Ethnic tomes feature recipes containing a whole lot of soul

Nation's Restaurant News, March 22, 2004 by Michael Schrader

According to the National Restaurant Association, soul food is now the fifth most-sampled cuisine, ahead of Cajun-Creole, which is ranked No. 6; Thai, No. 11; and Indian, No. 12. The following cookbooks attest to the appeal of the cuisine.

NEW SOUL COOKING: Updating a Cuisine Rich in Flavor and Tradition, Tanya Holland, 159 pages, New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $30.

Holland is the co-owner of Le Theatre, a multiethnic French restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., and a regular host of the Food network's "Melting Pot Soul Kitchen."

In this, her first cookbook, Holland updates the traditional ingredients and dishes associated with soul food. Her version blends influences from Brazil, the Caribbean islands and Africa into a healthful approach to cooking, using seasonal and fresh ingredients in 95 recipes. The flavors are bold, but the animal fat content found in traditional soul food has been either reduced or eliminated, depending on the dish. Holland gives a new twist to soul food cooking by arranging the dishes by courses rather than as a buffet.

The food is grouped as appetizers and first courses, entrees and big plates, sides and desserts. Standout dishes are spiced molasses duck breast salad with figs, pecans and bitter greens, buttermilk and sage-soaked turkey breast, and spinach spoon bread.

BROWN SUGAR: Soul Food Desserts from Family and Friends, Joyce White, 297 pages, New York: HarperCollins, $24.95.

White, who writes a weekly column that appears in black newspapers across the country, is the author of "Soul Food: Recipes and Reflections from African-American Churches."

Her current cookbook contains an impressive collection of 120 down-home dessert recipes that are enhanced by stories about the blacks around the country who gave her the recipes. They are urban and rural, Northern and Southern, Eastern and Western, reflecting the influences of Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and traditional African cuisine. The chapter on pies includes such creations as orange buttermilk pie, brown-sugar pie and angel pie, which basically is a meringue pie shell filled with lemon and topped with fruit or cream.

SWEETS: A Collection of Soul Food Desserts and Memories, Patty Pinner, 166 pages, Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press, $24.95.

Pinner, who was raised in a large, extended black family in Saginaw, Mich., learned how to cook in her mother's kitchen. The cookbook--her first--offers 100 recipes for desserts, including pies and cobblers, puddings, cookies and candies, and ice cream. The theme here is that food baked with love bonds a family. There are lots of goodies here, such as honey cake, old-fashioned sugar pie and sweet-potato pie.