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Chasing the Gator: Isaac Toups and the New Cajun Cooking
A badass modern Cajun cookbook from Top Chef fan favorite Isaac Toups and acclaimed journalist Jennifer V. Cole, featuring 100 full-flavor stories and recipes.
Things get a little salty down in the bayou...
Cajun country is the last bastion of true American regional cooking, and no one knows it better than Isaac Toups. Now the chef of the acclaimed Toups' Meatery and Toups South in New Orleans, he grew up deep in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana, where his ancestors settled 300 years ago. There, hunting and fishing trips provide the ingredients for communal gatherings, and these shrimp and crawfish boils, whole-hog boucheries, fish frys, and backyard cookouts -- form the backbone of this book.
Taking readers from the backcountry to the bayou, Toups shows how to make:
A damn fine gumbo, boudin, dirty rice, crabcakes, and cochon de lait His signature double-cut pork chop and the Toups Burger And more authentic Cajun specialties like Hopper Stew and Louisiana Ditch Chicken.
Along the way, he tells you how to engineer an on-the-fly barbecue pit, stir up a dark roux in only 15 minutes, and apply Cajun ingenuity to just about everything.
Full of salty stories, a few tall tales, and more than 100 recipes that double down on flavor, Chasing the Gator shows how -- and what it means -- to cook Cajun food today.
Things get a little salty down in the bayou...
Cajun country is the last bastion of true American regional cooking, and no one knows it better than Isaac Toups. Now the chef of the acclaimed Toups' Meatery and Toups South in New Orleans, he grew up deep in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana, where his ancestors settled 300 years ago. There, hunting and fishing trips provide the ingredients for communal gatherings, and these shrimp and crawfish boils, whole-hog boucheries, fish frys, and backyard cookouts -- form the backbone of this book.
Taking readers from the backcountry to the bayou, Toups shows how to make:
A damn fine gumbo, boudin, dirty rice, crabcakes, and cochon de lait His signature double-cut pork chop and the Toups Burger And more authentic Cajun specialties like Hopper Stew and Louisiana Ditch Chicken.
Along the way, he tells you how to engineer an on-the-fly barbecue pit, stir up a dark roux in only 15 minutes, and apply Cajun ingenuity to just about everything.
Full of salty stories, a few tall tales, and more than 100 recipes that double down on flavor, Chasing the Gator shows how -- and what it means -- to cook Cajun food today.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published October 23, 2018
76 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 8, 2020
The Chef behind one of my favorite New Orleans restaurant shares his love of food, the importance of family, and his big personality in his new cookbook. We've already made his Gumbo #1, and his sweet and sour brussels sprouts, and cant wait to try everything else in there (I mean, double cut pork chops - drool!).
January 6, 2020
This is by far the most entertaining cookbook I’ve ever read. And I LOVE cookbooks!
It’s one you can read cover to cover and stay up all night reading. History of the Cajuns, personal family stories, commentary on why certain ingredients are selected, which tools and utensils to use and great details on exactly how to prepare each dish.
From the basics of “Roux” and “Creole Mustard”, to Boucherie favorites like “Boudin” and “Cracklins”, to home-cooked “Chicken and Sausage Gumbo”, “Crab Cakes” and “Parmesan-Braised Tripe”, all the way to community get-togethers like “Crawfish Boils” and “Cochon de Laits”, you’ll find it all. Mostly meat and seafood, but there are a few fruits and veggies as well, such as “Pickled Grilled Pineapple” and Lacquered Collards”.
And don’t just read the paragraph introducing the recipe... you’ll want to read all the ingredients and each instruction, as Toups has laugh-out-loud commentary sprinkled everywhere!
It’s also not for the faint of heart… from a day at the boucherie, how hogs head cheese is really made, a few dirty Boudreaux and Thibodeaux jokes, and a few f-bombs thrown in for extra spice!
Now I’m sure you’re asking… “Is it authentic?” “Is this really what Cajuns make and eat?”... My family has been in South Louisiana since the 1700’s and I can assuredly answer that with an absolute “YES”. This is the book I’ve been waiting for as my family did not write down any of their recipes.
I just grabbed my cast iron pot... now go get yours!
It’s one you can read cover to cover and stay up all night reading. History of the Cajuns, personal family stories, commentary on why certain ingredients are selected, which tools and utensils to use and great details on exactly how to prepare each dish.
From the basics of “Roux” and “Creole Mustard”, to Boucherie favorites like “Boudin” and “Cracklins”, to home-cooked “Chicken and Sausage Gumbo”, “Crab Cakes” and “Parmesan-Braised Tripe”, all the way to community get-togethers like “Crawfish Boils” and “Cochon de Laits”, you’ll find it all. Mostly meat and seafood, but there are a few fruits and veggies as well, such as “Pickled Grilled Pineapple” and Lacquered Collards”.
And don’t just read the paragraph introducing the recipe... you’ll want to read all the ingredients and each instruction, as Toups has laugh-out-loud commentary sprinkled everywhere!
It’s also not for the faint of heart… from a day at the boucherie, how hogs head cheese is really made, a few dirty Boudreaux and Thibodeaux jokes, and a few f-bombs thrown in for extra spice!
Now I’m sure you’re asking… “Is it authentic?” “Is this really what Cajuns make and eat?”... My family has been in South Louisiana since the 1700’s and I can assuredly answer that with an absolute “YES”. This is the book I’ve been waiting for as my family did not write down any of their recipes.
I just grabbed my cast iron pot... now go get yours!
December 12, 2022
Unfortunately for me, I stopped watching Top Chef before Isaac Toups was on one of the seasons (Season 10?). I did, however, happen to see him on the Cajun (Cajun, not Creole, let's be clear) episode of Binging with Babish and became an instant fan. Isaac's huge personality and flavors come through loud and clear. Astonishingly, they do in this cookbook too.
Good looking recipes and while most people are unlikely to be cooking a whole hog on the regular, even the more exotic recipes give some good alternatives for those not cooking for a restaurant-sized crowd. The book starts with the foundations of Cajun cooking, roux, spice mixes, condiments, etc which I think is smart since almost all of the recipes pull on those building blocks.
I really enjoyed the writing - even in the recipes. They weren't dry recitations of process but still had bits of humor sprinkled through liberally. Fun reading and hopefully good recipes when I get around to trying them!
Good looking recipes and while most people are unlikely to be cooking a whole hog on the regular, even the more exotic recipes give some good alternatives for those not cooking for a restaurant-sized crowd. The book starts with the foundations of Cajun cooking, roux, spice mixes, condiments, etc which I think is smart since almost all of the recipes pull on those building blocks.
I really enjoyed the writing - even in the recipes. They weren't dry recitations of process but still had bits of humor sprinkled through liberally. Fun reading and hopefully good recipes when I get around to trying them!
January 23, 2022
I first found Isaac Toups while on YouTube; it was in those recommended videos on the side. I watched a good handful of his videos and thought he was funny and incredibly personable; he reminds me a lot of my dad. In my interest to find more of his recipes—maybe not in video format—I actually found that he'd written a book. Chasing the Gator is a fun and approachable recipe book of familial Cajun recipes. I appreciate that he provides substitutions and alternatives in his recipes if you don't have access to certain southern U.S. regional items or if you prefer not to eat those more interesting items. His colorful language, tall tales and personal stories, and realistic depictions of home cooked family recipes really makes this book a must have.
September 23, 2019
What a fun read! Chef Toups offers recipes with plenty of notes about the process. These recipes aren't full of expensive ingredients, so they're accessible for any cook.
His stories are a riot. The book is worth it for this alone.
His stories are a riot. The book is worth it for this alone.
January 20, 2023
Mega god bog om basics inden for cajun madlavning - eneste minus er at cajun mad er så enormt lokalt i valg af ingredienser, at en del af opskrifterne er svære at lave, simpelthen fordi man ikke kan skaffe materialerne for mindre end en formue på de her breddegrader.
August 28, 2019
Interesting, but nothing jumped out to me as a must-try.
January 22, 2021
Chasing the Gator has a lot of flavor and joy. It was also educational as there were recipes with ingredients I’ve never used.
August 13, 2021
Pretty cool, but I think I’d buy it before trying to cook it.
October 30, 2021
Isaac is a great chef that I love to learn from
Great book. Isaac's sense of personality and humor definitely shines through. The recipes I have tried so far have been great.
Great book. Isaac's sense of personality and humor definitely shines through. The recipes I have tried so far have been great.
January 5, 2026
Crab fat rice is especially amazing
October 2, 2019
Note: This dude wrote a Cajun cookbook and didn’t even use the word, “AIEEEE” even once.
Looking forward to making the gumbo #1 and some dirty rice.
Looking forward to making the gumbo #1 and some dirty rice.
October 13, 2020
From standard faire like gumbo to frog and rabbit a spicy variety of recipes. A hunters cookbook. The crab butter rice sounds amazing.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews