Product Description

One of New Orleans’s brightest culinary stars, Susan Spicer has been indulging Crescent City diners at her highly acclaimed restaurants, Bayona and Herbsaint, for years. Now, in her long-awaited cookbook, Spicer—an expert at knocking cuisine off its pedestal with a healthy dash of hot sauce, and at elevating comfort food to the level of the sublime—brings her signature dishes to the home cook’s table.

Crescent City Cooking includes all the recipes that have made Susan Spicer, and her restaurants, famous. Spicer marries traditional Southern cooking with culinary influences from around the world, and the result is New Orleans cooking with gusto and flair. Each of her familiar yet unique recipes is easy to make and wonderfully memorable.

Inside you’ll find :
• More than 170 recipes, ranging from traditional New Orleans dishes (Cornmeal-Crusted Crayfish Pies and Cajun-Spiced Pecans) to Susan’s very own twists on down-home cuisine (Smoked Duck Hash in Puff Pastry with Apple Cider Sauce; Grilled Shrimp with Black Bean Cakes and Coriander Sauce) and, of course, a recipe for the best gumbo you’ve ever tasted

• Over 90 photographs by Times-Picayune photographer Chris Granger, which display the vibrant city of New Orleans as much as Spicer’s wonderfully offbeat yet classy way of presenting her dishes

• Instructions that make Spicer’s down-to-earth but extraordinarily creative recipes easy to prepare. Spicer, who cooks for two picky preteens and packs lunch every day for her husband, knows how precious time can be and understands just how much is enough

There is something else of New Orleans—its spirit—that imbues this book’s every useful tip and anecdote. The strong culinary traditions of New Orleans are revived in Crescent City Cooking, with recipes that are guaranteed to comfort and surprise. This is some of the best food you’ll ever taste, in what is certain to become the essential New Orleans cookbook.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40250 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-23
• Released on: 2007-10-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In this mouthwatering debut cookbook, Spicer, noted chef and proprietor of New Orleans's Bayona and Herb-saint, offers a vibrant look at the diversity and breadth of her local cuisine. With more than 170 recipes ranging from Cajun-spiced Pecans and Classic N'Awlins Shrimp Boil to Spicy Thai Salad with Shrimp, Pork, and Crispy Rice Noodles, Spicer highlights the range of the region's cuisine. Shellfish appear in several recipes such as Poached Oysters with Leeks and Bacon, and Shrimp and Tomato Bisque. Sandwiches, gumbos and desserts are also given ample attention. Throughout, Spicer provides brief but helpful descriptions of unusual ingredients such as file powder and less common techniques like cold smoking. The must-try Killer Cocktails section (to-go cup not included) and Spicer Pantry list of important tools and ingredients will make any cook happy. This comprehensive guide to New Orleans cuisine will whet the appetite and please the palate. 86 color photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
“This is a great cookbook, full of accessible recipes that people can cook from everyday.  Susan Spicer is a master at marrying exotic flavors with great Southern food.  She is a New Orleans treasure and one of the most talented chefs at work in America today.”

–Suzanne Goin


“Susan Spicer is a chef who dazzles the palate with flavors rooted in her beloved New Orleans.  Her long-awaited debut, Crescent City Cooking, is full of mouth-watering recipes and show-stealing sides, and her chapter on killer cocktails from Bourbon Street is simply not to be missed.  This book is one big party.  Congratulations, Susan.”

–Lidia Bastianich


“Susan Spicer is one of my favorite chefs in my favorite dining city in the world. Her sense of place and tradition is as romantic as it is alluring, and her recipes, basted with an incredible depth of flavor, are disarmingly simple to prepare. Susan's cooking celebrates the vibrant key of the French quarter, and the food in this book is tasty, delicious and exciting to make.”

–Mario Batali


"Susan's cuisine is a true journey around the world, blending soulful ingredients into exciting and original recipes.  Her love for New Orleans' tradition shines through her innovative cooking."

–Daniel Boulud, Chef/Restaurateur




From the Hardcover edition.

Review
“This is a great cookbook, full of accessible recipes that people can cook from everyday.  Susan Spicer is a master at marrying exotic flavors with great Southern food.  She is a New Orleans treasure and one of the most talented chefs at work in America today.”

–Suzanne Goin


“Susan Spicer is a chef who dazzles the palate with flavors rooted in her beloved New Orleans.  Her long-awaited debut, Crescent City Cooking, is full of mouth-watering recipes and show-stealing sides, and her chapter on killer cocktails from Bourbon Street is simply not to be missed.  This book is one big party.  Congratulations, Susan.”

–Lidia Bastianich


“Susan Spicer is one of my favorite chefs in my favorite dining city in the world. Her sense of place and tradition is as romantic as it is alluring, and her recipes, basted with an incredible depth of flavor, are disarmingly simple to prepare. Susan's cooking celebrates the vibrant key of the French quarter, and the food in this book is tasty, delicious and exciting to make.”

–Mario Batali


"Susan's cuisine is a true journey around the world, blending soulful ingredients into exciting and original recipes.  Her love for New Orleans' tradition shines through her innovative cooking."

–Daniel Boulud, Chef/Restaurateur

Customer Reviews

The cook-book you always wanted
I had the pleasure of working for Susan Spicer many years ago, so I might not be the best judge of `crescent city cooking'. However, and on the other hand, I know that she is a one hundred percent perfectionist. Spicer will not let one plate out of her kitchen that does not pass her absolute hard-core standards. And I think that `Crescent City Cooking' is one of those cook-books that anyone who has spent even a little time in the kitchen will appreciate due to both its simplicity and shrewd advice.

One thing that I would like to point out is that these recipes are in my opinion guidelines. Maybe you try a dish one time exactly the way it is spelled out here, but then half the fun is in playing slightly with the ingredients the next time. What is talked about here is how to get the most out of a dish... how to go about it the right way.

In my mind, Spicer is a culinary god. I always compare every single restaurant to Bayona. Some have come close, but ultimately none match the quality over-all of dining experience. Lastly, if you have never eaten at bayona, if they still seat out on the patio, and you are in New Orleans in the spring or fall, book a table.

I can't put it away
I received this book about three weeks ago, and have cooked almost exclusively from it since it arrived. Not one thing has disappointed. I sent my daughter a copy, since she spent most of a visit copying recipes from mine. We did the shrimp boil while she was here (delicious) with the epiphany lemon tart for dessert. Since then, my husband and I have enjoyed the shrimp with green chile cheese grits, and the Madeira mushrooms over goat cheese croutons. I've been reading it like a novel in bed at night, anxiously awaiting the next meal I can make from it. The photographs are beautiful, the writing approachable. Buy it.

Great New Orleans memories
Bayona's has always been my favorite New Orleans restaurant since I discovered it about 10 years ago. And it is my favorite because of Susan Spicer. Her recipes evoke happy memories, and are easy to follow. I need another cookbook like I need a hole in the head, but I am really glad I added this one to my collection.