The New Orleans Cookbook [Hardcover]

Richard Collin (Author), Rima Collin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 1975

Two hundred eighty-eight delicious recipes carefully worked out so that you can reproduce, in your own kitchen, the true flavors of Cajun and Creole dishes. The New Orleans cookbook whose authenticity dependability, and wealth of information have made it a classic.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Two hundred eighty-eight delicious recipes carefully worked out so that you can reproduce, in your own kitchen, the true flavors of Cajun and Creole dishes. The New Orleans cookbook whose authenticity dependability, and wealth of information have made it a classic. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 257 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (February 12, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394488989
• ISBN-13: 978-0394488981
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #555,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Louisiana cookbook, September 17, 1997

By 

a foodie (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The New Orleans Cookbook (Paperback)

As a native of Louisiana no longer living in the Bayou State, I often have an "envie" (that's cajun dialect for "yearning") for the food I grew up with. I got my first copy of this book in 1975 and have cooked with it ever since. It is particularly strong on the classic New Orleans recipes--oysters rockefeller, trout veronique, Bananas Foster--but also covers some basic stuff like how to make a good Bechamel sauce, hollandaise.

It is also quite good at Cajun cooking. Most people outside of Louisiana think you can make anything "Cajun" by dousing it with Tabasco--not so. It's a far subtler cuisine than that, generally no spicier than Szechuan and certainly less spicy than Thai. The recipes for Chicken & Sausage Gumbo, Chicken Macquechoux, and similar stuff have been used so often the pages are sticky with spatterings of oil and roux.

I prefer this GREATLY to Paul Prudhomme's book. (I have both and rarely use Paul's.) If you are interested in a strictly Cajun cookbook and not in something which has New Orleans cuisine, I might recommend Justin Wilson's Homegrown Louisiana Cooking. Still, The New Orleans Cookbook is by far my most-used Louisiana cookbook, and one of the most used cookbooks in my kitchen

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I agree with the other reviewers,, August 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Orleans Cookbook (Paperback)

this is the best! I am not from Louisiana, but I love Cajun and Creole food and have a number of cookbooks on the subjects, including Paul Prudhomme's first. But this is one I use over and over. The pages are stained and spattered, and the book automatically falls open to the recipe for shrimp creole. All of the instructions in the book are very clear, and the food is delicious. I have never had a single failure with any recipe I have tried from this book, and I have at least eight hundred cookbooks and cannot make that claim about many of them. Shrimp creole, however, is on the top ten list of my favorite recipes, especially for company dinners. One night I put the plates down in front of my guests, a lively, convivial, gregarious and loquacious group of people. Every head bent down to eat, and not another word was spoken until each plate was clean - I am not exaggerating. This recipe alone is worth the price of the book. Do not be put off by the long list of ingredients or the time it takes to make the roux. Do not be tempted to cook the shrimp for less time than the recipe calls for. The effort of this dish reaps huge benefits, and all the time you put in up front allows you to get the meal on the table with a minimum amount of fuss at dinnertime. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. (Crabmeat Mandeville - a crab salad - is equally divine.) I hope you will buy this book. I know you will enjoy it.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The" New Orleans Cookbook, April 28, 2002

By 

R. A. Scheid "Kashmir LA" (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The New Orleans Cookbook (Paperback)

This is my favorite New Orleans cookbook. It contains all of the definitive creole and cajun recipes. I have been cooking from this book for over twenty years. My dishes made from these recipes are good enough to allow me (and anyone else) to pass as a native New Orleanian.

This book is an original. It was first compiled in 1975 -- before the Cajun cuisine became a national fad. In our family recipes are generally referred to as "THE", implying that no mere imitation or substitute will do. What! this in not "THE" potato salad! Are you bringing "THE" gumbo? Rima & Richard Collin have created "THE" New Orleans Cookbook.