Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link’s Louisiana

Get Real Cajun Here! This book hooked me from the moment it arrived, it’s like Donald Link peeled back all the hype around Cajun food and took me straight to Grandma’s kitchen. The recipes in Real Cajun are rustic, real, and surprisingly simple, full of dishes like smothered pork roast over rice, fried catfish done in bacon fat, and chicken & dumplings that finish off in a hot oven so the dumplings puff golden. It’s not just a cookbook—it’s part memoir, part love letter to Louisiana, and every photo (by Chris Granger) makes me want to cook something hearty right now. Every recipe I’ve tried from this book turns out better than I expect; it’s the kind of cookbook that gets messy in the kitchen with butter-spattered pages and sauce drips—that’s how you know it’s good. Be sure and check out my Creole & Cajun Recipe Page as well as my Bibliography of Creole & Cajun Cookbooks!

Crawfish Boil Recipe at Nola Cuisine

My Crawfish Boil Recipe post is all about gathering friends and family and cooking up a feast with Live Louisiana crawfish, red potatoes, corn, garlic, onions, lemons, and a big pot full of seasoning until everything’s spicy and steeped in flavor. I shared the steps: wash the crawfish, boil the veggies, drop in the crawfish, then let them steep so they soak up all that heat and seasoning.

It reminds me of my Shrimp Étouffée and Crawfish Étouffée recipes, in particular how I used leftover tail meat from boils to stretch the joy of the boil into another dish. The boil itself isn’t just about food, it’s about those smoky smells and laughter, the blister of spice, the mess on your hands, and the memory that stays with you from time well spent with family and friends. Be sure and check out my Creole & Cajun Recipe Page as well as my Bibliography of Creole & Cajun Cookbooks!