Christmas Gifts Creole Cajun Cookbooks

The one to give this year is Chef John D. Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine. Nine pounds twelve and a half ounces, 850 pages 700 recipes difinitive work in the field. Quantities limited. $49.95 plus shipping of $6.50 from New Orleans in to the continental U.S. kwitchen1@aol.com or kwcookbooks.com for complete listings of Creole Cajun and Louisiana cookbooks.

Cookbooks in Creole country: Ruby Slippers

Ruby Slippers is the product of a disaster. Amy Cyrex Sins, a twenty nine year old New Orleans native came back from exile to find her home destroyed. For reasons of her own, she collected stories and recipes from her beloved city and local cooks and chefs and put them into one vollume, using profits to help costal restoration. In full four color photographs she cronicles the food, family, culture and life after Katrina. Panned rabbit with Satsuma Sauce, Sweet Potato Salad, Muffulettas and even Bayona's Grilled Shrimp with Corriander Sauce and Black Bean Cake. Other favorites include Granny's Peanut Brittle, Ponchatula Stawberry Shortcake and de Bess Bread Pudding. Hard cover 219 pages. $35.00 plus s&h from kwcookbooks .com

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen

Written in 1984 this brilliant cookbook is in it's 87th printing. 351 pages including the index. Color photos on dishes and rouxs and how to blacken a redfish. The book took two years to write because at that time Chef Pual did not measure ingredients. And so, Paulette Rittenberg tested and retested each recipe to get them right. As a consequence, all spice mixtures are broken down by ingredient... a lovely touch. I tell people that Chef Paul wrote the book like a prisoner of war: he gave away all secrets---red beans, gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish ettoufee, BBQ shrimp etc etc. The book has a section on salads and dressings and the remoulade sauce is the blueprint for all remoulades used here now. Also a section on breads and rolls AND a dessert section that includes a sweet potato pecan pie to make your mouth drool! For us, this is the standard for all Creole Cajun cookbooks to be compared to. $28.00 plus s&h

Crescent City Cooking by Susan Spicer

Summer Crab Salad with Carrots, Basil and Lime, Proscuitto- wrapped Tuna Muffuletta, Herb-roasted Lamb Loin with Goat Cheese and Zinfandel Sauce, Mint Julep Ice Cream, French Semolina Cake with Pistachio Creme Anglaise, Gumbo z'Herbes, Herbsaint Shrimp and Tomato Bisque, Crispy Smoked Quail Salad with Bourbon-Molasses Dressing and/or Pork Quesadillas with Ancho-Mango Sauce! The cover of the new cookbook promises "Unforgettable recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans" Well, it is all that. There are 170 such recipes, each more delicious than the last. This is World Cuisine and nobody does it better. $35.00 plus shipping. A must have for any serious cook. Next post: Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen--New Orleans' cooking bible. Bon Appetit, Philipe

Susan Spicer cookbook

Well, here I am again. AND Susan's book is all that! $35.00 in price and a wealth of information and great food! 170 recipes both delicious and daring. Not by any means another Creole and Cajun cookbook, it is that, it is also international and I can't wait to start cooking out of it. Tomorrow I'll tell you about some of the recipes. Bon Appetit, Philipe

Cookbook updates Susan Spicer

Susan Spicer's 'Crescent City Cooking' was finally released yesterday. We'll be reading it tonite (she is SUCH a dear) and giving you the lowdown soon. Susan, as you know, is in our minds, the hardest working of the best of our best chefs here in the Crescent City. We can still be logged onto kwcookbooks.com for other selections, and more cookbook reviews on the way. Thanks for tuning in Philipe and Debbie