Louisiana Cookin' (1982– ) User Reviews

Great guy, Funny guy, Good cook!

[cspring82 · 10/10 · 5 August 2007]

Justin was a nice guy. A heck of a cook. He could spread as much bull in person as he could on the show. He signed one of his cookbooks and brought it to me at my work. I have a picture of him and me together under the front cover of the book. All of the recipes I have tried I loved everyone.

The stories help if you can remember which one goes with which recipe, so you can have a good laugh while you are cooking with friends. Some of his more exotic southern Louisiana recipes I could not bring myself to try, but I am sure with enough wine anything is possible. He told me his main job was a safety engineer and he just cooked for fun. He also developed some of his own seasonings with companies, which ones I am not sure. I just remember seeing bottles and jars of the stuff on the seat of his truck when we was riding around. I asked him about them and he told me that it was secret ingredients under development.

Gourmand Extroidiaire

[callmeinventive · 10/10 · 6 April 2021]

Between adding ingredients & the final dish, he'd tell us humorous stories. He said that he wasn't a gourmet, because his meals weren't that fancy. He explained that he was a gourmand, who likes to enjoy good tasting food. One of his repeated stories concerned someone going over the bridge on lake Pontchartrain........it was 3 or 7 miles long. We knew it was coming, and laughed anyway.

Great humor and some good things to eat

[bux · 8 June 2002]

As far as TV is concerned, Justin Wilson and Julia Child really put the "OO" in fOOd! Wilson always seemed to have on hand a recipe that was a little different, and his Cajun humor (Offensive to some of the more thin-skinned) was a little different also. There are not too many cooking shows that I like, most seem to under-cook their meat dishes, but I'd have put a leg under Justin's table any day.

Hybrid Series: Part Culinary, Part Rustic

[redryan64 · 7/10 · 11 December 2014]

IN BRINGING TWO unrelated subject matters, united under the stewardship of veteran storyteller and Cajun dialect man, we have a most interesting entry from PBS. Surely a large segment of its viewing audience would not have viewed any just cookin' show. Likweise, another faction wouldn't have interest in a series which showcased the nearly extinct art of storytelling. The series made converts to both genres.

WE HAD BEEN familiar with the work of Justin Wilson's work from hearing recordings on the weekly Saturday night radio show, THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL on WFMT 98.7 FM here in Chicago. When the LOUISIANA COOKIN' show bowed way back in '82, TV put a new dimension to the voice.

NEXT TO THE verbal aspect of the program, we must consider its stature as a food oriented anthology.

WE OFTEN WONDERED just how much knowledge of and experience with cooking the venerable orator actually possessed himself. Was he a true advocate of his personally acquired skills or was he in essence just another talking head? Although we have no way of truly knowing for sure, it is our guess that he was at least a journeyman in the culinary field.

IN THE SAME manner as any modern day cooking show that was worth its weight in salt (get it, Schultz?), there was a plethora of counter space, stainless steel pots & pans and new utensils at the disposal of Host Wilson. These he did manage in a seemingly expert manner; all the while either spinning a new yarn or getting on ready to come down pike.

AND THAT IS "shawly a very G-O-O-O-D thang in-deed!"

Always entertaining

[knsevy · 25 November 2003]

I admit I can't remember many recipes, but I do remember Wilson's folksy style and his impeccable skill at measurement: he often picked up a palmful of sugar, baking soda or some-such, declared it a tablespoonfull, and then proceeded to pour it into a tablespoon, showing it to be precisely right. His measurements on wine, though, weren't quite as accurate. I can still see him holding a gallon jug of domestic red upside down over a steaming pot until half of it was empty, then mumble, "That's about a cup," and setting it down - after taking a quick swig. Maybe someday, we'll see this come around again. Food Network, maybe?