It’s time to play with New Orleans musicians, as they invite you into their kitchens to share their stories and recipes. Based on the much-loved OffBeat magazine series with the same name, The Gravy—In the Kitchen with New Orleans Musicians will fill your ears and your belly, whether you choose breakfast with Mystikal, or lunch with Irma Thomas and her Macaroni and Cheese, or Creole Squash for supper at Big Al Carson’s house with a side of Antoinette K-Doe’s Cornbread.
With 44 first-person accounts from musicians, 45 recipes, and more than 200 photographs, this book digs into the deep connections between New Orleans music and food. Almost every musical genre in New Orleans is represented in these pages: jazz and brass, bounce and blues, Cajun and zydeco, singer-songwriter and Mardi Gras Indian music, hard rock and indie rock, hip-hop and rap, funk and pop, rhythm ’n’ blues, electronica, and world music.
The Gravy includes an introduction by Dr. John, and his recipe for Fried Frog Legs.
"My favorite thing with squirrels is eating squirrel brains. I like to crack them heads open and just chew on the brains."
—Dr. John
"This is one of the most endearing books about New Orleans. With dazzling style, Elsa Hahne takes her readers into the homes and kitchens of New Orleans musicians to see another side of them. Their stories and favorite recipes come to life in a harmonious and ever-vibrant whole. This is a wonderful compilation of culinary and musical cultures, and a testimony to the habits of all those heroes whose rhythms make this city move."
—Susan Tucker, Curator of Books and Records at Tulane University and founder of the New Orleans Culinary History Group
"Elsa Hahne has done it again! The Gravy is a perfect follow-up to her remarkable first cookbook, You Are Where You Eat, creating the perfect fusion of food and music—the foundational elements of the culture of New Orleans. She establishes an extreme level of 'sympatico' with the people she interviews, allowing them to tell their stories in their own voice."
—Harold Sylvester, Actor, Writer, and Producer
Musicians included are: 10th Ward Buck, Brint Anderson, Theresa Andersson, John Autin, Marcia Ball, Sunpie Barnes, Monk Boudreaux, John Boutté, Big Al Carson, Susan Cowsill, Dancing Man 504, Debbie Davis, DJ Captain Charles, Dr. John, David Doucet, Johnette Downing, Andrew Duhon, Lars Edegran, Helen Gillet, Michael Girardot, Leroy Jones, Antoinette K-Doe, Seguenon Kone, Martin Krusche, Julia LaShae, Miss Sophie Lee, Ingrid Lucia, Barbara Menendez, Trixie Minx, Mystikal, Charmaine Neville, Rick Olivier, Renard Poché, Gia Prima, Eric and Ryan Rogers, Wanda Rouzan, Greg Schatz, George Schmidt, Irma Thomas, Johnny Vidacovich, James Westfall, June Yamagishi, and Sean Yseult.
