The Best of New Orleans [Hardcover]

Brooke Dojny (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Best of ... | Publication Date: June 3, 1994

A mingling of French, Caribbean, African, Spanish, and Native American influences has created the unique culture of New Orleans, from Mardi Gras to the blues. And like the city itself, the cuisine of New Orleans is an exuberant, creative mix, evoking the legacy of three continents. Step into any Cajun or Creole kitchen and you will experience an extraordinary blend of Old World and New.

In The Best of New Orleans, food expert Brooke Dojny has selected the finest dishes of south Louisiana in their most classic guises. From a base of French culinary principles, enlivened by a dash of American ingenuity, come thick spicy gumbos and jambalayas, barbecued and blackened seafood, fiery andouille sausages, superb Sweet Potato Pie and luscious Bananas Foster. Each recipe includes advice on special cooking techniques, and a glossary describes and defines everything from filÉ powder to cayenne, grillade to courtbouillon. Color photographs of the finished dishes and of New Orleans itself capture the joie de vivre of this most irresistible of cuisines.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This wonderful series is the easiest way to sample some of the world's finest cuisines from the comfort of your own kitchen. Small in size, yet large in recipe selection, each volume offers a delicious range of dishes--from the simple to the imaginative.

About the Author

Brooke Dojny has coauthored several cookbooks, including Sunday Suppers and Let's Eat In, The Best of Chocolate, Parties! and Cheap Eats. She was a contributing editor at Cook's magazine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (June 3, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002554771
• ISBN-13: 978-0002554770
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brooke Dojny is an award-winning food journalist and cookbook author with a specialty in writing about New England food. Her recent books on the subject are The New England Cookbook (1999), The New England Clam Shack Cookbook (2003, revised 2008), Dishing Up Maine (2006), and New England Home Cooking (2011). Lobster! will be published by Storey Publishing in 2012.

Brooke began her career working as a chef-caterer for Martha Stewart, assisting with recipe development on Martha's first book, Entertaining. In the 1980s, she was hired by the original COOK'S Magazine as a recipe tester and developer, equipment tester, and assistant food stylist. Teaming up with Melanie Barnard, another COOK'S freelancer, the duo launched a syndicated newspaper column and, in 1985, published their first cookbook, Sunday Suppers, which was nominated for an IACP award. Several other titles followed, including Let's Eat In and Parties! (both nominated for James Beard awards), and The AMA Family Cookbook which was a James Beard Award winner in 1998. Brooke was also the winner of the Newman's Own/Good Housekeeping recipe contest in 1998 as an entrant in the food professional category. She has made numerous television and radio appearances around the country.

For many years, Brooke and Melanie co-wrote "Every Night Cooking," a regular monthly column in Bon Appetit Magazine. Brooke's work has appeared in Food & Wine, Saveur, and Cooking Light. She currently writes a weekly column in the Portland Press Herald and is a frequent contributor to Down East Magazine. Brooke lives on the Blue Hill peninsula in Maine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laissez les bons temps rouler! (Let the good times roll!), June 29, 2008

By 

Patrick W. Crabtree "The Old Grottomaster" (Lucasville, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best of New Orleans (Hardcover)

My wife presented me with this cookbook as a Christmas gift a couple of years back and I initially sighed to myself, thinking that here was yet another of those flashy, little culinary marketing devices with no real cooking foundation. My pre-judgement could not have been more wrong!

I'll keep it brief but this diminutive 1994 volume features every essential Cajun/Creole recipe that you could ever wish for and they're all first-class renditions. You'll find top entries for all the well-known dishes (jambalaya, gumbo, etc.) but you'll additionally encounter some superb and lesser heard-of entries such as "Cajun Popcorn" and "Crab-Stuffed Mirliton".

Here's the table of contents:

1. First courses
2. Breads and sandwiches
3. Egg dishes
4. Main courses
5. Vegetables and side dishes
6. Desserts and drinks
7. Glossary
8. Conversion tables
9. Index

I was thrilled to also discover that Paul Prudhomme had some heavy influence in this cookbook. Paul is "The King" in the realm of Cajun/Creole cooking as far as I'm concerned and some of his K-Paul Restaurant recipes are featured.

This cookbook is 96 pages in length and the dimensions are 6 7/8" x 7". The work is heavily illustrated with beautiful color photographs (by Steven Mark Needham) of the various dishes. This is an especially important feature to the cook with these sorts of intricate ethnic recipes. The fonts, while not huge, are big enough to read easily; the book lies nicely flat when opened; and the paper is a good, heavy, slick stock which will somewhat repel spills and stains and can thus be wiped clean which such accidents occur.

"The Best of New Orleans" is one of a series: all titles begin with "The Best of..." and they include California, China, France, India, Italy, the Mediterranean, Mexico, Spain, and Thailand.

If you're into the exciting and flavorful fusion dishes of Cajun/Creole food this one is a must. The author, Brooke Dojny, has created a treasure with this entry. My highest recommendation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of New Orleans, December 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best of New Orleans (Hardcover)

For a native of Louisiana, long time expatriated, this brings back many memories of fantastic tastes, scrumptious flavors, a savor no one should be denied. Excellent recipes! Merci bouquet, lm

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Everything you could want!, November 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best of New Orleans (Hardcover)

I really like this book...I visit New Orleans a few times a year and one day got the urge to cook New Orleans style. I saw this book and thought I'd give it a try. I really like it! It has most of the recipes you would want to cook from New Orleans. It's a good basic New Orleans Cookbook! Now, I just need to throw a Mardi Gras Party!!