TURN UP THE HEAT WITH SOUTHERN CUISINE
B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style
by Barbara Smith
Scribner
NonFiction
November 2009
It’s that time of year again — time to make a longer grocery list, pull out those oversized heavy duty pots and pans, and reinvent traditional family recipes.
The first Thanksgiving feast, according to food historian Kathleen Curtin, took place at Plimoth Plantation in 1921. The celebration included celebrating harvest and giving thanks for a bountiful crop. And much like today’s traditional cooks, pilgrims used flavorful spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Meat consumption consisted of goose, duck, crane, swan, eagles, partridges, and wild turkey.
And today, the Turkey still dominates as the most popular of family traditions. And over the years, turkey variations have caused family chaos, debates and debacle. Some turkey concoctions (the deep fried version) can result in a trip to the nearest emergency room.
Renew your Thanksgiving tradition with Barbara Smith, author of “B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style.” She is reigning “queen” of a home products empire and is proprietor of three restaurants in New York City, Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, and Long Island’s Sag Harbor.
Smith celebrates cooking with a touch of class by endorsing flavorful dishes that not only taste good, but are good for you. And for cooks who dare not buck the family tradition, the cornish hens with cranberry-chestnut stuffing is a Thanksgiving classic.
While praising the great flavor that fat adds to dishes, Smith encourages healthy eating by putting a wholesome spin on Southern dishes like alligator-stuffed eggplant, smothered chicken livers, and grilled okra and tomato salad, to name a few.
Heat up your kitchen with the comfort of Southern cuisine!
MORE COOKBOOKS PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT
My New Orleans: The Cookbook
by John Bess
Andrews McMeel Publishing
NonFiction
September 2009
Rose’s Heavenly Cakes
by Rose Levy Beranbaum
Wiley, John & Sons
NonFiction
September 2009