Pelican Publishing - 100th Anniversary Picks

From Lobster Salad to Baked Stuffed Oysters and Crawfish Bisque, this compilation of recipes offers the best of New Orleans cuisine. Chef Lena Richards pulled inspiration from her southern roots and her experience in the catering business, to create delectable dishes. In addition to recipes, this comprehensive cookbook offers menu ideas for both formal and informal dinners.

Have you ever wondered how to make Crawfish Bisque or Baked Stuffed Oysters? Find out from an experienced caterer and cooking school owner who decided to share her secrets. In New Orleans, creating a fine dining experience and enjoying it is an art. This book teaches the ambitious cook how to create that art.

From cocktails, to compotes, to pastry and pies, this cookbook offers a bit of everything. Ideas for menus for both formal and informal dinners are also included. So get adventurous and have some fun creating some New Orleans favorites!

In these classic, fascinating, and often terrifying tales--Mardi Gras Indians, Baby Dolls, the Zulu King, Loup Garou, and the headless horseman of Natchitoches--all share the stage. Ghost stories from around Louisiana mingle with the true horrors of figures such as the infamous New Orleans Axeman. Learn stories of the Creoles and Cajuns, Southern church traditions, Voodoo rituals, hexes, and charms.  Gumbo Ya-Ya, everybody talks at once, expresses the tension between refinement and profanity, the sacred and the sensual--which defines Louisiana culture to this day. This 80th Anniversary Pelican Publishing unabridged edition's contents are wholly true to the 1945 original edition. First commissioned as a project of the Works Progress Administration Louisiana Writers' Program, it has stood the test of time and is a book beloved by historians, locals, and visitors.

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.

“History in its most painless form . . . lightened not only by cartoons but by narrative approach.”—New York Herald Tribune

The history of New Orleans is a street-level story, with names like Iberville, Terpsichore, Gravier, Tchoupitoulas, and, of course, Bourbon, presenting the city’s past with every step. The late John Churchill Chase eloquently chronicles the origins and development of the most fascinating of American cities in this humorous masterpiece.

Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children details the interesting stories of the developers and families as well as the infamous and famous people, places, and events from which the city’s names and character are drawn. First published by now-defunct New Orleans publisher Robert L. Crager in 1949, the book remains funny and informative, generally accepted as a standard reference about the Crescent City.

Witch? Sorceress? Daughter of Satan? Murderer? Thief? Saint? Which label best fits Marie Laveau?

Queen of the voodoos, she is considered to have been the most important voodooienne ever to have reigned on this continent.

Robert Tallant, well known for his fine stories of the South, including Voodoo in New Orleans and Gumbo Ya-Ya, attempted to make use of all available facts and information in re-creating the life of this infamous woman. Marie Laveau, the last and most storied American sorceress, continues to weave her spell as those who read this fascinating portrait will discover.

"A classical work."
-H. L. Mencken, early twentieth-century distinguished journalist, critic, and editor

From the story behind the Side Car Cocktail to the secret of perfect Mississippi Planter's Punch, this effervescent collection is a spirited romp through the history and recipes of New Orleans's most famous cocktails.
Concoct exotic beverages such as Pousse Caf', Vieux Carr' Cocktail, and Absinthe Anisette as you imbibe the lore behind these libations. These colorful stories, including the creation of the Ramos Gin Fizz and the origin of the word cocktail, are stimulating sips of the zest of the Crescent City.
Since its debut 1937, Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em has brought a twist of Bourbon Street to homes worldwide.

Originally published in 1936, an invaluable guide to wander with.

Over 100 illustrations describe the building styles of each historical era and highlight some 60 buildings of particular importance.

The French Quarter, New Orleans’ historic center, is the most interesting sixty-six square blocks in America. Known as the Vieux Carré, and locally as the Quarter, it is a unique community which has evolved over the past three hundred years. Founded in 1718 by the French, the colony came under the control of the Spanish in 1762. They would hold it until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Despite devastating fires in 1788 and 1794, traces of each generation of occupants can still be seen in the the Quarter’s wrought-iron balconies, hidden courtyards, and grand ballrooms, although for the most part the architecture is Spanish.

Telling the story of its growth by analyzing its architecture, Historic Buildings of the French Quarter traces the history of the Quarter from its origins to the present. Over one hundred illustrations describe the building types and styles of each historical era and highlight some sixty individual buildings of particular importance. Similar in format to Vogt’s previous books, Historic Buildings of the French Quarter is designed to be an easy-to-use, definitive guide to New Orleans’ most unusual neighborhood.

Lyle Saxon's superbly written account examines Lafitte's fascinating career and frees the truth of the pirate's life from the web of fantastic myths which grew up around him.