“[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
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