5 comments about Prime Time Emeril: More TV Dinners from America's Favorite Chef.

1. I found the following on PCRM.org website: "Celebrated Food Network star Emeril Lagasse offers among the worst of the celebrity books. Although he offers a few low-fat salads and vegetable dishes, most of the recipes are loaded with fat and cholesterol. From ham hock wontons to chicken pot pies, these dishes should be off-limits for anyone with a weight problem."



2. Uncomplicated but delicious recipies. Even through all the status and hype Emeril remains down to earth and offers cookbooks which, like his shows, offer recipies busy people can use regularly. Very useful for everyday cooking.



3. don't go many days without peeping out Emeril doing His Magic in the Kitchen.the Man got skills for days.a tight funky Band&the way he blends His food is always on point.this Book is another example of why the Man is the Best at His Craft.



4. Some are difficult. I was hoping he would talk more about his excellent but short-lived sitcom. That is why I shorted the book one star. Lets all kick it up a notch and buy this book. Time to eat,delicisious Great recipes and also book brings the Greatest Chef to my home.
   
   [...]



5. Prime Time Emeril is a treat to the taste buds, and a traveling smorgasbord offering page after page of adventurous dining. What I liked best about this book is the introduction to each recipe giving some background information about the dish itself, but also reveals a part of Emeril as a man and a chef. The intros made me feel like Emeril is more real and more approachable than most chefs of his stature. It's a worthwhile book to own and it made a lovely present to me from my husband. Pork Chops and Applesauce: A Collection of Recipes and Reflections

1 comments about New Orleans by the Bowl: Gumbos, Jambalayas, Soups, and Stews.

1. I've made a couple of the recipes and love how they turned out.But I would warn that,in my opinion,the serving sizes are for cajuns :)

5 comments about Palace Cafe: The Flavor of New Orleans.

1. I really enjoyed this cookbook. The recipes were not difficult and were delicious. In addition to that the book itself is lovely. Between the pictures, family stories and tips on so many pages, I felt as though I were in New Orleans cooking with a friend! Dickie Brennan - I will be waiting in line for your next cookbook.



2. Dickie Brennan's Palace Cafe: The Flavor Of New Orleans showcases more than 170 recipes enhanced with a wealth of culinary tips as well as anecdotal stories from the "first family of Creole" and insights into the Palace Cafe, one of New Orleans finest and most popular restaurants. Featuring complete menus, the "user friendly" recipes range from Milk Punch; Pork Grillades with Andouille Goat Cheese; Crabmeat Cheesecake with Pecan Crust; and Shrimp Remoulade; to Oyster and Eggplant Soup; Ponchatoula Strawberry and Spinach Salad; Grilled Rib-Eye with Roasted New Potato Port Salut Hash; and White Chocolate Creme Brulee, Dickie Brennan's Palace Cafe is a superbly presented volume enhanced with occasional full color culinary photography and would grace any dedicated gourmet's cookbook collection.



3. The Palace Cafe is one of my required stops whenever I'm in New Orleans. I discovered this cookbook at the airport on my way back to Chicago. The book is a high-quality publication. It has the real recipes, family history and famous menues. There are short sidebars with each recipe. The photography is georgeous, although I wish there was more of it. This book is truly the taste of New Orleans.



4. Book might appear thin, but it's loaded with recipes that will take you back to the restaurant on Canal Steet.



5. Saw this book at the airport in New Orleans two days after eating at The Palace. Recipes are true to food in restaurant.

5 comments about Justin Wilson Looking Back: A Cajun Cookbook.

1. this book is great to read all Justin Wilson's little stories
   
   it has the best recipes of course



2. no I am not cajan but love the cooking ...oh the trinty or just a seafood delight ...I like to cook and love to eat...this cookbook is a easy to read and follow book...



3. Tried a few recipes and they are good! The stories Justin tells are worth the price of the book.



4. My book came a tad bit earlier than I expected, and that was great. Love the book,and in perfect condition.



5. This was purchased for a relative in North Carolina and what a gift for him! I'm from the MS Gulf Coast near New Orleans, LA so I'm fond of the Cajun cooking and Justin Wilson recipies. My Cousin was asking about the Cajun foods and this was the perfect remedy for his craving! Wonderful recipies and just remember what Justin always insisted.....keep adding a pinch or dash until it suits "YOUR TASTE BUDS". Great purchase and deal!!!

1 comments about The Plantation Cookbook.

1. I am from New Orleans, and received this book as a gift in 1988. It has been one of my favorite cookbooks ever since. It is an excellent resource for authentic Creole dishes. If you want to add gumbo, etouffee, turtle soup, and the like to your repertoire, this is the book for you. The book also contains some great party food recipes--the chicken liver pate recipe is the best I've ever come acrosss. The Plantation Cookbook is a fabulous cookbook; I value it as much as Julia Child's "The Way to Cook", Rose Levy Berenbaum's "The Cake Bible", and James Peterson's "Sauces".

5 comments about Leon Galatoire's Cookbook.

1. I was born and raised in South Louisiana, in the town of Buras. I fined your opinion concerning the red beans and rice recipe completely inaccurate. If you read the package your hard red beans come in you will find they call for between 8 and 10 cups of water. Further more this is the way my grandmother, being of cajun ascent, has prepaired her red beans for many years with outstanding results, at home and church gatherings. Red beans and ricely yours Barry Brooks



2. I have been going to Galatoire's since I was a young child. On a recent trip to New Orleans, my husband and I were lucky enough to find this cookbook. As a wonderful birthday surprise, my husband made the stuffed eggplant. As anyone who has had the stuffed eggplant at Galtoire's knows, the name of the dish is a misnomer. The stuffed eggplant is a wonderful gastronomic event filled with shrimp and crabmeat. Later we made the crabmeat au gratin with the leftover crabmeat - it was sublime. I am looking forward to trying some of my other favorite dishes from the restaurant such as the crab maison and oysters en brochette. Anyone who has been to Galatoire's knows there are no descriptions of the food -- only names and prices. One of the things I love about the book is knowing what some of the dishes are. I will surely sample more on my next visit to New Orleans. Galatoire's is an institution and I am so pleased to have some of their recipes.



3. Cajun and Creole cooking are often lumped together as a single cuisine. There is some justification for doing this, as there is a lot of overlap between the two cuisines, and they share many of the same dishes. However, they are not identical. If Paul Prudhomme represents the far Cajun end of the Cajun-Creole spectrum, Galatoire represents the far Creole end. Traditional Creole cooking, such as that served up in New Orleans at Galatoire's, Antoine's and Brennan's, is not the fiery hyper-spiced food of Prudhomme. Traditional Creole cooking is subtle, refined, and Continental in character. Seasonings are used merely to accent the flavor of the food, rather than to overwhelm it. Galatoire's book is an excellent example of this type of cooking. The recipes are delicious, suprisingly easy, and yes, even somewhat low in fat.
   The chicken, shrimp, and ham jambalaya is nothing short of spectacular. My wife and I have cooked and eaten many different jambalayas, including recipes from Prudhomme, Justin Wilson, and from the excellent book by Terry Thompson. We have also had it in many restaurants in South Louisiana and elsewhere. We both agree that Galatoire's is the best we have ever tasted. His technique is somewhat unorthodox. The rice is cooked separately and then combined with the other ingredients for the last 10 minutes. This produces grains which are fluffy and separate, yet fully absorb the flavors of the meat, shellfish, vegetables, and seasonings. The Crawfish Etoufee, Shrimp Creole, and other recipes are also excellent.
   So why did I only give it four stars? While the recipes are great, there are some problems with the mechanics and layout of the book. 1) There are a fair number of typos 2) The recipe for Crawfish Cardinal has you produce a stock as the first step, which is then never mentioned again in the recipe. 3) Recipes for sauces are in another part of the book from the recipes which call for them. Listing the page numbers for the sauces in the main recipes would have been helpful. 4) A few recipes are repeated verbatim in different chapters of the book (i.e. appetizers and main dishes). This seems awkward and unnecessary.
   5) For a few recipes, a variation is described for the main recipe, and what is traditionally used is mentioned at the end. For example: Cobia Courtboullion is described. At the end of the recipe, Redfish is mentioned as what is traditionally used in South Louisiana. I would prefer to have the traditional recipe given first.
   These problems are primarily editorial and easily fixed. I would love to see Galatoire come out with a competently edited second edition of this book. I believe it would become a classic among Cajun-Creole cookbooks.
   In conclusion, despite the problems mentioned, the recipes in this book are great and make it well worth owning. If you love Creole cooking and prefer flavor to heat, buy this book!



4. The cookbook is spectacular with wonderful recipes and pictures of tasty dishes. Galatoires is without question one of the top 10 restaurants in the USA, and Leon has done a fantastic job of translating the aura of the menu onto the recipe page.



5. This book is not worth it....hands down. It is simple, unispired food and not worthy of an association with Galatoire's. This is the first time that I have been disappointed in an Amazon buy this with offer. No wonder Leon Galatoire no longer works at the restaurant.

5 comments about The Justin Wilson Cook Book.

1. This book a primer on New Orleans cuisine ala Justin Wilson. I remember his cooking show and always got a kick out of how he would pour a little wine in his pots and drink the rest. You could see that this man enjoyed food, and this translates into his book. I credit Mr. Wilson with teaching me how to make a decent roux because before I read his recipe, I always used butter or vegetable oil. Hey, I'm from Brooklyn, what did I know from a roux? The olive oil made a huge difference in my gumbo. I was even inspired to try jambalaya -- it was yummy!!

   On a past trip to New Orleans, I purchased one of the Junior League Cookbooks which has an abundance of recipes and tips. However, the other book relies on a lot of processed and prepared ingredients. Those recipes are also a lot fussier. I prefer Wilson's cookbook for its simplicity. He also includes plenty of local color and anecdotes.




2. `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.



3. All the recipes from this book I have cooked have turned out good to excellent. Some of the recipes are for somewhat large portions, however can be easily reduced if you know a bit of math.



4. the justin wilson cookbook was for my husband. he has always loved him, he's hilarrious! my husband is a great cook, he really enjoys this cookbook! A-1!



5. I recently ordered this book to replace the original that I've owned for twenty five years. I wore the ink off of the pages. Justin Wilson taught me to cook. This was his first published cook book. His later books are all based on the recipes contained in this book. If you're debating on which of Justin's books to buy, start with this one. You won't regret it

5 comments about Uglesich's Restaurant Cookbook.

1. From a Native New Orleanian, This is a good cookbook! I noticed that the other negative reviews have to do with not understanding ingredients that we take for granted & assume others do to. A pistolette is a long roll, habenero is a pepper (and not only used in N.O. cooking) and there are countless bottled varieties available. Your choice of dressing on a po-boy or sandwich means lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, ketchup, mayo etc, whatever you like. A remoulade sauce is a simple staple and you can buy it or make it easily with a recipe off the internet. Likewise, all of this information is easily accessable if you want to find out. Yes there are a lot of ingredients like creole mustard that are difficult to find in other parts of the country, but isn't this the case with most local, specialty cookbooks??? This restaurant isn't one of N.O.'s favorites for no reason!
   
   By the way, most good New Olreans cookbooks will tell you to try different substitutions according to your liking, so don't be afraid & go for it if you can't find the exact brand of hot sauce a recipe calls for!



2. Most of the reviews for this cookbook have been negative, and they do point out some legitimate beefs, but this book is a great match for one of the quirkiest, most individualistic and truly satisfying restaurants in the nation. I'll state up front that I only went to the restaurant once, in January of 2005, and I bought the book when I placed my meal order. The food, folksie ambience and genuine characters who own and work Uglesich's are reflected in the book, and the fact that one of the family wrote the cookbook makes it that much more satisfying to own and to try and recreate even an iota of the magic of the restaurant.
   As for the gripes... yes, there are typos, but they are simple oversights in a book that I have no doubt many people asked to be written for many years. This is not some flashy New York City publisher who shot a couple of pictures, chatted briefly with the owners and slapped the Uglesich's name on someone else's recipes. These are the real deal and the book is a loving homage to a place, its people, and the food that made it famous. I find the photos to be quite good, and frankly don't trust people who only look for glossy images of every recipe in a cookbook. They can stick to the photo-fetishism of Saveur magazine and the like (no knock on Saveur, but this is a cookbook!). The recipes do tend to the minimalist side as far as instructions, but that reflects the laid-back attitude of the real place. This is not the scientific precision of Cook's Illustrated, but it does give you the basics of the Uglesich's barbeque sauce and the straightforward way to make their dishes. If you don't understand what one of the ingredients is and feel that it should have been better explained (as per one of the previous reviews of this book), do a web search or ask someone at your grocery store! C'mon, this isn't rocket science, and this cookbook in particular embraces the down-home Lousiana ethos of good food, good people, and good times.
   At this point, it is unclear whether the restaurant will ever open again, and considering that as I write this is the day after Hurrican Katrina blew through, there may not even be a kitchen to go back to. But I certainly hope to see Anthony and Gail again, and in the meantime I will refer back to the book anytime I need a little of that Uglesich's magic. As far as I am concerned, this book rates 4.5 stars.



3. Call me sentimental and definitely not a cookbook technician, but anything and EVERYthing to do with Uglesich's is a FIVE star with us! All I have to do is open the book and I am almost back to NOLA and our favorite restaurant with a small group of incredibly talented folks from the owners to the servers to the cooks and shuckers!!!! We miss them all! So what if I cannot access every single ingredient the moment I want it! We did not purchase five cookbooks for our sons, ourselves and some of our Ugli fans/friends for any other reason than to relish our experiences there and look forward to the next cookbook! And you know, the recipes ARE delicious!!!



4. I only had the pleasure once, but my folks have been yearly regulars for years now. Too bad U's is closed now. I was thrilled to recieve this cookbook, and I've had very good luck with the recipes. Uglesich's was not a fancy restaurant. They just concentrated on making excellent food. The cookbook perhaps reflects that. I think anyone with some skill and a sense of adventure will enjoy using this book. A little cultural homework might be necessary, as some of the other reviewers have pointed out, but that's half the fun.



5. Wonderful recipes from a legendary, but now defunct New Orleans restaurant. Like the recipes from other New Orleans cookbooks, the ingredients you need may not always be readily available in other parts of the country.
   Of course, this kind of down home Creole cookbook will never be an American Heart Association selection, and, were you to sample its offerings on a regular basis, you would surely shuffle off this mortal coil more swiftly than you would have liked.

3 comments about Justin Wilson's Easy Cookin': 150 Rib-Tickling Recipes for Good Eating.

1. i have always loved mr. wilson's shows. this new show and the book really take cooking to a new start. everything or "tang" in it is very easy and taste soooo good! you can control the hot in it, like he say's :"to your own taste!", a must for the beginner threw the advanced cook!!!



2. Rib Tickling and Stomach Turning. That should be the title of this book. By far the weakest link in his series of cookbooks. The recipes were bland and the stories old and silly. Not a good buy.



3. Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (02/10)
   
   There is nothing better than down-home cookin' and Justin Wilson makes it really easy with his edition of "Justin Wilson's Easy Cookin'." The recipes are simple, quick to make, and certainly the ingredients can be found in any pantry.
   
   As a reviewer I'm asked to try out three recipes. The first one I tried was the "Corn Flour Pancakes." I wasn't sure how they would turn out because pancakes can be tricky at the best of times. These, to my surprise, were fluffy. The touch of cinnamon added a wonderful surprise to the flavor.
   
   I love grits but very seldom make them. The recipe I tried was "Green Onion Grits" and the result was super delicious. The cup of green chopped onions (it may seem like a lot, but it isn't) and the cayenne pepper gave the end result a taste like none other.
   
   The third recipe I tried was "Brown Rice Pudding." It doesn't sound like anything special by the title but it sure it. The liquid is dry white wine - something I've never used in a pudding. The rest of the ingredients were the normal - cinnamon, raisins, eggs, and vanilla. Rather than sugar, Mr. Wilson uses honey. The flavor was fantastic. The subtle touch of white wine made the pudding different than one made with milk. Personally, I felt the pudding was too sweet for my liking. The one cup of honey and 2 cups of raisins made the end result very sweet. In the future, I will cut the honey by half.
   
   Mr. Wilson is not only a known Cajun cook with other published cookbooks, but he was also known as an international- humorist. He appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Tonight Show." He died in 2001, but his cooking legacy carries on. It's a privilege to try out some of the recipes in "Justin Wilson's Easy Cookin'."

5 comments about The Heaven on Seven Cookbook: Where It's Mardi Gras All the Time!.

1. After discovering a mutual love for cajun food, some Chicago natives recommended checking out Heaven On Seven whenever we got to Chicago - and we did. I had the Shrimp Voodoo, and remember loving it! The same friends later gifted us a signed version of this cookbook. We've tried a number of the recipes - even when often faced with daunting lists of hard to find ingredients like nectars. Almost anything we've tried is far too sweet and tastes nothing like the food we experienced at the resturant. Overall - this is a disappointment.



2. Chef Bannos has some of the best Cajun/ Creole cooking in the country and most of his greatest hits are featured in this book. Unlike "traditional" Cajun cookbooks, Bannos does not restrict himself to Louisiana. Jamaican, Italian and Greek influences are fused effortlessly with Cajun Creole foundations. A perfect example of this, and my favorite recipe in the book is Bannos' jerktoufee, a wild and wonderful blending of Jamaican jerk and Cajun etoufee.
   Do yourself a favor and buy this book.



3. Years ago the Chicago Trib did an article on this place and I clipped it and hung it on my frig. I made several of the dishes and was intriged enough to visit NOLA.
   
   After visiting NOLA I had to visit this place. Wonderful.
   
   The book is GREAT. And the recipes are very easy to follow. Also you don't have to have HARD TO FIND spices..



4. Years ago the Chicago Trib did an article on this place and I clipped it and hung it on my frig. I made several of the dishes and was intriged enough to visit NOLA.
   
   After visiting NOLA I had to visit this place. Wonderful.
   
   The book is GREAT. And the recipes are very easy to follow. Also you don't have to have HARD TO FIND spices..



5. Why Chef Jimmy is so generous in sharing the actual recipes from his fantastic restaurant, I'll never know, but I'm not complaining. Used to eat at Heaven on 7 all the time while living in Chicago and now I can make some of my favorites at home far, far away. His honey-jalapeno dressing alone (good on salads, coleslaw, cornbread, crabcakes...heck, anything) is worth the price of the book. Buy it for yourself and as a gift for any cook/foodie friends.