Mme. Begues Recipes of Old New Orleans Creole Cookery, Elizabeth Begue, Poppy Tooker

In 1900 Madame B 1/2gu 1/2 wrote her recipes down in a French cook book collectors have always prized. The instructions assume a basic knowledge of cuisine: the measurements are often left to taste, temperature is relative, and cooking times left to the best judgment of the chef. It takes a few pages to realize much of the cookery takes place not on a stove, but over an open fire.-Don Spiro, Zelda: The Magazine of the Vintage Nouveau

Originally published in 1900 from the handwritten notes of Mme. B 1/2gu 1/2 herself, this collection of dishes from a quintessential New Orleans restaurant are now available in a edited and modernized version of the 1937 edition. One of the first cookbooks ever published in New Orleans that became a sought-after souvenir of the B 1/2gu 1/2s dining experience, it has been updated with a foreword by renowned food enthusiast Poppy Tooker. Originally published as a guide for tourists wanting a taste of true Creole cuisine, it includes recipes from other well-known cooks, including Victor Bero from Victors Restaurant (later called Galatoires). Tooker recreated the most significant of Madame B 1/2gu 1/2s creations by providing a contemporary rendition of the original recipe. Included are such treasures as Turtle Soup, Chicken 1/2 la Creole, and Creole Gumbo.