Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Cajun and Creole cooking are often lumped together as a single cuisine. There is some justification for doing this, as there is a lot of overlap between the two cuisines, and they share many of the same dishes. However, they are not identical. If Paul Prudhomme represents the far Cajun end of the Cajun-Creole spectrum, Galatoire represents the far Creole end. Traditional Creole cooking, such as that served up in New Orleans at Galatoire's, Antoine's and Brennan's, is not the fiery hyper-spiced food of Prudhomme. Traditional Creole cooking is subtle, refined, and Continental in character. Seasonings are used merely to accent the flavor of the food, rather than to overwhelm it. Galatoire's book is an excellent example of this type of cooking. The recipes are delicious, suprisingly easy, and yes, even somewhat low in fat.
The chicken, shrimp, and ham jambalaya is nothing short of spectacular. My wife and I have cooked and eaten many different jambalayas, including recipes from Prudhomme, Justin Wilson, and from the excellent book by Terry Thompson. We have also had it in many restaurants in South Louisiana and elsewhere. We both agree that Galatoire's is the best we have ever tasted. His technique is somewhat unorthodox. The rice is cooked separately and then combined with the other ingredients for the last 10 minutes. This produces grains which are fluffy and separate, yet fully absorb the flavors of the meat, shellfish, vegetables, and seasonings. The Crawfish Etoufee, Shrimp Creole, and other recipes are also excellent.
So why did I only give it four stars? While the recipes are great, there are some problems with the mechanics and layout of the book. 1) There are a fair number of typos 2) The recipe for Crawfish Cardinal has you produce a stock as the first step, which is then never mentioned again in the recipe. 3) Recipes for sauces are in another part of the book from the recipes which call for them. Listing the page numbers for the sauces in the main recipes would have been helpful. 4) A few recipes are repeated verbatim in different chapters of the book (i.e. appetizers and main dishes). This seems awkward and unnecessary.
5) For a few recipes, a variation is described for the main recipe, and what is traditionally used is mentioned at the end. For example: Cobia Courtboullion is described. At the end of the recipe, Redfish is mentioned as what is traditionally used in South Louisiana. I would prefer to have the traditional recipe given first.
These problems are primarily editorial and easily fixed. I would love to see Galatoire come out with a competently edited second edition of this book. I believe it would become a classic among Cajun-Creole cookbooks.
In conclusion, despite the problems mentioned, the recipes in this book are great and make it well worth owning. If you love Creole cooking and prefer flavor to heat, buy this book!
Click Here to see more reviews about:
Leon Galatoire's Cookbook
Get 24% OFF
Click here for more information about Leon Galatoire's Cookbook
