Louisiana Real and Rustic

Description

“Nowhere else have I found the passion for flavor that encompasses the lives of Louisianians, day in and day out,” writes Emeril Lagasse. In Louisiana Real & Rustic, the prize winning New Orleans chef, cookbook creator, and television cooking personality presents the great dishes of his adopted state in 150 down-home recipes–authentic versions of some of Americas favorite regional dishes, gathered from generations of Louisiana cooks. Fricassees, itouffies and grillades, meat pies and oyster fries, red beans and rice, and jambalayas and gumbos in endless, mouthwatering variety–each recipe is spiced with the unabashed joy of cooking and eating that makes every Louisiana meal a feast.

On a delicious tour of back roads and bayous, from country cabins in Acadia to the refined town houses of Creole aristocracy, Emeril, accompanied by co-creator Marcelle Bienvenu, finds that Louisiana is more than a geographical state–it’s a culinary state of grace.

Louisiana’s colorful history has made it an bizarre culinary crossroads, where the cooking customs of France, Spain, Africa, and the Caribbean meld into a unique New World Cuisine. In charming tales and tempting recipes, Emeril traces the roots of Creole and Acadian (or “Cajun”) dishes, and honors the pioneer cooks who blended traditional tastes and techniques with the region’s native ingredients. He shows how gumbos can use French roux, African okra, or fili from the indigenous Indians and he features Chicken and Oyster, Duck and Wild Mushroom, Shrimp and Okra, and Rabbit, or even collards, kale, mustard, and turnips. Emeril’s explorations reveal that the spirit of culinary improvisation still thrives today.

“Nowhere else have I found the passion for flavor that encompasses the lives of Louisianians, day in and day out,” writes Emeril Lagasse. In Louisiana Real & Rustic, the prize winning New Orleans chef, cookbook creator, and television cooking personality presents the great dishes of his adopted state in 150 down-home recipes–authentic versions of some of Americas favorite regional dishes, gathered from generations of Louisiana cooks. Fricassees, itouffies and grillades, meat pies and oyster fries, red beans and rice, and jambalayas and gumbos in endless, mouthwatering variety–each recipe is spiced with the unabashed joy of cooking and eating that makes every Louisiana meal a feast.

On a delicious tour of back roads and bayous, from country cabins in Acadia to the refined town houses of Creole aristocracy, Emeril, accompanied by co-creator Marcelle Bienvenu, finds that Louisiana is more than a geographical state–it’s a culinary state of grace.

Louisiana’s colorful history has made it an bizarre culinary crossroads, where the cooking customs of France, Spain, Africa, and the Caribbean meld into a unique New World Cuisine. In charming tales and tempting recipes, Emeril traces the roots of Creole and Acadian (or “Cajun”) dishes, and honors the pioneer cooks who blended traditional tastes and techniques with the region’s native ingredients. He shows how gumbos can use French roux, African okra, or fili from the indigenous Indians and he features Chicken and Oyster, Duck and Wild Mushroom, Shrimp and Okra, and Rabbit, or even collards, kale, mustard, and turnips. Emeril’s explorations reveal that the spirit of culinary improvisation still thrives today.
Emeril Lagasse is in love with Louisiana. His first book, the masterful New New Orleans Cooking, began the relationship. In Louisiana Real and Rustic, Emeril has turned it into a full-blown affair. In conjunction with coauthor Marcelle Bienvenu, Emeril set out across the state looking for that “culinary state of grace” Lousianans looked to be naturally blessed with. The result is 150 recipes that serve at once as cultural history, geography lesson, and some mighty fine eating. It is a roots cookbook through and through, and the first lesson to be told is that in Louisiana, the roots run deep. Acadian, Creole, north Louisiana, south Louisiana, Bayou, country, city–each figures into the mix, and Emeril explores them all. He shows you gumbos that may be made with a French roux, African okra, or a filé from the indigenous Indians. There are famous Meat Pies from Natchitoches, Louisiana; Creole dishes like Catfish Pecan Meuniere; and classic étouffées, jambalayas, and fricassees–the one-pot meals that are the heart of Acadian (a.k.a. Cajun) cooking. The opening sections on the “Garde Manger” (food secure) and “Sauces” (try the recipe for homemade Worcestershire sauce) are indispensable for anybody even remotely interested in the food of Louisiana. More importantly, Emeril understands that food is another a part of history, the people, and their culture–and in Louisiana, they eat well. –Mark O. Howerton