James Beard Award-winning Chef Melissa M. Martin takes readers through South Louisiana traditions and holidays with a breathtaking new cookbook.
Food remains a central life of Cajun Country, and South Louisiana as a whole. Chef Melissa M. Martin, the James Beard Award-winning author of the “Mosquito Supper Club” cookbook and native of a region we in Louisiana call “Down the Bayou,” examines not only the foodways she inherited and developed but how these dishes connect to the traditions and holidays that continue to dominate the lives of South Louisianans. She describes this unique region as “a place where communion is at church, but also at the table, on a boat, and anywhere we gather, tethered together, bayou to bayou, by the rhythms of life.”
In "Bayou," the native of Bayou Petit Caillou serves up many dishes readers will recognize as Cajun standards, such as jambalaya, sauce piquant, boudin and, of course, gumbo. Some are more traditional and therefore not in the mainstream, such as the dessert Oreilles de Cochon, which means pigs ear in French due to the crispy pastry swimming in cane syrup and pecans resembling the ears of a swine (pork another mainstay of Cajun cuisine).
The book detours a bit into New Orleans—not a Cajun town, per say, but it does own bayous—with dishes such as barbecue shrimp, turtle soup, soft shell crawfish poboys and king cakes, all of which can be found throughout Cajun Country as if they were birthed there (and Mardi Gras definitely is part of Cajun culture). Her shrimp-stuffed mirlitons are another, a dish I grew up with in New Orleans (we sometimes called them alligator pears), but provide an example of how stuffing vegetables stretch a meal, a culinary tradition throughout the region.
And then there are recipes from Martin’s own creations, some inspired by other cultures although usually having ties to Louisiana if you look hard enough. Milk-soaked fried eggplant, for instance, came to Martin from Andalusian recipes. That may seem a stretch for a “Bayou” cookbook but Spain ruled Louisiana for almost 70 years. It’s why rice and spices are part of our cuisine.
But the thread running this cookbook is Martin inviting you to her table and celebrating Cajun traditions throughout the year.
Recipes aside, “Bayou” must be the most gorgeous cookbook I’ve read this year. Denny Culbert’s stunning photos provide a dramatic backdrop of Louisiana scenes, not to mention the incredible food styling complementing the recipes. Reading this book will not only make you incredibly hungry for the amazing cuisine of South Louisiana, but you’ll also want to jump on a plane.
Melissa M. Martin has written several cookbooks, including “Mosquito Supper Club: Cajun Recipes from a Disappearing Bayou,” which was named a Best New Cookbook by Bon Appetite, Food & Wine, and other magazines and won the James Beard Award for Best Book in U.S. Foodways. She owns the Mosquito Supper Club Cajun restaurant in New Orleans and has been nominated twice as Best Chef South by the Beard Foundation.
"Bayou" has been named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2024 and one of Eater’s Best Cookbooks of Fall 2024.
On Sale Sep 24, 2024
Page Count: 368 pages
Publisher: Artisan
ISBN-13 9781648291401
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