Cookin' with Queen Ida: Bon Temps Creole Recipes (and Stories) from the Queen of Zydeco Music

Whether they consider it a cookbook or an autobiography with a whole lot of recipes, Queen Ida's fans will savor this exuberant volume. An accordionist who has played Carnegie Hall and The Prairie Home Companion, the author displays an unpretentious charm that can vivify a description of a rural Louisiana Mardi Gras (with masked horsemen galloping around to collect food for a party) and an account of what it's like to win a Grammy (she yelled and threw her purse into the air). Many recipes are equally colorful, producing enticing dishes based on readily available ingredients; they explore regional Creole cooking without sentimentalizing it or inflating it to haute cuisine. In Queen Ida's instructions for homemade lard, it's fine to chop the pork fat in a food processor. A devotee of cayenne pepper, she adds it to sparerib and sausage jambalaya and even to the batter of her fried chicken. In addition to main dishes such as chaudin (pork stomach with rice stuffing), there are side dishes, such as fresh corn maquechoux (stewed corn and tomatoes), and baked goods, including gingerbread and buttermilk biscuits. Wise is the author of Meat & Game Cooking. (Dec.)