New Orleans, Louisiana has a rich gastronomy  that focuses on seafood, and Ralph Brennan's New Orleans Seafood Cookbook with Gene Bourg captures its culinary essence.

Ralph Brennan's New Orleans Seafood Cookbook with Gene Bourg is well written with concise, easy to follow recipes, and is visually stunning with gorgeous photographs by Kerri McCaffety. Ralph Brennan, owner of the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group worked with his chefs at Red Fish Grill, Bacco, Ralph's on the Park, and Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen, to compile more than 150 recipes with step-by-step instructions that will guide even the most basic cook through the process of creating the tempting recipes listed in the book.

The book is more than just a mere cookbook, the chapter, entitled A Seafood Cook's Manual, includes step-by-step instructions and detailed photographs of preparing and cooking Finfish, Crabs, Crawfish, Shrimp, Oysters, Alligator, Frog Legs, and Turtle, including instructions on filleting a whole raw fish, and opening hard shell crabs and removing their meat, that would be worth the price of the book, if that was the only chapter, but happily it is not, there is much more in this large gem of a seafood cookbook.

Ralph Brennan's New Orleans Seafood Cookbook has chapters filled with recipes for Appetizers; Gumbos, Soups, and Bisques; Salads; Main Courses; Desserts and Dessert Sauces; Accompaniments; Sauces, Butter, and Dressings; Seasonings, Flours, and Breadcrumbs; and Stocks; and the chapter on Spirits includes recipes for the most famous of the New Orleans cocktails.

The chapter, Glossary of Creole and Acadian (where the word Cajun originates) Food Terms, helps to demystify New Orleans culinary terms; Seafood and Wine is exactly as it states, a guide to wine and seafood pairing; and very important for non-New Orleanians, is the chapter on Ingredient Sources, so that you can purchase any of the items listed in the recipes to create an authentic New Orleans Seafood menu no matter where you live.

A few of the many tasty recipes in the chapter on Appetizers include Spicy Boiled Shrimp; Crawfish Spring Rolls with Roasted Corn Relish & Chile-Garlic Sauce; Red Fish Grill Barbecued Oysters; and Fried Green Tomatoes with Ravigole Sauce & Hot Butter Sauce.

In the chapter on Gumbos, Soups, and Bisques, there are many tempting selections including mouth-watering recipes for Gumbo Filé; Oyster and Artichoke Bisque; and Crab and Corn Soup.

Main Courses include recipes for Crawfish Etoufée; Shrimp Creole; Trout Amondine and Trout Meunière; Fried Oyster Poor Boy; and Louisiana Seafood Boil among its many selections; and for dessert lovers, the chapter on Desserts and Dessert Sauces features a wide selection of recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth with classic recipes such as Bread Pudding; Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie; Lemon Icebox Pie; and Fluffy Sweet Potato Pie.

The chapter on Spirits includes such favorite New Orleans cocktails as the Sazerac, Hurricane, and Milk Punch, and when combined with the recipes from the previous chapters, you have all the ingredients to create an authentic New Orleans meal. Throw on a New Orleans Jazz CD and "laissez les bons temps roulez!"

Ralph Brennan's New Orleans Seafood Cookbook is published by Vissi D'Arte Books of New Orleans and is available at Red Fish Grill, Bacco, Ralph's on the Park, and Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen, at Barnes & Noble locations, and online at www.RalphBrennanCookbook.com and www.RalphBrennanCookbook.blogspot.com.

For more information on the cookbook, please visit the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group website at www.NewOrleans-Food.com.

The Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group
550 Bienville Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
Telephone:      +1-504-539-5520
www.NewOrleans-Food.com

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