The essence of good cooking, #SeriousSandwich

Almond poppy-seed pound cake with lemon neufchatel. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 Chef Emeril Lagasse works with his culinary team to produce his cookbooks, like his newest, "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches," (Morrow, $24.99) When I ran into problems baking the Almond Poppy Seed Pound Cake with Lemon Neufchatel, Kamili Hemphill from Emeril's culinary team came to the rescue and I took the opportunity to ask her a few questions about creating the recipes for cookbooks like "Kicked-Up Sandwiches."

Q. What is the process for selecting and testing the recipes for the book?

A. Well ,when Chef Emeril begins a project, he already has a list of new recipe ideas (or old favorites) that he wants to be a part of it. As the testing process goes along, some ideas will stay the same and make it into the book and some ideas will change into something better… and every now and again certain ideas or recipes will get dropped if they just don’t measure up to the others. Then, when he gets to a point where he can step back and look at the list of recipes that are completed, it is easy to see where the gaps are. He will then brainstorm with us, the culinary team, to come up with additional ideas to round out the collection.

 It’s a very organic process and the book really kind of writes itself as we go along.

 Testing involves actually cooking recipes as well as writing them several times and using ingredients we are able to gather from grocery stores or farmer’s markets. We stay away from getting ingredients from restaurant purveyors because the recipes are for the home cook. Once the recipes have been cooked, they are evaluated for taste and flavor, texture, authenticity, appropriateness for the project and visual appeal.

Almond poppy seed pound cake. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Q. Do you have any tips for getting the best out of Emeril's recipes?


Hmmmm, good question. That really depends on the recipe. You have to be able to understand which ingredients in the recipe contribute to its essence, no pun intended. Successful cooking relies heavily on technique, an understanding of ratios, and a bit of understanding in regards to chemistry.

 The wonderful thing about a well-written recipe is that it should eliminate guesswork on the part of the cook by being able to describe to the cook what he or she should be looking for.
 
 Descriptions that include how long certain steps may take, appropriate temperatures, measurements, size of pan, specific cooking tools, specific ingredients, etc. One of the most important pieces of advice I give to people who are cooking from a recipe is to read it through several times before beginning to make sure they can understand the recipe. A person should be able to imagine it.

 Practice is essential when it comes to cooking. At its very core, it is a craft. 

 I would certainly recommend that a person cook a recipe as-is first before making substitutions. That way a person can judge from their own experience what can be successfully changed. It takes a very experienced cook to make that determination by just reading a recipe. Now, I’m sure you know there are a lot of bad recipes and badly written recipes out there. So really, you have to try them first, and then adjust.

Almond-poppy seed pound cake. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Q. I'm working on improving the pictures for my blog, do you have any tips for making food look better on the plate and page?

A. Well, good pictures are many times a matter of taste. Chef Emeril’s taste regarding food photos definitely involves authenticity. He likes pictures of his food to be as natural as possible and photographed while it’s still fresh, i.e. photographed immediately. You will notice that you might get a glimpse of steam, or see that the cheese is still melty, or recognize sheen from the olive oil, or you might notice the delicious beauty in food where every cut or dimension isn’t exact. 

 It should look real… and good enough to eat. 

Close-up photos usually work well so that the viewer can focus in on the food and not be distracted by other things. Also, for you, since photography is an expression, think about which photos of food you like and why. Then incorporate those things into your own work. (They should be) your own expression.

[A note on baking the Almond Poppy Seed Pound Cake - this is a terrific cake, but it must be baked according to the directions. Use cake flour and sift it before measuring. It can be made without the poppy seeds, but it's much better with them. They're like freckles, and what kid isn't cuter with freckles?]

Kamili Hemphill on the shoot for "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches." by Steven Freeman.

  Thanks, Kamili, for taking time to share your knowledge with my readers and me!

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer. 

With the exceptions of Emeril's book cover, that belongs to Morrow Cookbooks, and the picture of Kamili Hemphill, provided by Steven Freeman.

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books. 

This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a cookalong to celebrate the publication 

Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches.

 For more great #SeriousSandwich posts, follow #SeriousSandwich on Twitter.

Smoked sausage sandwich with beer-braised onions, #SeriousSandwich

Smoked sausage sandwich with beer-braised onions. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

One of the delights of cooking from Emeril Lagasse's newest cookbook, "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches," (Morrow, $24.99), is finding little extras along the way that will kick up sandwiches and help out around the kitchen. For example, the beer-braised onions on this Smoked Sausage Sandwich with Beer-Braised Onions. These little morsels of joy would be fantastic alongside any kind of meat or sausage, without without the bun. As for the sandwich, the Muenster cheese and stone-ground mustard in conjunction with the sausage and onions really stacks up the flavor.

Just like Emeril's Caprese Sandwich is a taste of summer, this hearty sandwich is a taste of fall, perfect for tailgating, or maybe picnics at the pumpkin patch.

Pumpkins. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 Look for more great stories and recipes from "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches" right here on A Cook and Her Books, or follow #SeriousSandwich on Twitter. You may also want to visit my fellow #SeriousSandwich bloggers, all 21 of them:

• 30A EATS
• Farmgirl Gourmet
• Food Hunter’s Guide
• Between Slices
• Big Dew the Firehouse Chef
• Chef R3llik
• Cooking in Stilettos
• Culicurious
• Family Foodie
• Kwistin’s Favorites
• Mangoes and Chutney
• Mario Cooks
• Maroc Mama
• My Cup of Creativitea
• My Royal Kitchen
• Pages Stuck Together
• Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Poet in the Pantry
• Rhubarb and Honey
• Solid Gold Eats

It's been an absolute pleasure reading these new-to-me blogs and cooking through Emeril's new cookbook!

This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a blogalong sponsored by Morrow Books,
marking the publication of

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer,

with the exception of the book cover; that belongs to Morrow Books.

Smashed chickpeas on naan with cilantro-mint chutney, #SeriousSandwich

Smashed chickpeas on naan with cilantro-mint chutney and raita. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

From time to time, folks will ask me why I love cookbooks and cooking, and I find it difficult to say why or how they are interesting to me, they just are. From my first cookbook, The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook, to my newest, Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches, I find stories and pictures that hold my attention. The dish above, Smashed Chickpeas on Naan with Cilantro-Mint Chutney and Raita, isn't pictured in the book, so I guess it was the idea of Indian spices and the tender flatbread known as naan that piqued my interest. With the added advantage of being a vegetarian entree, I was in, and the recipe did not disappoint, I could eat this any time of day.

Fragrant mustard seeds, garlic, fresh ginger, and crushed red pepper are sauteed with tomatoes, chickpeas and red bell pepper, then seasoned with turmeric, cumin, cardamom and coriander. The mixture is rough-smashed then served on flatbread with the cooling cucumber-yogurt mixture known as raita, and a coconut-milk based sauce flavored with cilantro and mint. It tastes as good as it smells.

I've written before that my world is small, but my kitchen is big. I'm an armchair traveler, and with the benefit of technology and some excellent cookbooks, I can bring the world into my kitchen. As for this dish, even though I didn't grow up with Indian food, and I live in a town without an Indian restaurant, I can taste a bit of the culture in my home.

And here are two more reasons why I've enjoyed cooking from "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches" - recipes with multiple components are concisely written, and esoteric ingredients are rare. I occasionally order spices from Penzeys, but I get weary of reading cookbooks that ask me to mail order or seek out specialty ingredients. And shopping at Whole Foods is not an option for me with my suburban supermarket choices, so Emeril's attention to readers with limited options is noted and appreciated.

Stay tuned for more great sandwiches from:

This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a blogalong sponsored by Morrow Books,
marking the publication of

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer,

with the exception of the book cover; that belongs to Morrow Books.

French Bread Pizza Sandwich, #SeriousSandwich

French Bread Pizza Sandwich. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Emeril is speaking French with an Italian accent in this French Bread Pizza Sandwich, a truly delicious weeknight meal, and light years beyond any supermarket frozen pizza. The secret is the way the bread is treated - hollowed out, bathed in garlic butter, toasted, then filled with Italian sausage, easy homemade tomato sauce, fresh Italian sausage and cheese, glorious cheese. Baked to cheese-stretching goodness, then served to your family with the admonition, "Be careful of the cheese, it's hot!"

As good is this carnivore's edition is, I can only imagine how much better it will be when I kick it up with the toppings of my favorite pizza - mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, you know, the classic veggie pizza. After all, that's what Emeril would do, right?

French Bread Pizza Sandwich. Lucy Mercer/ A Cook and Her Books

The recipe for the French Bread Pizza sandwich can be found in the genius-packed cookbook "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches" (Morrow, $24.99), on sale now at your favorite brick-and-mortar bookstore or online book retailer.

If you've been reading along, you know that this post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a blogger collective marking the publication of "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches." Emeril and his culinary team have been generous with their time, reading the stories and answering questions. Emeril took some time to answer a couple of questions from A Cook and Her Books readers.

The first question is from my friend Lynda Mahana of Luvgourmet, who just so happens to be a native of New Orleans:

Q. Do you believe that the choice of bread used is the most important component in assembling a great sandwich?

I think that the bread is just one part of a great sandwich. An important part, for sure, but equally important is what’s found between the bread. A kicked up condiment can really set a sandwich apart from the rest. All of the components have to work together to make a great sandwich. 

Q. What advice do you offer to young people who want to start culinary careers?

A. Get a job in a restaurant to see what it’s really like. Oftentimes, the idea of being a chef doesn’t match the reality. Then, if you’re sure it’s for you, go to cooking school and soak up as much as you can. Once you’re out of school and a part of the work force, work harder still. Don’t be afraid to pay your dues – success doesn’t happen overnight but comes as the reward of hard work and dedication.

Q.  What are your upcoming projects? 

A. I am currently filming a TV show called "Emeril’s Florida," for the Cooking Channel. The show will debut in January 2013 and will focus on the food, cooking, events and activities throughout the state of Florida. It’s been a lot of fun to shoot. 

I know I speak for a lot of readers here when I say we're looking forward to "Emeril's Florida" and hope that there's a cookbook to go with it!

Thanks, Emeril, from myself and all the readers of A Cook and Her Books!

This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a blogalong sponsored by Morrow Books,
marking the publication of

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer,

with the exception of the book cover; that belongs to Morrow Books.

Chocolate Wafers with Peanut Butter Fudge, #SeriousSandwich

Chocolate wafers with peanut butter fudge. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

It's been said before, but it's so true ~ two great tastes that taste great together. Peanut butter and chocolate, a pair of ingredients pretty good on their own, are dynamite together.

Chocolate wafers with peanut butter fudge. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

These chocolate wafers with peanut butter fudge are the most decadent treat I've baked lately. Soft, dark chocolate cookies with a simple peanut butter fudge filling of marshmallow creme, pb, 10X sugar, and a shot of vanilla. I wish I could give you the entire recipe, but for that you'll just have to pick up a copy of Emeril Lagasse's newest cookbook, "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches" (Morrow, $24.99).

Among the 120 recipes in the book are 10 sweet recipes, goodies like Date-Walnut Pockets,  Cafe Au Lait Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache, and Red Velvet Whoopie Pies. Just in time for Christmas baking, to be sure, and I already have requests to bake these chocolate-pb wafers for Christmas.

Please visit again soon for more fabulous sandwiches from Emeril!

This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a blogalong sponsored by Morrow Books,
 marking the publication of 

 

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer, 

with the exception of the book cover; that belongs to Morrow Books.

A Taste of Summer, #SeriousSandwich

Caprese Sandwich. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

It may be the same blue sky here in Georgia, but my mind is still in Orange Beach, on the Alabama Gulf Coast, where we spent a gloriously lazy Fall Break last week. Sugar-white sand between my toes (it squeaks when you walk on it!), crazy amounts of fried seafood, and not a care in the world for a week.

View of the beach. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 No alarm clocks, no homework, no clocking in and clocking out, just building sand castles during the day and strolling idly down the beach at sunset.

Orange Beach, Alabama. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Coming back home to evening temps in the 40s and seeing the trees turn their heathered shades of plum, ochre and sienna, I had in mind a final taste of summer ~ the Caprese Sandwich from "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches" (Morrow, $24.99). This sandwich is more than a Caprese Salad with a bread foundation and lid ~ Emeril kicks it up with garlic and olive oil, and you'll just have to buy the book to find out! (Trust me, you will find lots of great recipes to make for your family in this book!)

Caprese, open-face. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I pulled the last of the basil from the garden, the plants offering scrawny, but still flavorful, leaves. Fresh mozz, a final juicy tomato, and there it was, summer on the plate. Like the sand buckets and swimsuits, beach towels and sunscreen, this recipe will be tucked away until next summer. And in July, when the heat beats down and the cicadas start to hum, my gardening friends will bring me homegrown tomatoes. And I'll slice up a Better Boy still kissed with the morning dew, layer it mozzarella, top it with the abundant, full, basil from my herb garden, and savor the taste of summer again.

Sunset at Orange Beach. Laura Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer. 

With the exception of Emeril's book cover, that belongs to Morrow Cookbooks.

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books. 

This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a cookalong to celebrate the publication of Emeril's Kickked-Up Sandwiches. For more great #SeriousSandwich posts, follow #SeriousSandwich on Twitter.

Buy This Cookbook, #SeriousSandwich

Breakfast burrito with Black Beans and Avocado Crema. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 After spending a morning making sandwiches from Emeril Lagasse's brand-new book, Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches, all I can say is "Avocado Crema, where have you been all my life?"

Avocado crema is the lip-smacking, eyebrow-raising, woo-hoo-inspiring garnish for Emeril's Breakfast Burrito with Chorizo, Black Beans and Avocado Crema. It puts the "Bam!" in the burrito, if you will. Breakfast burritos can be pretty ordinary fare - some sausage, some beans, a handful of cheese, a drizzle of salsa, maybe a cube or two of avocado. Emeril takes guacamole ingredients, and without giving too much away, because you really need to buy the book, creates a lusciously thick sauce to shmear over the beans, sausage, egg and cheese. Talk about your notches unknown.

I'm telling you this today, right now, because "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches" is available today at bookstores, both online and brick-and-mortar, today. (I'd be especially appreciative if you visited an independent bookseller to purchase your copy, because booksellers rock.)

 I work best under deadline pressure (and that's the story I'm going with today), so I'm going to eat this breakfast burrito as soon as I hit "send." If you want to see more of the recipes from the book, just type #SeriousSandwich in the A Cook and Her Books search box on your right for my stories. Head over to Twitter, follow #SeriousSandwich and find stories from the 21 other bloggers who've spent the better part of October cooking from this awesome cookbook.

And stay tuned for more fabulous #SeriousSandwich posts!

Text and Images, Copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

 With the exception of the cover of Emeril's cookbook.

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books

The easiest from-scratch biscuits you will ever make

Emeril's Cheddar and Green Onion Biscuits with bacon. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 Biscuit making is one of those revered arts, right up there with pie-crust-making, that holds fear and anxiety in its elusive and sticky hands. The fact is, both of these pastry skills were essential and probably inconsequentially everyday for women a century ago, but now that the kitchen is a choice, and thank goodness for that, biscuit making manages to be terrifying even though it is actually a very simple process. Fat combined with flour, some salt, some leavening, bound with liquid, pressed into a disk, punched into shape and baked.

The problem, of course, presents itself in the choices - what fat, what flour, what leavening? The novice cook may wonder 'What does it mean to "handle gently?" or to "cut in butter?" Given the variations and complexities of the subject, it's no wonder that people will pop open a tube of biscuits and call it breakfast. (Or for the moms in the know, bake up the frozen biscuits, because, I know, they really are that good.)

When you're ready to give biscuit-making a try, go to this recipe from "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches" for Cheddar-Green Onion Biscuits. It's the delivery device for a fried chicken breast and a shmear of redeye gravy, but bake up a batch of these and they're pretty darn good solo. Plus, this cream biscuit is near foolproof. Even if you manage to overwork the dough, (and if you follow the directions, you won't,) but if you do, there's enough fat to make up for it. Between the butter and the cream, you are covered.

Cheese and onion go into the dry ingredients. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Cutting out biscuits. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

"Painting" the biscuits with what else? Melted butter. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a blogalong for Emeril Lagasse's newest cookbook, "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches." Look for more recipes from the #SeriousSandwich bloggers by following hashtag #SeriousSandwich on Twitter.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books

How to Photograph Sandwiches, #SeriousSandwich

Photographer Steven Freeman and Chef Emeril Lagasse prepare Eggplant Muffuletta for the "Kicked-Up Sandwiches" shoot. Photo by Jeyhoun Allebaugh

The key to improving food blog photography can be as simple as asking yourself “does it look good enough to eat?” according to StevenFreeman, photographer for the newest cookbook from Emeril Lagasse, “Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches” (Morrow, $24.99). 

Freeman spoke with me last week from New York about the new cookbook, working with Chef Emeril and how to improve the photographs on my own blog.

Emeril and Jen Lover look over the upcoming shots. Photo by Steven Freeman.

Freeman works with Emeril and his culinary team to create the cookbooks from planning through post-production. The entire process takes about nine months. For the newest book, Emeril brought the idea of a book on sandwiches to his culinary team in March 2011 and the pictures were shot in a New York studio in September 2011 in just 3 ½ days. Freeman credits the professionalism of Emeril’s team for such a fast shoot – “they are an extremely fast and efficient team.”

Charlotte Martory drizzles hot sauce on the Fried Oyster Po Boy with Jalapeno Mayonnaise and Avocado, 

as Steven looks on. Photo by Jen Lover.

As for the food, “every single thing you see is real,” Freeman said. “In fact, on a typical shoot, we have a catered lunch. On the sandwich shoot, we did not. All the food you see in the book, we tasted.”

Which led me to a related question – how do the professionals have the willpower to keep from eating the food as they shoot it? Or put a different way, what’s your Kryptonite? (My Kryptonite has to be fried chicken. Smelling just-fried chicken and seeing that crispy skin, I don’t think I could keep my mitts off of it long enough to get a decent picture.) Freeman agreed with me about the fried chicken, but said his favorite from the shoot was the Roast Po-Boy with debris, the New Orleans word for the flavorful bits left in the bottom of the roasting pan. When you order debris with your po boy, the bits and gravy are part of the sandwich. (I think I’d have a tough time keeping my hands off of that, too.)

Emeril photographs The Cuban as Prop Stylist Jen Lover holds the background, and First Assistant Kevin Guiler controls the reflection. Photo by Steven Freeman.

On a shoot day, in addition to the photographer and his assistants, there are 4 to 5 members of the culinary team, plus Emeril, working collaboratively to get the best picture of each sandwich. Emeril is a hands-on author, preparing the food, involved in the action shots such as dripping sauce on the food. (Pro tip from Freeman: to get those kinds of shots, use natural light and a fast shutter speed.)

Stacy Meyer, of Emeril's Culinary Team. Photo by Steven Freeman.

 Here are some fabulous examples of Freeman's (and Emeril's Culinary Team's) work from "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches."

I like the way the egg salad sandwich is packaged with colorful veggies here:

Emeril's Egg Salad Supreme. Photo by Steven Freeman.

 “When I shoot food, I want people to look at it and taste it,” Freeman said. 

Close-ups, such as the one of the gooey melted cheese in the calzone, accomplish this. “When you’re that close, you can taste it.”

 

Genoa Salami Calzone. Photo by Steven Freeman.

The eggplant muffuletta kinda jumps off the page, too.

Eggplant Muffuletta. Photo by Steven Freeman.

Looking to improve your food photography? Freeman has two recommendations:

1.       A tripod is your friend. And

2.       Natural light is your very best friend. 

The first is self-explanatory, and Freeman offers help to make the best use of natural light: 

In your home, find a window with light coming in and place the food there. Turn off interior lights because you want light coming from just one direction. If the light is harsh, diffuse it by using a bedsheet or other light material to cover the window.

Professionals use “silks,” but do-it-yourselfers (like me) can go to the fabric store and buy material somewhere “between a wedding veil and a bedsheet.” If using a lamp for the light source, place the silk over the lamp.

If you’re like me and have a lovely kitchen, but not good light, head outside.  I have a covered porch with great light, but sometimes, depending on the weather, season and time of day, the light can be harsh. Freeman suggests hanging the silk to diffuse the light. 

To balance shadows in pictures, use foamcore cards. This is when having a partner (or kid!) can be useful. Use foamcore cards to balance the light across the subject. For me, this will take some practice, but I can see how it will fill in the dark areas on my pictures. Like the shadow between the sandwich halves on my version of Emeril's egg salad sandwich. 

Freeman graciously looked over some of my #SeriousSandwiches photographs and offered professional criticism. My egg salad sandwich could benefit from some well-placed foam core cards. (and I agree – I’m now critiquing all my pictures for odd shadows and harsh light.)

I sent Freeman a picture that I was pleased with, the overhead shot of Olive Salad for the Muffuletta. I liked the colors and there were no weird shadows. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention in the viewfinder and cropped out the bottom lip of the jar. A happy accident, as it turns out.

Olive Salad. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

This is Freeman’s crop of my shot, he calls this stage “sculpting” – using the editing tools to create the very best image possible. I think it improves the picture. What do you think?

Olive salad. Edited by Steven Freeman. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books.

Thank you to Steven Freeman for a delightful interview and the food photography tutorial. 
I can’t wait to get my silks and foamcore in place and improve my pictures!
View Freeman's Portfolio.

Thank you to Steven Freeman and Morrow Books for the photographs included with this article. Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer, except as noted above. 
Thanks also to Tavia Kowalchuk of Morrow Books.

This post is part of Emeril's #SeriousSandwich cookalong to celebrate the publication of "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches," which will be released October 16, 2012. 

For pre-orders, see here.

 To win your very own copy of the book, see here. 

To read other great posts about "Kicked-Up Sandwiches," follow #SeriousSandwich on Twitter.