Books for the Chef in Your Life

Since 1899, Vaucresson’s Sausage Company has produced its beloved brand in the Seventh Ward of New Orleans. Julie Frederick Vaucresson shares stories from the Vaucresson and Frederick families along with scores of recipes using both the sausages and a new line of mustards. Also included are classic dishes from the fabled Bourbon Street Vaucresson Café Creole (circa 1963-1972) along with other homestyle recipes from the Frederick family, with color photographs of many of the recipes.

Lafcadio Hearn's La Cuisine Creole is the first Creole cookbook, one of the great rare classics of the culture. Among its recipes, collected from leading chefs and noted Creole housewives, are gumbos with oysters, okra, and shrimp; grenouilles frites or fried frogs; plum, sweet potato, and gingerbread pudding; and a number of beverages, several of which use absinthe as the main ingredient.  Lafcadio Hearn spent close to a dozen years in New Orleans, starting in 1877. During that time, his writings significantly shaped the impressions, myths, and symbols of the Crescent City, many of which live on to this day. Although Hearn was born in Greece in 1850, he chronicled Creole culture and the natural and domestic worlds of New Orleans - most notably its language and cuisine - as if he were born and raised there. Later in life, he became a citizen of Japan and is considered by the Japanese to be one of the greatest Japanese writers of his time.

Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, a New Orleans landmark and celebrated bastion of fine Creole food, has welcomed notable individuals as well as thousands of locals through its doors since opening in 1941. The unquestionable authority in the restaurant’s kitchen for many of those years, Leah Chase offers here a collection of recipes from the menu and her personal files that have delighted patrons for decades.

Spiced with exquisite works from the African American art collection that hangs in the restaurant’s dining room, this cookbook pairs the flavors of Leah Chase’s dishes with anecdotes recounting the restaurant’s traditions, origins of the recipes, and memories. This revised and expanded edition presents even more of the restaurant’s favorite offerings and features a new chapter on drinks. Dooky Chase’s longtime chef and proprietor passed away in 2019, but these pages honor Leah’s legacy through recipes and sentiments that will be forever intertwined with the history of New Orleans.

Basic French cooking, gusty Spanish flavors, creativity, and a lot of love are Leon Soniat's ingredients for la bouche Creole (the Creole mouth). Interwoven with the recipes are the author's recollections of New Orleans and of cooking with his memere (grandmother) and mamete (mother).

In South Louisiana, food is more than just sustenance. It is a way to bring friends and family together and it connects us to our history and our culture. Few places are more tied to these culinary roots than Louisiana’s River Parishes, which stretch along the levees of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Here the many cultures and diverse people who call the area home—Cajun, Creole, German, French, Spanish, African, and Native American—have mingled to produce a rich tradition of harvesting the largesse that Louisiana provides all year long. That abundance is crafted it into delectable dishes by the families who have cultivated these lands for generations. Chef Jarred Zeringue celebrates this seasonal bounty in this approachable guide to Cajun cooking. Featuring the flavors and culture he learned alongside his mother, grandparents, and many aunts and uncles, Jarred offers an intimate window into how his family—like so many in Louisiana’s River Parishes—cook from the land, using the freshest ingredients in a lifestyle that embodies the farm to table philosophy. With nearly 90 recipes divided by the seasons, Jarred shares the traditional tastes of his childhood, with an emphasis on the smoked meats for which his smokehouse is renowned.

Southwest Louisiana is famous for time-honored gatherings that celebrate its French Acadian heritage. The culinary star of these gatherings? The pig.

Whether it's a boucherie, the Cochon de Lait in Mansura or Chef John Folse's Fete des Bouchers, where an army of chefs step back 300 years to demonstrate how to make blood boudin and smoked sausage, ever resourceful Cajuns use virtually every part of the pig in various savory delights. Author Dixie Poche' traverses Cajun country to dive into the recipes and stories behind regional specialties such as boudin, cracklings, gumbo and hogs head cheese. From the Smoked Meats Festival in Ville Platte to Thibodaux's Bourgeois Meat Market, where miles of boudin have been produced since 1891, this is a mouth-watering dive into Cajun devotion to the pig.

Included are many of the recipes demonstrated on Justin Wilson's Louisiana Cookin', seen on PBS. A sprinkling of the distinctive Justin Wilson humor and color photographs featuring Justin displaying his skills in the kitchen and entertaining his friends capture the earthy joie de vivre that followed Justin everywhere.

For decades, patrons of the quaint Creole restaurant on Saint Peter Street have enjoyed the standards of New Orleans cuisine in one of its most natural settings. Around the corner from Saint Louis Cathedral, half a block from Jackson Square and within sight of the Mississippi River, the mural-walled dining room and tropical garden patio provide the backdrop for the gumbo, etouffée and jambalaya that flow from the kitchen. The word "gumbo" evokes images of black iron kettles, slowly simmering with a mélange of exotic ingredients, skillfully seasoned and crafted for pleasure. It also describes the New Orleans culture. In this book of recipes, peppered with vignettes of local lore, Gumbo Shop shares its culinary traditions for your enjoyment.

New Orleans celebrates better than any other city. It's our way of doing just about anything. Perfect for gatherings, holidays, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and more, this gorgeous cookbook offers more than fifty festive recipes from famous New Orleans restaurants, along with photographs, history, musings, and stories. These classic Crescent City celebration recipes are knockouts for the eye and the taste buds.

These fifty recipes are an invitation to New Orleans-style celebrations with the tastes that enliven any gathering. Contemporary and classic dishes for the city's unique events all come to the party. Festival recipes are a riff on stuffed crawfish bread, crawfish pasta, and meat pies. Consider Mardi Gras served with pots of fried chicken gumbo and jambalaya. For saints' feast days, Chef Emeril Lagasse offers Italian Cookies. Even the other-worldly spirits of New Orleans can feast on Chef John Folse's Death by Gumbo.

Reveillon, St. Patrick's Day, and Seafood Festival menus feature Turducken, Boysie's Eggplant Shrimp, and Redfish on the Halfshell. Gumbo z'Herbs from Dooky Chase's, Blue Crab Beignets from La Petite Grocery, and Creole Onion Soup from Arnaud's delight the senses and the spirit. Desserts shine with Sucré's shimmering King Cake. The chefs comprise an honor roll of New Orleans' best. From highfalutin to down home, they create the greatest neighborhood food in America. We know this to be true-that's a promise.

This is the French language version of Mrs. Simms' Fun Cooking Guide. Cooking in several languages comes naturally to Myrtle Landry Simms, a descendant of French immigrants and Acadian refugees from Nova Scotia.

A classic is updated for a new generation!

The history of 613 Rue Royale, the site of New Orleans’ famous Court of Two Sisters restaurant, dates back to 1732—just fourteen years after the founding of the city, when it was the site of the home of Louisiana’s second governor. 

Beginning in 1886, the legendary “two sisters,” for whom the building and courtyard are named, operated a notions shop on the ground floor of the mansion. Located in the very center of “Governor’s Row,” 613 Royal became the focal point of Creole society. In many ways, the romance and history of the largest courtyard in the Vieux Carre epitomize the charm, the ambience, and the lifestyle of “America’s most European city.”

A tribute to the history that has made the restaurant famous throughout the world, the cookbook has been revised and updated with new recipes from the acclaimed kitchens. The history of the courtyard and the French Quarter offers an intriguing background for the recipes that follow—recipes that are Creole-inspired and taste-tested by the discriminating palates of tens of thousands of customers.

The first cookbook ever to have been issued simultaneously in English, French, and Spanish is your entrée into the culinary mélange that is New Orleans. The authors have drawn extensively from their own connections to these cultures, in some cases unlocking nineteenth-century cooking secrets discovered in old, handwritten notes. They present what they consider to be the 119 best recipes created in the city. From drinks like the Sazerac and Café au Lait to entrées such as Red Beans and Rice and Crawfish Étouffée to desserts including Cherries Jubilee, Bananas Foster, and Pain Perdu, every recipe is world class. All recipes include metric measures.

"Susanne Duplantis is out to save the world one leftover at a time. You'll think twice before ever throwing edible food away again!"--Poppy Tooker, host of Louisiana Eats! radio show

"With this fun, family-friendly cookbook, there's no longer any excuse for standing in front of the refrigerator with the door wide open and asking oneself the eternal question: 'What in the world am I going to make?'"--Adrian Miller, James Beard Award-winning author

"You'll never look at your leftovers the same way again! Susanne Duplantis has unlocked the code to rethinking leftovers and reducing kitchen waste."--Cynthia Graubart, James Beard Award-winning author

Susanne Duplantis takes the last bit of leftovers from your favorite Southern dishes and repurposes them into brand-new tasty offerings. These simple home-cooked recipes combine the time-saving advantage of leftovers with the convenience of pantry staples you already have on hand to create family-pleasing meals that are also friendly on your wallet. With Susanne's guidance, you'll begin to see leftovers as a delicious way to save time, food, and money.

A guide to the unique tastes of New Orleans' world-renowned gumbos and soups.

GOURMET MAGAZINE'S FEBRUARY 2009 COOKBOOK CLUB SELECTION

FEATURED ALTERNATE FOR THE GOOD COOK BOOK CLUB.

Award-winning culinary enthusiast Kit Wohl continues her celebration of New Orleans style and taste with dozens of signature gumbo and soup recipes. From Arnaud's Oysters Stewed in Cream to Chef John Folse's Smoked Wood Duck and Andouille Gumbo, Wohl collects the secrets from the Crescent City's most famous restaurants and chefs, including Leah Chase, John Besh, and Kevin Vizard. From fish to fowl and broths to bisques, each recipe is accompanied by a New Orleans anecdote, a touch of history, and gorgeous photography.