Real Cajun

Real Cajun By Donald Link, Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2009. Hardcover. $35; 255 pages

The chef-owner of two New Orleans restaurants, Donald Link distances his rootsy recipes from the weak-tea Cajun craze of a couple of decades ago. This is food of Link's youth, country cooking, rustic and best savored with good, loud company and ice-cold beer. Recipes like Natchitoches Meat Pies and Satsuma Buttermilk Pie excite and inspire.

GIVE THIS TO: Anyone who loves New Orleans and its varied and wildly creative food. —Tim Cebula