A Cajun supper in Louisiana

Wilson cooks the way he talks, which is to say constantly and with great enthusiasm, and his Louisiana kitchen is hot and crowded. Craig Claiborne, who grew up on the Gulf Coast and had long championed the food of the region, has come to eat; Lee Bailey, whose books are all about relaxed Southern entertaining, has come to watch.

The gumbo starts with a roux cooked to the color of chocolate, the jambalaya goes into one enormous pot, and the étouffée is finished with crawfish at the last minute. Claiborne takes notes for the paper and Bailey takes mental ones for a book. Wilson tells stories through the whole meal, and nobody is permitted to leave until the pecan pie is gone.