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.
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.
|
|