Chef Paul Prudhomme
To give you an indication of how fond I am of Paul Prudhomme’s cooking, let me start by saying I wouldn’t be the passionate cook I am today had I not purchased Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen. Chef Paul shares his Cajun heritage and unique cooking style in a neighborly voice and he patiently and successfully guides you through all of his incredibly flavorful recipes.
Chef John Folse
If there’s anything you want or need to know about Creole and Cajun cuisine, then John Folse is your man. His cookbooks are so comprehensive that I’m afraid he’ll never publish another one. Please, say it isn’t so! (The first 3 books mentioned below are OVER 850 PAGES EACH!) His books make great gifts for foodie friends, Louisiana lovers, culinary students and history buffs just to name a few.
Chefs Donald Link and John Besh
Donald Link and John Besh are the news kids on the cooking block, relatively speaking. Like Prudhomme and Folse, they’re both Louisiana born and bred. As such, they grew up with the lakes, rivers, bayous and woods as their playgrounds. That’s quite evident in their cooking styles, which honor the diverse foods indigenous to south Louisiana and preserve the unique cooking methods that have obviously been passed down from their parents and grandparents.
Chef Susan Spicer
Most chefs publish a cookbook within a year of opening a restaurant. Not Chef Spicer. It took her almost 20 years! Finally, we can all enjoy many of the south-meets-world recipes of her highly acclaimed restaurant Bayona at home.
Chef Emeril Lagasse
Emeril burst onto the New Orleans food scene long before BAM! became a household word and he found his way into my kitchen via his first cookbook, Emeril’s New Orleans Cooking . This cookbook, like all of his early ones, are brimming with enticing traditional and creative contemporary Creole recipes.
