About this item
Highlights
- A home cook's guide to one of America's most diverse - and delicious - cuisines, from James Beard Award-winning author and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty'Our cuisine, with its grits and black-eyed peas, crab cakes, red rice, and endless variations on the staple foods of the region, casts a spell that, if you're lucky, gets passed down with snapping string beans at the table and chewing cane on the back porch.
- About the Author: Michael W. Twitty is an acclaimed culinary historian, and author of the two-times James Beard Award-winning book The Cooking Gene, as well as Rice and Koshersoul.
- 432 Pages
- Cooking + Food + Wine, Regional & Ethnic
Description
Book Synopsis
A home cook's guide to one of America's most diverse - and delicious - cuisines, from James Beard Award-winning author and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty
'Our cuisine, with its grits and black-eyed peas, crab cakes, red rice, and endless variations on the staple foods of the region, casts a spell that, if you're lucky, gets passed down with snapping string beans at the table and chewing cane on the back porch.' - Michael W. Twitty
In the introduction to this groundbreaking recipe collection, acclaimed historian Michael W. Twitty declares, 'No one state or area can give you the breadth of the Southern story or fully set the Southern table.' To answer this, Recipes from the American South journeys from the Louisiana Bayou to the Chesapeake Bay, showcasing more than 260 of the region's most beloved dishes.
Across more than 400 pages, Twitty explores the broad culinary sweep that Southern history and its many cultures represent. Recipes for breads and biscuits, mains and sides, stews, sauces, and sweets feature insightful headnotes and clear, step-by-step instructions. Home cooks will discover both iconic dishes and lesser-known specialties: Chicken and Dumplings, She-crab Soup, Red Eye Gravy, Benne Seed Wafers, Hummingbird Cake, and Mint Juleps appear alongside Shrimp Pilau, Chorizo Dirty Rice, Sumac Lemonade, and Cajun Pig's Ears Pastry.
A masterful storyteller, Twitty enriches his extensive recipe collection with lyrical, deeply researched essays that celebrate the region's "multicultural gumbo" of influences from immigrants from across the globe. Vibrant food photography adds further color to the fascinating narrative.
Expansive, authoritative, and beautifully designed, Recipes from the American South is a classic cookbook in the making.
Review Quotes
'Michael Twitty is an inspiring storyteller who pulls you in with his deep and personal understanding of history, culture, ingredients, and people. He has written an instant classic - a must-have reference book peeling back the layers of American Southern cooking.' - James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur, José Andrés
Praise for Michael W. Twitty:
'[Twitty looks] at food in all the most important ways ... He gets so clearly that food is how we understand ourselves and our history ... There's nobody like him: he's a wonderful writer, he's incredibly thoughtful, and he understands the ways in which food can shape a person's journey.' - Time
'Slavery made the world of our ancestors incredibly remote to us. Thankfully, the work of Michael W. Twitty helps restore our awareness of their struggles and successes bite by bite, giving us a true taste of the past.' - Dr. Henry Louis Gates, host of PBS's 'Finding Your Roots'
About the Author
Michael W. Twitty is an acclaimed culinary historian, and author of the two-times James Beard Award-winning book The Cooking Gene, as well as Rice and Koshersoul. He has written for many publications and been featured throughout print and broadcast media, including the Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, PBS, and NPR's The Splendid Table. He has given over 500 public talks and appeared in numerous series, including Taste the Nation and High on the Hog.