Thursday, June 26, 2008

Influential cookbooks: Brian Landry

I've posted a new entry at Dining with Bacchus. It's about my visit with Chef Brian Landry of Galatoire's and Galatoire's Bistro.

The chef and his team served me some great food and we had a wide ranging discussion. I learned lot about the extraordinary quantities of seafood that Galatoire's serves, how to prepare his award-winning Sautéed Cobia with Louisiana Crab Butter (hint: start with a mallet), and how the chef stays lean in spite of having to taste four soups and five sauces every day at the start of service.

I also asked Chef Landry about cookbooks that he considers influential to his approach to cooking. (His house took on 8 feet of water during Katrina, and he's still rebuilding his book collection.) He mentioned a few titles, some for reference--Larousse Gastronomique, Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, and John Folse's The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine--and others for inspiration, including:
Michel Richard, Happy in the Kitchen

Eric Ripert, A Return to Cooking
Read the interview at Dining with Bacchus.

--Marshal Zeringue