Notes about Recipes in this book

• Smothered pork roast over rice

  • mamacrumbcake on May 12, 2020

    Really good, and fairly easy. The gravy is delicious and savory. Recipe says lemon juice is optional. Trust me—it isn’t. The lemon juice is necessary to balance the flavors in the gravy, which without it would have been too savory. I have also made this as a weeknight family meal by scaling down to 1/3 of the recipe, cutting the pork into 1 1/2 inch cubes, and simmering on stovetop for an hour. Same savory goodness but in a more manageable size for us.

• Braised sausage with chiles

  • Baxter850 on February 08, 2025

    Liked this technique although I’d play with the flavors in the future (Fat Tire was too much for the amber beer and don’t know that the rosemary helped). Cook the sausages well so they are charred before adding liquid.

• Billy boy's crawfish étouffée

  • Baxter850 on February 22, 2026

    Made for Fat Tuesday. Delicious. But very spicy. Was perfect for me and too hot for everyone else. Don’t reduce the heat to low when simmering. It needs to reduce and thicken. Used a combo of chicken and lobster stock instead of the homemade crawfish stock since I used frozen packaged crawfish.

• Herbsaint-infused oyster stew with smoked bacon

  • TrishaCP on January 23, 2017

    This was really delicious on a cold night. Nothing else to say except it was great!

  • jgreenheck on January 01, 2023

    Delicious hearty stew.

• Crab cakes with jalapeño remoulade

  • Baxter850 on May 09, 2022

    Absolutely delicious.

  • leah_drlmj4 on March 19, 2026

    So freaking decadent and rich! OMG! So good.

• Crispy soft-shell crab with chili glaze and mint coleslaw

  • thekitchenchronicles on July 25, 2017

    This is a stunningly good recipe and produces a seriously restaurant-quality meal. The crab is crispy and buttery and the coleslaw is a perfect accompaniment- tangy and minty. Really oustanding. Wrote it up here: http://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2017/07/05/crispy-soft-shell-crab-with-chili-glaze-and-mint-coleslaw/

• Chicken and rice soup

  • Rutabaga on October 25, 2017

    This is a good soup to make in advance. While not difficult, it is time consuming if you start with roasting your own chicken, then making the stock, and so on. I added the rice when I reheated the otherwise finished soup prior to serving it, but next time wouldn't hesitate to add the rice earlier - I love the way it thickened the leftover soup. Since I didn't have much homemade chicken stock on hand, I added some Glace de Poulet Gold roasted chicken bouillon to the water along with the chicken carcass to make a richer stock. Instead of cremini mushrooms, I used a full pound of thickly sliced white chanterelles. I also left out the oregano simply because I didn't have any. Ultimately, this makes a wonderfully warming, fragrant soup, hearty enough to be a meal when served alongside a slice of rustic bread.

  • Baxter850 on March 03, 2025

    Really tasty and easy (if you use a roasted chicken from the store and Better than Bouillon). Great homey meal for when someone is sick or you want comfort food. If using Better than Bouillon (full salt), cut salt in veggies to 1/2 tbl and rice to 1/2 tsp. Then taste at end and add salt if needed.

• Aunt Cynthia's tomato and bacon pie (aka Cajun pizza)

  • Rutabaga on October 27, 2017

    The inclusion of bacon makes this pie pretty tasty. Even made with turkey bacon, it had plenty of crispy goodness. To make my turkey bacon crisper and more "bacony", I pan fry high quality natural turkey bacon at high heat in a thin slick of oil; it makes a surprisingly good substitute for the "real thing". Unfortunately, I misunderstood the directions and only made one tomato layer, followed by layers of cheese and onion. I realized later there should have been multiple tomato layers between the cheese. This would have made the pie a little more substantial. It's a good recipe, but my favorite tomato pie I've made thus far is still the Blue Ribbon pie from the book The Picnic. Maybe I should try adding bacon to that one!

• Lake Charles dirty rice

  • lkgrover on July 02, 2025

    Excellent rice & ground pork dish; the vegetables & spices add lots of flavor.

• German festival ham and white bean stew

  • Breadcrumbs on March 31, 2015

    p. 104 – A delicious hearty stew. I’d up the chili count next time around as the 1 jalapeno got lost in the shuffle but otherwise this was a wonderful, comforting dish perfect for these never-ending chilly days. The mustard was a wonderful addition and the acid it brought to the mix brightened the dish significantly. Next time I’d remove the portion of the stew I plan to blitz with the Bamix to ensure the otherwise chunky texture of the remaining stew is retained.

  • TrishaCP on May 14, 2018

    I made this to use up several pantry ingredients and it is very good. I used maybe a 1/4 lb of Tasso instead of the pounds of ham called for since I didn't want this to be very meaty. The Tasso gave it great flavor. I used yellow eye beans and they were so pretty in this stew. I quick soaked and then pressure- cooked the stew for 10 minutes and everything was perfectly cooked. I just added the collards in with everything else.

  • kkmatti on April 16, 2026

    Excellent recipe! I wanted my soup more vegetable-heavy, so I added 1/2 the ham & beans called for in the recipe & only 8 cups broth. The result had a lot of ham & beans, so I can barely imagine the original amounts. I substituted spinach for the collard greens which worked fine.

• Broccoli, rice, and cheddar casserole

  • britt on April 19, 2011

    This recipe technically calls for Donald Link's cream of mushroom soup, which he gives the recipe for and which I made and thought very good. I halved the recipe except I used 2 qts broccoli florets, which googling suggests is equivalent to 2 heads. We liked the extra broccoli. I needed to add extra salt for it, though. Overall, I liked this pretty well, say 3.5, but my husband loved it, 4.5.

  • lkgrover on October 18, 2019

    Like Britt, I halved the recipe (in an 8x8 baking pan). I used Link's cream of mushroom soup with cremini mushrooms. This is an excellent "comfort food" side dish, and would be an ideal potluck contribution.

• My cream of mushroom soup

  • lkgrover on October 18, 2019

    I made this with cremini mushrooms, as part of Link's Broccoli, rice and cheddar casserole. The soup is rich, and the preparation is easy & fast. A strong improvement on the canned version!

• Super bowl Sunday seafood gumbo

  • Baxter850 on July 24, 2020

    Delicious. The right amount of darkness from the roux. Tasted like roux until added some of the extra stock. It finished perfectly.

• Fried chicken and andouille gumbo

  • Baxter850 on May 10, 2020

    Delicious. Cooked it the day before serving. Shredded the chicken and removed the bones and skin before serving. Delicious!

• Chicken sauce piquant

  • clcorbi on June 30, 2017

    My first use of this book. This is a really nice one-pot recipe that makes a ton of food--book says 4-6 servings, I'd say it's at least 6-8. I really enjoyed the technique of tossing the chicken with the flour and spices, then frying--I've never made a dish like this before! I did find that when I added the remainder of flour to the pan, there was not quite enough oil left to make a smooth roux--I felt guilty adding more oil, but I had to, because the flour was really clumping. I ended up letting the sauce simmer, covered, for 45 min, before uncovering and cooking the sauce down for another 20 min. I think the extra cook time helped the flavors develop, so I'd do that again. I also didn't add any hot sauce while this cooked, because there was so much cayenne in the spice rub, and we both found it plenty spicy. The scallion garnish is necessary here to get some nice, fresh crunch.

  • mamacrumbcake on May 12, 2020

    I love this dish so much that it’s on regular rotation, even though it’s a bit of work. It is really flavorful and comforting at the same time. (We have to reduce the cayenne by half.) When you add the aromatics to the hot roux, the aroma is intoxicating. We had this last week again, and as I was eating the leftovers, I realized that this is my most favorite thing to eat. Using the combination of boneless breasts and thighs makes it easier.

• Game day choucroute with sausage, tasso, and duck confit

  • Baxter850 on November 14, 2025

    Just okay. Make sure to use med dry wine. Wouldn’t make again. Wanted more potatoes and apples.

• Old-school chicken and sausage jambalaya

  • mamacrumbcake on November 13, 2020

    Delicious (but time consuming). I love how the layers of flavor are built into this jambalaya. You really have to take your time to brown the sausages and then the onions but it’s worth it. I used a rotisserie chicken from Costco, a nice shortcut. Next time, I would bring the stock up to a simmer before adding it to the rice—otherwise it takes a long time to get it hot enough to cook the rice. This recipe makes a ton of food. It would be perfect for a party.

  • Baxter850 on February 22, 2026

    Wife made for Lundi Gras. Flavor was perfect. A lot of work but so worth it. Makes a healthy portion. Used a rotisserie chicken.

• Post-K meatloaf

  • Baxter850 on February 04, 2025

    Absolutely delicious flavor even though I overcooked it. Temp got to 205 (oven was running hot which I didn’t notice). Will definitely make again.

• Garden lettuces with scallion-buttermilk dressing

  • britt on January 27, 2011

    I've made this several times and think it is delicious. It keeps about 3 days. It doesn't spoil then, but it becomes noticeably less delicious.

• Green beans with bacon and onion

  • Baxter850 on February 04, 2025

    Tasty southern green beans. Would make again for a southern meal. Loved the vinegar sauce with the green beans which was a first.

• Fully loaded twice-baked potatoes

  • britt on January 28, 2011

    My husband loved these. He declared that they were the best twice-baked potatoes he's ever eaten. I don't share the Mr.'s extreme enthusiasm, but I agree that these are good.

  • Baxter850 on October 21, 2024

    Super tasty but very very rich. Would dial back to the lower end of his range. Lovely flavor—very tangy because of the sour cream.

• Perfect mashed potatoes

  • Baxter850 on February 04, 2025

    Really tasty and rich. This recipe will lead to rustic mash which is just fine. Water wasn’t quite simmering so the potatoes weren’t quite ready for mashing after the allotted time (my tester potato filled me because it was done). Will try again.

• Cheesy eggs and boudin

  • Baxter850 on September 28, 2025

    Loved this. Putting it in the rotation!

• Satsuma old-fashioned

  • Baxter850 on February 04, 2025

    This is a fancy garbage old-fashioned. The simple syrup spec is unredeemably off, making the spec cocktail undrinkable. You could make 3 2oz pour old-fashioneds with the quantity of simple syrup in the 1 drink spec. Would reduce simple syrup to 1tsp or 1/4 oz in the future. Then it will be a tasty fun cocktail (even if it a high brow garbage old-fashioned).

• Chocolate bread pudding with bourbon sauce

  • Baxter850 on February 22, 2026

    Wife made for Fat Tuesday. Good flavor but was texture less (maybe we should have let the French bread get more stale before using?). Would try a different recipe. Sauce breaks easily.

• Granny's German chocolate cake

  • Corrieallison on September 30, 2025

    We have made this several times-it's delicious and rich.

• Strawberries with cornmeal shortcakes and fresh whipped cream

  • Rutabaga on June 10, 2017

    The cornmeal in these shortcakes gives them an interesting sandy texture that contrasts nicely with the berries and whipped cream, but ultimately they are a little too sweet for me. Even with only lightly sweetened berries and whipped cream, I would decrease the sugar in the shortcakes by about a third.

• Blueberry ice cream

  • PinchOfSalt on August 28, 2014

    Warning: This recipe makes about twice the amount stated - more than three quarts of ice cream. Think about it. Just the liquid ingredients (cream, milk, condensed milk, egg and egg yolks) add up to more than a quart and a half. Then there's the three pints of blueberries. This poor editing makes me wary of other recipes in this book. The ice cream itself is okay - good texture, not too sweet - but not spectacular. One note about preparation: I pureed the blueberries in my Vitamix. It did such a good job that straining them really didn't do anything to remove skins. So, skip the straining step if you do likewise. (I also discovered that if you puree blueberries in a Vitamix and let it sit for more than a minute or so the liquid turns into a gel. Very interesting!)

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