Cookbooks that capture the soul of southern flair
Award-winning food author and historian, Michael Twitty, delves into historical events and tastes of the southern United States
Southern cooking, the “down-home” cooking associated with the Southern United States is the second most popular genre of cookbooks I get in the mail from publishers — just behind the burgeoning vegan-centric field. This stickto-your-ribs cuisine is central to a vast culinary region that covers about a quarter of the United States that was born from influence from European, Caribbean, African, Native and Latin cultures.
The best-known southern cookbook author is the late Edna Lewis, whose grave in her hometown of Freetown, Va., reads “Grande Dame of Southern Cooking.” Her cookbook The Taste of Country
Cooking, published in 1976 ($28, Knopf Doubleday) is considered the bible of southern cooking and is still reprinted.
For recent recommendations, I turned to culinary scholar Michael Twitty.
Twitty is the Virginia-based food historian and authority on southern cooking’s history and nuances. His 2017 book, The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African-American Culinary History in the Old South ($36, Amistad), won two James Beard Foundation awards (considered the Oscars of food) in early May and he is the first African-American author to take home the top honour of Book of the Year since the awards’ inception in 1990.
His book and his website, Afroculinaria, tackle race through a culinary lens and trace southern cooking and Twitty’s familial roots to the days of slavery and further. Like Twitty himself, an African-American who converted to Judaism and is openly gay, southern cooking is multi-faceted.
“People think they know each other through food but if they don’t know the history, the angst, the pain and pleasure behind the food, they don’t get it,” says Twitty, who adds that Asian-American authors such as Amy Tan or Maxine Hong Kingston give him insight into what it means to be Chinese in contemporary America.
For Twitty, southern and soul food is an ever-evolving cuisine involving interactions between diasporas, not just those from African and Caribbean nations, but from all the different communities that make up today’s America. He recommends the recently released Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights and Every Day ($49, Flatiron Books) written by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls of Harlem’s Cecil Steakhouse and the adjacent Minton’s Playhouse music lounge.
“They look at the commonalities of the people who lived next to them, in this case East Asian and South Asian communities living alongside African communities in the new world,” Twitty says. “What ingredients and dishes they have in common; what stories of oppression, survival and resilience they share.”
Between Harlem And Heaven explores the intersection of African, American and Asian flavours throughout history, and includes how the Indian flatbread known as the roti made its way to Malaysia and Trinidad. The resulting recipes in the book include a grilled watermelon salad dressed with shisho leaves, cornbread croutons and a lime-mango dressing, as well as a gumbo with roots in Senegal, Cajun spices and dried shrimp, normally found in Chinese cooking.
Twitty also recommends the just-released Soul: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes ($40, Southern Living) by chef Todd Richards of White Oak Kitchen and Cocktails and Richards’ Southern Fried in Atlanta.
“He’s bending the definition of soul food in a way that’s respectable and realistic,” says Twitty. “He’s showing you there’s a lot more diversity within the traditional canon of soul food.”
Twitty also wants readers to keep an eye out for Jamaican sisters Michelle and Suzanne Rosseau’s upcoming October release, Provisions: The Roots of Caribbean Cooking ($ 39, Da Capo Lifelong Books) that contain 150 vegetarian recipes, and is a followup to their first cookbook, Caribbean Potluck. “I just received an advanced copy of it and I’m aching to try out the recipes,” Twitty says.
“They show the breadth of Caribbean cooking’s vegetarian side.”
While a cookbook’s main objective is to equip the home cook with a slew of delicious recipes and kitchen skills, it’s also important for the book to educate the reader on the history and nuances of the cuisine.
“One of the things I love about my book being out there is that people have told me they made the food with their children — and these aren’t black people, they are white folks — and saying they started talking about the history of the food or learned to grow the food I wrote about,” Twitty says.
Michael Twitty’s Country Captain A La Hazel
Star Tested Country Captain is a curried chicken and rice dish that is popular in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia.
It is believed to have been influenced by the spice trade with India and as Twitty notes, it was made by enslaved cooks in plantation kitchens.
This recipe comes from Twitty’s grandmother, Hazel. For the Kitchen Pepper This spice blend dates back to colonial times in America and England and comes in many variations, but is typically a blend of black and white pepper with warm spices such as ginger, allspice and cinnamon.
1 tsp (5 mL) each black pepper, white pepper, red pepper flakes, ground mace, ground Ceylon or regular cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground ginger Combine spices together. Store in an airtight container in a cool place. Shallow-fry for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is golden-brown. Makes 1/4 cup (60 mL) kitchen pepper. For the Chicken Rub Twitty prefers the Sun Brand of madras curry powder as well as Bell’s poultry seasoning, but I used the Chief brand of madras curry powder and President’s Choice poultry seasoning, both found at No Frills.
8 pieces skin-on, bone-in chicken (thighs, drumsticks, legs, breasts cut in half) 1 tbsp (15 mL) kosher salt
1 tsp (5 mL) each kitchen pepper (see above), ground cinnamon, red pepper flakes, Madras curry powder, poultry seasoning Pat chicken dry with paper towel. Transfer to large mixing bowl. Add salt, kitchen pepper, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, curry powder and poultry seasoning. Mix everything well with hands, coating every part of chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 to 4 hours, or preferably overnight. For the Country Captain Twitty’s grandma would serve her Country Captain with “relishes,” little bowls of raisins, sliced green onion, carrot shavings, raisins, chopped tomatoes, fresh parsley and coconut flakes added as garnish. 3 cups (750 mL) basmati rice 5 cups (1250 mL) water 1/4 cup (60 mL) canola oil or bacon fat 1 4 large cloves red finely onion, minced chopped garlic 1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped fresh ginger 1 large green bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, chopped 1 tbsp (15 mL) Madras curry powder 1 tsp (5 mL) kosher salt 2 tsp (10 mL) kitchen peppe r (see above) 28 oz (796 mL) can crushed tomatoes with juice 5-1/2 oz (156 mL) can tomato paste 1L (4 cups) no salt-added vegetable broth 1 cup (250 mL) vegetable o r canola oil, or 1/2 cup (125 mL) oil mixed with 1/2 cup (125 mL) bacon fat
1cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour Sliced green onion, raisins, carrot shavings, chopped tomatoes, slivered almonds, fresh parsley, coconut flakes, for garnish (optional) Rinse rice in a fine strainer under cold running water for 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a large pot and add water. Cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer over low heat. Replace cover and let cook until rice is fluffy and liquid has evaporated, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove lid. Fluff rice with fork. Cover with lid to keep warm. Set aside.
While rice is cooking, in a large heavy-bottom pot, heat 1/4 cup (60 mL) oil or fat over mediumhigh heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and bell pepper. Sauté until onions have softened and become translucent, about 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in curry powder, salt, kitchen pepper, crushed tomatoes with juice and tomato paste. Continue to stir for 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Meanwhile, prepare seasoned chicken for browning. In a large heavy-bottom pot, heat 1 cup (250 mL) oil or bacon fat mixture over medium-high heat. In a shallow bowl, dredge chicken in flour. Dust off excess flour. In batches, shallow-fry chicken for 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is golden-brown.
Transfer chicken to a plate lined with paper towel. Add chicken to pot of simmering sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn down to a simmer over low heat. Cover and cook for about 35 minutes to allow chicken to finish cooking and liquid to thicken into a stew. Turn off heat and let chicken to rest for about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with cooked rice and garnishes, if using.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.