Acadiana Table

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

Stuffed with 125 Creole and Cajun inspired dishes, Acadiana Table gets to the roots of everthing you need for Louisiana cooking and regional cuisine.

The invasion of land by ocean-dwelling plants and animals was one of the most revolutionary events in the evolution of life on Earth, yet the animal invasion almost failed—twice—because of the twin mass extinctions of the Late Devonian Epoch. Some 359 to 375 million years ago, these catastrophic events dealt our ancestors a blow that almost drove them back into the sea. If those extinctions had been just a bit more severe, spiders and insects might have become the ecologically dominant forms of animal life on land. This book examines the profound evolutionary consequences of the Late Devonian extinctions, which shaped the composition of the modern terrestrial ecosystem. Only one group of four-limbed vertebrates now live on Earth while other tetrapod-like fishes are extinct. This gap is why the idea of “fish with feet” seems so peculiar yet these animals were once a vital part of our world.

Master the art of all the most delectable styles of Louisiana cooking, from Cajun to Creole, rural Acadiana to down-home New Orleans, in more than 100 easy-to-use recipes. George Graham—a lifelong Louisianan, a former chef and restaurateur, and now an award-winning food writer and blogger—is a brilliant cook, a warm, funny, and engaging storyteller, and an ace photographer. He brings all these talents alive in Fresh from Louisiana, his second cookbook, following on the heels of his masterful Acadiana Table. George makes Louisiana cooking not just easy for home cooks to learn, but fun and interesting, too. The recipes range from George's pitch-perfect versions of classic Louisiana dishes to imaginative, brand-new ideas that use the signature flavors of the region's cuisines in utterly new ways. You can start a glorious Louisiana meal with a Corn and Crab Bisque, a Crawfish Boil Chowder, or Mini Bell Peppers Stuffed with Crabmeat. For a main course, why not try a Pork Roast with Apple Pan Gravy, Crisp Chicken Thighs with Creole Jasmine Rice, or a Gulf Shrimp Pasta Primavera? There are lots of desserts, too, like Praline Pumpkin Pie, Macadamia Nut Ice Cream Sandwich, and Sweet Potato Pie Brûlée, plus sides, sandwiches, cooling drinks, and breakfast and brunch fare. For soul-satisfying everyday dinners with family to amazing weekend feasts with friends, this beautiful book—with more than 100 color photos—brings the intriguing and delicious flavors of Louisiana home, wherever you might live.

One of Eater's Best Food Books to Read This Fall American food traditions are in danger of being lost. How do we save them? Apples, a common New England crop, have been called the United States' "most endangered food." The iconic Texas Longhorn cattle is categorized at "critical" risk for extinction. Unique date palms, found nowhere else on the planet, grow in California’s Coachella Valley—but the family farms that caretake them are shutting down. Apples, cattle, dates—these are foods that carry significant cultural weight. But they’re disappearing. In Endangered Eating, culinary historian Sarah Lohman draws inspiration from the Ark of Taste, a list compiled by Slow Food International that catalogues important regional foods. Lohman travels the country learning about the distinct ingredients at risk of being lost. Readers follow Lohman to Hawaii, as she walks alongside farmers to learn the stories behind heirloom sugarcane. In the Navajo Nation, she assists in the traditional butchering of a Navajo Churro ram. Lohman heads to the Upper Midwest, to harvest wild rice; to the Pacific Northwest, to spend a day wild salmon reefnet fishing; to the Gulf Coast, to devour gumbo made thick and green with filé powder; and to the Lowcountry of South Carolina, to taste America’s oldest peanut—long thought to be extinct. Lohman learns from those who love these rare ingredients: shepherds, fishers, and farmers; scientists, historians, and activists. And she tries her hand at raising these crops and preparing these dishes. Each chapter includes two recipes, so readers can be a part of saving these ingredients by purchasing and preparing them. Animated by stories yet grounded in historical research, Endangered Eating gives readers the tools to support community food organizations and producers that work to preserve local culinary traditions and rare, cherished foods—before it’s too late.

"Acadiana" summons up visions of a legendary and exotic world of moss-draped cypress, cocoa-colored bayous, subtropical wildlife, and spicy indigenous cuisine. The ancestral home of Cajuns and Creoles, this twenty-two-parish area of south Louisiana encompasses a broad range of people, places, and events. In their historical and pictorial tour of the region, author Carl A. Brasseaux and photographer Philip Gould explore in depth this fascinating and complex world. As passionate documentarians of all things Cajun and Creole, Brasseaux and Gould delve into the topography, culture, and economy of Acadiana. In two hundred color photographs of architecture, landscapes, wildlife, and artifacts, Gould portrays the rich history still visible in the area, while Brasseaux's engagingly written narrative covers the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century story of settlement and development in the region. Brasseaux brings the story up to date, recounting devastating hurricanes and coastal degradation. From living-history attractions such as Vermilionville, the Acadian Village, and Longfellow-Evangeline State Park to music venues, festivals, and crawfish boils, Acadiana depicts a resilient and vibrant way of life and presents a vivid portrait of a culture that continues to captivate, charm, and endure. For all those who want to explore these people and this place, Brasseaux and Gould have provided an insightful written and visual history.

Everyone loves Texas food and now, Dean Fearing, arguably the best chef in Texas, shares the top traditional and modern dishes from the Lone Star State. THE TEXAS FOOD BIBLE From Legendary Dishes to New Classics THE TEXAS FOOD BIBLE will be a timeless, authentic resource for the home cook-a collection of the traditional and the contemporary recipes from Texas. Dean Fearing will take readers through Texas culinary heritage, the classic preparations involved, and the expansion and fusion of the foods that have combined to develop an original Southwestern cuisine. A bit of regional history will take the reader from fry bread to Sweet Potato Spoonbread, from Truck Stop Enchiladas to Barbecue Shrimp Tacos. Simple taco and salsa recipes will be starred right beside the culinary treasures that make Dean's cooking internationally known. This comprehensive guide will include step-by-step methods and techniques for grilling, smoking, and braising in the Southwestern manner, in addition to recipes from other chefs who have contributed to the evolution of this regional cuisine, such as Robert del Grande and Stephen Pyles, and a look at local purveyors such as Paula Lambert's cheese. These recipes will be accompanied by more than 150 photographs of finished dishes and the cooking process along with a glossary of food terms. THE TEXAS FOOD BIBLE is the ultimate cookbook for foodies and simple home cooks alike.

Illustrations and rhythmic text celebrate edible treats that characterize Louisiana, such as beignets and po boys. Includes facts about the foods mentioned and a recipe for red beans and rice.