reference in my home!

Great!!!!
A clinical dietician recommended this book to me and I love it. She let me borrow it and now I am ordering it as a result.Great recipes.Really like Enola Prudhomme's introduction and how the book came to be.

Cajun cooking for the rest of us
Low Calorie Cajun Cooking started in Enola Prudhomme's restaurant.She had been making lower-calorie recipies there for family, but the menu contained none of them.When some patrons inquired, she tried putting one or two of them on the menu and met with great success.Today, half of the menu features these "heart smart" recipies.The crawfish etouffeeis marvelous! ... Read more

Product Description
New Orleans Creole cookery melds a fantastic array of influences: Spanish spices, tropical fruits from Africa, native Choctaw Indian gumbos, and most of all, a panoply of French styles. Assembled at the turn of the 20th century by a Crescent City newspaper, The Picayune, this volume is the bible of many a Louisiana cook and a delight to gourmets everywhere. Hundreds of enticing recipes include fine soups and gumbos, seafoods, all manner of meats, rice dishes and jambalayas, cakes and pastries, fruit drinks, French breads, and many other delectable dishes. Introductory material explains the traditional French manner of preparing foods, and a selection of full menus covers both everyday and festive meals. Unabridged reprint of the classic 1901 edition.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

great cookbook very old fashioned
This is a reprint of a book printed in the early 1900's.It is really cool and the couple of recipes I have tried have been super.Some of the recipes have ingredients that are hard to find.

Gumbo isn't Choctaw Indian!!
The reviewer is saying that Gumbo is Native American-Choctaw? Gumbo came over with the mixed race (Gens De Coluer Libre) or Free People of Color in the early 1800's to lower La.-who settled the New Orleans French Quarter and areas behind the Quarter on Esplanade. It is a slow cooking African method using a big pot-and Afro-Caribbean method. These cast iron pots were used in many Voodoo rituals also by Creoles of Color. Gumbo is a French-Creole word taken from the patois of Creoles of Color and has noting to do with Choctaw Indians-who contributed nothing to Creole cooking. Many non-La. restaurants and non-Creole writers (which are many)-can't seem to get their history correct so they make up stuff or get this from racist informants who live in La. and do not want anything to be contributed to Creoles of color. I just think that if one writes a book-that they should distribute correct information or write a review of a book, they should also give correct info.

No Hype, Just Recipes
Intrigued by a TV discussion with the editor about locating recipes lost in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, I settled on an older, less expensive New Orleans cookbook from the Picayune by the same editor.It's packed with New Orleans recipes. However, the formatting is non-existent.Recipes from the Picayunne are printed here with no pictures, no glitz, just the recipes.Good for cooking, not a visual turn-on.

Reproduces the second, 1901 edition in its entirety
The reprint of this classic cookbook shouldn't be missed: The Picayune's Creole Cook Book reproduces the second, 1901 edition in its entirety, returning to print a classic which preserved traditional creole cooking upon the brink of its extinction. Introductions explain history and recipes alike. No photos, but those interested in Creole history and culture won't miss them. ... Read more

Product Description
In an effort to illustrate how the seemingly simple culinary traditions of rural South Louisiana and the women behind the stoves promote cultural preservation, Nicole Denée Fontenot spent two years interviewing Cajun women who grew up in the first half of the 20th century. She now presents her research in COOKING WITH CAJUN WOMEN: RECIPES AND REMEMBRANCES FROM SOUTH LOUISIANA KITCHENS, a cookbook featuring more than 300 recipes and as many anecdotes of times when everything (except coffee, sugar, and flour) was homemade.

These matriarchs shared traditional recipes now made with modern and simple ingredients that reflect the constantly changing influences on Cajun culture, especially as communities became more Americanized. COOKING WITH CAJUN WOMEN present classic Cajun dishes like Maque Choux Corn, Crawfish Etouffée, Seafood Gumbo, Fig Cake, and Pecan Pralines, along with unusual creations and other staple fares. An in-depth essay, "Twentieth-Century Cajun Women, Agents of Cultural Preservation," as well as answers to typical questions by non-Cajuns and an extensive resource guide complete this remarkable contribution to the perpetuation of the Cajuns’ heritage and history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

cookbook
I have this cookbook and anyone who loves cajun food will love the recipes. I have tried some and they are wonderful.

THE Best Cookbook
This is a GREAT thing for young couples especially b/c it's REAL authentic recipes from actual ppl down here.I say it's great for young ppl b/c they're so used to their mama's cooking & when they move out or get married, most of them don't have a clue how to cook this stuff (I know I didn't!).Another thing I love is: it may have 2 or 3 recipes for something, from 2 or 3 different women.Also, I love reading the short stories on the recipe pages of the way things were way back when.The author did a wonderful job & conquered a "real" cajun cookbook.I wish I could give it 10 stars!

From Louisiana to Alaska
Cooking with Cajun Women exemplifies the current cultural traditions as they are today, using the recipes of older Cajun women all over South Louisiana not from one family unit.The book is a reflection of reality that includes recipes of times past with those of the present, because people today blend modernity with cultural traditions.Cajun culture has thrived because of its adaptability not in spite of it.The older ladies submitted these recipes and they represent what they are cooking today.People are more practical today and not everything is slow cooked, thus to deny it and act as if everything is made the old-fashioned way is dishonest.The book is a perfect blend of history and reality.The people of South Louisiana love the treasure filled book and to those who have left the area and lost touch with the people of Louisiana, you have spoken out of turn and out of context.You missed the message entirely.

Canned Soup and More Soup`
Coming from South Louisiana (Cajun Country) I had high hopes from the title of this cookbook.However, after reading some of the recipes, I am astonished at astounding quantity of canned creamed soups called for in so many of them.Real Cajun cooks must be laughing themselves silly.Cajun cooking does not begin with CANNED SOUP!Get yourself a real Cajun cookbook.This is not it!Read it for the "remembrances," but certainly not the recipes.Apparently the Fontenot clan hasn't a clue about Cajun cooking.

Best Cajun Recipe Book Ever!!!
I am from southwest Louisiana and this is one of the best Cajun cookbooks I have ever bought!Most of the recipes are what my family has always prepared and still serve now.I recommend this book to everyone in Cajun country and to all of you that want to cook Cajun.A great gift for anyone that loves to cook.Ms. Fontenot has done an excellent job! ... Read more

Product Description
When Alex Patout opened the original Patout's restaurant in New Iberia, Louisiana, in 1979, he set out to show food lovers that there was more to Cajun than blackened redfish. Now the family operates busy restaurants in New Orleans and Los Angeles as well, and in Patout's Cajun Home Cooking, the first authentic guide to the most popular regional cuisine in the country, Patout takes his culinary mission another giant step further, divulging the dark, spicy secrets of Cajun food as it is prepared by the Cajuns themselves.

Beginning with the basics -- roux from light to dark, techniques from smoking to smothering -- Patout initiates the home cook into a culinary style that has developed over the decades in bayou country kitchens. Dozens of exciting recipes introduce a savory repertoire of Cajun delicacies: appetizers both rustic and refined (Cheese Biscuits, Daube Glace, Cajun Pate); slow-simmered gumbos (Shrimp and Okra, Duck and Sausage, and more), soups, and stews (Red fish Courtbouillon, Shrimp and Crab Stew); hearty main dishes (from classic Jambalayas and Etouffees to such Patout specialties as Lady Fish, Shrimp Ms. Ann, Veal on the Teche, and Maw Maw's Cajun Chicken Stew); luscious side dishes (Maque Choux, Smothered Snap Beans, Cajun Hash Browns); homey and festive sweets (Old Dominion Pound Cake, Calas, Pralines, Gateau au Sirop); and preserves and pickles (Chow Chow, Hot Pepper Jelly) for the cook with canning fever. And Patout shows how to pull it all together, with menus for all occasions and a list of mail-order sources for fresh seafood and special ingredients.

Adaptable, easy on the budget, and above all exciting, Patout's Cajun Home Cooking brings Cajun back to where it originated -- the home kitchen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The Real Thing
My husband is Cajun, I'm from New York, so making gumbo, etoufee or chicken stew is daunting. The highest complement he can give is that it tastes like his grandma's -- and every recipe from this book hits that high water mark. The only change I make is to omit the okra from the gumbo.

Try the Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping - it will be come the staple at your Thanksgiving table.

Alex is does it better.
My passion has been cooking for over fourty-years. Since I am a Cajun, most of my dishes are also, and no one did it better.Alex book has allowed me to create even better dishes with much less effort.He is the master.

From a Long Time Customer
I remember Alex's palce in New Iberia from the early 80's.Great food, my wife and I lived in Lafayette and ate there once a week.We bought the book years ago, shortly after it was published.We still use it today.Try Shrimp Mrs. Ann.You can use fish instead of shrimp and it is still wonderful.The green beans in a roux is very good.There are a number of books on Cajun cooking, this is one of the best.

Lots of great food
I thought it looked a bit bland when we got it. There were not a lot of bright pretty pictures. However, every recipe I've tried has turned out great. The recipes are easy to follow. THey do require some typical 'cajun' types food (Tasso for example) but mostly the recipes have on hand ingredients.

Enjoy.

authentic cajun cooking from a chef who grew up with it.
Great book for those of you interested in real Cajun cooking done very well.Alex Patout is from the Heart of Acadiana, so he knows what he's talking about.Definitely not for vegetarians. ... Read more

Product Description
Tom Fitzmorris is uniquely qualified to write about the food of New Orleans. Born in the Crescent City on Mardi Gras, he'd never left his favorite town for more than three weeks at a time--that is, until Hurricane Katrina struck and Tom and his family were forced to evacuate.

Prior to the disaster, Tom was just putting the finishing touches on his magnum opus: a collection of recipes for the best of New Orleans food gathered and developed over more than 30 years spent reporting eating in the Big Easy. In addition to his weekly restaurant review column, which has been published continuously for 33 years, Tom is best known for his daily 3-hour radio show, "The Food Show," broadcast every afternoon on WSMB.

With New Orleans Food, Tom presents more than 250 great New Orleans recipes designed for the home cook, all steeped in the Creole and Cajun traditions, yet updated to reflect contemporary tastes and ingredients. From small plates (Shrimp Remoulade with Two Sauces) to main courses (Redfish Herbsaint, Root Beer-Glazed Ham) to desserts and drinks (Bananas Foster, Beignets, and Cafe au Lait), these are dishes both elegant and casual, traditional and evolved. Whether you are nostalgic for the taste of New Orleans or simply love good food, New Orleans Food should find a place on your cookbook shelf. Now every Monday, everywhere, can be red-beans-and-rice day.

A portion of the profits from the sale of this book will benefit New Orleans recovery efforts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

DELICIOUS is all I have to say!
This is my favorite go to cookbook. I have cooked several recipes from each section and ALL have turned out wonderful. I don't find it hard at all to follow the recipes, some are a little time consuming, but sometimes that's would it takes to cook good food. The fish dishes are excellent. The rootbeer ham is now a staple at Easter and Christmas. If you are familar with southern and New Orleans food and love it as I do, then this is must for you.

Great cookbook, especially for newbies like me!
I just got my cookbook this weekend (thanks amazon!) and wow! The first recipe my girlfriend and I decided to try was the Grillades and Grits. It listed it as a breakfast dish but we had it for dinner and mmm mmm good. The directions were easy to follow, and i especially love the little section in the back that details how to make creole seasoning from scratch. I think next weekend i will try the stewed chicken with brown gravy over rice!

I only wish i was still living in new orleans because a lot of the seafood ingredients are very expensive here in Virginia. Anyways...buy this cookbook if you love Creole/Cajun cooking and want to have some fun sunday afternoons filling your home with the aromatic flavors of the south!

Good addition to my collection of Cook Books
I like it. So far I only tried one recipe. Unfortunately this book is not what I actually expected. It doesn't have simple traditional recipes like Maque Choux, Cole Slaw and etc. But it has other nice recipes to offer.

Lovely!
First the quick thing, what I don't like about it is that it's paperback binding, so it won't lay open.
What I do like about it? The author lived in New Orleans all his life except for after Katrina. He's a food writer who really loves his subject.
All those foods you've read about, that you've dreamed about, are in this comprehensive book.
If I were going to do a Julie/Julia thing, this is the book.
Gumbos, bisques, jambalaya, dirty rice, red beans and rice, beignets are all in here. Along with things like deviled eggs with a New Orleans twist, a simple cream cheese recipe, desserts make me feel like I committed the sin of gluttony just reading the recipes and all sorts of main dishes. Over 200 recipes, and so far all of them sound wonderful.
Yes, a lot of the recipes are a bit time consuming and you need some basic kitchen skills like how to make a roux to make them, butmany of the recipes are pretty simple too.
If you like seafood, this is also a good cookbook for that, there are a lot of shrimp, scallops, clams, oyster and fish recipes. It's a vital part of cuisine from that part of the country.
A lot of the reviewers from New Orleans say that the gumbos are just like Mom or Grandma used to make. What better recommendation is there? If this is a style of cooking you've always want to learn, this is the book that covers all the basics.
As far as the convenience ingredients go, I can adjust for my tastes, but there is something to be said about the consistency you get from convenience ingredients.

Great Collection of Classic New Orleans Food
Who knows New Orleans food better than Tom Fitzmorris? He's been a restaurant critic here for as long as I can remember.This cookbook is filled with great recipes.Some may be a bit challenging for the inexperienced chef, but all are true to their roots.I've yet to be disappointed with this book.A great addition to any cook's collection. ... Read more

Product Description
A 48-page saddle-stitched soft cover book that teaches the basics of authentic Cajun cooking.It contains about 50 simple, easy-to-follow recipes;cooking tips and hints; a glossary of Cajun food terms, such as roux, gumbo, jambalaya and etouffee;and definitions of basic cooking terms, such as beat, blend, broil, saut and simmer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Inspiration
Having been raised north of I-10 and not needing help with my cajun cooking, I love to read cookbooks all the same, even though cooking is not one of my favorite chores.Cajun Cooking For Beginners has inspired me to cook some of the old favorite dishes, using it's recipes for reference.My family thanks you.

A good book for **BEGINNERS**
The other reviewer completely missed the point. This is a starter's book, of course it will seem basic to someone from New Orleans. I was also raised in New Orleans, and,like most people here, I was raised cooking. However,those poor souls raised north of I-10 need some help. Ms. Bienvenu is awell respected culinary writer in the New Orleans area, and offers solidadvice to the uninitiated.

Being born born on the Bayou doesn't mean she can cook
I don't know where this woman learned to cook, but she sure needs to go back to school.I was born and raised in New Orleans and went to college in Lafayette, Louisiana so I know Louisiana cooking. Her recipes are trite and unimaginative. Do yourself a favor and buy a cookbook ....Save your money and avoid indigestion, don't use this book.END ... Read more

Product Description
This charming handcrafted Creole cookbook emphasizes the skillful use of spices, herbs, and seasoning, blended to enhance, not overpower, interesting foods. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Cute
This is a cute little book with a lot of interesting tips and information about local cuisine.The words and pronunciation keys are delightful.There are also many good recipes and local traditions that are fun to read. ... Read more

Product Description
Two hundred eighty-eight delicious recipes carefully worked out so that you can reproduce, in your own kitchen, the true flavors of Cajun and Creole dishes. The New Orleans cookbook whose authenticity dependability, and wealth of information have made it a classic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

My tried and true favorite Cajun cookbook
I first got this book back in about 1982.After divorcing I reaquired a copy in 2000.I have many other New Orleans cookbooks which I love but this it the one I always go back to.The recipes work and you can feel the love in the book.Chicken Pontalba and Crawfish Cardinale are just a couple of my favorites.I doubt you will be disappointed if you get this book.It is certainly among my all time favorite cookbooks.

It's good, shah!
I am a Cajun.My family came to New Orleans in 1764, and founded Lafayette.I got this book as a gift and then years later my wife prepared chicken fricassee from it and served it...Hey!this is my mom's chicken!(and I used to hate it when I was a kid but it's great now!)All the recipes I have tried have been exceptional and amenable to variation.Shrimp creole, yes!Sausage jambalaya, great (but you must have tomato in jambalaya according to me, just replace some broth with it!)Pain perdu!Red beans and rice (use about 1/3 the meat though, or no meat).Too much salt in some recipes, too but maybe that's age and time.

Yes, this is the irreplaceable Cajun and Creole cookbook.My original is falling apart so I am buying a replacement.Buy it and make these recipes your own.

New Orleans Cookbook
If you have extensive culinary experience or are a novice and interested in learning the ins and outs of Creole fare, think about adding this cookbook to your collection. It was a purchase of mine while living in New Orleans in the 80's and it has remained a favorite...these are the tastes and aromas that linger in my memory of that lusty American jem...Na'Lins.

The best all purpose New Orleans Cookbook!
I have owned this book since it first came out - a much used and stained first edition.Now, whenever I need a gift for a new bride, someone moving to New Orleans, or someone moving away from New Orleans, guess what they get!Their own copy of the New Orleans Cookbook.Richard Collins used to write a newspaper column in the New orleans Times-Picayne in the early 70's which everyone pored over to see what was new on the restaurant scene.He compiled this recipe book from New Orleans favorites - beans, seafood, crawfish, gumbos, etouffe's, vegetables including, okra, eggplant, and mirlitons - with stories and backgrounds to go along with them.Great recipes and great local color.

Laissez les bon temps roulez!
Absolutely the best and truest reference for New Orleans cooking.I've owned a copy of this book ever since it was first published in 1975, wore my way through a hardcover copy, and now own it in paperback (again).It's simply the most reliable, best researched book for real New Orleans cooking.You may not get the recipes for signature dishes from Arnaud's, Galatoire's or Commander's Palace in this tome, but all the basics and classics are here.You simply cannot go wrong with these recipes, because Rima and Richard Collin have really done their homework.If you want the authentic taste of New Orleans, you'll find it here.Their book also includes some New Orleans food history with the recipes and a detailed discussion about ingredients.

Best of all, this book was written by locals, not out-of-town chefs who came to New Orleans from outside Louisiana and learned Creole cooking on the fly as they settled into their new jobs (Emeril Lagasse, this means YOU, you Massachusetts carpetbagger!).Rima and Richard Collin are the authors of The New Orleans Restaurant Guide and The Pleasures of Seafood.Richard Collin is the author of the New Orleans Underground Gourmet and was for a decade a food and restaurant critic for the New Orleans States-Item newspaper.Rima Collin founded the New Orleans Cooking School in 1975.Together, they have a wide and practical knowledge of "N'awlins" food.

Many are the chefs who have 'reinvented' Creole dishes, some to the point where the dishes aren't quite recognizeable.True, putting your own little spin on the recipes is a long New Orleans tradition -- but these recipes need no 'reinvention' of the contemporary sort: they deliver the real, soulful thing.Which is probably why my third copy is already so dog-eared.You want a Mardi Gras in your mouth??Then get this book!

... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Love Miss Lucy
I watch Miss Lucy on RFD-TV weekly and love her show and my new cookbook I bought from Amazon.I always struggle with writing down the recipes, now I can enjoy the show. I love all the stories and recipes in this cookbook.

Great cajun recipes with stories about the cajun culture
Classic Cajun: Culture and Cooking is a terrific cookbook for anyone wanting to learn the art of true Cajun cooking the way the families of the bayou country would feed their families... Not to be confused with hybrid styles so frequently found in fancy "cajun" restaurants and creole cooking shows.

In addition to learning some great recipes, you will also learn stories about the cajun people, the how and why of Mardis Gras and more. This book is a must have for any fan of cajun food or anyone curious about the cajun lifestyle.

Wonderful Cajun Cookbook!
I am from Louisiana and I use to watch Lucy's Cooking show when I was there.She made cajun cooking look so easy.Her cookbook reflects the same.Every recipe I have tried has come out great. The recipes are very easy to follow.The best thing I love about having this cookbook is that I can enjoy a taste from home without being there in Luosiana.Thanks Lucy!

save your money
This book is okay for someone who does not own any other kind of cook book, otherwise this book is useless. I bought this book assuming it would have some authentic CAJUN recipes, but was disappointed because it had watered-down versions of the originals. THIS WAS A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY.

Classic cooking made easy!
I have never tried cajun cooking but after watching Lucy's show I wanted too! I ordered her book, and every recipe I've tried is mouth watering delicious! My kids will now eat "greens" because they are absolutely to die for. Ingredients are few, directions simple, and every single recipe turns out perfect! Lucy's book has put excitement into our meals again. You must try her book to believe everday, ordinary food, can be so delicious! ... Read more

Product Description
The best of traditional Cajun and Creole cuisine comes to life with an emphasis on the "new basics" in Louisiana. This book is the first of its kind to tell the 250-year-old history of Cajun and Creole cuisine. "The rich heritage of Louisiana cuisine had never been told in a more complete form with traditional recipes to carry the flavor of the Cajuns and Creoles into the ‘90s," Folse said. Chef Folse provides the history behind each dish, adding depth to the inherent traditions of those who created them. More than 250 recipes are featured in this 352-page cookbook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Fantabulous!!!
I bought this after receiving his encyclopedia to cajun cooking book (great story cookbook!). This one is proven to be fantastic. I love the areas for notes for each recipe. For our tastes, if you cook by the book, its a little bland for us and end up using more spices and seasonings. The notes gives us a place to mark our variations instead of asking "what did we do different that time?". Overall his recipes are delicious and easy to follow. I given several as gifts.

Folse's cookbook review
This is the only cookbook I've ever actually sat down and read.I learned so much about cooking that I was inspired to try some of these recipes. They're a little bit challenging but I think the average home cook can make these recipes work in their own kitchens.My family loves the ones I've made. If you are a semi-serious cook, or a professional chef, this is one book you can't pass up for your library!

John Folse : Master Chief and Historian
John Folse is a great representative of South Louisiana Cajun Cooking and loves the history of the area. He relates the melting pot of the many nationalities that contributed to the culinary richness of South Louisiana cooking.This is an excellent book to learn all about all kinds of "roux", recipes and techniques of Cajun cooks.It's a fun book!

Authentic Creole Home Cooking
I am a Creole who grew up thinking everybody ate gumbo at least once a week.Using this cook book is like having my momma looking over my shoulder telling me how to make all her favorite dishes.I have purchased at least a dozen of these books for gifts to family and friends.

incredibly tantilizing recipes
For anyone who loves the magic of the south especially the festivities behind louisianas Marty Gras would love to get a nibble if not more from this book. It is a very straightforward and beautifully prepared recipe book that will take you through years of shopping and parties with friends and families.Enjoy! ... Read more