Even though I don’t live on a farm, I think of food when the fall harvest season arrives. Remembered recipes fill my thoughts as do the images of family around the table and the harmonious aroma of a dish cooked just right. 

There are times when I also want to remember but can’t pull out of my brain the ingredients that made those perfect dishes. For times like these I consult the books on my shelf that remind me of home.

My mother gave me “The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book” when I was 16. A cousin handed me the “Joy of Cooking” when I was engaged to be married and an aunt gifted me with “La Bouche Creole” when my children were young. Yes, I was blessed with lovely women in the family as well as literate ones. We can all do the same for the next generation. Now, we also have books published by our community members. 

The newest addition is Julie Frederick Vaucresson’s “Creole Made Easy With the Creole Sausage Queen.” Located in the 7th Ward since the 1890s, the Vaucressons have a reputation for providing the city with sausage, hog head cheese and cuts of meat.

The Frederick family as well has been in the food business. Julie is the natural heir. The cookbook includes many family photos and recipes and just arrived for sale in September from Arcadia Publishing.

Speaking of literate women who can cook, Julie has a graduate degree from Notre Dame. Maybe once you buy the book, you can get it signed if you stop at Vaucresson’s Creole Café & Deli on St. Bernard Avenue. I’ll be there slurping the gumbo. 

EMBERS 

I was a child of the French Quarter, meaning throughout my life I visited many of the area’s old buildings looking for history and stories. I often stopped on the corner of Burgundy and St. Ann to get a cheap, delicious meal at Buster Holmes.

Once I had an allergic reaction to a meal, saw Buster on the corner and asked him about the ingredients. He couldn’t actually tell me at the time. So I was doubly thrilled when in 1980, he published “Buster Holmes Restaurant New Orleans Homemade Cookin’ Cookbook. I finally found out what went into his Shrimp Creole.

I still grab this book for quick recipes of old favorites even though the coil binding is now breaking apart.  

Check out November’s edition of Lit Louisiana for more books about food.

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Fatima Shaik is the author of seven books including "Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood," the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities 2022 Book of the Year. She is a native of...