Eula Mae's Cajun Kitchen

Cajun cooking is the country cooking of Louisiana, the spicy intersection of French, African, and Caribbean culinary traditions. One of the world's best-loved regional cuisines, it was developed by descendants of Acadians who were driven south from Nova Scotia in the 1700s because of their religion. Eula Mae Doré has been cooking Cajun food on Avery Island, home of the McIlhenny family and their Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce, for more than half a century. Food writer Marcelle Bienvenu has spent hundreds of hours in the kitchen by Eula Mae's side capturing the fine flavors of her self-taught cooking. Eula Mae's Cajun Kitchen is organized into menus reflecting the rhythm of life on Avery Island, such as Mardi Gras, The Trapper's Camp, A Spring Luncheon, A Summer Fishing Trip, and Halloween Bonfire. More than 100 traditional Cajun dishes are complemented with Eula Mae's reminiscences of her family and her years on Avery Island. Eula Mae Doré has lived and worked on Avery Island, Louisiana, since 1949, first managing the Tabasco Company Commissary and now, retired, cooking for special personal and press events for the McIlhenny family. Marcelle R. Bienvenu is the co-author with Emeril Lagasse of four books, including Louisiana Real & Rustic, and the author of three books. She writes the weekly Cooking Creole column in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and lives in St. Martinville, Louisiana.