Turkey and the Wolf

Flavor Trippin' in New Orleans

Mason Hereford, J.J. Goode

On the hunt for a traditional jambalaya recipe? This is not the cookbook for you. But if you want to taste the spirit of New Orleans with a melting pot of influences, a sense of community, and food that makes you whoop with happiness, this colorful cookbook is a great place to start.

Mason Hereford is the founder, owner, and sometime chef of the restaurant by the same name in New Orleans. When this lunch-only sandwich shop opened in 2016, publications like GQ, Food & Wine, and Bon Appetit lost their minds over the inventiveness and sense of play in food that tastes really damn good.

Hereford has a brash sense of humor and clearly loves bringing people together to make and eat food, and he loves New Orleans like a native. All of that is evident on the pages of this book. There are glorious technicolor photographs of the food, the restaurant, and the people who make it happen. ‘Rowdy’ is the word that comes to mind. He’s transformed his early love for crappy junk food to create delicious recipes for grownups.

There are riffs on classic Southern dishes and New Orleans staples, like collard greens and grits, breakfast biscuits, fried chicken, and deviled eggs. There are also original recipes with names that will make you smile, like ‘Chicken Potpies That Fit In Your Pocket’ and ‘Corner-Store Pork Rind Tacos.’

Perhaps you’d like ‘Meatloaf: The Sandwich, Not the Musician.’ Or a new take on the classic muffuletta. The recipe for ‘The Italian-American’ starts with the usual suspects — Italian cold cuts, crusty bread — then adds a cream cheese spread flavored with olives, hot peppers, capers, and feta cheese. It’s decidedly too much and absolutely perfect.

This book also includes the recipe for the sandwich that made Turkey and the Wolf famous: a bologna sandwich for the ages composed of white bread slabs, bologna, American cheese, mayo, sweet-hot mustard, shredded lettuce, and lots of butter. Before it’s grilled, you add the magic ingredient… salt-and-vinegar potato chips.

If you like the idea of a sandwich that’s so over-the-top it requires a post-lunch nap in an air-conditioned room, get your hands on this cookbook.

This book contains recipes that you can reasonably make at home or, in the case of one recipe that requires a pig’s head and good sixteen hours of your time, that you should strongly consider making at home even if it almost takes you down. — Mason Hereford

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