Chef Prudhommes Seasoned Ameri

I must have 50 cookcooks, but this is my favorite. The recipies need to be followed precisely, however the directions are excellent. Every dish I've made from this book has been aromatic and full of flavor. Be careful, they are also full of salt and calories! But if you want to WOW your guests, select a few of these recipies and enjoy! My favorite recipe is the Milwaukee Potato Soup. Be careful, it takes a full 90 minutes to prepare! The New England Butternut Bisque introduced me to the wonders of squash and is much easier to make than the Potato Soup. The Mulacalong Chicken is flavorful, although I prefer to cut out the bell peppers. The Chicken Paprika is devine. Every recipe I've tried from this book has been wonderful. Buy this and prepare for a treat!

I've used this book for years. Some people rely on stricly fresh ingredients, others like to cook with dried spices. Prudhomme's a big dried spice guy. Yes, garlic purists will be aghast that he uses garlic powder. But these recipes work, and he does a great job of coming up with recipes that people will actually use. The dishes are NEVER bland and the flavors are often very complex and comingle well. His technique is to use the same spice mixture in different ways- frying some in oil, adding some in the middle of the cooking, adding more just before serving, et al- and it really helps add complexity and richer flavor to a dish! Some of these recipes are clunkers, as are many in most cookbooks, but I return time and time again to a fair amount of these recipes. My biggest critique- his recipes are fairly straightforward, but they are sometimes unnecessarily complicated- Yyou can streamline them without poor results. For instance, use canned broth in the Tetrazini recipe and you will save yourself about three hours. Also, I really think that you can make his Kentucky Burgoo in less than two days, but that's actually what the recipe calls for! But you've already made many of the dishes in this book before, only without all the flavor. Paul was "kicking it up a notch" long before Emeril got to New Orleans. Buy a cheap used copy and tell me that it wasn't one of the best investments you've ever made after you've tried three of the recipes! My favorite recipe: Basque Chicken and Shrimp with Wine. Fantastic!

In this book, a living national treasure has lovingly adapted specific regional recipes to his own singular way with food. He has indeed "Seasoned America" and transformed old-fashioned fare into something bright and irresistible. Imagine what Paul Prudhomme might do with meatloaf, beef noodle casserole, turkey hash, black bean soup! Elegance is here as well of course; the charm of this book is precisely the variety of tastes created in American kitchens.I have four of Paul Prudhomme's cookbooks, but cannot seem to stop dipping into this one. So many crowd-pleasing sensations await the lucky diners who partake of these recipes. Concepts of Prudhomme's fascinating food philosophy will simmer into your own style before long, and improvization with these recipes is easy and natural -- take it from a "strictly by the book" cook. I will limit the recipes I mention to just a few, but there are over a dozen classics I would like to tell you about. "New England Butternut Bisque" layers classic American pumpkin-pie flavors in astonishing new form, and now several of my friends will not let at least one of the holidays go by without this soup on their table. His version of "Buffalo Chicken Wings" brought raves when I cooked them for a friend's wedding not for their heat, but for their *subtlty*. "Louisiana Fried Catfish with Crabmeat Topping" was probably my most memorable meal ever. Even a humble simple dish like "Southern Smothered Potatoes" can outshine its brothers and sisters on the plate and have people saying, 'You know what? Those potatoes were the best part of the meal!' His two-paragraph introductions to each recipe sparkle with his exciting personality and love for food, and the reader wishes they would go on and on. There is genius behind every recipe.

This also was my first Prudhomme book I have tried many recipes from this book without failure. I leave the fat in and everyone goes home full. Paul makes you realize what spices are all about, from the "texas red" to the " iowa stuffed pork chops" Its great. Here in my Upstate NY home I get ready for the winter by breaking out his cookbook .Tomorrow is my father in laws b-day and his request is my "Chicken Reggies" which is Pauls "Chicago Chicken Ala King" over Rigatone pasta Great book! but be prepared to buy a lot of seasonings

Seasoned America was my first Chef Paul book. A three year project for him, it is a three tiered tutorial for us. As director, mentor, and innovator to the reader, Chef Paul introduces us to caramelizing finely diced vegetables as the foundation of his recipe architecture. Larger cut vegetables combine with meats or seafood (or both) to complete the dinner dishes. The obligatory spices in his usually remarkable combinations make each recipe a distinctive statement. But there's more. Chef Paul fairly insists that the reader experiment, alter amounts, make substitutions. His ingredients (two cups of brewed black coffee in his "Cowboy Stew")might frighten the fainthearted, his "fried green tomatoes" are heart cloggers, and his reliance on heavy cream invites substitution. Yet, because of the overall upgrading of old favorites by spice and technique, nearly every recipe can be retrofitted to accomplish two paradoxical goals - heart health and marvelous taste. Last Thanksgiving, I made San Francisco Cioppino as an appetizer for a dozen guests. The turkey sat unnoticed and unwanted as I scambled for ingredients to "stretch" the Cioppino. All of last year's attendees are returning this year. When the tomato harvest reached its peak recently, Chef Paul's instruction to take the time to blanche, peel, and seed a peck of plum tomatoes for Cream of Tomato Soup kept me standing between pots of boiling water and ice water longer than I liked. The result, with skim milk added instead of cream, was more than worth every minute on my feet. This was my first of several Chef Paul books. It should be yours.