5 comments about Rice Cooker Meals: Fast Home Cooking for Busy People.

1. This is an excellent little book. The items are spicy and just right. You can't go wrong with it for the price. You wouldn't want to eat it every day, but when you want a little spice in your life--go for it.



2. Most of the dishes call for either sausage or cheese. "1 stick of butter" is also a common ingredient. So if you are watching your weight, you would not add these meals into your regular rotation.



3. This is a great cookbook for those who like easy, inexpensive ethnic meals in their rice cooker. The book is almost entirely recipes, easy to read, with common, easy to find ingredients as well as recipe suggestions by readers on each recipe for adjustments or substitutions. For those who don't like spicy, just buy the tomato products without chilies, and as for the book not being low fat-it never stated it was a low cal cookbook!
   
   If your looking for more recipes for your rice cooker, this books a bargain at $10.
   Recommended-4 stars.



4. If you like "Cajun Cooking", you will like the recipes in this cookbook ... please note the recipes are developed using the "old style" rice cooker ... the ones I have tried in the "new style" (Sanyo) rice cooker did not turn out well ... less water is required when using the "new style" rice cooker ... I'm still working on a conversion ... the recipes I have tried using the "old style" rice cooker turned out great and were very good ... but the recipes are great even if you decide to cook them in a standard pot using the stove top ... RPH



5. This cookbook is simple and has good food, only negative it dosent tell you what size rice cooker you need!

5 comments about Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table.

1. Like the author, Sara, I was also a non-native who had moved to New Orleans for my first ten years out of college, from 1987 to 1996. Even after I moved from New Orleans in 1996, I had never thought of reading books about New Orleans (not counting New Orleans and Cajun cookbooks, of course) until now, three years after Hurricane Katrina. I have not yet been back to New Orleans since Katrina, but I am planning a trip there next year.
   
   Two of the main aspects of New Orleans that I love so much is its food and music. It was my countless memories of New Orleans food that prompted me to read this book, and I was definitely not disappointed. Sara's descriptions of the food and dining in New Orleans are accurate, well-researched, evocative, and, as the Brits say, spot on. She writes with the informed knowledge of her background as a food writer and restaurant reviewer, but also with the fresh perspective of a non-native Midwesterner, and she paints a vivid picture of the passionate food culture in New Orleans, a culture that I was once an active part of (Emeril Lagasse once stopped by our table to chat during the first week that his Emeril's restaurant opened in 1990). Like a great Zatarain's seasoning mix, she accents all of the food lore with snippets of New Orleans culture, people, humor, and just the right touch of discussions of the city before and after Katrina (she lived in Philadelphia for awhile before moving back to New Orleans in April of this year).
   
   I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in food, or is interested in or planning a trip to New Orleans. My only quibble with this book was that I wanted more chapters or another book of hers to continue reading after I had finished this book; there are still plenty of New Orleans food topics to write chapters on. After I finished reading this book, instead of placing it amidst all of my other many non-fiction books, I placed with my row of cookbooks in the pantry; although this is not a cookbook, it just belongs there with my cookbooks!
   
   Also... Sara has a Web site where she has posted various "Photo Companion to Gumbo Tales" photos that are grouped and named like the chapters in her book: www.sararoahen.com\Sara_Roahen\Gumbo_Tales_Photos\Gumbo_Tales_Photos.html



2. Even before you open Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, a new book by Sara Roahen, you might get a sense of the place. The beautiful dust jacket evokes the spirit of New Orleans, a city of traditions that involve not only food, but celebrations, music and much history. The cocktails sign may be a little faded , like the city itself, but the wrought iron lanterns over the doorways are warm and welcoming .
   
   Roahen serves up chapter after chapter of New Orleans' specialties as vignettes of the different inhabitants of the city. There is a tremendous amount of interesting history of the people and their indomitable spirit who eventually called New Orleans their home and blended their culture with the cultures of others.
   
   The reader experiences the joy of St. Joseph's day, the riotous enjoyment of Mardi Gras and other such ethnic diversions. Through the different foods, the reader is introduced to the importance of gumbo, oysters and po'boys. It seems in New Orleans, errant husbands do not bring home flowers, they bring po'boys ! Interesting note that Italian culinary traditions have spread in the Metro area, second only to Creole. Whatever ethnic neighborhood, food and family are the common themes.
   
   Roahen uses such beautifully descriptive phrases that make readers feel they are transported to New Orleans and the specific location she is writing about . With the use of incredible imagery, the reader can almost smell the cooking aromas and feel the presence of the other diners in what ever restaurant she is describing. In one café she describes, there are only two other people in the bar with her, a lone drinker of Chivas Regal and the server. The room is dim and only lit by the light from the window. While the jukebox wails out its plaintive song, the server begins to dance while humming and spinning around with her eyes closed. The man sips his drink while Roahen samples some turkey gizzards. This is just one of such numerous dining experiences.
   
   If you have never been to New Orleans, after reading this charming tale , you will feel as though you know the city and its people quite well. There is also such a sense of poignancy and heart break about the city after Katrina changed not only the landscape but the people but there is also hope for new beginnings. Roahen states one of her strongest lesson so far is "the power of the place is not limited to where: it can also be a why and a how."
   
   Whether you are a die- hard foodie or not, or just have an interest in the history of different cultures, people and their traditions, you will enjoy this book. Almost four pages of bibliography for further looks into cooks, cooking, and how to make a perfect cocktail round out this personal memoir of a former line cook turned food critic in her much beloved city of New Orleans . A recommended read.



3. This proved the most insightful -- and unexpectedly useful -- book I read prior to going to New Orleans. In fact, you could say it provided a springboard for my exploration of the city.
   
   See, I always need a focus when I travel. For New Orleans, it was food and music. (A no-brainer, I admit, but I ain't proud... sometimes the obvious is the also the best.) This book made me seek out muffalettas at Central Grocery, po'boys, mudbugs, bread pudding, sezeracs, and (of course) gumbo. Oh, and a "lucky bean" at a St. Joseph's day feast. (Read the book and find out what that is.)
   
   Okay, 'nuff about me. About the book. What a banquet! There's so much here beyond the food -- it's a stew of rich experiences, well seasoned with humor, and garnished with verve and wit. Roahen's food writer's gift for vivid description extends to people and places as well. There's history here, too, to give it all perspective. And tragedy: Katrina.
   
   I'll definitely be re-reading this one before my next trip to New Orleans. And, oh yes, there will be another trip.



4. Gumbo Tales is Sara Roahen's attempt to identify and dissect the culinary history of New Orleans. First arriving in New Orleans with her now-husband, then a medical student, she quickly became immersed in the various foods and flavors and customs, cultures and festivities of her new home. Each foray into a new food or restaurant opened yet another door to yet another food to try, another cuisine that is part of the New Orleans melting pot. Roahen `s work became that much more urgent after Hurricane Katrina stripped away many of the beloved landmarks and scattered the population. Much of the measure of recovery is the return of beloved food providers and sightings of new places opened to eat. New Orleans is much more than gumbo and this book takes the reader through a culinary maze of oysters, Sazeracs, Hansen's Sno Bliz, po-boy sandwiches, Italian influences, turtle soup, muffuletta sandwiches, mirlitons, red beans and rice, Cajun heat, Paul Prudhomme, turducken, crawfish, Galatoire's, and okra as well as many others. Every culture that has visited New Orleans has added its cuisine and had adapted the existing cuisine. There is no right...though there are several defined wrongs about the way to eat.
   
   Don't read this book hoping to add to your cache of recipes to try. This is a love letter to New Orleans and its people and the food that gather around in good times or when in need of a taste of home.



5. As a native New Orleanian obsessed with all things local, Roahen's book has an honored place on my shelf. So many questions I've always had are answered. Camelia red beans, Ya Ka Mein, braciolone (all my life I've never seen the word spelled), Vietnamese out in the East, it's all here and more. Roahen is very clear that she is not "discovering" anything here. There is respect for the people she interviews and a humbleness that is often not present in other books about the city written by non-natives. Maybe a little too much info for someone not acquainted with New Orleans food, but essential for those who need to know it all.

5 comments about Justin Wilson's Homegrown Louisiana Cookin'.

1. I used to watch Justin Wilson's cooking show on PBS. His wit made the show worthwhile. The recipes in this book make it worthwhile. I haven't made them all, but the ones I did make are outstanding. My hat's off to Justin. Jus' add a little wine wit dat and den it's did.



2. I had only recently heard of Justin Wilson. My husband and I love cajun food and I wanted to learn how to make it at home. Someone told me about him and a new fan was born!!! My husband bought me this book and another of Justin's to start out with.

   The recipes are simple and delicious. I had no trouble making them, even as a first-timer. You can interchange a lot of the different kinds of meat as well - for example with the crawfish etoufee, we have made with shrimp as well as petite lobster.

   The little stories in his book are entertaining as well. If you enjoy eating cajun, you will love this book!!!




3. I love this book! Can't wait to try out some of the recipes. I really enjoy the pictures and stories also! Worth the cost!



4. Excellent cookbook. Easy to follow receipes. My husband pours over that book and tries a new one each week. He cooks on the weekends. I am more of a meat and potatoes eater but I have liked everything he has tried so far.



5. I acquired this cookbook when it first came out and harbored high expectations for the content. At this point, they are all pretty much dashed.
   
   I cook every day and have for years. The best of these recipes is mediocre. On one occasion, I clearly recall preparing yet another of Justin's dishes and, just as it was nearing completion, my wife strolled into the kitchen with a wrinkled nose and said, "What stinks?" Sadly, she was right.
   
   I DID give the book an extra star here because I loved the homegrown photographs which were snapped by Justin's pretty wife. I thought that they were really good and quite reflective of his regional cooking.
   
   If you really want an outstanding cajun cookbook, grab a copy of Paul Prudhommes, "Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen":
   
   Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen
   
   I actually did love old Justin and I think his cooking show was more fun than any other which ever aired on television -- but you can safely skip these recipes.

5 comments about The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook.

1. As a proud owner of literally hundreds of cookbooks, it's always a wonderful surprise to discover a terrific book that I've never seen or heard of before. The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook is just such a book. This book was recently used as the basis of two recipes in a gourmet cooking class I attend once a week, and the results were outstanding, to say the least. We started the meal with Commander's Garlic Bread which was served with Creamy Tomato Bisque with Lump Crabmeat and a Chiffonade of Fresh Basil. The main course, grilled salmon and barbequed mouth watering smoked spare ribs, were simply out of this world ... with a sauce inspired by this book's suggestions. But when we got to the dessert! We made Bananas Foster, a favorite dessert in New Orleans, and one of the most rich and wicked desserts you'll find anywhere - flambéed with banana liqueur and rum, and served over vanilla ice cream. This recipe alone will transport you to another world... a world that will have your taste buds swirling for days and leave you hankering for a trip to New Orleans to visit the Palace yourself.



2. COMMANDER'S IS A WELL-KNOWN RESTAURANT IN NEW ORLEANS THAT IS A PART OF THE HISTORY AND FABRIC OF THIS CITY...I LOVE THE RECIPES IN THIS COOKBOOK, AND I FEEL LIKE I'M DINING THERE USING IT. YOU CAN MAKE THE DELICIOUS DRINKS & APPETIZERS WHICH ARE GREAT FOR TWO OR A PARTY...OR YOU CAN MAKE A WONDERFUL COMMANDER'S DINNER TO DESSERT! IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO THE RESTAURANT YOU MUST GO....BUT THE COOKBOOK HELPS GET YOU THERE IF YOU CAN'T COME TO NOLA. I'M SO GLAD COMMANDER'S HAS REOPENED, BUT IT'S GREAT TO HAVE THEIR COOKBOOK SO I CAN ENJOY THE FOOD ANYTIME.



3. I bought this expecting to be blown away, but was disappointed. I knew it was an older cookbook... so I blame myself to some extent. I guess I was looking for the food I know from the more recent chefs there. Though I am an adventurous cook, I found many of these recipes weren't very approachable. Enjoyed the stories, but wish I had found more recipes that are do-able outside a restaurant kitchen.



4. I purchased this last year for myself and haven't had much chance to use it until this Thanksgiving. I have used some of the hints and recipes. I used the oyster dressing recipe for the first time and everyone says it was the best we ever had. We all loved it, but it did take such a long time to prepare....it would have helped if I had some good old stale New Orleans french bread to make crumbs! I used the creole seasoning on the turkey and it was delicious. Since then, I used it (just a bit) on a steak and it was really good, too. There are more recipes I plan to use. For the most part: you can't be in much of a hurry while cooking, but OMG, it is so worth the effort. I recommend this book!!!!



5. The Commander's Palace is consistently rated one of the best restaurants in the United States and is de facto the place where many chefs specializing Louisiana-based cooking obtained their apprenticeships, including Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme as two of the most famous examples. It specialty is in the time-honoured Creole cuisines with a little bit of Cajun influences thrown around.
   
   You would have expected a book that is Commander's first official cookbook would provide all the classics of the Creole cuisine that the restaurant prepared. Alas, it was very much a book that was a product of the 1980s low-fat especially butter and low in flour sentiments. So for example, the recipe for seafood gumbo on page 37 doesn't include roux and oysters Rockefeller is not even featured at all. Bear in mind also that the book was published at the time when Emeril Lagasse was the executive chef there, so fusion recipes like crawfish and pasta with stir-fried vegetables or Lagasse's touches dishes like duck jambalaya were all there.
   
   The recipes themselves are workable using home cookware and turn out perfectly if you follow the recipes like the Brennan salad or the Creole onion soup.
   
   But many spice mixtures like the Creole seasoning mixes or crab boil, are not well defined at all. Similar to fish or meat curry powders in many Singaporean or Malaysian cookbooks published in Southeast Asia, it is assumed spice mixtures are commonly available at every market. In the case for Creole spice mixes, it is the case in Louisiana but nowhere near true when you try to replicate the recipes in Auckland or London. It would be very handy to provide methods to produce such spice mixtures from scratch. But I must stress I sense the Brennans have not withheld any secrets behind the recipes in the book as like Patsy's restaurant cookbook does, and the non-mention of making spice mixtures is due to their assumption of widespread availability.
   
   In sum, the book could have been better that is now, and if you have eaten at Commander's Palace it is a good souvenir to take home. I wouldn't recommend it if you rely on this as the only title to give you the full picture of Louisiana Creole cooking. There is also a second and currently marketed official cookbook published in 2000 by Ti Adelaide Martin and Jamie Shannon. Purchase that book instead or alongside this title.
   
   A 3.5 star rating.

5 comments about The New Orleans Cookbook.

1. Origional New Orleans recipes! Easy to work with and helpful hints for substuting what you have on hand. How to make the special seasonings that make Cajun/Creole food unique! Spicey does not necessarily mean, hot! Great history of the different folks and festivals that make New Orleans special. Great place to visit and taste the food for yourself. Or buy the cookbook and cook it for yourself.



2. I am a native of New Orleans and have taught cooking for over thirty years. I have had this cookbook since 1975 and it is my most used source for many of my Creole and Cajun dishes. I have not come across a bad recipe yet. If you were only able to have one book on New Orleans cooking, this is the book you should purchase.



3. This book was first printed in 1975. I have the 9th edition, printed in 1982.
   The recipe for sausage jambalaya is one of the greatest recipes from any town, any culture that I know of.
   
   I have a friend in Florida who flies here to Chicago once a year to eat in the best restaurants in town with us for a week. The jambalaya recipe is, I think, the main reason for her trip. The jambalaya is what's waiting for her when she walks through the door. It's what she eats every morning for breakfast. And lunch, if we don't go out to eat.
   
   The whole house smells like heaven for at least two days after you're done cooking it.
   
   I would get the book for this recipe alone. Just disregard the instructions, and don't use any salt.



4. I wanted a cook book so that I could make New Orleans foods at home way over here in CA. I found this book to be thorough, concise, helpful, and authentic. Exactly what I wanted. I highly reccommend.



5. 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!

5 comments about Commander's Kitchen : Take Home the True Taste of New Orleans With More Than 150 Recipes from Commander's Palace Restaurant.

1. Having spent 4 years of my life in Texas I was introduced to the wonders of Creole and Cajun cuisine. Generally, Creole developed in the city of New Orleans using local produce but influenced by the multicultural nature of the city. Cajun (or Acadian) cooking is food from the country.

   I am partial to the simplicity of one-pot cooking offered by Cajun cooking. These are wonderful hearty and spicy meals (gumbo, red beans & rice, etoufee, jambalya) that I often cook to serve large groups of people. In fact, Chef Jamie includes many of these recipes in the "crew" section of the cookbook since he used them for staff meals.




2. When my wife and I recently visited the Commander's Palace restaurant and sat at the Chef's Table (located in the kitchen where you are pampered by the staff), current Executive Chef Tory McPhail wrote "Eating great...New Orleans style!" on a menu he signed as a memento of our visit. Not only was he right about the food we had at Commander's Palace that evening, but he also provides a short and to the point description for this cookbook.

   This book is a must for those that "live to eat" (as opposed to those that "eat to live") and truly enjoy the New Orleans and Creole food styles. The recipes we've tried so far have turned out wonderfully (the recipe for the Chocolate Molten Souflee alone is almost worth the price of the book) and, thus far, have been easy to follow. The narratives provided by the authors about both the food and the restaurant itself are a great addition to the great recipes.

   I would recommend this book, and the restaurant, to anyone.




3. This is an excellent compliment to one of the best restaurants. Ilove to cook & eat!! Most restaurant cookbooks have cookbokks which its hard to duplicate their meals. Usually they have recipes so complicated ( require kitchen appliances the average person doesn't have or ingredients impossible to find. Nothing is further than the truth with this book. It has easy to follow recipes, which can be cooked with basic cookware. The dishes come out fantastic. If you love creole food, but can't get to New Orleans regularly-- BUY THIS BOOK. You won't regret it.



4. If you want to remember your meals at Commander's and perhaps try one or two of the dishes on a slow weekend, you will want this on your shelf. At the same time, it will be the occasional book, not one to reach for time and again.



5. The Commander's Palace is consistently rated one of the best restaurants in the United States and is de facto the place where many chefs specializing Louisiana-based cooking obtained their apprenticeships, including Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme as two of the most famous examples. It specialty is in the time-honoured Creole cuisines with a little bit of Cajun influences thrown around.
   
   This is the second Commander's Palace official cookbook and the one that is currently marketed by the restaurant itself. Written by one of the second generation owners Ti Adelaide Martin and the executive chef in 2000, the late Jamie Shannon (who died 1 year later due to cancer when he was only 40, and this was his sole cookbook), it covers a good range of restaurant meals and also home food that the staff at private social staff functions would prepare.
   
   Compared with the 1984 cookbook, roux has returned to the seafood gumbo recipe on pages 64 and 65. The excess of 1980s low fat craze has been moderated somewhat and a more sensible range of traditional/invented Louisiana influenced recipes like New Orelans style barbecue shrimp recipe. Still, beef has not featured prominently as compared with other New Orleans Creole restaurants, perhaps indicating the restaurant is probably more comfortable with preparing poultry and seafood.
   
   The recipes turn out great, for example, braised lamb shanks with Merlot mushroom sauce is both straightforward and within the reach for many New Zealand household. The results are reliably good, and in fact, very similar to lamb shanks recipes prepared in NZ by the likes of Lauraine Jacobs or Annabel Langbeim, provided you have sourced the fresh lamb shanks.
   
   Also unlike the 1984 book, this book tells you crab boil's spice mixes and Creole seasonings. This makes the book approachable for those of us who are from overseas and require making the spice mixtures from scratch due to mixes simply unavailable in, for example, Australia or Singapore.
   
   I highly recommend this book over the 1984 Commander's Palace cookbook if you are into restaurant souvenir cookbooks, and also to anyone who has never eaten at the place, but are interested to try preparing Louisiana Creole cuisine.

5 comments about Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux? (Book 1): A Cajun / Creole Family Album Cookbook.

1. Didn't really know about this cookbook, but loved the title. My mother was an amazing cook. Her Houma Indian ancestry prepared her for some of the best eatin' anywhere. I bought this cookbook because I wanted to expand my own repetoire of recipes. Easy to follow, replicate, and cook. I truly enjoyed the vignettes and feel that every cookbook should include the story behind the meal. I gave one for a birthday present to someone from South Louisiana and she loved it. Plus I kept one for myself. You don't have to be from above the Mason Dixon line to either buy it, use it, or cook from it. Highly recommend it.



2. This book captures the essence of what it means to have a Gulf Coast heritage. Like most guys from near New Orleans, my husband is a great cook and taught to be that way by his mother. This book was one of his all-time favorites. We lost our copy during Katrina and, of course, had to have another. The recipes are real and traditional and there is much good reading about the culture as well.



3. I was going to give it one or two stars but really it's pretty good for what it is, folksy Southern cooking, Louisiana style, with lots of family history that doesn't interest me. If you're looking for Cajun haute cuisine, this isn't it. I might try a few things before I drop it off at Goodwill, but not the baked macaroni with evaporated milk and American "cheese."



4. Who's the yankee looking for "Cajun Haute Cuisine"???? Do you understand the cajun way of life? or even what a cajun is???? It may pain you to put evaporated milk and american "cheese" in baked macaroni, but I bet you will never have tasted anything better!



5. Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux? (Book 1): A Cajun / Creole Family Album Cookbook
   Great Book! Accurate Cajun recipes. I bought three, one for each of my grown children. Very good service. shipped quickly, well packed, books very good!

5 comments about Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans.

1. I received this book about three weeks ago, and have cooked almost exclusively from it since it arrived. Not one thing has disappointed. I sent my daughter a copy, since she spent most of a visit copying recipes from mine. We did the shrimp boil while she was here (delicious) with the epiphany lemon tart for dessert. Since then, my husband and I have enjoyed the shrimp with green chile cheese grits, and the Madeira mushrooms over goat cheese croutons. I've been reading it like a novel in bed at night, anxiously awaiting the next meal I can make from it. The photographs are beautiful, the writing approachable. Buy it.



2. Amazing sophisticated flavors! Nobody would ever guess most of the recipes are so straightforward, taking much less time and effort than so many other cookbooks. I've never bought my mom a cookbook, and this will be the first! I can't wait until Susan Spicer publishes another book!



3. I grew up in New Orleans but never had the pleasure of eating at any of Susan Spicer's restaurants. How unfortunate that is! I can only imagine what that dining experience must be like now that I've been using this cookbook regularly. My husband and I cook a lot..out of Food & Wine, Cook's Illustrated, Bon Appetit. We've both been duly impressed by the meals and desserts we've prepared from Crescent City Cooking and look forward to cooking our way through the entire book. Did I mention that the book is as beautiful as the food is delicious? This is one of my favorite gift for the newly married couple. Well done!



4. Susan Spicer's "Bayona" is one of the best-kept secrets in New Orleans. Unarguably the best restaurant in that city of restaurants, it has managed to be a NOLA secret, rather than a tourist trap. Thus, it is a stroke of good fortune that Chef Spicer has chosen to share her recipes. For those who like cookbooks, this is a treasure; wonderful recipes, clearly presented--gourmet cooking without intimidation! Highly recommended.



5. Although we love New Orleans and the cuisine of the region, we were unfamiliar with Susan Spicer until we started hearing the buzz about this book. Now that we own it and have cooked from it, we are total fans. The book is fun, with recipes for great meals and cocktails, it's beautifully put together, and best of all -- everything we've made from it is a total success. Her brined pork chops are the most amazing chops I've ever had, and I could not believe that we made them ourselves. It's that kind of book, one that makes you feel like the most clever, talented home chef in the world.
   
   This is a must-read book. In fact, we often give it as a gift and would rank it at the top of our cooking books that we would never want to give up!

5 comments about Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen.

1. Good. Authentic. Full fat, full flavor (no 2% milk, "fat-free" sour cream, or "non-fat" chicken broth here)!
   
   Great tasting recipes. 'nough said!



2. This cookbook is a classic of authentic Louisiana recipes. They are all based on the true methods of Louisiana cooking that is so famous. I have lived in Louisiana all my life and I can tell you that you will not find a cookbook that is better if you are interested in "the real deal." I have wanted this cookbook to add to my collection and although I have been cooking Louisiana food for many years, these recipes produce truly astonishing results. You'll think you are in New Orleans!



3. I have had this cookbook since it was first published.... or more acurately I have had several of these cookbooks because I have actually worn 2 out. YES it's that good. When I said this is the best cookbook I don't just mean Cajun food I mean it has recipes that translate to general cuisine. Just curb the cayenne and you are good to go. The Stuffed porkchops I used as payment for having my bathroom retiled. I once had 40 people show up for the Cajun Shepard's Pie. FYI the "Hot sauce for beef" is very very HOT! The Cornbread I could eat everyday all day. I could go on and on but let it suffice. If you like good food you will LOVE LOVE LOVE this book.



4. I have made at least 12 items from this book and followed every recipe EXACTLY how he says and EVERY dish has been sublime. Don't change a thing until you have tried it his way. The is the first cookbook I have ever considered worthy as giving as a gift!



5. Quick shipping and condition was as promised. Now I have a BBQ recipe I have been looking for for a number of years!

5 comments about Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link's Louisiana.

1. Cajun food is not particularly easy--to love or to cook. But it is wonderfully rewarding for those with a little culinary courage and determination. Donald Link's new book is sensational. It is filled with recipes for southern comfort food that you just want to try right away. It is authentically Cajun but every dish has an element of refinement consistent with the cooking at his New Orleans restaurants. And, he makes it feel so easy to do you just want to start cooking. So much great food, so little time...



2. My sister wanted "a gumbo cookbook;" knowing a few things about Cajun/Creole cooking, I figured I could cover that one.
   
   Visiting a bookstore, I spent a good 20 minutes reading a lot of the recipes and some of the commentary... and I was severely impressed. It makes plain the point that Cajun cooking is far from pretentious, and suggests certain types of paprika and other spices with the assurance that whatever says "paprika" in the grocery store will work fine. There's a lot of very practical advice on basic ideas like roux (and some reasoning for using butter in some cases and oil in others), three really great gumbo recipes, a good jambalaya recipe, even tasso, a simple sausage recipe, and at least three recipes that depend on homemade boudin -- for which he provides what seems to be a pretty good recipe and technique. There is cornbread.
   
   The recipes are great, the text is very honest and... earthy... and the whole thing just exudes "this is what works, it's not that complicated, and this is how to do it." I bought my sister a copy for her birthday (didn't leave myself time to wait for shipping), and after wrapping it, used the web browser in my cell phone to hit Amazon and buy myself a copy -- as well as a cast iron pan, which I've needed for a while, and of which this book makes excellent use.
   
   This is right up there with James Peterson's 'Sauces' in terms of useful culinary references. It's a solid, enthusiastic 5/5.



3. This is a GREAT book! I find Cajun food very easy to love and not that hard to cook, (as long as you have some good cast iron to cook it on). The recipes in this book are easy to follow and mouth-watering to read about. And I find all the pork called for a refreshing change from all those recipes calling for vegetable oil. His family stories are heartwarming and bring a real truth to his food, securely rooting it in his culture, as when he relates his stories about his incredibly large German-American family. This book made me want to push everyone out of my way, and get in the kitchen and cook, Cook, COOK! Tomorrow night I will roast a chicken in the style of Donald Link, and count my blessings that I found this book.



4. I had read a writeup of "Real Cajun" in the Houston Chronicle. That's what sent me to Amazon to buy it. My son and I made the crab cakes a couple of days after receiving the book. They were really good. We have our eyes on that chocolate bread pudding with bourbon sauce! Mary Ann Waer



5. This cookbook has some great recipes. We have had the book about three weeks and have already made several dishes. The recipes seem to have a little too much salt so we have just been cutting back on it, other than that everything has been FANTASTIC!!