"The Picayune's Creole Cookbook was compiled at the turn of the century to preserve for posterity the secrets of Creole cookery and to insure a Creole heritage for future generations."
"The Times-Picayune engaged noted food writer and chef Marcelle Bienvenu to update and revise the recipes. She and her dedicated staff sifted through more than a thousand recipes, with an eye toward Creole classics and enduring favorites, especially those that captured the flavor of times gone by. After testing and tasting, researching and retesting, they selected the 800-plus recipes that appear in this volume, from Creole coffee to custards, Jambalaya to Red Beans and Rice, making careful notes of modern measurements and methods, substitutes and suggestions. For ease of use and to preserve the charm of the original text, these updates appear in the margins, and the result is an entertaining and practical volume that is as gratifying to read as it is to cook from. An added pleasure are the photographs and drawings that grace its pages."
Several editions of the book were published in the 1900s with the text rewritten to reflect the taste of the era. We chose to preserve the text of the definitive second edition published in 1901, which was an expansion of the first edition. Later editions were published in 1906, 1916, 1922, 1928, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1954, 1966 and 1971. The Sesquicentennial Edition was published in 1987, the Random House edition, 1989. Robert Aulicino beautifully designed the type and inset for the Random House edition jacket.
The 629-page book measures 7 1/4 wide by 10 1/4 inches tall and approximately 2 inches deep. Reproduced are period photographs by Joseph Woodsen "Pops" Whitesell, Arnold Genthe and Morgan Whitney from the extensive collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art and by unidentified photographers whose work was uncovered in the newspaper archives. Included are wonderful line drawings by Beverly Morris of the Arts & Crafts period Newcomb Pottery, which was created in New Orleans at Newcomb College about the time the book was originally published. An example of the pottery can also be seen in the center of the hand-painted sepia photograph used for the book jacket on the Random House edition of the book.
