The Gift of Southern Cooking: Recipes and Revelations From Two Great Southern Cooks - Book Review

Black Issues Book Review, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Melissa Ewey Johnson

by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock Knopf, April 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-375-40035-4

Edna Lewis, a Virginia native famous for her classic cookbooks The Taste of Country Cooking (Random House, June 1976, ISBN 0-394-73215-4) and In Pursuit of Flavor (University, Press of Virginia, March 2000, ISBN 0-813-91989-4) has had a long and tabled career as a chef in New York and throughout the South. Her Alabama-born coauthor, Scott Peacock, distinguished himself as chef to two Georgia governors and at Watershed restaurant in Decatur, Georgia. Together, they founded the Society for the Revival and Preservation of Southern Pond, and have spent years researching and learning cuisines indigenous to several Southern states.

The fruits of their labor are evident in the recipes that fill Gift of Southern Cooking. Plenty of classic dishes, such as macaroni and cheese, cornmeal muffins, Southern pan-fried chicken and banana pudding are included. The best feature of this collection is the wide variety of recipes that come as a revelation to those not raised in the South, ranging from Candied Bacon (served with breakfast or brunch) to Chowchow, a relish typically eaten with cabbage that you'd be hard-pressed to find served north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Lewis and Peacock have taken liberties with a few recipes--their version of Frogmore Stew, for example, is a bit more sophisticated than the conventional preparation practiced in the South Carolina Low Country. Though the stew is excellent, the highlight of the book is Lewis's renowned Turtle Soup With Dumplings.

Throughout the hook are helpful hints for locating hard-to-find ingredients (for example, the tartaric acid used to make mulberry acid, a syrup mixed into ice water or alcoholic beverages, is sold in health food stores or pharmacies), as well as charming anecdotes that impart tips and tricks essential to perfecting the tastes and textures of Southern cuisine.

If you weren't fortunate enough to learn the secrets of Southern cuisine in your grandmother's kitchen, The Gift of Souther Cooking could make the difference between serving up an imitation dish or an authentic recipe full of real, traditional flavor.

--Melissa Ewey Johnson is a writer and editor living in New York City.