New Orleans Seafood Cookbook [Paperback]

Jaeger and DeMers have created a primer to get cooks who don't know an ?touff?e from a gumbo on the road to Creole bliss. Chef Jaeger, whose family has been in the New Orleans seafood business for decades, and veteran cookbook scribe DeMers spare not an ounce of Southern hospitality while instructing how to peel shrimp, open an oyster and suck the spice out of the head of a crawfish. Missing and needed, however, are suggestions on just how to acquire, say, some fresh Channel Catfish or the obscure Southern fruit known as a mirliton. Meanwhile there is no shortage of Jaeger family history, New Orleans small talk and tips on living the good life (cranked-up music, Louisiana shrimp and a cold beer). Recipes run the gamut from the simple (Fried Shrimp, Blackened Tuna) to the sublime (Crawfish Ravioli in a Hot Brandy Cream Sauce, Oysters Rockefeller) and the ridiculous (a Bread Pudding that absorbs a can of fruit cocktail, a Jambalaya that calls for a quarter pound of margarine). Preambles to each of the recipes often prove amusingly disarming: the directions for a questionable concoction called Asparagus-Lemon-Cream Trout begin by stating, "Sometimes you try a combination and just get lucky." Such logic makes this collection a worthwhile gamble for easy-does-it cooks or die-hard Yankees in search of a different cuisine. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

It's impossible to think about New Orleans cuisine without thinking seafood—soft-shelled crab, catfish, swordfish, oysters, shrimp, speckled trout, snapper, blue crab. And even shark. And it's impossible for anyone in New Orleans to think about seafood without thinking of Andrew Jaeger, third-generation seafood chef and proprietor of the famous French Quarter Restaurant, Jaeger's. This book presents some 125 of his best-loved recipes, lavishly illustrated with full-color photos. It's all you need to have your own personal Mardi Gras.

JOHN DeMERS is a food writer, radio talk show host, and author of more than 30 books. He lives in Houston, Texas, and serves as editor of ArtsHouston magazine.
ANDREW JAEGER grew up over the New Orleans seafood restaurant his family ran for 45 years, and he is chef/owner of two locations of Andrew Jaeger’s Restaurant.