My New Orleans

The Cookbook

by John Besh
Price: $45.00
ISBN-13: 978-0-7407-8413-2
ISBN-10: 0-7407-8413-7
Format: Hardcover
On Sale: October 2009
Size: 9 1/4 X 11 in.
Page Count: 384 pages

IACP 2010 Cookbook Award Winner
James Beard Cookbook Award Nominee

“[My New Orleans] is a tome; it’s a bible, with a bit of food porn thrown in for good measure. The recipes run from the required (Mom’s Redfish Cu-boo-yon!), to the expected (Shrimp Creole), to the I’ve gotta try that (Chanterelles, Chicken, and Dumplings)! I love this book. It’s a keeper and I look forward to working my way through the various chapters that group recipes (for oysters, for example) together for easy reference.  Laissez les bon temps roulez! ––Snooth http://www.snooth.com/articles/wine-and-food/recipes-from-my-new-orleans/

“Bite by bite John Besh brings us New Orleans cooking like we’ve never tasted before. It’s the perfect blend of contemporary French techniques with indigenous Southern Louisiana products and know-how. ” ––Eat Smart Age Smart http://www.eatsmartagesmart.com/my-new-orleans-the-cookbook/

“Even without cooking, this book feels like the next best thing to being in Louisiana in good times. It’s lavishly illustrated with both historic photos and shots of food so gorgeous you can almost smell it if not taste it. What’s most amazing, considering how sumptuous it is, is the price: Good for a cookbook, but a steal for a virtual trip.” –Epicurious http://bit.ly/c6IT5E

“This glorious book is award-winning chef John Besh’s testament to his beloved hometown. Most of the book follows the city’s gastronomic calendar, highlighting celebrations (like Mardi Gras, Easter, Passover, and Réveillon) and ingredients (oysters, chanterelles, blackberries, speckled trout, and the like) in their season.” ––FineCooking http://bit.ly/cmKRNu

“[John] Besh’s new book is an exposition on life in the New Orleans region. It is part autobiography, part history, part technique, and not to be left out, a whole lot of great recipes. The recipes in Besh’s book run the gamut from Jambalaya serving 15 people cooked in a 3 to 5 gallon pot, to simple grilled oysters, to more complex dishes that you’d be pleased to enjoy at any of Besh’s high-end restaurants. The running thread through all the recipes is the link to local, fresh, seasonal ingredients with a rich history in the New Orleans area.” ––Project Foodie http://www.projectfoodie.com/spotlights/cookbooks/my-new-orleans.html

“Like its exquisite recipes, My New Orleans is a masterpiece. Author John Besh’s cookbook sparks all the senses: taste through enticing recipes; sight from stunning photography; touch by weight and cool, glossy pages. This is more than a cookbook: it’s a calling, inviting you to turn the next page, and the next, and the next. … The best cookbooks are meant to be savored through words and images, in addition to recipes. My New Orleans nails it.” ––Sacramento Book Review http://sacramentobookreview.com/cooking_food_wine/my-new-orleans-the-cookbook/

“Bite by bite John Besh brings us New Orleans cooking like we’ve never tasted before. It’s the perfect blend of contemporary French techniques with indigenous Southern Louisiana products and know-how.” ––Eat Your Books http://www.eatyourbooks.com/Pages/bestofbest2009.aspx

“Love cookbooks? Bet your favorites are those that not only present high-quality recipes, but also offer insights into the origins of the food they discuss. In that case, you shouldn’t miss Louisiana chef John Besh’s new tome: “My New Orleans, the Cookbook.” A 360-page storybook filled with gorgeous photos and 200 recipes for his delectable cuisine, this is a work that goes easily from coffee table to kitchen, and then to the sitting room, where you could spend hours reading Besh’s reflections about growing up and raising his own family in south Louisiana.” ––Louisiana Travel http://www.louisianatravel.com/new-orleans-cuisine-becomes-storybook-0

“The book is divided seasonally starting with crawfish and Mardi Gras dishes, moving on to feast days and shrimp season, then fish followed by summer vegetables and crab season. There’s a chapter for gumbos and one for Thanksgiving, one for pork since Chef Besh raises his own hogs, and a final chapter for Reveillon or the feast served on Christmas Eve. It’s a beautiful book, and I’m enjoying cooking from it. … I’m already looking forward to Mardi Gras and strawberry season and all the other reasons to use this book throughout the coming year.” ––Lisa Is Cooking http://lisaiscooking.blogspot.com/2009/12/oysters-with-spicy-garlic-butter.html

“This glorious book is award-winning chef John Besh’s testament to his beloved hometown…. Besh honors classics like gumbo, but he also breaks with tradition.” ––Fine Cooking

“The 374-page book might be as much an epic about one man’s culinary journey as it is a cookbook. There are more than 200 recipes, as well as stories about crawfish boils and Mardi Gras parades; histories of Louisiana citrus and Ponchatoula strawberries; and anecdotes about friends and family. … The recipes are a reflection of New Orleans’ culinary history: gumbos and etouffees; red beans and rice; caldo; Jaegerschnitzel (hunter’s chops). Many are modern takes, using traditional and/or local ingredients: strawberry and Creole cream cheese ice cream; an elegant cauliflower and crawfish soup; salad of grilled bobwhite quail with chanterelles. The book is loosely organized by season (as in shrimp, tomato, blackberry or oyster season — and gumbo weather) and highlighted by celebrations, the times when families and friends orchestrate big get-togethers: birthdays, Mardi Gras, Easter, Thanksgiving, Reveillon, even St. Joseph’s Day. And the book itself reads like a celebration.” ––LA Times http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2009/12/a-new-orleans-cookbook-first-you-write-about-roux-thats-what-john-besh-did-its-naturally-the-first-recipe-in-new-orleans.html

“With a patient voice and straightforward instructions about everything from basic roux and gumbo to tempura-fried squash blossoms with crabmeat stuffing and blood orange creme brulee, Besh has created a cookbook accessible for newcomers to this magnificent American regional cuisine while providing a source of fresh ideas to experienced Creole cooks.” ––Boston Herald http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/food/view.bg?articleid=1215861&srvc=home&position=also

“This glorious book is award-winning chef John Besh’s testament to his beloved hometown. Most of the book follows the city’s gastronomic calendar, highlighting celebrations (like Mardi Gras, Feast Days, and Réveillon) and ingredients (oysters, chanterelles, blackberries, speckled trout, and the like) in their season.” ––Fine Cooking http://www.finecooking.com/item/12244/my-new-orleans-the-cookbook

“Besh’s book is not just another cookbook. While it contains 200 recipes, it’s also a beautiful coffee table book with gorgeous archival and present day pictures of NOLA and its families and characters at work and play, at Mardi Gras, on the waterways, and at the table. Its contents are not organized in traditional cookbook “appetizer to dessert” order, but rather by ingredients, seasons and feast days- some of those days meriting their own chapter- like Mardi Gras and Thanksgiving.” ––Pain Perdue http://giseleperez.typepad.com/painperdu/2009/11/my-new-orleans.html

“Besh’s book is a charming tribute to the roots and rituals surrounding such iconic dishes as crawfish and rice, muffaletta sandwiches, café au lait and beignets, fried chicken, po’boys and even snow cones (they were invented at Hansen’s in 1939). It’s also a beautiful compendium of artful photos of foods like crumbly lavender madeleines with thick Louisiana citrus pots de crème.” ––Publisher’s Weekly http://bit.ly/3ygKUj

“This beautifully curated book by John Besh, chef at August and other restaurants in and around New Orleans, is one of the most loving and informative tributes to the city’s food culture that’s ever been put into print. Chapters on everything from gumbo to Mardi Gras, shrimp season to boucherie, are packed with vividly told stories and superb recipes.” ––Saveur http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/New-and-Notable-Reads

“Best in show for coffee table cookbooks is My New Orleans by John Besh, the chef and owner of six restaurants in the city, and Dorothy Kalins, who provided bright text and photographs of the region, with some photos dating back decades. … To make sense of the city’s culinary influences, the book is organized by ingredients, festivals and traditions of the Cajuns, Creoles, French and Italians and other groups.” ––New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/dining/04book.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

“My New Orleans is one of those cookbooks that justifies why in this day and age of Internet (and us food bloggers who are just giving away recipes) we will still have cookbooks.  My New Orleans is more than just a list of recipes.  It’s a persuasive speech for returning to New Orleans.  It’s a testament to the spirit of the people who live there.” ––Blog Well Done http://www.blogwelldone.com/2009/11/03/cooking-my-new-orleans/

“John has decided to share his culinary talents with us in the form of his cookbook, My New Orleans: The Cookbook by John Besh. This book is 384 pages and weighs in at about 5 pounds! It is chock full of recipes, photos and stories provided for our reading and cooking pleasure. The cost is $45 (hardcover) and well worth the price.” ––About.com http://goneworleans.about.com/b/2009/10/19/my-new-orleans-the-cookbook-by-john-besh.htm

“New Orleans chef John Besh’s love of the Crescent City shines through every page of the fabulous “My New Orleans The Cookbook: 200 of My Favorite Recipes & Stories From My Hometown” [It] is the chef’s tribute to the New Orleans culture, traditions and food. He tells its history through charming stories about his family, friends and the men and women who provide the seafood and ingredients that he uses in his restaurants.” ––2 The Advocate http://www.2theadvocate.com/features/food/65222507.html?index=1&c=y

“Truly, this will be a book that you will want to add to your collection.” ––Foodie In Disguise http://www.foodieindisguise.com/2009/10/22/his-orleans-john-besh/

“This is a cookbook with 200 recipes, yes, but it’s also part memoir, part history lesson, part love letter to his hometown. Besh has woven into his book beautifully written stories … In fact, I was so engrossed in the stories that I’m pretty sure I would’ve read every word even if Besh hadn’t included a single recipe. But do not skip the food—you’d be doing yourself a huge disservice.” ––Budget Travel http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2009/10/my_new_orleans_by_foodie_john.html

“This book is beautiful, coffee table worthy and perfect for yourself, your favorite foodie or anyone who either loves New Orleans or is looking to explore it. John Besh has done a wonderful job with this cookbook, it is obvious he loves his New Orleans and he has created a true celebration of it. Cooking through this book and reading Besh’s stories, I felt transported to New Orleans and that to me is the mark of a great cookbook–it transports you to the place the recipes are from. ” ––Kahakai Kitchen http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/cookbook-review-my-new-orleans-cookbook.html

“Besh celebrates and contextualizes New Orleans cuisine within a reverent, passionate travelogue and memoir based around the ingredients and food rituals of a full year in the Big Easy. In this 374-page volume, the chef, restaurateur (including August, Lüke, Besh Steak, Domenica, La Provence and the upcoming the American Sector at the National WWII Museum), “Next Iron Chef” contender, former Marine and father of four weaves an intimate, illustrated narrative of a life lived deliciously in one of the world’s most important food cities.” ––Slashfood http://www.slashfood.com/2009/10/12/my-new-orleans-cookbook-spotlight/

“Besh wants to bring more attention to the truly unique food culture of New Orleans with his book, a culture he calls a national treasure. … Nevertheless, the recipes seem eminently easy for the home cook—nearly all of the 200 recipes can be made with ordinary kitchen equipment and ingredients.” ––225BatonRouge.com http://www.225batonrouge.com/news/2009/oct/08/du-jour-john-besh/

“The cookbook entitled My New Orleans took 5 years to write and shoot and it really is quite a beautiful book and you can tell he put his heart into this book.  I can’t wait to sit down and read this cookbook.” ––Eat Drink and Beware http://eatdrinkandbeaware.blogspot.com/2009/10/chef-john-besh.html

“My New Orleans is a celebration of the food [John Besh] loved as a boy growing up on the bayous of Louisiana and later refined during his years studying around the world. My New Orleans is different than the traditional cookbook; it is a unique culinary tour of the flavors and ingredients found in New Orleans and Louisiana celebrated through festivals, feast days, and holidays. It offers a history of the city and its dishes while ensuring the home cook achieves success with chef Besh’s recipes. The 200 recipes preserve New Orleans’ traditions and ingredients and include classics such as Seafood Gumbo, Crawfish Etouffee, Jambalaya and Shrimp and Grits to chef Besh’s more contemporary dishes.” ––Third Coast Cuisine http://thirdcoastcuisine.blogspot.com/2009/10/john-beshs-my-new-orleans-cookbook-hits.html

“My New Orleans is gumbo-thick with colorful stories from a self-proclaimed “starry-eyed boy” drunk in love with a great American city, its traditions and its flavors. Organizing the book by seasonal foods, feasts and festivals, all with specific culinary traditions as burnished as a dark roux, Besh explains how and why New Orleaneans enjoy their gumbos and grillades, crawfish and courtbouillons, remoulades and red beans and rice.” ––MySanAntonio.com http://www.mysanantonio.com/life/food/63651167.html

“Love shrimp? Crayfish? Crab? Oysters? Gumbo? Fresh strawberries? Well, here is your new Bible of a cookbook: 200 recipes, French by nature, New Orleans by nurture. Like the Bible, it’s weighty: 5.2 pounds. Like the Bible, it’s a story of generations: A boy grows up in rural Louisiana, learns the lessons of his people and tries to keep them alive for his children. And, like the Bible, My New Orleans: The Cookbook is serious at its core — John Besh was not lacking in a sense of mission before Katrina, but he came out of it with a sense of stewardship for his beloved city and its traditional cuisine.” ––Head Butler http://www.headbutler.com/books/food-and-wine/my-new-orleans-cookbook

“My New Orleans is also infinitely practical. It’s a cookbook about home cooking, not fussy restaurant fare. Besh demonstrates how to make today’s leftovers into tomorrow’s meal–and extra bits and pieces into stocks that will add depth of flavor to meals months down the road.” ––Tasting Table http://tastingtable.com

“Who opens a fancy restaurant cookbook and cooks out of it?” Besh said. “I wanted an approachable book and to remove the mystique of great cooking. Great cooking is really quite simple. You can look at these recipes and understand the soul of the food and use whatever you have in your neck of the woods and create it.” Soul is something New Orleans (or Besh, for that matter) isn’t short of. It exists in every page of My New Orleans; in every recipe from this place he calls home.” ––Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/food/6654952.html

“My New Orleans will change the way you look at New Orleans cooking and the way you see World-famous chef John Besh. It’s 16 chapters of culture, history, essay and insight, and pure goodness. Besh tells us the story of his New Orleans by the season and by the dish. Archival, four-color, location photography along with ingredient information make the Big Easy easy to tackle in home kitchens. Cooks will salivate over the 200 recipes that honor and celebrate everything New Orleans.” ––Lemuria Books http://blog.lemuriabooks.com/?p=5026

“If it didn’t have Besh’s life story winding throughout, this would still be a great cookbook. With this narrative thread tying everything together, though, it’s elevated to the extraordinary. Besh addresses Katrina without descending into propaganda, he talks Mardi Gras without the tourist angle, he delivers rural slice-of-life without falling into a faux-backwoods accent and introducing us to the creepy (but wacky!) inhabitants of the bayou. It’s a true document of a region, as modeled by its farmers, fishermen, cooks, and eaters — this is a book worth buying, reading, and learning from.” ––Eat Me Daily http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/09/beyond-the-bayou-my-new-orleans-by-john-besh-cookbook-review/

“Chef John Besh, owner of  critically acclaimed New Orleans’ restaurants August & Luke, brings us a beautifully designed cookbook based solely on Louisiana’s deep-rooted traditions, customs, and passion for food. Lushly illustrated with photos stretching from the bayou to the Garden District (many personalized with friends and family), as well as exquisite images of the dishes themselves, My New Orleans weaves Besh’s stories and culinary anecdotes through in-depth recipes, many passed down from generations.” ––Sun Dog Books http://www.sundogbooks.com/blog/?p=43

“”After Katrina,” Besh writes in his book, “being from New Orleans became the focus of my identity.” And his born-again status seeps into everything: He returned to a more elemental style of cooking at his four Louisana restaurants, and his latest cookbook is a vehicle not just to explain the pleasures of cornmeal-fried okra but to give context to classic New Orleans dishes by sharing boyhood anecdotes of making gumbo with  freshly hunted wild blue-winged teal and preserving Celeste figs with his granddaddy.  “Until you understand the roots of a cusine, it’s hard to cook it with any authenticity,” Besh said.” ––Gourmet (My New Orleans is Gourmet’s October Cookbook Club Selection)

“Chef John Besh, owner of five celebrated New Orleans restaurants, including August and his newly opened Italian eatery, Dominica, is used to cooking up batches of stewed okra with tomatoes, stuffed-quail gumbo, grilled oysters in spicy garlic butter and pork-cheek dumplings with mustard greens. But his latest––and equally tasty––creation to come from his kitchen is his first cookbook, My New Orleans. While the lengthy volume is mostly a compendium of his favorite foods, it is also a kind of autobiography, told through his recipes, poignant photographs of family and friends and revealing acecdotes about his native city.” ––Town & Country

“John Besh, chef/owner of Restaurant Augus, Luke, Besh Steak, La Provence and Dominica, presents a stunning picture book of his beloved city, giving the reader a view of it as well as a narrative and a taste. In some 360 oversized pages, he covers every essential tradition. Besh cooks from his native roots, most often with techniques refined by his years of study in Europe… It’s a joyous journey, full of crawfish and jambalaya.” ––Charleston (SC) Post & Courier

“New Orleans chef John Besh’s My New Orleans features more than 200 recipes as well as personal stories of Besh’s beloved city and its regional cousine.” ––Celebrated Living

This marks the second year in a row an AMP title has won an IACP Cookbook Award. Last year, The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur la Table and Cindy Mushet won in the Baking category.

http://www.iacp.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=911

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“This book is an act of soul. Maestro Besh lives the life he cooks; he doesn’t just tell us how to prepare Louisiana favorites, he teaches us what these dishes mean, with an emphasis on how hospitality can enrich civilization.” —Wynton Marsalis, musician

“John Besh is one of the best American chefs of his generation. His extensive knowledge of true Louisiana dishes and traditions adds tremendous credibility to his writing.” —Paul Prudhomme, chef and owner of K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen Magic Seasoning Blends

“John will take you into the heartland of the South, rich with traditions, stories, and of course, its amazing cuisine!” —Daniel Boulud, chef, restaurateur, and author

From My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh

Serves 8

Here’s how recipes evolve: Momma Rochelle was the Cajun mother-in-law of my mentor, chef Chris, who brought his French finesse to her beloved quail gumbo. Both the gumbo base and the stuffed quail may be made a day or so ahead, just as long as you don’t cook the quail until moments before you serve it. Without a very rich duck stock or Chicken Stock, this gumbo will not have the depth that it needs.

FOR THE GUMBO
½ cup canola oil
½ cup flour
1 medium onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup tomato paste
10 cups duck stock or Basic Chicken Stock (page 23)
¼ cup Worcestershire
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 pound smoked pork sausage links, sliced into 2-inch-thick rounds
½ cup thick-sliced okra
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE STUFFED QUAIL
8 semi-boneless quail
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon rendered bacon fat
½ pound andouille sausage, minced
3 cups cooked white rice
½ cup minced onion
¼ cup minced red bell pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon thin-sliced green onion
1 cup gumbo
1 cup dried bread crumbs

1. For the gumbo, make a roux by heating the oil in a large cast-iron or heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Whisk the flour into the hot oil. It will immediately begin to sizzle. Reduce the heat to moderate and continue whisking until the roux takes on a deep brown color, about 15 minutes. Add the onions, stirring them into the roux with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue stirring until the roux is a rich dark brown, about 10 minutes.

2. At this point the roux will begin to darken quickly, so continue to stir while adding the celery, bell peppers, garlic, and tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes, then increase the heat to high and add duck stock or Chicken Stock to the pot. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.

3. Add the Worcestershire, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, 3. smoked sausage, and okra to the pot and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Stir occasionally and skim off the fat from the surface of the gumbo every so often. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm over low heat until ready to serve.
4. For the stuffed quail, while the gumbo is cooking, 4. place the quail breast side down on a cutting board and butterfly by cutting lengthwise through the backs of the birds, keeping their breasts intact. Season with salt and pepper.

5.To make the stuffing, heat the bacon fat in a large 5. saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the andouille, stirring with a wooden spoon, and cook until it begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate and add the rice, onions, bell peppers, garlic, and green onions. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, over moderate heat for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of the gumbo and the bread crumbs and stir to mix well.

6. Preheat the oven to 475°. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for about 30
minutes. Put a large spoonful of the stuffing on the breast of each quail (see photo, right).

7. Wrap the skin of the quail around the stuffing and 7. secure with a toothpick. Turn the bird breast side up, and crimp the legs together with a piece of aluminum foil. Repeat with all the quail. Season with a little salt and pepper, place the birds in a baking pan, and roast until golden brown, 15–18 minutes. Remove the foil and the toothpicks. Ladle the gumbo into individual bowls and place a roasted stuffed quail in the middle of each bowl.

Serves 10–12

Throughout this book, I’ve had a great deal to say about making the roux that’s the base of our gumbo—and the other steps as well—but I’ll recap it here so that it can be useful every time you start to make our signature dish. Yes, there are other thickeners besides flour that folks use for making their roux, but to my palate, only a flour-based roux yields that traditional flavor. As for the fats in a roux, just about anything works. I love rendered duck fat, chicken fat, or lard, but canola oil works nearly as well.

I always heat the oil first and whisk the flour into the hot oil. Not only does this speed up the process; it yields that deep, dark chocolate colored gumbo I love. I always add the onions first to the dark roux, holding back the rest of the vegetables until the onion caramelizes. Otherwise, the water in the vegetables will keep the onion from browning and releasing its sweet juices. I like to add filé powder to the gumbo, then pass it at the table, too. Serve the gumbo hot with Louisiana rice; serve potato salad on the side, if you like.

1 cup rendered chicken fat or canola oil
1 cup flour
2 large onions, diced
1 large chicken, cut into 12 pieces
2 tablespoons Basic Creole Spices (page 23)
2 pounds spicy smoked sausage, sliced ½ inch thick
2 stalks celery, diced
2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme
3 quarts Basic Chicken Stock (page 23)
2 bay leaves
6 ounces andouille sausage, chopped
2 cups sliced fresh okra
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Filé powder (page 292)
Tabasco
4–6 cups cooked Basic Louisiana White Rice (page 25)

1. Make a roux by heating the chicken fat or oil in a large cast-iron or heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Whisk the flour into the hot oil. It will immediately begin to sizzle. Reduce the heat to moderate and continue whisking until the roux takes on a deep brown color, about 15 minutes. Add the onions, stirring them into the roux with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue stirring until the roux is a glossy dark brown, about 10 minutes.

2. Season the chicken with Creole Spices. Add the chicken to the pot, raise heat to moderate, and cook, turning the pieces until browned, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the smoked sausage and stir for a minute before adding the celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, and garlic. Cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Add the thyme, Chicken Stock, and bay leaves. Bring the gumbo to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally and skim off the fat from the surface of the gumbo every so often.

4. Add the andouille, okra, and Worcestershire and season with salt and pepper, several dashes of filé powder, and Tabasco. Simmer for another 45 minutes, continuing to skim the fat off the surface of the gumbo. Remove the bay leaves and serve in bowls over rice. Pass more filé at the table.

John Besh is deeply dedicated to preserving the best local culinary traditions and ingredients that multicultural New Orleans has to offer and encouraging everyone he meets to do the same. Seafood gumbo, crawfish étouffée, jambalaya, crab bisque, beignets, watermelon pickles, fried oysters, red beans and rice—these New Orleans classics Besh loves are joined by strategies for more contemporary dishes in the 200 delicious recipes found in My New Orleans: The Cookbook, written by a chef who knows everything about them and who loves to share.
My New Orleans: The Cookbook is a rich stew of Besh’s charming, personal stories of his childhood, his family and friends, and the unique food history of the city and its cooking. Throughout, Chef Besh is generous with the kind of cooking advice that ensures every home cook’s success with his recipes; the book is punctuated with informative sidebars. The photography goes beyond glorious images of mouthwatering food to portray the farmers and purveyors who raised the ingredients, always giving My New Orleans a sense of place and a sense of history, wonderfully told in archival black-and-white photos. John Besh makes you feel at home. As you experience his cooking through New Orleans’s seasons, My New Orleans will become your New Orleans.

200 of My Favorite Recipes & Stories from My Hometown

“This book is an act of soul.  Maestro Besh lives the life he cooks; he doesn’t just tell us how to prepare Louisiana favorites, he teaches us what these dishes mean, with an emphasis on how hospitality can enrich civilization.” ––Wynton Marsalis, musician

My New Orleans: The Cookbook (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $45.00) is Chef John Besh’s tribute to and celebration of the food he loved as a boy growing up on the bayous, refined in his years of study in America and in Europe, and brought home to his beloved city.  It is here he has passionately thrown himself into the rebuilding of post-Katrina, and to making his restaurants, Restaurant August, Lüke, Besh Steak, and La Provence indelible parts of Louisiana’s restaurant landscape.  My New Orleans is also a photographic journey of Besh’s personal past and a celebration of the city’s iconic food imagery. As Besh says:

“This book is the story of a dreamy, starry eyed boy brought up in the shadows of New Orleans, surrounded by cypress knees and tupelo trees, good dinners and great friends. Memories of my childhood, both good and bad, have etched themselves deep into my soul: everything that I cook and eat, see and smell, reminds me of where I come from and more or less dictates where I am going.”

In My New Orleans, Chef John Besh tells the enduring story of preserving the region’s rituals and livelihood through raising food well, cooking it with joy, and being mindful of the fragility that swirls around the city many Americans love most.  It offers a unique culinary history of the city and its cooking while Chef Besh celebrates the advice that ensures success for the home cook.  His recipes preserve New Orleans’ traditions and ingredients;  Seafood gumbo, Crawfish étouffée, Jambalaya, Crab bisque, Beignets, Watermelon pickles, Fried oysters, Red beans and rice – these New Orleans classics are joined by some of Chef Besh’s more contemporary dishes in over 200 recipes.

When the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina threatened the regions fishermen, farmers, shrimpers and oystermen, it was Chef Besh who led the way to preserve and protect the region’s unique culinary heritage, its local ingredients, and its authentic culture.  My New Orleans explores Besh’s life post Katrina, which ultimately further shaped his identity as a chef.  He became obsessed with seeking out ingredients that encompass the flavors of the city and region – not the ones shipped in from all corners of the US.  My New Orleans tells the story of how John Besh became a leader of the new generation of New Orleans chefs who dedicate themselves to the singular cuisine of the city each and everyday.

A SAMPLING FROM MY NEW ORLEANS:

•    Basic core recipes that are the foundation of Chef Besh’s cooking including Basic Stocks, Creole Spices, Pan Sauces, Louisiana White Rice, and Sauce Ravigote and Remoulade.

•    Five Master Recipes including Shrimp, Chicken and Andouille Jambalaya, Crab Bisque, Beef Daube Glacée (Terrine of Beef Short Ribs) and Drew’s Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo.

•    Celebrations, Feast Days and Holidays – From Mardi Gras to Thanksgiving, My New Orleans offers seasonal recipes celebrated by Besh, his family and friends during the most festive periods of the year in New Orleans.

•    A great resource for recommended and often hard-to-find ingredients and products from the southern region including Oysters, Crawfish, Country Ham and Bacon, Tabasco Pepper Sauces, Pottery Bowls and Serving Pieces.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Christopher Langley; chris@bullfrogandbaum.com
Eliza Whipple; eliza@bullfrogandbaum.com
Tel 212-255-6717

http://seattletallpoppy.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-new-orleans-chef-john.html

Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to spend quality time with famed New Orleans Chef, John Besh. Warm and engaging with an infectious smile, John is a James Beard Award-winning chef with a soulful culinary style.

An undercurrent of adverse challenges shaped the man John is today. At the age of nine, his father was paralyzed by an accident with a drunk driver. Then, just before graduating from culinary school, he was called to fight the war in Iraq (Desert Storm). He opened his first restaurant…the week of 9/11. And like the rest of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina left an indelible mark.

Conversations with John reveal a man with a deep sense of history and an earnest desire to preserve the culture of New Orleans. Within the context of food, John is an entrepreneur who leverages his passion for sustainability. He is a dedicated mentor who is guided by the desire to leave an impact on the world of food.

Read the full article: http://seattletallpoppy.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-new-orleans-chef-john.html

by Andrews McMeel Publishing, on Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:54am PDT

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/user-post-chef-john-besh-recipe-from-martha-stewart-show-433517/

Today Chef John Besh appeared on the Martha Stewart Show. Did you catch it? If you missed it (or if you saw it and just didn’t catch all the details) here’s the delicious recipe for Louisiana Shrimp and Andouille over Grits, which Besh made on the show. You can find this recipe and many more in the book My New Orleans, which will hit stores in October.

LOUISIANA SHRIMP AND ANDOUILLE OVER GRITS

Serves 6
This is one of the most satisfying shrimp dishes. You needn’t cook the shrimp long; make them in batches and be sure to keep a close eye on them so that they don’t overcook. After you’ve sautéed the shrimp on both sides, remove them from the skillet with tongs and return them to the pot once they’re all cooked to the same degree.

1 teaspoon salt
1 cup white stone-ground organic grits
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

FOR THE SHRIMP
2 tablespoons olive oil
36 jumbo Louisiana or other wild American shrimp, unpeeled
Basic Creole Spices
Salt
1/3 cup minced andouille sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 piquillo peppers (roasted red Spanish peppers in a jar)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 cups Basic Shrimp Stock
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 cups canned diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1/2 cup fresh chervil sprigs

1. For the grits, bring 4 cups water with the salt to a boil in a medium-size saucepan over high heat. Slowly pour the grits into the boiling water, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low. Stir the grits often to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Simmer the grits until all the water has been absorbed and they become soft, about 20 minutes. Stir in the butter and mascarpone. Remove from heat and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the grits in the pot to keep a crust from forming.

2. For the shrimp, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over moderate heat. Season the shrimp with Creole Spices and salt. Sauté the shrimp until they begin to brown but are not cooked all the way through. Remove the shrimp as they cook and set aside.

3. In the same skillet, sauté the andouille, garlic, shallots, piquillo peppers, and thyme until they become aromatic, about 5 minutes. Add the Shrimp Stock and bring to a simmer. Stir in the butter and reduce the sauce until it’s nice and thick, 3–5 minutes.

4. Return the shrimp to the skillet and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice, diced tomatoes, and chives.

5. Spoon a heaping ¼ cup of the grits into the center of each of 6 large bowls. Arrange 6 shrimp in the middle of each bowl of grits. Spoon sauce around the shrimp and garnish each bowl with fresh chervil.

Chef John Besh blended the old and the new during his cooking demonstration “John Besh: Dining with the Seasons” on Saturday, March 28, at the Tennessee Williams Festival.

Flanked by five of George Rodrigue’s oversized blue dog paintings and two video screens, Besh took center stage inside Besh’s Steakhouse in Harrah’s New Orleans Casino to prepare Pasta Milanese and talk about the importance of cooking and eating in season.

His new cookbook, “My New Orleans, The Cookbook” comes out in October and features 200 recipes as well as essays about growing up in the area divided in chapter by seasons - both of the calendar and of the area’s food and culture. (Chapters include “Feast Days,” “Strawberries and Citrus” and “Gumbo Weather.”)

“I grew up on the north shore when it was still country and that’s how folks lived and ate,” Besh said. “What drives me to create a dish are memories from childhood … I play off of that.”

Besh talked about small fresh flounder stuffed with crabmeat dressing and freshly caught redfish made into a courtboullion: “These things made an indelible mark on my palate.”

The festival talk and demo focused on St. Joseph’s Day, which Besh said he honors each year by cooking Pasta Milanese for three Catholic parishes. (He even rescheduled an appearance on Martha Stewart’s cooking show back in March because it happened to fall on the saint’s feast day).

The earthy sauce, rich in olive oil, garlic and tomatoes canned in season, was enriched with anchovies and caramelized fennel and onions. The audience enjoyed a taste as well as glimpse at the chef’s new book.

This is the third time Besh has done a cooking demonstration for the festival.

Besh, who also has Restaurant August, Luke and Le Provence, revealed that his latest restaurant venture will be a partnership in an Italian restaurant, which is scheduled to opening a few months in the new Roosevelt Hotel downtown.

“To me, being a chef in New Orleans is an act of stewardship more than anything else,” Besh said. “Cooking here evokes so many emotions. It’s something I’m passionate about.”