Chef John Folse

is the owner and executive chef of his Louisiana-based corporations. Lafitte's Landing Restaurant in Donaldsonville is recognized as one of the finest restaurants in and around New Orleans. White Oak Plantation in Baton Rouge houses his catering and events management company. Chef John Folse & Company Manufacturing, the only chef-owned and -operated manufacturing company, produces soups, sauces, entrees and specialty items for chain restaurants, foodservice and retail establishments across the country. Folse has authored numerous books available in bookstores nationally. He hosts his own National television cooking show, "A Taste of Louisiana" on PBS, and his syndicated radio show, "Stirrin It Up!" can be heard worldwide.

Folse is respected around the world as an authority on Cajun and Creole cuisine and culture and has gained national recognition within the retail and foodservice community for his efforts in new product development and manufacturing. He has taken his famous "Taste of Louisiana" from Hollywood to the Great Wall of China, opening promotional Louisiana restaurants in Hong Kong, Japan, Beijing, London, Paris, Rome, Bogota, Taipei and Seoul. In 1987, Chef Folse was selected as "Louisiana Restaurateur of the Year" by the Louisiana Restaurant Association and in November of 1988, the Louisiana Sales and Marketing Executives named him "Louisiana's Marketing Ambassador to the World." In 1988, Chef Folse made international headlines by opening his "Lafitte's Landing East" in Moscow during the presidential summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. This opening represented the first time an American Restaurant had operated on Soviet soil. Immediately following this venture, John hosted ten Soviet chefs for the first Soviet American Culinary Exchange.

In 1989, Chef Folse was invited to create the first ever Vatican State Dinner in Rome, and while there had a private audience with Pope John Paul II. In 1990, Chef Folse was named the "National Chef of the Year" by the American Culinary Federation, the highest honor bestowed upon an American chef. His Lafitte's Landing Restaurant was inducted into the "Fine Dining Hall of Fame" in 1989 and received the DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) award in 1996. In recognition of Folses efforts in research and development, his manufacturing company received TGI Fridays Inc. Procurement Product Development Award in March 1998 for assisting in development of Fridays Jack Daniels glaze.

Folse has been honored by local, state and international governments for his continuing efforts to showcase America's regional cooking around the world. His most prestigious acknowledgment to date was Nicholls State University's decision to name their new culinary program in his honor. The Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, Louisiana, offers Associate and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Culinary Arts.

The Evolution of Cajun & Creole Cuisine

Quail Ridge Press, 1990
The best of traditional Cajun and Creole cuisine comes to life with an emphasis on the "new basics" in Louisiana Chef John D. Folse's cookbook The Evolution of Cajun & Creole Cuisine. Folse's cookbook is the first of its kind to tell the 250-year old history of Cajun and Creole cuisine. The rich heritage of Louisiana cuisine has never been told in a more complete form, with traditional recipes to carry the flavor of the Cajuns and Creoles into the 90s," Folse said. Chef Folse provides the history behind each dish and method of preparation, adding depth to the inherent traditions of the Cajuns or Creoles who created them. More than 250 recipes for stocks and sauces, appetizers, soups, vegetables, poultry, meats, seafood, wild game, desserts and lagniappe ("something extra" in south Louisiana) are featured in the 352 page cookbook. 

Something Old & Something New

Friesen Printers, 1996
In this day and age of diet modification and a concern for fat grams and overall good nutrition, this book is a must. Featuring 200 of the most traditional of Louisiana's Cajun and Creole dishes in their original uncut versions, along with those same recipes on facing pages in the modified version, this book is for everyone.

Cookbooks

Hot Beignets & Warm Boudoirs: A Collection of Recipes from Louisiana's Bed and Breakfasts

Friesen Printers, 1999
Aaah, romance, synonymous with the South, but especially Louisiana. Hot Beignets & Warm Boudoirs, Chef Folse's latest cookbook, introduces readers to another romantic element of our state -- the bed and breakfast homes. Readers are taken on a tasty rendezvous through 26 of Louisiana's premier B&Bs. Two of the most important elements in life -- food and romance -- combine as the central theme of the book. Perhaps the most unique feature of the cookbook is that it is as much a romance novel as it is a recipe book. Hot Beignets & Warm Boudoirs is an anthology on the origin of breakfast as an event in the city of New Orleans. More than 300 pages of color and historical photographs are featured as well as nearly 200 fabulous recipes from unique breakfast items to desserts -- dishes you will only find at a Louisiana B&B.

Lodge Cast Iron Presents Chef John Folse's Cast Iron Cooking

Quebecor Printing, 1997
Published in the Spring of 1997 for the 100th anniversary of Lodge Castiron, the oldest cookware manufacture in America. This book features chefs representing the nine culinary regions of America with their favorite dishes ranging from soups to desserts... all cooked in castiron. 

Chef John Folse's Louisiana Sampler

Quebecor Printing, 1996
Louisiana is by far the best fair, the best festival ever seen! I've learned a lot about this place called the Bayou State, but nothing more important than the simple fact that we are an area filled with color and tradition and we love to celebrate. I've come to know that we are a people who love a good time as much as we love our great food. In this new book, I share with you a glimpse of not only 26 fairs and festivals, but the towns hosting them and a number of unique attractions available to you when visiting these events. Over 200 recipe pages and 26 full color photographs of the foods and people associated with these unique events, make this book a must in your kitchen. So why not come along and sample our fairs and festivals and cook up more great "Taste of Louisiana."

With over 200 pages of color photos and the family stories associated with the original recipes, not only is this a great cookbook but it is a coffee table masterpiece as well. "Something Old, Something New, Louisiana Cooking with a Change of Heart" is available in your local bookstores.

Chef John Folse's Plantation Celebrations

Friesen Printers, 1994
Discover the origin of many of America's premier dishes. It was here on the great plantations gracing the banks of the Mississippi River, that most of Cajun and Creole cuisine developed. With influences by the French, Spanish, English, Africans, Germans, Italians and Native Americans, the cuisine of South Louisiana is recognized as a premier cooking style worldwide. In this new book, Chef Folse has documented for the first time the masterpieces of the plantation kitchens.

This 335 page hardbound book contains one hundred fifty full color photographs and more than 300 recipes for stocks and sauces, rouxs, appetizers, soups, vegetables, poultry, meats, seafoods, wild games and desserts. This is the first book of its kind to tell the 300 year old history of Louisiana's cuisine and cultures. Savor the history and recipes of those great white mansions of Louisiana and order your copy today.