There's a Country in My Cellar by Russell Baker

There's a Country in My Cellar by Russell Baker

. . . hugely influential for me and my budding culinary peers of the time . . . both [Mitcham] and his books were fascinating depositories of recipes, recollections, history, folklore and illustrations, drawing on his abiding love for humble, working-class ethnic food of the area.
-Anthony Bourdain

Creole Gumbo is more than a cookbook. It is a history book, a music lesson and a personality profile of great jazzmen.
-Today

A delightful book with excellent recipes . . .
-New York Times

Here's a dazzling array of photos, foods, and far-out folklore, spiced up with tidbits of jazz history and lyrics-all gathered into a seafood cookbook that celebrates the world-famous cuisine of New Orleans. Author Howard Mitcham traces the development of sophisticated Creole cooking and its rambunctious country cousin, Cajun cooking, with innumerable anecdotes, pictures, and recipes.

Mitcham offers more than three hundred enticing dishes, from crab gumbo and shrimp-oyster jambalaya to barbecued red snapper and trout amandine. Along the way, he offers a list of substitutes for seafood that may be hard to find, a bibliography, and a guide to the best mail-order seafood markets in New Orleans.

Howard Mitcham, renowned chef, poet, artist, and raconteur, practiced the inventive art of New Orleans cuisine for three decades.