Customer Reviews

The Prudhomme Family Cookbook: Old-Time Louisiana Recipes by the Eleven Prudhomme Brothers and Sisters and Chef Paul Prudhomme

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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This book has changed my taste buds forever. The food is SO good! IT takes a little more work than most of today's cookbooks, but the results are worth it. If you like food, you need this book.

A wonderful collection of some of the best recipes from Chef Paul Prudhomme's restaurant as well as the best of the best of Cajun traditional home-style cooking. You'll never be disappointed with any recipe. It is easy to reduce the fat content of any recipe in the book (old-time recipes aren't always real fat-concious). The stories that accompany each recipe are like you're sitting around the kitchen table listening to the family history. This book is a real treasure.

Grew up for part of my childhood in Opalousas LA. We had a local restaurant run by this great family in one of the near-by towns. They used to test out new recipes on my mother and father, but the desserts were always tested by me! This was a wonderful and loving family, full of fun and good food. thank you Prudhommes for the wonderful childhood memories!!! I'm sad that your book is out of print.

Now for others on Amazon. This is REAL cajun food. YOu get a lot of stuff that is buffed up to be cajun because it is supposedly spicey, and contains a few ingredients such as andoille sausage. But truthfully that does not make it cajun!!! Cajun food is supposed to be a mixture of creole, french and carribean influences -- but it is not those foods just mixed up together!!!! You cannot borrow this and borrow that! Cajun food is part of a culture, one of the many diverse cultures that make up our dearest US. So if you want to learn authentic, delicious Cajun cooking, pick up the Prudhomme Family Cookbook and Paul Pruhomme's Louisiana Cooking or Tastes of Louisiana.

This cook-book (written by the whole family)is a treasure, and unforetunately it's out of print. I would highly recommend buying it used even. I must own 20-30 cook-books, and yet I always borrow this one from my mom when I want cajun food.

Great book!! Should be back in print! And you can see a bit about Paul in Bon Appetite this month as well. He and his family are a generous lot.

This spectacular Cookbook is sadly out of print. I have seen it here on Amazon.com though. Be sure to purchase your copy before they are all gone. I am a big fan of Chef Paul Prudhomme, my entire family is actually. We have all of his cookbooks. This particular book contains some of our favorites. We recommend the Jambalayas. There are several different variations. The Shrimp & Crabmeat Jambalaya is terrific. It's not a spicy Jambalaya so you might want to add some of the optional hot peppers as described in the recipe. We sure did, Wow what a difference it makes. The Fried Green Tomatoes are a wonderful tart snack or side dish. Green tomatoes can be hard to find, try your local farmers market or health food stores that sell fresh produce. These are definately worth the effort it takes to find them.

I would like to say this book is the most complete cookbook by chef paul

The Paul Prudhomme Family Cookbook (including his eleven brothers and sisters). This cookbook actually took me back to my childhood. If you were raised in the North as I was but had a parent of cajun/creole heritage, then you were "truly blessed" with a unique cuisine. You see, many of my childhood friends would actually ask to come over for dinner because of the different and exciting dishes we were served (at the time my siblings and I didn't think that these dishes were distinctive). However, as I grew older and began to realize that most people do not savor the spicy varied flavors of cajun cuisine and those that did, considered such cuisine a delicacy. While reading this cookbook, I saw recipes that I thought were my Mother's creation of some late night pregnant craving, such as "greasy rice", prepared exactly the same way my Mother would make when she was 8 months pregnant. One of my favorite memories of meals was the pork roast stuffed with garlic and red pepper. Again, I thought this was a unique way to flavor a roast, however, Paul Prudhomme surprised me again when he printed the recipe in this book. Another surprise was "sticky chicken", a dish I thought my Mother whipped up when she ran out of ideas, (now I know when you are dealing with the cajun/creole cuisine, you never run out of ideas). I would not say that this book list recipes that are considered elegant, but rather "down home" dishes that are prepared with very little ingredients and a lot of love. It has become one of my favorite books. I now have five of my own children and they faithfully assist me in the kitchen, making sure I do not omit the garlic or onions, peppers, etc. They are avid watchers of culinary programs and are quick to point out that a dish in a restaurant does not have enough seasoning or spice to it. I am constantly asked to make old fashioned cajun dishes such as dirty rices, jambalayas, gumbos, etc., or even some of the basic "southern dishes". I've considered going into the restaurant business, as I now cater small private gatherings. Paul Prudhomme has become one of my favorite chefs. During my visits to New Orleans, I have yet to visit K-Paul's Kitchen due to the long lines and little patience. Maybe one day I too will have long lines outside of my restaurant but hopefully all the customers will have patience.

Unfortunately out-of-print, this great book contains many, many recipes from Chef Paul Prudhomme's family, along with a few from the King of Blackening himself. Meticulously detailed to ensure good results, the recipes are all failproof. Some recipes, however, serve better as conversation pieces than actual things you'd want to make. Hog's head cheese? I shudder to think. Red boudin ( made with fresh pork blood )? Eeek! All the same, the coconut cake recipe is really excellent, worth preparing your own fresh coconut for. A must for serious Cajun cooking fans.

Paul Prudhomme is a Louisiana treasure. This book is a peek into what make's his cooking world renowned. A great cookbook. One bonus is that his earlier books have recipes for his different seasoning mixtures. These were published before he bottled and sold his seasoning mixtures. In a climate of saving money, this is a great resource for truly N'awlins cooking.

Very happy with the product and the book itself, couldn't be any better, unless Chef Paul came to my home and showed me how to do it himself!

Buy this book and try any of the dishes. People will ask you how to make it! This is a wonderful collection of great-tasting food. The recipe for pecan pie makes the best I've ever tasted, the potato salad is to die for, and the 4-layer banana cake will have people begging for more. Beware, though: this food, while extremely delicious and soul-satisfying, is not consistent with any weight control goals you may have!