December Thrifty - Week 1 #1 ~ Emeril Times Two!

Emeril's Potluck,  published in 2004. Recipes for comfort food with a kicked up attitude and filled with many crowd pleasing dishes.  There are 10 chapters in all which cover a wide array of topics. Up first are the basics ~ simple recipes for the stocks, salsa and mayonnaise used in a few of the recipes. The second chapter is drinks - of course this being New Orleans all contain alcohol - two of the recipes I can't wait to try are for a watermelon daiquiri and a Dark & Stormy (ginger beer/ale and dark rum). Next are starters many of the seafood variety and quite a few made with sausage including a sausage stuffed French bread.

Salads are the topic of chapter four and none are of the congealed variety! Soups, gumbos and chowders make up the fifth chapter, followed by casseroles. The Beyond chapter is filled with several jambalaya dishes, tamales, steaks/meats and the ubiquitous Country Captain, often found in many Southern cookbooks.

Closing out the book are sides (including stuffings/dressings, veggies, grits, and pilafs), breads & biscuits and lastly desserts. Found a simple recipe for a flour-less cake that sounds divine.


Emeril's Creole Christmas, published in 1997.  Filled with 100 recipes including complete menus, shopping lists and suggested wines to celebrate the holidays with a touch of Louisiana.  The first menu, a Christmas dinner for 10, features a beef tenderloin for the main course and a mushroom bread pudding (??) as a side. There is a menu for a Christmas brunch buffet with a white cheddar truffle omelet and poinsettia cocktails, as well as a New Year's Eve dinner with a New Orleans style catfish stuffed pork chop.

Other menus includes a New Years' Day family meal consisting of duck with collards, plus holiday favorites including a crawfish quiche and a lobster cheesecake. The stocking stuffer chapter explores sauces, marinades and ketchups that can be made and given as gifts. Also on the gift side are homemade peanut brittle, mints and fruitcake.

There are notes from a sommelier on choosing the the correct wine for meals and tidbits on various types of wine scattered throughout the pages.

One interesting recipe in the gift section is for a Three-Tiered Braided Christmas Bread, a recipe for those not of the faint of heart as explained by this hilarious article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/emerils-christmas-bread-a-story-of-2-loaves-3-colors-and-1-frightened-baker/2013/12/09/f2e78c2e-5d46-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html