From Publishers Weekly
In response to the commercial success of Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen, the author and his many siblings have compiled this fascinating, albeit partial, family history cum cookbook. Of Cajun descent, the large brood was raised in the Louisiana backwoods by their hardworking sharecropper parents. The family stories illuminate a bygone lifestyle, imbuing the now ubiquitous Cajun cooking "style" with special meaning. Game recipes and accompanying anecdotes are of most interest: "super quirrel" ("Nothing makes a better gravy than several fresh squirrels"); "frogs' legs and garlic hopalong Cassidy" ("Dad and the boys could come home with sacks full of frogs. They were placed in an enclosure and kept there and fed 'bugs and stuff.' When Mom wanted to cook frogs' legs, the kids ran out to the frog pen and caught whatever number she needed"). Devotees of Chef Paul may be disappointed that this isn't a showcase of his recipes.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Three renowned chefs ornament the autumn publishing season with useful and very different personal culinary explorations. Bocuse is relaxed as he explores the food of his native Lyon. Pepin, in the first volume of his major culinary opus, details every motion and procedure of every recipe. And the Prudhommes, via anecdotes and recipes, show us their "real Cajun Country" cooking. Each chooses to speak directly to us, emphasizing personal experience and life history. Bocuse provides 13 menus and their recipes, and adds cooking and shopping hints, and advice. A typical menu is onion soup, veal roast stuffed with kidneys, and chocolate mousse. Sometimes wonderful old recipes yield dishes that are absolutely contemporary in appeal, e.g., farmer's cheese with herbs Lyon-style. The recipes are no less precise for the conversational style. Readers will love this dialogue with a master chef. (Illustrations not seen, but full color promised throughout.) Pepin's earlier La Technique and La Method taught classic French techniques. Now his Art of Cooking (which has been excerpted in Gourmet over several years) takes a more hands-on approach. The first volume covers stocks and soups, eggs, shellfish and fish, poultry and game, and meat, using recipes to demonstrate techniques. Volume 2, scheduled for spring 1988, will range from charcuterie through desserts. Tom Hopkins's photographs illustrate every numbered task in each recipe. They will be especially helpful in teaching such skills as preparation of various raw meats, fresh frogs, snails, eels, etc. The enormous detail verges on the pedantic, but Pepin is a careful teacher and his Art of Cooking will be a standard source. Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen created a sensation when it was published in 1984. Happily, this family collective cookbook is just as good. Chicken marinated in ground red pepper vinegar, and fresh pineapple delight are two delectable examples. The vegetable recipes in particular show an imaginative use of seasonings and techniques. Though the recipes require numerous steps, most are not difficult. Prudhomme remains an authentic voice for the wonderful Cajun food of southern Louisiana. His family recipes and stories are equally pungent. Highly recommended. SP
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
