Cooked To Order: Cookbook & Recipe Review

I love cookbooks! There is nothing I love more than getting a new cookbook and savoring each and every page. Something that I am going to do from time-to-time, is a cookbook review. This is where I take a cookbook and give you a detailed look at it. It will be fun to put of pictures and recipes of the cookbook.

The first cookbook is my newest cookbook called, "Brennan's". I get most of my cookbooks through second hand stores such as Goodwill and thrift shops. Brand new cookbooks are so expensive, and if wait and look around eventually I will find one that I have been wanting. I found my new Brennan's cookbook at a local thrift shop for $1. This book was in excellent shape and included the dust jacket still intact and perfect after all these years. I suspect that the original owner visited the world famous Brennan's restaurant, bought a cookbook and it sat on a shelf for years and was never used.

I did not set out to find this cookbook and neither was it on my list of cookbook "wants", but it looked interesting, so I thought I would give it a try. I am so glad I did! It was printed in 1964. It is also signed by the chef at the time, Lucas Rheinhart and Howard Jeansonne, a waiter with Brennan's. The writing says, "Bonne Appetite".

"Bonne Appetite"

Here is a picture I found of waiter Howard Jeansonne presenting a bottle of wine.

Brennan's Waiter Howard Jeansonne

One of the reasons I love this cookbook so much is it tells a story and gives a history of the famous restaurant in New Orleans known as "Brennan's". The Brennan's were very hardworking people who immigrated to the New Orleans area from Ireland. In the early years, Brennan's was an entirely family run business. I found it quite interesting that Ella Brennan at a mere 18 years of age, and having taken no formal cooking classes was the brains behind many of the recipes that are still in use today. She mainly learned about cooking from other housewives through "backyard fence chatting" while doing the wash. I have never been to Brennan's or New Orleans for that matter, but after reading the book and it's history it is definitely on my list of places to go and things to do!

Favorite Recipe

Simple recipe, but oh so tasty!

My favorite recipe from the book is Chicken Clemenceau. This is a chicken dish with lightly fried potatoes, mushrooms and small peas. One thing I have noticed about many of the recipes in this book is that they are really rather simple ingredients, but they way they are prepared and the ingredients that are put together make the food so tasty and delicious.