Quick Look: “My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking” by John Besh

My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking by John Besh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I requested this from the library after hearing The Catholic Foodie talk about it with great enthusiasm. To be sure, Jeff Young is generally enthusiastic, but I’m always up for a book that encourages people to cook with their families on a regular basis, usually with basic recipes that can be adapted.

This book is all that with gorgeous photography added. Although not as long and more oriented to New Orleans style cooking, this book really reminded me of Julia Child’s The Way to Cook. Both have an easy-going, instructional quality that doesn’t stress too much over details while giving you the tools (and general recipes) to find your own way in the kitchen. And I’ve gotta give Besh full props for not being afraid to show his two boys proudly holding two just-killed wild birds or showing a just dead chicken. Way to reconnect us to where food really comes from. I like it.

I was particularly interested in the Sausage and Pork Jambalaya and the Eggplant Dressing, although the Stuffed French Toast (stuffed with Nutella) seemed a bit over the top. Full disclosure, I am not really a fan of French Toast, but that’s another story.

Anyway, this book looks good enough to eat and after I’ve sampled a few recipes it may earn an extra star. More on that after I get out of the kitchen.