Acadiana Table: Cajun and Creole Home Cooking from the Heart of Louisiana

by George Graham

Overview

There's nothing in the world quite like Creole and Cajun cooking. Experience this unique, regional cooking tradition that's steeped in culture and history with Arcadiana Table.

In this beautifully photographed, 125-recipe regional cookbook, Louisiana native George Graham welcomes home cooks and food lovers to the world of Cajun and Creole cooking. The Acadiana region of southwest Louisiana, where this unique cuisine has its roots, is a journey into a fascinating culinary landscape.

Filled with many of the standard dishes expected in a Louisiana cookbook, Acadiana Table also includes brand-new recipes, techniques, and an exploration into the culture, geography, and history of this distinctive area. Fans of Louisiana are sure to love this cookbook, even if they've been cooking Creole and Cajun for years.

Book chapters include:

• First You Make a Roux
• Sunrise in Acadiana
• Simmering Black Pots
• A Little Lagniappe on the Side
• Farm Fresh
• The Cajun/Creole Coast
• If it Flies, It Fries
• Meats and the Mastery of the Boucherie
• Sweet Surrender

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558328631
Publisher:	Harvard Common Press, The
Publication date:	10/15/2016
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	407,714
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 10.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

George Graham has lived in South Louisiana for all his life. He has been an avid student, chronicler, and photographer of the region's culture and culinary traditions. Born into a restaurant family and a former restaurateur himself, he has written about Cajun and Creole cuisine for newspapers and magazines, and he has been a finalist on television's Food Network Challenge.

George's blog Acadiana Table: George Graham's Stories of Louisiana Cooking and Cajun/Creole Culture has been a finalist for Best Food Blog: Regional Cuisine in Saveur magazine's 2014 Best Food Blog Awards and also for Best Food Blog in the 2015 IACP Digital Media Awards. He lives in Lafayette, Louisiana, with his wife and daughter.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Welcome to my Acadiana Table
The Roots of South Louisiana Cooking
My Culinary Journey
Born and Fed in Louisiana
This Cookbook
My Style of Cooking
Let’s Cook
 
Chapter One
First You Make A Roux
 
Chapter Two
Sunrise in Acadiana
 
Chapter Three
Simmering Black Pots
 
Chapter Four
A Little Lagniappe on the Side
 
Chapter Five
Farm Fresh
 
Chapter Six
The Cajun/Creole Coast
 
             
Chapter Seven
If It Flies, It Fries
 
Chapter Eight
Meats and the Mastery of the Boucherie
 
Chapter Nine
Sweet Surrender
 
Chapter Ten
Drinks and Drunks

Acknowledgments
About the Author
Sources

Editorial Reviews

10/03/2016
Acadiana, the land mass otherwise known as South Louisiana, is a culinary wonderland, and Graham, a food writer and photographer, has spent his life there learning the proper simmering time for alligator and the benefits of lard. A little bit Cajun and a little bit Creole, one part traditionalist and one part disrupter, he combines 125 classic and contemporary recipes with short visits to local haunts such as Fred’s Lounge, where Saturday day drinkers face a 2:00 p.m. last call. Graham observes that territorial history flavors many a dish. The po’boy and the Vietnamese sandwich share French roots, and come together in a soft-shell crab bánh mì. The fine line between Spanish paella and Cajun jambalaya is blurred in paella Louisiane, a pot full of rabbit, pork, chicken and seafood seasoned with the holy trinity of celery, onions, and peppers. Ironically, Graham learned his French onion soup recipe in New York; it’s thickened with gelatinous chicken feet. Acadiana is sugarcane country, so cane molasses is the sweetener for desserts such as the Tabasco, chocolate, and red currant brownies. The backwaters provide supplies for seafood dishes of every stripe, including snapping turtle in a sauce piquant. The 130 color photos tell their own stories, none more vivid than the crawfish-stuffed beet-boiled eggs, a psychedelic side dish of purple, orange, and yellow. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Like Graham’s blog, it’s as gorgeous as it’s educational, perfect for a coffee table as well as a kitchen."—Chere Cohen, USA Today

"Acadiana, the land mass otherwise known as South Louisiana, is a culinary wonderland, and Graham, a food writer and photographer, has spent his life there. . .A little bit Cajun and a little bit Creole, one part traditionalist and one part disrupter, he combines 125 classic and contemporary recipes with short visits to local haunts such as Fred’s Lounge, where Saturday day drinkers face a 2:00 p.m. last call."—Publishers Weekly

"Graham’s 320-page, 125-recipe opus has me drooling for Lemon-Pecan Pancakes with Southern Comfort Molasses for breakfast; Fried Oyster and Crawfish Caesar Salad for lunch; and perhaps Coq Au Vin or Grilled Baby Eggplant with Parsley-Pecan Pesto for supper."—Wendell Brock, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

From the Publisher