Cooking in Old Creole Days (Célestine Eustis)

Arno Press, New York, 1973. Hardcover. Reproduction of 1903 original with introduction by Louis Szathmáry.

Originally published in 1903, Célestine Eustis’s Cooking in Old Créole Days is one of the earliest cookbooks devoted to Louisiana Creole cooking. A member of a wealthy New Orleans family, Eustis gathered recipes from household staff, family members, and her wider social circle. She credits some of the cooks who shared them, including Josephine Nicaud, who worked for the Eustis family for more than forty years. Its recipes for gumbos, “jumballaya,” seafood, breads, and sweets offer both a rich culinary record and a revealing document of the class and racial dynamics through which Creole food knowledge entered print. This scarce 1973 Arno Press facsimile was published as part of Louis Szathmáry’s Cookery Americana series.

Front cover has light creasing along the outer edge, and the first page has a small tear. Otherwise in very good condition.