The Louisiana Oyster Story

A cookbook for today's oyster renaissance. Whether it's the straightforward simplicity of a casserole, the velvety smoothness of a soup, or the explosiveness of a certain po-boy, oysters enrich a variety of dishes. This fourth volume of the Louisiana Seafood Bible provides more than 75 of the best oyster recipes in the state. Also included are interviews, shucking techniques, and a history of the Croatian immigrants whose lives and culture are intertwined with the oyster business.

Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled. For centuries New York was famous for its oysters, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s economy, gastronomy, and ecology that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for the wealthy, the poor, and tourists alike, and the primary natural defense against pollution for the city’s congested waterways. Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight–along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos–this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the island hunting ground of the Lenape Indians to the death of the oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers. Kurlansky brings characters vividly to life while recounting dramatic incidents that changed the course of New York history. Here are the stories behind Peter Stuyvesant’s peg leg and Robert Fulton’s “Folly”; the oyster merchant and pioneering African American leader Thomas Downing; the birth of the business lunch at Delmonico’s; early feminist Fanny Fern, one of the highest-paid newspaper writers in the city; even “Diamond” Jim Brady, who we discover was not the gourmand of popular legend. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.

With comparisons to Flaubert, Chekhov, and Faulkner, O. Henry Award-winner John Biguenet earned wide acclaim for his debut short-story collection, The Torturer's Apprentice. In his astonishing first novel, Oyster, he demonstrates the same mastery of craft and rigor of vision that led critics across the country to join Robert Olen Butler in praising this "important new writer." Set on the Louisiana coast in 1957, Oyster recounts the engrossing tale of a deadly rivalry between two families. To avoid ruin after years of declining oyster crops, Felix and Mathilde Petitjean offer their young daughter, Therese, in marriage to 52-year-old Horse Bruneau, who holds the papers on their boat and house. Bruneau has spent his life as Felix's rival for both the Petitjeans' century-old oyster beds and, as we learn, Mathilde. But as Therese explains to Horse one night as they float in a pirogue alone in the marsh, "I don't get bought for the price of no damn boat." The spiraling violence of Oyster and the seething passions behind it drive an unpredictable tale of murder and revenge in which two women and the men who desire them play out a drama as elemental and inexorable as a Greek tragedy.

Explains why oysters make pearls and dangerous snakes have diamond-shaped heads.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A long-forgotten love affair. Two feuding New Orleans restaurant families. And a batch of tainted oysters that brings everyone back to their senses. Food for Thought: A New Orleans Story is a humorous mystery that draws on New Orleans’ reputation for reverie, romance and the supernatural. It is a tale of two restaurants: DeJoie’s, a five-star landmark in the city’s fabled Garden District; and Fontana’s, a blue-collar seafood joint in the earthy fishing hamlet of Bucktown on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. When a sting operation on restaurants illegally selling banned oysters puts the two families together on a courtroom case docket, they strike an unusual bargain to help DeJoie’s salvage its reputation while alleviating Fontana’s financial woes. The tenuous partnership draws into sharp contrast the morés and customs of the Garden District social elites with the working-class “Yats” of Bucktown. But the families soon discover a forgotten, secret love affair between ailing family elders – Giuseppe Fontana and Penelope DeJoie. Although Giuseppe and “PePe” are imprisoned by their decaying minds and spending their twilight years in nursing homes, a seemingly magical batch of oysters restores their powers of thought and helps the families reconcile their differences. In the raucous spirit of John Kennedy Toole, "Food for Thought" captures the unique culture and character that lures millions of travelers to The Big Easy from across the globe each year.