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Summary: the best cajun cookbook there is
Review: The author has done almost everything imaginable here to provide help for the newcomer to cajun/creole cooking to the professional. The layout and presentation is excellent along with the photography. Readers should be forewarned that many of the recipes are not exactly "heart-healthy", especially when the distinctive rouxs come into play, so some discretion may be called for. Nobody will be dissapointed with the quality of the recipes and the flavours and aromas they produce. Some consideration is also given for those who have an aversion to heavily spiced or seasoned dishes. There is something here almost literally for all tastes. The author is very generous with his knowledge and experience. An indispensable book. Strongly recommended.
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Summary: The best!
Review: The best Louisiana cookbook. Far superior to the drivel put out by that ignorant, irritating Emeril. This is the way that Louisiana cooking should be, without a single Bam!
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Summary: CAJUN CUISINE SUPREME
Review: THE textbook on how to cook Cajun at home. I lived in Louisiana and I've cooked many of his recipes. This book will produce the most authentic food. Be willing to spend some time on these dishes and the end result will be beyond belief.
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Summary: Chef Paul is the master popularizer of Louisiana Cuisine
Review: This book is incredible. Chef Paul is so generous, he even gives out the exact recipe for his Sweet Potato Pecan Pie with Chantilly Cream, that goes for $35.00+ if purchased fresh from his catalog. How do I know it is the exact recipe? Well, my pie is as good as his (I've had both!) so if it isn't exact, it's darned close.I love the seafood gumbo recipe...if you make it, be prepared to be disappointed any time you get gumbo in most restaurants; it'll be substandard. Crawfish etouffee, barbecue shrimp, poor man's jambalaya (decrease the hot seasoning by 3/4 for a milder recipe, by the way), all are fun to read and cook, and your friends will be amazed at your accomplishment. Heck, the *intro* is even fascinating. Thank you, Chef Paul!
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Summary: The only cajun book needed
Review: This book should be rated 10 stars, there is not one crummy reciepe in the book Paul is KING!
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Summary: Chef Paul be the baddest of the bad!!!
Review: This is a wonderful Louisiana cookbook. I even read the *intro*! Many other "cajun" or Acadian cookbooks are very stingy with their secrets. Not Chef P! All is revealed; my Crawfish Ettouffe' was nearly identical to that I had in New Orleans. Bravo and thank you, Chef Paul!!!!
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Summary: It's my kitchen "bible"
Review: This is one cookbook that you won't want to borrow out to any of your friends, or if you do, plan on a trip to the bookstore to buy another copy for yourself. Everyone loves this cookbook! Chef Paul's clear directions make cooking spectacular dishes a snap. Everything I've tried has come out well and delicious (including the pralines!). My favorites are: Shrimp Diane, Cajun Meatloaf, Cajun Chicken Curry, Chicken and Seafood Jambalaya with Creole Sauce, Pralines and Chocolate Mousse.
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Summary: I Love This Book
Review: This is the single best Cookbook I have ever bought. Not only are the recipees great but the writing style is clear and the instructions are easy to follow. Pruhomme explains exactly what to do, how and why. This is the first book I have had where I have been actually able to follow the recipees. The Chicken Etoufee Recipee alone is worth every penny I paid for this book (I love that stuff). Also on the favorites list: Chicken Curry, Chicken and Aduoille Gumbo, Cajun Meat Loaf, Cajun Roast Beef, Brabant Patatoes, Extra Hot Sauce For Beef and lets not forget the Spiced Pare Gravy (which I Always make with roast turkey or chicken). The Spiced Pare Gravy never fails to impress people. A Note for those who don't like salt. In all the recipees I use about half the salt the book says to (since I have never liked salty food). Also I always substitute Scalions for Onion (I only use the bottom (white and light green part) half of the scallion though) since my wife hates onions but doesn't mind green onions. The recipees always work though and always taste great. If you like Spicy, flavourfull food then buy it. You wont regret it.
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Summary: He Who Must Be Obeyed
Review: This spectacular cookbook beats out even Julia Child for one special thing: no matter what he tells you, do it.
Cajun cooking is based on a number of principles not all of which are normal in the French-American styles dominant in most cookbooks, and which still aren't normal in the Asian-influenced or Italianate cookbooks that have increasingly garnered attention.
Loooong cooking times, in some cases. Very high heat. Complicated sauces. Intricate spicing. Cooking "the hell out of" some ingredients.
These things are antithetical to Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, and Spanish cooking, from which come almost everything you might think you know about cooking. The whole concept, in so many cases, is to "bring out the true flavor" of some ingredient, which prompts all that "fresh and perfect" stuff about ingredients. All of which is grand, of course, but a little arch, don't you think?
This kind of Cajun country cooking, however, often takes unwanted ingredients, or ones that are a tad old, and makes something spectacular out of them. Looks like hell, tastes like heaven: it's brown and gooey, but by god you'll get down on your knees and beg to be allowed just a little more!
Now if you're an accomplished home cook and you've never cooked this type of cuisine, you're going to find instructions that you will naturally want to ignore. The Sweet Potato Pecan Pie, for example, has you bake it for something like an hour, at high heat. So quite naturally, you assume it's a typo or something and you "correct" it in the cooking. DO NOT DO THIS. My wife did this with that pie, and it was very good. I did exactly what I was told and it was spectacular, just absolutely to die for.
Here's some examples.
Barbecue shrimp. Will kill you if you eat it too often, but it's basically shrimp just barely poached perfectly in a spicy butter sauce, and you will beg for more.
Sweet Potato Pecan Pie. My very hard-core Yankee relatives who never eat anything they don't know were faced with this thing one Thanksgiving, and finally my uncle-in-law had a piece just to be polite. Within 30 minutes the entire pie was gone: word spread, and nothing was left over.
Chicken Etouffee. Heaven on earth. Chicken cooked the way it would have wanted if it could have known how good it could be after its demise, as Garrison Keillor put it.
Chicken-Andouille Gumbo. Bet you thought gumbo was all about seafood and okra, didn't you? Nope. This is amazing.
Crawfish Magnifique. Oh my god. Will make you worship at the altar. Unbelievable. Good with shrimp, but with crawfish it'll make you pound the table in ecstasy.
Oyster-Brie Soup. Huh? Yup. Just do what he says, will you please? Serve this at an elegant dinner and watch people sit up straight, realizing this isn't just messing about but serious eating happening right here.
I have now cooked about 90% of the recipes in here, and never once had a miss. I'm no great chef, but I can follow directions, and Paul Prudhomme never ever steers you wrong. Just do exactly what he tells you and brace up for some truly fine dining.
A hint: if you don't like spicy food, decrease the spice mix total. That is, make up the spice mix as he directs, and then instead of a tablespoon put in 2 teaspoons. Don't just decrease the hot stuff; it will not be perfectly balanced.
Another hint: if you use stock from a can or box (ugh), decrease the salt in the mixes and reduce the quantities of spice mix accordingly.
Yet another hint: read his notes at the start about ingredients and especially about cooking roux. It matters. Get a cast-iron pan and a good whisk, too.
One last hint: if you're making something with chicken in it, and it's too hot just before you put in the chicken to heat up, don't worry. The sweetness of the chicken will make it balance perfectly.
The man is a genius!
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Summary: recipes - not for the timid or diet conscious
Review: Years ago watching Phil Dohahue, my husband and I viewed Paul Prudhomme promoting his book the Louisianna Kitchen. we were intrigued and had to have his book. Thus began our journey. We loved the illustrations and poured over them trying to decide which recipes we would do. We tried many and they have since become standards in our household. I remember our first attempt at Crawfish enchiladas con Queso. we went over to a bait shop on the sacramento river to get the real thing. After the ordeal of immersing them in boiling water and the tedium of peeling them. we decided bay shrimp may make a good substitute and have used them ever since. It is a wonderful meal that starts me drooling just thinking about it. Other tasty treats are Chicken big mamou (watch out for the scovil units), Cajun shepherd's pie, paneed veal and fettucini, cajun meatloaf and shrimp creole. Over the years we have learned to cut down on the butter, without hurting the recipe and adjust heat to our taste. These recipes are not for the timid or diet conscious - but they are Deeeelicious!!
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