OP: Creole Cook Book

Pelican, 1990. Hardcover. Fine in Fine jacket.

La Cuisine Creole (1885) and The Creole Cookery Book by the Christian Woman’s Exchange were both published in anticipation of the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial in winter 1884–1885. Together they not only mark the beginning of documenting New Orleans cuisine as distinct but also in applying the term Creole to the food itself.

Though published anonymously, the compilation of recipes—“from leading chefs and noted Creole housewives, who have made New Orleans famous for its cuisine”—is widely attributed to the eccentric world traveler and newspaper reporter Lafcidio Hearn (1850–1904).

The book includes some of the earliest printed recipes for the dishes and ingredients which have come to be associated with New Orleans.

Among them you will find (with Hearn’s spelling): gombo filee, jamboloyah, and bouille-abaisse. There’s also a host of lesser-known regional specialties—cucumber pickles in whiskey, parsnip fritters, crab gumbo, chicken saute with oyster sauce, orange pie.

This is a 1990 reprint published by Pelican in Fine, unused condition. One of the most historically significant Creole cookbooks.