{"id":501,"date":"2013-12-09T17:04:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T22:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/?p=501"},"modified":"2013-12-09T17:04:59","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T22:04:59","slug":"cookbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/","title":{"rendered":"The cookbook connoisseur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/files\/2013\/12\/0823-marcelle-bienvenue-voila-2013a.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-503 alignright\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/files\/2013\/12\/0823-marcelle-bienvenue-voila-2013a-360x540.jpg\" width=\"360\" height=\"540\" \/><\/a>More than 500 cookbooks cram the shelves of Marcelle Bienvenu\u2019s home office. Some she collected while researching South Louisiana cuisine for Time-Life Books. Dozens of others were mailed to her by publishers after she began co-authoring <em>New York Times<\/em> best-sellers with Emeril Lagasse. She also inherited a good chunk of her collection from her mother, who had accumulated various cookbooks from local church groups and the Junior League.<\/p>\n<p>With hundreds of resources at hand and with her family\u2019s culinary traditions as inspiration, Bienvenu never runs out of recipe ideas. The St. Martinville native was seemingly born with the ingredients to become a cookbook author and food columnist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere I really learned how to cook was at my dad\u2019s elbow with a castiron pot over a wood-fire stove,\u201d says Bienvenu, a Chef John Folse Culinary Institute instructor. \u201cThere was no knob for medium heat; you learned to move the pot halfway off the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her father\u2019s family owned and published the <em>Teche News<\/em>, leading Bienvenu to pursue a feature-writing job with <em>The Times-Picayune<\/em>. In the 1970s, she shifted her focus to culinary research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really became intrigued by the differences in what people in New Orleans ate and the food that our family ate in the country,\u201d says Bienvenu, who still writes a weekly column, \u201cCreole Cooking,\u201d for the <em>Picayune<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>After working in public relations and catering for restaurants such as Commander\u2019s Palace and K-Paul\u2019s Louisiana Kitchen, Bienvenu delved into her family\u2019s cooking style and published her first cookbook, <em>Who\u2019s Your Mama, Are You Catholic and Can You Make a Roux?<\/em> in 1991. Since then, she\u2019s authored several more of her own, in addition to co-authoring mainstream titles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI learned quickly to write and talk like Emeril,\u201d says Bienvenu, who worked with the famous chef in his home kitchen, perfecting recipes for four of his cookbooks. \u201cThe man can cook, but he can\u2019t measure to save his life!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cookbook writing can be a time-consuming art with lots of failed recipe attempts and plenty of dirty dishes. But it certainly has its perks. For <em>Abita Beer, Cooking Louisiana True<\/em>, crates of different Abita beers were delivered to her home for recipe testing. For <em>Cooking Up a Storm<\/em>, Bienvenu helped <em>Times-Picayune<\/em> readers find recipes they had lost in Hurricane Katrina. And for <em>True Blood: Eats, Drinks, and Bites from Bon Temps<\/em>, she spent research hours watching every episode of HBO\u2019s True Blood. But her favorite recipes are still those rural Cajun ones she preserved from her family. \u201cI tell my students, you better ask your grandmaw today for her recipes, and follow her around the kitchen writing down what she does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Written by Sarah Baudoin, 2013 mass communication graduate, and Stephanie Detillier Verdin, publications coordinator<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article originally appeared in the fall 2013 issue of Voila! magazine. Click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/nichollsstateuniversity\/docs\/voila_2013\">here<\/a>\u00a0to read the entire issue.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 500 cookbooks cram the shelves of Marcelle Bienvenu\u2019s home office. Some she collected while researching South Louisiana cuisine for Time-Life Books. Dozens of others were mailed to her by publishers after she began co-authoring New York Times best-sellers with Emeril Lagasse. She also inherited a good chunk of her collection from her mother, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The cookbook connoisseur - The Colonel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The cookbook connoisseur - The Colonel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than 500 cookbooks cram the shelves of Marcelle Bienvenu\u2019s home office. Some she collected while researching South Louisiana cuisine for Time-Life Books. Dozens of others were mailed to her by publishers after she began co-authoring New York Times best-sellers with Emeril Lagasse. She also inherited a good chunk of her collection from her mother, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Colonel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-09T22:04:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicholls State\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicholls State\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicholls State\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3\"},\"headline\":\"The cookbook connoisseur\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-09T22:04:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":481,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/\",\"name\":\"The cookbook connoisseur - The Colonel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-09T22:04:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/09\\\/cookbook\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uncategorized\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/category\\\/uncategorized\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The cookbook connoisseur\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Colonel\",\"description\":\"The Official Magazine of Nicholls State University.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3\",\"name\":\"Nicholls State\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nicholls State\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/author\\\/webmanager\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The cookbook connoisseur - The Colonel","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The cookbook connoisseur - The Colonel","og_description":"More than 500 cookbooks cram the shelves of Marcelle Bienvenu\u2019s home office. Some she collected while researching South Louisiana cuisine for Time-Life Books. Dozens of others were mailed to her by publishers after she began co-authoring New York Times best-sellers with Emeril Lagasse. She also inherited a good chunk of her collection from her mother, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/","og_site_name":"The Colonel","article_published_time":"2013-12-09T22:04:59+00:00","author":"Nicholls State","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicholls State","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/"},"author":{"name":"Nicholls State","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3"},"headline":"The cookbook connoisseur","datePublished":"2013-12-09T22:04:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/"},"wordCount":481,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/","url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/","name":"The cookbook connoisseur - The Colonel","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2013-12-09T22:04:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2013\/12\/09\/cookbook\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Uncategorized","item":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/category\/uncategorized\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The cookbook connoisseur"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/","name":"The Colonel","description":"The Official Magazine of Nicholls State University.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3","name":"Nicholls State","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nicholls State"},"url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/author\/webmanager\/"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"The Colonel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}