Howard Mitcham (1917–1996)

I tracked this book down based on a glowing review in one of Anthony Bourdain's essay. Given his rather dry and sarcastic nature I had to check out a cookbook that he had a clear and positive feeling about. Part of me suspects that he still recommended it to people because of the occasional sexual reference. (One even in a recipe!).

I have to say though this is exactly the type of cookbook that I like. It has a ton of background information on the area of New Orleans and the history of the food of the region and people in the area. It's not restricted just to the recipes. The book has a mixture of difficulties in the recipe, varying from incredibly simple to rather ornate and complex recipes that will involve smoking or testing your sewing skills.

Everything sounds delicious and you'll be craving seafood from the Gulf area. Reading the book at this time was rather bad timing on my part given the recent oil spill.

I was impressed by this book enough that I got it originally from the library and halfway through I decided to go on a price-hunt. I was delighted to find out that it's been reprinted frequently and I was able to snag a new copy for much less than most cookbooks on the market these days. (I think I ended up paying less than $10 for it.)

I'll grant the focus of the book is extremely narrow, but there's enough basic recipes that with following some of the fish comparisons in the back a true lover of good food and cooking will have plenty of delectable appetizers and main dishes to create.

One last point, I'd say the book is also an excellent one if you like to entertain frequently. Many of the recipes make a large amount of food, showing the various recipes origins as either party food or restaurant food. Most look easily scalable.… (more)