The Soul of Southern Cooking

By Kathy Starr

Book Overview

Here is a collection of representative authentic soul food dishes for those who want the real thing. Most of the recipes were learned by the author from her grandmother, Frances Fleming Hunter, a cook whose caf was in the little Mississippi town of Hollandale.

Kathy Starr compiled these recipes as a tribute to her grandmother, whom she remembers amid big pots of greens and vegetables that were bubbling on the stove as she stirred up the cornbread.

"Hunger," she says, "was something the black family had to conquer, and it was a must that simple foods make a delicious meal. My grandma, even today, can tell you stories of how proud she felt about her sister Malindy, who would walk up out of the cotton field and find company sitting on the steps and then would take a shelf of nothing and make the best meal you ever tasted."

While this cookbook does preserve the foodways of southern African Americans of the past, the recipes are food traditions that live today in the rural South. The

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0878054154
• ISBN13: 9780878054152
• Release Date: October 1989
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful combination of recipes and stories

The Soul Of Southern Cooking is a wonderful combination of recipes and stories that evoke a time when black families had to make-do in the midst of hard times, yet were able to develop and enjoy a variety of delicious meals with a culinary tradition popularly referred to as "soul food". From Homemade Hog Head Souse; Neckbone and Macaroni Stew; Delta Fried Catfish; and Sunday's Fried Corn; to Boiled Chicken Feet and Legs; Stovetop Roast Beef; Celery Seed Dressing; Ten-Minute Oven Pecan Brittle; and Mrs. Hunter's Southern Tea Cakes, The Soul Of Southern Cooking fully lives up to its title and will prove a welcome and unique addition to the family cookbook collection.