Customer Reviews

The Justin Wilson Cook Book

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This book a primer on New Orleans cuisine ala Justin Wilson. I remember his cooking show and always got a kick out of how he would pour a little wine in his pots and drink the rest. You could see that this man enjoyed food, and this translates into his book. I credit Mr. Wilson with teaching me how to make a decent roux because before I read his recipe, I always used butter or vegetable oil. Hey, I'm from Brooklyn, what did I know from a roux? The olive oil made a huge difference in my gumbo. I was even inspired to try jambalaya -- it was yummy!!

On a past trip to New Orleans, I purchased one of the Junior League Cookbooks which has an abundance of recipes and tips. However, the other book relies on a lot of processed and prepared ingredients. Those recipes are also a lot fussier. I prefer Wilson's cookbook for its simplicity. He also includes plenty of local color and anecdotes.

His successful television show on PBS was just a sampling of his gift for food prepreation & for making people laugh, with fans internationally, this book is a perfect example of what DELICIOUS is! If the recipes are followed correctly, the result is outstanding, if the recipes are not followed correctly, then it is not the fault of Mr. Wilson :-)

I recently ordered this book to replace the original that I've owned for twenty five years. I wore the ink off of the pages. Justin Wilson taught me to cook. This was his first published cook book. His later books are all based on the recipes contained in this book. If you're debating on which of Justin's books to buy, start with this one. You won't regret it

`The Top 100 Cajun Recipes of All Time' from the editors of `acadiana profile' and `The Justin Wilson Cookbook' are two excellent little sources for Cajun (Arcadian) recipes. Their primary value lies in both their relative authenticity and in their low cost. For a more complete source of `relatively authentic' Cajun recipes at a slightly higher cost for over twice as many recipes, I suggest `Cajun Cuisine' from the Beau Bayou Publishing Company.

It's interesting that all these books come from very local sources. In this regard, they share a characteristic of some of the best Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks. This is easily understandable, as unlike `Southern' cooking and `Tex-Mex' cooking, Cajun and Pennsylvania Dutch cooking both come from just a few counties in just one state (Louisiana and Pennsylvania respectively).

While both of these books are inexpensive and `kitchen friendly' (will lie flat on the kitchen table while you cook), there are some important differences. The `Top 100' book is simply recipes and nothing but recipes. Justin Wilson's book has fewer recipes (and NO INDEX!) but lots of homey observations so familiar to anyone who saw him on his PBS cooking shows. Another big difference is that in spite of the fact that Wilson was an `amateur' cook, he was an `amateur' in much the same way as Julia Child was an `amateur', in that they did not cook in professional (restaurant) kitchens, but they knew a whole lot about cooking technique and their technique did show a lot of professional touches. To be sure, Child was a much more accomplished teacher and literally a more accomplished researcher into her chosen field than Wilson, whose primary attraction was not `technique', but `bon hommine' (sic).

Two things which set Wilson apart from `The Top 100' is his use of stocks and his cooking with wine. Wine certainly appears in some `Top 100' recipes, but it appears in almost half of Wilson's recipes and many recipes are named for their use of wine (even the French have just a few recipes named for their use of wine).

The biggest question I have about `The Top 100' is whether this means the best recipes of the 100, or the 100 most distinctively Cajun recipes. Since the latter is much less subjective, it would be much more valuable than the former, as one can always use the book to find the most distinctively Cajun recipes and feel free to improve on them. The introduction suggests that the editors had both objectives in mind. I will concede to them the claim that these are the 100 most typical Cajun recipes, as no one should be in a better position to know than a local publisher of local recipes which has been in the business for many years.

On the question of quality, I remain agnostic, but I will do a little survey on my favorite recipe, the turtle soup, to see if there is a chance that `The Top 100' does have `the best recipe'. First, a look at the recipe itself reveals that it is truly a recipe for the amateur cook, as it does not use a prepared stock, unlike both Justin Wilson, Emeril Lagasse (see `Emeril's Delmonico'), and Paul Prudhomme (see `Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen'). Thus, it reflects a home kitchen that does not have the resources to prepare stock in advance or a nearby supermarket with ample supplies of chicken stock. It's interesting to see the progression of complexity from the home recipes to Lagasse to Prudhomme to the ultimate classic French recipe in `The Escoffier Cookbook'. On the basis of this little survey, I have to believe that one should qualify the book's title to be `The Best 100 HOME Cooked Cajun Recipes of All Time'. This is evident from the fact that almost all recipes have a source of a local Louisiana home cook! It's also interesting to see the progression in this series from no stock to chicken stock (Wilson and Lagasse) to combination of chicken and turtle stock (Prudhomme) to pure turtle stock (Escoffier).

One thing I notice in both books which simply has never come up in all the hours I have spent watching Emeril on the Food Network. This is the common use of `oil' rather than either butter or pork fat in many recipes. Wilson goes further to specify olive oil, and this is well before we all became familiar with how good olive oil and the whole `Mediterranean diet' was for us. It would be the ultimate irony to find that Justin Wilson's red wine and olive oil recipes were `healthy'.

To make up for this, there is also a fairly common use of `prepared' staples here, such as `American cheese', Worchestershire sauce and Lea and Perrins sauce. (What is surprising is to see Emeril use `A1' sauce also in his Turtle Soup). `The Top 100' uses a bit less of the prepared stuff, but does use `oleo' more often. Please replace `oleo' with real butter. It's actually better for you.

Both books fully embody everything I ever heard about `Cajun' cooking, most especially the use of the trinity of onions, celery and sweet peppers (replacing the French carrots in the classic mirepoix). Even where the three are not used together, celery and sweet peppers seem to find their way into just about everything, especially given the high number of braised and casseroled dishes using lots of aromatics.

I confess that like Jean Shepherd's writing, Justin Wilson's Cajun accent and wry expressions simply don't come across as well in print as they do on the screen, so the extras in his book have limited value.

For the price, I recommend both; however, `The Top 100' may have a longer shelf life.

This is a real nice cook book by Justin Wilson. It show wonderful pictures & quotes by him when he was much younger. I purchase this for myself so i can cook up a lil cajun every now & then since i'm now a Texan, due to Katrina. No matter where your from, If you like to cook & love cajun / louisiana type of food then you'll love this cook book.The Justin Wilson Cook Book

the justin wilson cookbook was for my husband. he has always loved him, he's hilarrious! my husband is a great cook, he really enjoys this cookbook! A-1!

All the recipes from this book I have cooked have turned out good to excellent. Some of the recipes are for somewhat large portions, however can be easily reduced if you know a bit of math.

This book is okay. I got a copy of it a few years ago when a friend was moving and gave it away. The recipes are okay, but nothing to rave about. Justin Wilson loves to include his 'humorous' stories and jokes along with the recipes. They mainly should be considered a distraction.

This book is okay. I got a copy of it a few years ago when a friend was moving and gave it away. The recipes are okay, but nothing to rave about. Justin Wilson loves to include his 'humorous' stories and jokes along with the recipes. They mainly should be considered a distraction.