Customer Reviews

Chef Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen

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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!

I am a chef, and this book is THE Bible of Creole/Cajun, or as it's now called Southern Louisiana cooking. Wonderful book, now in about it's 80th printing! I use it all the time.

I truly consider this book one of the best cookbooks ever from the USA. It ranks up there with "The Joy of Cooking" and "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" as classics, or standards that all serious cooks need to have in their library.

Many people think that New Orleans has the best food in America, and Paul is without a doubt one of the (if not the) best New Orleans cooks. If you want to explore one of the only true American cuisines, this book is a must.

As a hint for those worried about the 'heat' levels in some of these foods, do what most professional chef's do: Simply start with 1/4 or 1/2 the amount of 'hot' ingredients when you make a recipe. You can always add more heat if you want it, but you can't take it out!

Later on in his career, Chef Paul Prudhomme took up low fat cooking to save his life. However, this book was written before he got "religion" and is not for the fat-conscious.

Having said that, can there be anything in this book for people who do not wish to eat a lot of fat? The answer is "yes" and here is why: Chef Prudhomme gives a very useful set of techniques to maximize the flavors that make the complex spice bouquet of real Louisiana cuisine.

As an example, I have used the Jambalaya recipe in this book many times. It is different from most recipes for this rice-sausage-and-meat cassarole. Prudhomme's version is served with a wonderful spicy tomato sauce surrounding a molded cupful of the rice mix. This is a very elegant presentation, adds moisture and flavor to the dish...and allows you to substitute ingredients and still get the sense of the genuine thing. (I use turkey Kielbasa, cut way down on the oil and use lean chicken breast for the meat.) The sauce is what makes this work so well.

Chef Prudhomme recommends "building" flavors by adding spices and herbs in stages. Some at the beginning, sauted at first, some later on near the end, to freshen the taste. He also makes a very important instruction about the miripoix mix--the onion, green bell pepper and celery base of many Cajun and Creole dishes. He says it's best to cut the vegetables, especially the bell pepper, very fine as that preserves the taste. It's true. Larger pieces of pepper taste bitter and flabby.

This kind of advice makes Prudhomme's book extremely useful. If you follow the flavor building advice, you can cut out a lot of the fat and substitute lean meats and still get good results from this book. Of course, you can't make a roux (flour and oil, cooked dark for a thickener) with no fat. So that can limit you. Or you make the recipes as written every once in a while for party occasions when the brakes are off. Either way, the techniques in this book are very useful.

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!!

I absolutely love this cookbook! I just moved to New Orleans, and was eager to start cooking the local dishes. I am usually a disaster in the kitchen, but not with the recipes in this book! The best thing about it is that the instructions are so detailed, you just can't mess them up!

Everything I've tried turned out perfect, this has become my new favorite cookbook! A must for your cookbook library even if you think you don't think you like cajun/creole food.

I've had this book for most of twenty years. Although I have several other Cajun and Creole cookbooks, I find that I hardly ever cook anything from them. Prudhomme's recipe always wins out.

Case in point: We found a sale on shrimp, so we decided to make an etouffee for lunch. Figuring that I'd choose an easy recipe (hey, it's the middle of a work day!) I pulled out a copy of The Gumbo Book. Nice, straightforward recipe. But Prudhomme's recipe is more interestingly spiced (such as including thyme), and it isn't THAT much more work. End result: the first cookbook went back on the shelf.

There are some really stunning recipes in this book. Few of them are fast, and more than a few really benefit from having two cooks in the kitchen. However, they are ALL worth the effort. I have had people beg me to make his Cajun Sheppherd's pie again; my housekeeper drools whenever we make that etouffee. In fact, I don't think I've ever made anything from this book that made me shrug and say, "That was only okay."

This isn't the book to haul out on an exhausted Thursday night. But the recipes here are a wonderful example of the reasons NOT to cut corners; when you take the time, these recipes will give you an outstanding meal.

Two caveats: You won't find much here for spice wimps, and it's not a great choice for vegetarians.

If you're going to own only one book on Louisiana cuisine, this is an excellent candidate.

I grew up in Louisiana and have eaten many of these recipes in restaurants all over the state. Without a doubt, you won't find a better source of cajun recipes than this book. Literally, every one of them is a gem. Yes, he uses a lot of butter and some of the recipes sound time consuming but you can cut back on the butter and you can make the stocks (easily) ahead of time. One word of caution: if Chef Paul says it is *hot*, he means it. His Shrimp Sauce Piquante recipe will cook your ears off if you don't tone it down. I cut the peppers in half and it is just about right for me (and again, I grew up eating spicy food). The beauty of these recipes are his simple instructions and the spice mixtures. Follow the instructions to a 't' and your friends will think you are a cajun cooking god. Enjoy!

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!

Our original copy got destroyed (flooded counter, moldy book) so this is one cookbook we had to replace, even though we have some of our favorite recipes nearly memorized. Our favorites are black roux gumbo and chicken tchopitoulas (try sans chicken for a late sunday hearty breakfast)and of course jambalaya. Mama's yeast rolls are a must on the holiday.

In less than 3 months this has become our favorite cookbook! The Roasted Pork and Seafood Dirty rice leave you dreaming about your next trip to New Orleans. If you can't make it to Louisiana this cookbook brings Louisiana to you.