Southern Food Culture on the Skids? Part II

From the introduction to the tenth anniversary edition of Joseph E. Dabney’s Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine:

“There may well be as much to learn about a nation from the food and drink its people consume as from the laws it passes and the wars it fights...for food and drink are daily matters that intimately reflect the spirit and tastes of a people.” --quoted from the Washington Post review by Jonathan Yardley of Joseph Dabney’s Mountain Spirits. 

Smokehouse Ham... isn’t a Southern cookbook; as its subtitle explains, it’s a book about The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking.  “Southern cooking” breaks down into distinct subsets.  For instance, shrimp and grits are lowcountry, not mountain (I did see a recipe for “Tennessee Shrimp and Grits” in a Southern cookbook today; needless to day, I didn’t buy that cookbook!).  City food didn’t used to be the same as country cooking.  You could have asked Edward’s mother, Mary Faye, about that.  She famously declared “Once I tasted city eating I was never going back to county food again.”  I respect Mary Faye, but I can’t totally agree with that; I still prefer country vittles myself.

So what can one learn about America from what Americans are eating these days?  That we’re all in a great hurry I suppose.  Hurrying for what reason I’m not so sure.

Anyway, I’ve been after Edward to post a list here of his favorite cookbooks, but he’s definitely NOT hurrying on this one, so even though I’m not the chef in this Brumby household, I’m going to share with you a few of my own favorite cookbooks.

Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking, by Joseph E. Dabney
    Edward gave me this great book a couple of Christmases ago.  It took me the better part of a year, but I did read the entire tome from cover to cover.  Fascinating -- a wonderful mix of history, geography, culture and personalities.  And my mentor, Ethelene D. Jones, is featured on page 440.  I’ve not cooked many dishes exactly from the recipes printed here, but I return to my little cast iron cornbread skillet more often since reading this book.

Southern Cooking from Mary Mac’s Tea Room, by Margaret Lupo
    I have the little old plastic comb-bound version from 1983.  I don’t know where I got it, but it’s signed by the author.  Since I just cook, and not very often, I return to this book time and again for ideas and advice for fixing such vegetable basics as fried okra, baked squash and fried green tomatoes.  I’ve never eaten at Mary Mac’s btw.

Fried Green Tomato @ Home

The New Southern Basics, by Martha Phelps Stamps
    I bought a copy of this book weeded from the Snellville branch of Gwinnett County Public Library (books we’ve purchased from this source could make an entire blog).  I check these recipes too when attempting the basics.  Here you can find guidance for making pimiento cheese, chicken salad, fried corn, fried sweet potatoes and lots of other things I ought to cook.

Starr Recipes from Greystone, by Mary Starr
    This is another little plastic comb-bound recipe book.  This one belonged to my maternal grandmother, Gertrude.  Her check marks of approval and notes for alterations can be seen in the margins.  For many years Mary Starr was “Hostess on the Homemakers Show” for WATE Radio 620 / Television 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.  This book is a 1970 compilation of her favorites.  There are some recipes in here we might call frightful or laughable these days (South Carolina Chicken with minute rice and two kinds of canned soup.....), but again, there are some “Easy and foolproof” standards.  The page containing the recipe for Quick and Easy Coconut Pie boasts stains and a red checkmark.  Granny, who was a superb cook, also gave her thumb up to Ground Beef Stew, Banana-Walnut Bread, Chocolate Covered Cherries and Coconut Mounds and Apple-Date Cake.  She X’ed through Mary’s Caramel Icing. 

Those cover Southern cooking, but here are a few other cookbooks I particularly like and/or use:

Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book
    Yes, I bought myself a copy of the red-and-white checkered notebook back around 1981.  Talk about pedestrian, there are no foodie fantasies or homey historicals here.  But even today, when the Internet can supply one with myriads of recipes in a heartbeat, I still open this old standby for basic information about cooking times and temperatures.  Wonder how many women have learned to cook from this book?

Another cookbook I read entirely is Two Fat Ladies: Gastronomic Adventures [With Motorbike and Sidecar], by Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright.  I used to LOVE to watch their show on BBC America.  What incredible lives they enjoyed!  And if I ever need to know how to cook grouse or rabbit or Scotch eggs, I’ve got the word from the experts handy.  Whatever I’m cooking, their recipe will probably begin with “line the bowl with bacon,” and how could that be bad?

Andrew Swallow's Field Salad

And although I don’t own a copy, I’m becoming attached to Mixt Salads: A Chef’s Bold Creations by Andrew Swallow with Ann Volkwein.  I’ve made his Field salad, which was really nice (butter lettuce, vinegar/oil/mustard dressing, blue cheese, fresh tarragon, shallots).  And I’m dying to try Gems (gem lettuce, apricots, blue cheese) and Mr. Bean (lamb w/ grilled baby artichokes, flageolet beans -- what ARE flageolet beans?).  This is a 2010 cookbook which would appeal to foodie types; it’s arranged by season to highlight fresh ingredients.  The recipes seem do-able and enjoyable.

Of course my really favorite recipes are the ones I’ve copied out on cute little file cards in the nice wooden recipe box my aunt Johnnie gave me years ago.  And my more recent notebook full of photocopies, Internet printouts and newspaper and magazine clippings. 

No, I’m not the Brumby chef, nor am I the Brumby cookbook aficionado, but these are my favorites for reading and cooking.  (My real favorites of course are the ones which inspire my chef Edward to experiment, usually with tasty results!)