Gumbo Love: Recipes for Gulf Coast Cooking, Entertaining, and Savoring the Good Life

Gumbo Love

Last Updated August 13, 2017
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Gumbo Love by Lucy Buffett Book Cover
The newest cookbook from Lucy Buffett, owner of LuLu's restaurant in Gulf Shores, is a love letter to Southern, coastal cuisine.

Recipes for Gulf Coast cooking, entertaining and savoring the good life.

The way cookbook author Lucy Buffett writes about her coastal Alabama upbringing would make anyone want to pack up her wooden spoons and move to the Gulf to put down roots.

It is "the place of my birth, the place where generations of my people walked the sandy shores, frolicked in the salty waves, sailed the crystal green waters, and cooked pots and pots of seafood gumbo long before I was even a notion," she writes in the introduction to her newest book.

Owner of LuLu’s restaurant in Gulf Shores―and, yes, sister to Jimmy―Buffett grew up in Mobile and learned the secrets of Southern, coastal cuisine from her Mississippi grandmothers. Her new book, Gumbo Love: Recipes for Gulf Coast Cooking, Entertaining, and Savoring the Good Life, is filled with more than 100 old and new family favorites along with life lessons she's learned along the way.

Below, read our Q&A with Buffett, a list of her favorite local farm-stands and four recipes from her book: spicy shrimp ceviche, watermelon and feta cheese salad, summer seafood gumbo and classic Southern pound cake with strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

Find Gumbo Love on Amazon, at LuLu’s gift shop or at a local bookshop near you.

Lucy Buffett on Gumbo, Gulf Shores and Living a Creative Life

Lucy Buffett LuLus Gulf Shores
Edible Lower Alabama sat down with Buffett on the LuLu’s patio in Gulf Shores and talked about what makes Gulf Coast cuisine special, what gumbo and Indian curry have in common, and the surprising...

Lucy Buffett's Favorite Gulf Coast Farm Stands

Summer tomatoes at Burris Farm Market in Loxley.
Lucy Buffett, owner of LuLu's restaurant in Gulf Shores, shares her favorite local farm stands.

Spicy Shrimp Ceviche

Spicy shrimp ceviche by Lucy Buffett
Lucy Buffett, owner of LuLu's in Gulf Shores, makes a hot and tart shrimp ceviche with jalapeños and lime juice. Plus, how to perfectly poach shrimp.

Watermelon and Feta Cheese Salad

Watermelon and feta salad by Lucy Buffett
Lucy Buffett, owner of LuLu's in Gulf Shores, makes a refreshing, summertime salad with watermelon, feta cheese and mint.

Seafood Gumbo

Summer Seafood Gumbo by Lucy Buffett
Over the years, this is the gumbo recipe that I’ve cooked the most and that has remained a featured specialty at my restaurants. As far as the seafood goes, I use shrimp and crab, but if it’s cool...

Classic Southern Pound Cake

Southern Pound Cake with Strawberries and Fresh Whipped Cream by Lucy Buffett
Growing up Southern, pound cake was part of my sweet-tasting experience, as there was always some kind of pound cake sitting on my grandmother's counter.   The traditional story about pound...