Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food #AbramsDinnerParty

The Abrams Dinner Party continues with more fun cookbooks being sent to me to peruse, cook from, and tell you about. I get the books at no cost.

If you've ever been to New Orleans (or you've watched enough episodes of NCIS New Orleans, you probably realize there's a unique food culture. And when there's a unique food culture, there are recipes.

Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food is all about that food culture. If you're craving alligator, you'll find a recipe here (although I'm not sure where you'd find the alligator). If you want beignets, those are a bit more accessible, since the ingredients aren't as exotic.

If you want gumbo or creole creations, the recipes are here.

While some of them include ingredients that might be hard to find (hello, alligator), it's pretty simple to substitute one fish for another, shrimp for crawfish ... and for that alligator, to me it has the texture of chicken with a slightly fishy flavor. Chicken might be a good substitute there.

Of course, the majority of the recipes can be made using ingredients from your standard grocery store. Pork Tenderloin with Mushrooms and Brandy Cream Sauce would make a lovely dinner for company or a special occasion. Poached Fish with Cranberry Hollandaise sounds different and lovely. Dirty Rice and Lyonnaise Potatoes and Corn Macquchoux would be great side dishes pretty much every day.

If you've been to New Orleans and want to recreate the food vibe, or if you just want to change up your everyday cooking, this book would be a great addition to your book collection.

Note: This book is a revised edition. I'm not sure what was changed from the previous version.

QUICK PEEK

While MOST of the books I'm getting from Abrams are cookbooks, they sent along two other books as well - Godforsaken Grapes by Jason Wilson and The New Farm by Brent Preston. I haven't had a chance to dive into these yet, but on first glance, they look like the sorts of books that food lovers would be interested in.