Bayou

People on the Louisiana bayou mark the seasons of the Cajun calendar with traditions, emotions, and gatherings around the table to feast.

In this highly anticipated next book from the author of the James Beard Award-winning Mosquito Supper Club, Melissa Martin shares a year of celebrations, both big and small, through 100 Southern Louisiana recipes that combine humble ingredients, such as onions, potatoes, and peppers, and the local bounty, including shrimp and crabs. Made-to-share recipes like Carnival Crawfish Boil and Etouffee ring in the New Year and kickstart the Carnival season, which is a time for abundance and decadence. Lent unfolds with simple, fresh foods like Cabbage Slaw and Fried Fish Collars. Summer ushers in the bright bounty of shrimp season. Families and friends band together in October for boucheries, feasting on Cracklins and Back Bone Stew, then gather with loved ones for hearty homey holiday dishes like Fried Turkey, Holiday Dressing, and Red Velvet Cake.

With illuminating sidebars and stunning photography, Martin illustrates what Cajun people already know: the table is a place for restoration, nourishment, and communion.

Another exquisitely written offering that illuminates and celebrates the culinary treasures of Cajun country. . . . Illustrated with art-gallery-worthy photographs and enriched with essays written by Martin on topics ranging from onions and Carnival to fishing and holidays in the bayou, this book is a feast in every sense. VERDICT Both armchair cooks and anyone seeking an introduction to Cajun cuisine will find that Martin's latest eloquently and elegantly written book perfectly captures the culinary heart and soul of the bayou.--Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Martin celebrates the unpretentiousness of Cajun cooking, noting that food is the focus of the Cajun home, whether it's eaten off a table dressed in fine linens or from a blanket on the floor. In spring, the Cajun table may be piled high with crawfish, oysters, and shrimp or a complex jambalaya. Summer brings crab in profusion, along with fruits for sweet delicacies like blackberry tarts. As seasons move on, vegetables mature, yielding bumper crops of mirlitons for slaw or for stuffing with shrimp.--Booklist
"Offer[s] versions of the classics--étouffées; jambalayas; gumbos; spiced-up seafood boils--without resorting to upscaling, fancifying, or otherwise chef-ifying, but [Martin also slips in her] own sublime additions to the canon. . . . Deserves getting roux-spattered on your kitchen counter."--Garden & Gun
"Melissa has created a personal and gorgeous cookbook that tells her story of preserving and celebrating the culinary traditions of the bayou. The transporting images and inspired and sustainable recipes will make you want to hop on a plane to eat in her kitchen!"--Renee Erickson, chef and co-owner of Sea Creatures restaurants and author of A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus
"The deeply personal recipes and vibrantly immersive photos will take your breath away, but what really pulls you through the pages of Bayou is Melissa's simple and honest reminder to truly be in the moment, breathe in the important things in life, lean into the rich traditions behind the meals, and perhaps find a renewed love and appreciation for time, place, and togetherness. Her offerings within these pages are everything we need right now."--Erin French, chef, owner, and author of The Lost Kitchen

Melissa M. Martin grew up on the Louisiana coast and has lived in New Orleans for over 25 years. Her first book, Mosquito Supper Club: Cajun Recipes from a Disappearing Bayou, was named a Best New Cookbook by Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, NPR, The Splendid Table, Eater, and Epicurious, among others. In 2022, Martin was given the James Beard Award for writing the Best Book in U.S. Foodways and the IACP named the book Cookbook of the Year and Best American Cookbook. Martin has been nominated twice as Best Chef South by the Beard Foundation. She graduated from Loyola University New Orleans and honed her self-taught culinary skills to a professional level. In 2014, she opened Mosquito Supper Club, a Cajun restaurant created to celebrate the bounty of the shrimpers, oystermen, crabbers, fin and crawfish fishermen, and farmers that define bayou cuisine. She writes about food, life, and love, not always in that order. Follow her on Instagram at @mosquitosupperclub and on X at @mosquitosupper.

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