"Combining the culinary traditions of France, Spain, and Africa with the Indian gift of New World ingredients, Creole cooking blends and balances these strains to produce its own unique and exciting style. And to cook its authentic dishes, you have to be in on the secrets. They're revealed -- lavishly and clearly -- in 'The New Orleans Cookbook'. How do you arrive at the essential flavor of these marvelous Creole creations? Which of the recipes for local specialties (passed from generation to generation but seldom written down) is the best of its kind? How do you get the desired deep color and smoky overtones of the all-important roux? These are some of the keys to New Orleans cuisine that can be found only in this book. Roma and Richard Collin have spent years tracking down the best dishes in the city and the countryside, working them out in their own kitchen, then translating them into such careful, easy-to-follow directions that their book will be a boon to all cooks -- local aficionados as well as delighted visitors to New Orleans who want to make "the real thing" when they return home. Now, wherever you live, you can truly cook Creole. Every recipes is worked out step by step -- and although substitutes for hard-to-find local ingredients are provided in most cases, perfectionists will be delighted with the excellent list of mail-order sources for fresh crayfish, indigenous spices, the inimitable New Orleans chicory coffee, etc. , etc. But this is more than a book of superb recipes. The source and lore of various dishes are described in charming informative commentaries. An album of photographs with narrative captions invites you to savor the gastronomic history of New Orleans from its beginning. No regional cuisine in this country is more colorful, more evocative, or more famous. Loving it, wanting to share and preserve its specialness, Rima and Richard Collin have created a book that brings the true flavors of New Orleans, the joys of Creole and Cajun cookery, to Americans everywhere. "--