Ralph Brennan's New Orleans Seafood Cookbook

From a member of the celebrated Brennan restaurant family, Ralph Brennan, (Bacco, Redfish Grill, and Ralph’s on the Park) helms the “perfect storm” of culinary talent including iconic food writer Gene Bourg, and stellar photographer Kerri McCaffety in a comprehensive and lovely book focused on New Orleans seafood. 

Glossy, thick pages with over 100 beautiful food photographs wrap around detailed, triple-tested recipes designed for the home cook as well as cooking aficionados.  Ralph has called his book the “definitive guide to New Orleans seafood cooking,” and it holds forth, bulging with information from 170 classic and contemporary recipes to an elaborate source guide and more.

Spanning the simplest of seafood dishes like Barbecue Shrimp, or the heavenly Crawfish Spring Rolls to culinary labors of love like Crawfish Bisque, stuffed heads and all, there is a dish for every level of cook and connoisseur. 

The book is hunger inducing, page after page, and not only useful for the recipes, but as a seafood resource guide and instruction manual.  There’s a clever section of pictorial step-by-step instructions for handling, storing and preparing raw seafood products - complete genius - and the guide to pairing wine with seafood is smart and un-fussy.  Thoughtful, detail-packed, and utterly reflective of the four years it took to produce, Ralph Brennan’s New Orleans Seafood Cookbook is another required cook book for every collection.

FREAKY FOR TIKI

February 25, 2008

As a teenager living in Los Angeles, I used to save my money to dine.  On my bicycle and later, a bright blue Peugeot Moped, I tooled around Beverly Hills and West Hollywood grabbing great Cal-Mex at Sundance Café, frozen yogurt from The Cultured Cow; burgers from Fatburger; and my favorite guilty pleasure, Rumaki (crisply broiled bacon- wrapped water chestnuts and chicken livers) and “virgin” tiki drinks from Don the Beachcomber.  The Tiki décor, casual islandy vibe and incredible, decorative dish and glassware, were right up my alley.  Flash forward about 5 years and I arrive in New Orleans to find Pontchartrain Beach’s Bali Hai and was lucky enough to get sip on a cocktail or two before it closed forever.  On most weekends, my husband and I take out the Bali Hai tiki cups we saved and make Mai Tai’s or some other rummy concoction to drink...even when tiki drinks weren’t “fashionable.”   

Book Bytes
by Lorin Gaudin

December 7, 2007

This year there is a larger than usual number of local cookbooks and cocktail collections for gifting and adding to your own stacks. 

At long last, Susan Spicer has gathered her recipes into Crescent City Cooking.  I’ve never thought of Susan as a girly-girl, but she is; so is her book and the recipes therein.  By no means a character or book indictment, Spicer’s tome is pretty, fluid, has nice photos and a pleasing whirly typeface with recipes that reflects her girl food too.  The recipes are comfortable and easy-going, don’t require a culinary diploma and as expected, her pop favorites are all there, including the sweetbreads with sherry mustard butter, the goat cheese crouton with mushrooms and Madeira cream sauce, Grilled Shrimp with Black bean Cakes and Coriander Sauce, and the Smoked Duck “PBJ” with Cashew Butter, and Pepper Jelly.  I particularly like the images of Susan and her family dotted throughout the book; they’re warm and charming, just like Susan and her special restaurant, Bayona.  17 years after opening the doors, Bayona continues to ooze effortlessness and beautiful food, now we can finally capture the flavor for ourselves at home.