The Greatest Gift: A True Family Cookbook

I must have been awfully good this year because I got some very cool Christmas presents. On the top of the list is a self-published cookbook of family favorites from John Egerton and his clan. I was tickled to thumb through The New Lovin' Spoonfuls and consider which recipes to try first: Hoecakes, cheese grits, coconut chess pie, maybe Mama Bleidt's Yeast Rolls. "That's real lard the recipe calls for," the note at the end of the instructions for the rolls reads. "You might think it unnecessary or even unhealthy, but there is no substitute if you want lightness and flakiness in your baking. Mama Bleidt always used lard and she lived to be over 90."

Amen and pass the butter!

This book is stuffed with those kind of home-spun observations and down-home dishes.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I've been noticing a rising wave of Southern dishes washing over this great land. Fried chicken, shrimp and grits, gumbo and such are starting to become trendified.

For any chef who wants to learn about the why behind those iconic dishes, I highly recommend getting your mitts on a copy of John Egerton's groundbreaking book, Southern Food: At Home, On the Road and In History, first published in 1987. When I moved to Memphis six years ago, that book proved an invaluable guide to helping me understand regional traditions.

During the time I spent writing about food and restaurants for the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Egerton became a most valued source and, eventually, a friend. I think he appreciated that I was hungry to learn all I could about the vast and varied foods particular to the South. Those delicious lessons are so worth soaking up for anyone who is curious about food.

But does Southern fare translate? It seems the greater the distance from the point of origin, the less likely the food is to taste like what it should. That's where Southern Food comes in handy, not as a cookbook, but as a resource to illuminate the history behind Spoonbread, Pimento Cheese and pickles made with watermelon rind and so much more.

It's an entertainly written reference you'll turn to again and again.

-- Leslie Kelly

Comments

[Tracy Schneider on December 31, 2009 at 08:54 AM]

Leslie, just got my hands on John Egerton's Southern Food--thanks to you. Here's hoping to see lots of great Southern dishes on menus across the country in 2010!

[bali villa rental on January 01, 2010 at 04:55 AM]

Thanks a lot for this post. Actually my wife is not talking to me as I didn't taken her anywhere at Christmas. I think his book will make her happy.