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Southern Cookbook Recommendations?

post #1 of 15
8/3/04 at 7:10am
Thread Starter 
I did up a southern fried chicken dinner last night while my dad and sister were in town.

I've read some of the more modern southern cookbooks and I really want something more traditional. I'd kind of like to read one from the 50s, and the 20s and earlier. 30-40s have overriding economic issues that would have shifted the food in ways I'm not interested in.

Any recommendations? or other websites?

Phil
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post #2 of 15
8/6/04 at 9:27am
Thread Starter 
Classical Southern Cooking by Damon Fowler seems to be somewhat of what I'm looking for, but even older. It reprints from the four classic 1800s cookbooks. I'm picking it up at the library tonight.

I've been going through his fourth cookbook and it's got some good information though a bit nouvelle for my current intentions. The cover photo is of an "asparagus shortcake". Looks pretty good actually.

phil
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post #3 of 15
8/7/04 at 11:39am
Thread Starter 
Been enjoying the book since I picked it up at the library last night. This may have been the best choice after all as the time frame I was initially looking at was probably ruined by the rise of industrialized food. At least according to Fowler.

This is definitely a book worth searching out if you have an interest in Southern food and some of the history associated there with.

Phil
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post #4 of 15
8/18/04 at 9:45am

good lowcountry cooking.

Hopping' John's Lowcountry Cooking is a good recipe resource. :bounce:

I also have a recipe for frogmore stew/ lowcountry boil or deviled crab.
Both are excellent recipes.

maggie
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post #5 of 15
8/18/04 at 11:15am
Thread Starter 
Is Hoppin' John's a web page? If so, please post the address.

Thanks,

Phil
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post #6 of 15
8/18/04 at 12:41pm
It is a book. Here's a link to it at Borders books
http://www.bordersstores.com/search/...0&doSearch.y=0
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post #7 of 15
8/19/04 at 5:47am
When I was in New Orleans, I went to a place called K Pauls Kitchen whose executive chef was Paul Prudium (sp?). I was told he is the original big name southern chef who made cajun big. If someone can correct my spelling of his last name, you may want to look him up.
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post #8 of 15
8/19/04 at 8:06am
Thread Starter 
I've read a bunch of Prudhomme. He is focused mostly on Cajun. And he does it well from what I know. I use a number of his tricks with regularity.

Really, Southern cooking is intensely regional as all the variants of barbecue show quite well.

Phil
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post #9 of 15
8/27/04 at 11:27am

May I suggest a visit to my site MY GOOD OLD KITCKEN:

Phatch
My site MY GOOD OLD KITCKEN was created at the begining to preserve the old traditional recipes from my family. It was done just for the family, and then my husband decided to compile some e books. Some are already uploaded in these sites.

http://www.freewebs.com/luzalice/

Or you may want to go to my spanish site COCINA DE LUZ:

http://www.freewebs.com/luzalicia/

There are some free recipes that you can enjoy with your family.

Hope you enjoy our free recipe.

You are most welcome to visit my site any time.

Have a wonderful day. :chef:

Yours Mrs. Luz Alicia Gonzalez
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post #10 of 15
8/27/04 at 6:51pm
Hi Phatch
It's been a long time since i visited here, but this thread really caught my eye.
There are three books I'd like to recommend.

Southern Cooking by Bill Neal
Gracious Plenty by John T. Edge
and
Mama Dips Kitchen by Mildred Council
also you should really look at any of Edna Lewis' books.

Bill Neal and Edna Lewis were the first to really be recognized as an authorities on the the regional and ethnic cooking of the south, but mostly the southeast. Paul Prudhomme came a few years later and focused mostly on Cajun and Louisiana country food-much different from Creole.

John T. Edge is the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the ole'Miss and the head of a cultural department there (though which one I can't remember.)
Mildred Council is the matriarch of a large clan in and around Chapel Hill, NC- I went to school with several of her kids. She has run, with the help of her family, the best southern soul-food restaurant I've ever eaten in called Mama Dip's Country Kitchen. Her fried chicken is simple and true and absolutely delicious.
Hope this helps
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post #11 of 15
8/27/04 at 8:52pm
Thread Starter 
I'll look 'em up.

Thanks,

Phil
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post #12 of 15
8/28/04 at 7:40am
For a satirical twist, take a look at the often-hilarious "White Trash Cooking" by Ernest Matthew Mickler. 'Single Boy's Breakfast' and Grand Canyon Cake' are favorites of mine! Take a look here. :D
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post #13 of 15
8/28/04 at 8:59am
I second the choice of Southern Cooking by Bill Neal. Another interesting read is Cross Creek Cookery by Marjorie Kinan Rawlings
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post #14 of 15
9/5/04 at 2:28pm
You might want to try:

A Date with a Dish by Freda De Knight
Bless the Cook by Bessie Munson
The Soul Food Cookbook by Bob Jeffries
A Good Heart and a Light Hand by Ruth Gaskins
The Lost Art of Scratch Cooking by Curtis Parker
The Negro Chef Cookbook by Leonard Roberts

Anything by Edna Lewis
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post #15 of 15
9/20/04 at 9:40am
Here are two of my favorites:

The New Low-Country Cooking by Marvin Woods.

My Mother's Southern Kitchen by James Villas and Martha Pearl Villas



Woods has a deft touch. His recipes are straightforward interpretations of classics, and he is particularly good at pairing ingredients.

Villas's work is so good that just perusing it almost always gets me hankering for a country ham biscuit and starts hardening my arteries.
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