Review: Cajun-Creole Cooking by Terry Thompson

This is the 1986 edition that I own.
You'll pay more than $50 for this
26-year-old mass-produced paperback
if you buy it at Amazon. I suggest
you go straight to used bookstores,
virtual or brick and mortar, to find
a reasonable affordable copy. Or,
contact the publisher, ShearerPublishing,
to see about buying directly from them. 

I don't often review brand-new cookbooks. I tend to gravitate to the tried-and-true ones because, frankly, what Americans don't need are more cookbooks. We just need a few that we can rely on again and again. Cooking trends are just an excuse to spend money on ideas you can probably access with the cookbooks you already have at hand.

To honor Mardi Gras, today I bring you Terry Thompson's Cajun-Creole Cooking.

Emeril Lagasse gave this cookbook his blessing back in 1986 and rightly so. These recipes are authentic, home-style cooking and the introductions to the chapters are honest discussions about the ways and means of regional Louisiana cooking done in a straightforward manner that doesn't border on kitsch like so many other regional cookbooks do.

Really, in fact, you must read the book's formal introduction before using this book because it offers some valuable insight into the culture and history of Cajun and Creole cooking as well as tips for basic preparations like roux and discussions of building block ingredients like garlic.

Thompson breaks out the recipes for different courses like most cookbooks, but she also spends two chapters delineating the differences between Cajun and Creole dishes. She also spends a good deal of time on brunch, which is often a throwaway chapter in other cookbooks, because Sunday brunch is a time-honored Southern tradition. Finally, at the end of the book, there's a list of Mail-Order Sources that, though not sporting Internet URLs (this book was first published in 1986, after all), is still mostly relevant. Some of my favorite supplies from past experience include:

• Community Kitchen: http://www.communitycoffee.com/
• Konriko Company Store (now Conrad Rice Mill): http://www.conradricemill.com/
• K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen: http://www.chefpaul.com/kpaul
• Louisiana Fish Fry Products: http://www.louisianafishfry.com/
• Luzianne Blue Plate Foods: http://www.luzianne.com/about_us.php
• White Lily Flour Company: http://www.whitelily.com/

You know how you have cookbooks that automatically open to the most-used recipe? This book opens to a lot of different well-loved recipes, including Cajun Corn Salad, Crabmeat and Vegetable Salad, Creole Roquefort Dressing, Horseradish Sauce, Muffuletta Sandwich, New Orleans Butter Pralines, Olive Salad, Red Beans & Rice with Sausage, Shrimp in Mustard Sauce and Spinach Salad Vermillion. That's 10 recipes I've made over and over from one cookbook... how do the cookbooks on your shelf stack up to that?

Laissez les bons temps roulez, I say! If you don't already have a good guide to Cajun and Creole cooking, why not celebrate Mardi Gras today by getting your copy of Cajun-Creole Cooking? (See photo caption for ways to find and buy the book.)