John Besh is not just another New Orleans chef. He's a New Orleans native, and a chef whose genuine passion comes through when he speaks or writes about food.
Besh has been named Best Chef of the Southeast among other awards since opening August, his first restaurant. He now runs seven restaurants and is the host of "Chef John Besh's New Orleans" on American Public Television.
"My Family Table" is Besh's second cookbook, after "My New Orleans," and here the emphasis is on home cooking.
The book has about 140 recipes that Besh has geared to help people get in the kitchen. It's sometimes elegant food and not entirely the simple 1-2-3, 30-minute type of food. But it's always "real" food in Besh's mind — food that real people would want to eat.
His first chapter presents a series of master recipes — frittata for any kind of filling, creamy soup made with any kind of vegetable, crumble made with any kind of fruit.
He moves on to recipes for a Sunday supper, including beef chuck roast, perfect mashed potatoes and string beans with garlic.
Other chapters offer help with school nights, breakfast and brunch. One chapter is titled Dinner from a Cast Iron Pot. Fish and barbecue get their own chapters.
The book also includes holiday recipes and desserts, such as hummingbird cake, lemon icebox pie, chess pie and yogurt fruit pops.
Many family photos and references keep the book personal. Although Besh acknowledges that he isn't home much to cook — he has restaurants to run, after all — he hopes that you will be.
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