Every Day's a Party: Louisiana Recipes For Celebrating With Family And Friends (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anyone who loves the sound of Chef Emeril's voice as much as he does is going to enjoy Every Day's a Party. Yet it is something of a "big hat, no cattle" kind of book. The 125 recipes seem like reheats, like afterthoughts, flavorful and evocative though they may be. But the editorial copy is rich and thick, like a wicked cake frosting that begs for a finger swipe or two.

Lagasse walks the reader through the 12 months of the year, selecting holidays and occasions out of each month on which to hang a celebration and several recipes. So you have the Sugar Bowl and Twelfth Night in January, Mother's Day and the Crawfish Festival in May, The Sugar Cane Festival and Pirogie Festival in September, and in November, let us not miss the Omelette Festival. (Does Dave Barry know about this?)

The history and the tradition of Louisiana are about as exotic as anything in the U.S. is ever going to get, and the writers exploit this to great advantage. In this sense, Every Day's a Party is really more of a travel book that happens to have recipes and Lagasse's high-proof enthusiasm leaking off of every page. A sense of place and purpose come through, as well as the opportunity to taste a little bit of what the author is aiming at. You'll find Salt-and-Herb-Crusted Red Snapper and Bananas Foster Ice Cream Pie, Crawfish and Sausage Jambalaya and Emeril's Martini with Chocolate Grapes, Cold Cucumber Soup and Pecan Florentines. This doesn't sound a bit like a New England Boiled Dinner, now, does it? For which we can thank God and Emeril Lagasse for small favors. --Schuyler Ingle

From Publishers Weekly

With restaurants in New Orleans, Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas, Nev., two shows on the Food Network and five cookbooks, Lagasse is a multimedia phenomenon. This manic, in-your-face cookbook collects Louisiana-style recipes for holidays and events, some familiar (Thanksgiving is to be celebrated with Emeril's Fried Turkey), some local (the New Iberia Gumbo Cook-Off, featuring Gumbo Ya-Ya with sausage) and some purely personal (Lagasse's parents' anniversary with his-and-hers entr?es: Mr. John's Veal Chops with Smoked Gouda Cheese Macaroni and Hilda's Mahi Mahi with Seasonal Vegetables). There is no shortage of the heavy foods for which Lagasse has become famous: Andouille Corn Dogs and a Roasted Pork and French Fry Poorboy. Lagasse (who admits to being a native of Fall River, Mass.) also includes plenty of Louisiana shellfish, such as Crawfish Pies, My Way, and Marinated Crab Claws. There are nods to the trendy (Goat Cheese-Stuffed Soft-Shell Crabs with a Pecan-Pesto Butter Sauce) and the trashy (Frito PieAbasically chili poured into a bag of corn chipsAand Sugared Popcorn). Desserts tend toward the goopy and cavity aching, such as his Chocolate Bundt Cakes with Peanut Butter Filling and Chocolate Glaze.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1 edition (September 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688164307
• ISBN-13: 978-0688164300
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #563,924 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's talk about the Recipes ..., January 26, 2000

By	James R Collins (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

Emeril creates polar opinions. Read some of the other customer reviews and you'll see what I mean. His "in your face" style forces people to make a love or hate decision. This book is a celebration of Emeril. But it is also a cookbook. It was given to me as a gift and I have thumbed through it several times and tried a few of the recipes. One thing first: Emeril's cookbooks are not for the first time chef. The show my be fun but his recipes can be pretty demanding and it takes a practiced eye to seperate the easy from the difficult. Finding ingredients can also be a challenge. One frustration about this book is the lack of food photos. Pictures of a finished dish can be helpful, especially when you're not sure things are going well in the kitchen. All of that said, the three recipes I have tried so far have turned out great. Just be prepared, cooking like Emeril takes time and makes a big mess. And, while you're cooking you have to try a few, "bams." They do actually make the food taste better...

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not one of his better efforts, December 6, 1999

By	"retiredchef" (the South) - See all my reviews

I believe that Emeril has slipped just a little bit. This book is grand in concept, but somewhat lacking in substance. He may be so busy trying to keep his shows going, his personal appearances, all of his restaurants, etc that he has lost a little bit of his true creative edge. Most of the recipes in here are ambitious, but they tend to miss the mark. He has taken some of the fun of innovating and run wild with it, to the point that it is counterproductive. I would advise Emeril to take a break for a little while and get back to the kitchen to do some real cooking. He should get back in touch with the basics that are so vital to true Louisiana cooking. The 'creative' dishes that he has been displaying lately on his show and the recipes in this book are indicative of how he has gone just a little overboard.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars WHERE ARE THE PICTURES OF THE FOOD?, December 5, 1999

By	A. Baker "arkiebookdiva" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book features many pictures of unidentified good times but no pictures of the food being featured. I have tried four receipes and of the four only one turned out as it was described. I would not recommend this one.