Whether or not you go in for the hype, there's no denying
that Emeril Lagasse has developed some damn fine dishes. And
New New Orleans Cooking is filled with his trademark
twist on hallowed New Orleans cuisine. If you're even vaguely
familiar with Emeril, you know the foundation of his recipes
is his trademark seasoning blend. I was a little dubious that
a seasoning mix of fairly garden-variety spices (pedestrian
paprika, salt, garlic powder, pepper, onion powder, cayenne,
oregano and thyme make up the Creole Seasoning) would be necessary
or even desirable in virtually every dish. But the seasoning
is way more impressive than the sum of its parts, and it'll
usually do the trick whenever I've cooked up anything that's
not quite zippy enough.
I'm not crazy about the layout of this book. The fonts are
distractingly frou-frou, and I find the arty, earthy black
and white photography rather depressing, but the recipes--man
oh man, do they make up for the design! (The back cover features
beautifully styled color photographs of select recipes, but
there's no such photographs within.)
Each recipe is prefaced with an explanation, story, or tips.
Everything I've tried has been completely doable (although
often heavy on the required steps) and just delicious. Like
Emeril's seasoning, New New Orleans Cooking is definitely
better than the sum of its parts. Although I have problems
with a good deal of the book--and even the recipes themselves
(too complicated)--the glory of the food just makes it all
worthwhile. And unlike the recipes of Paul Prudhomme, another
New Orleans favorite, Emeril's recipes (though certainly rich),
don't leave me feeling like I need an angioplasty.
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