Musical meals help home cooks explore Gullah Geechee foods
PITTSBURGH >> Alexander Smalls was a professional opera singer before he reinvented himself as a chef and restaurateur. So it's no surprise he brings an artist's eye to the recipes he created for his 2020 cookbook, “Meals, Music, And Muses: Recipes From my African American Kitchen” (Flatiron, $35).
He brings a pretty good ear to the Southern dishes featured in the book, by offering a “soundtrack” of the bold and flavorful Gullah Geechee foods he grew up eating and learned to cook in Spartanburg, South Carolina — some of which were featured at the Declaration & Resistance dinner he curated April 23 at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art to celebrate an exhibition of Baltimore artist Stephen Towns.
Each chapter pays homage to a genre of music tied to a category of food. Starters, for instance, are likened to the improvisation, blues and swing found in jazz while rice, pasta and grits — “lean on me” dishes that are often the backbone of a home cook's repertoire — represent the comfort of spirituals.
As he notes in the cookbook's forward, food and music are inextricably linked in the U.S., especially in African American culture. “Both Southern music and Southern food are rooted in a knotty lineage that connects West Africa and Western Europe,” he writes.
Smalls spent years traveling the world as a young artist, and won both Grammy and Tony awards for the cast recording of “Porgy and Bess,” by George Gershwin, with the Houston Grand Opera. Yet he was never able to break opera's glass ceiling as a Black man; his last audition with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, he recalls, resulted in an offer to be part of the chorus instead of the prime role he'd made his debut to, to rave reviews.
“So I left devastated,” he says, “but really determined to get on with my life,” by opening the small, intimate restaurant he'd always dreamed of in the back of his mind.
Cafe Beulah, one of the forerunners of the soul food revolution in New York City, opened in 1994 to rave reviews. Four more restaurants followed, including The Cecil in 2013, which highlights the interplay between African and Asian cuisines, and the jazz bar and restaurant Minton's next door.
“I needed to own not just a seat at the table,” Smalls says, “but the whole table.”
His first cookbook, 2018's “Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-AsianAmerican Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day,” won him a 2019 James Beard Foundation Book Award for best American cookbook. It explores the immense influence the African diaspora has had on global cuisine.
With “Meals, Music, and Muses,” Smalls hopes to continue the conversation about the unsung contributions people of the African diaspora have made to American cuisine.
“It's essentially my sort of ode to the AfricanAmerican kitchen, and my pathway if you will,” he says. “The lens to which I've been the creative person that I am.”
RECIPES
Deviled crab cakes with spicy Creole mayo
PG tested
“Crab cakes are an essential part of Southern coastal cooking,” Alexander Smalls writes in “Meals, Music, and Muses,” which is why the chef and restaurateur has had them on his restaurant and catering menus for more than 30 years. This “Jazz” starter, which can be made larger for a plated entree or smaller as an appetizer, features a robust Creole mayonnaise brightened with cayenne to lift the flavor profile.
If you're trying to cut back on fried foods, you can bake the crab cakes in a 400-degree oven until browned, about 5 minutes.
For crab cakes
1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoon finely chopped red pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 large eggs, beaten
1cup small cubes white bread, toasted
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs, plus more for dredging 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 1cup fresh corn kernels
Salt and pepper
Peanut, canola or vegetable oil, for frying
For Creole mayo
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped onion 1tablespoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 2tablespoons tomato paste 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Prepare crabcakes: In a large bowl, mix crab, onion, bell pepper, celery, parsley, eggs, bread cubes, bread crumbs, thyme, cayenne, corn and
1/8 teaspoon each salt and black pepper until well combined. Cover and chill for at least 2hours or up to overnight.
Prepare mayonnaise: In medium saucepan, combine tomatoes, bell pepper, celery, onion, brown sugar, cayenne, tomato paste, vinegar, salt and black pepper and bring to a boil over mediumhigh heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to mediumlow and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has the consistency of a thick paste, about 20 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, then chill for 1 hour.
Transfer tomato mixture to a food processor and pulse until smooth. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and fold in mayonnaise. Chill for at least 30minutes before serving, or store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 month.
To make crabcakes, put bread crumbs in a shallow bowl. Form crab mixture into 1-ounce patties (about 11/2 inches in diameter). Dredge patties in breadcrumbs to coat and shake off excess crumbs.
Fill a large cast-iron skillet with oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat over mediumhigh heat to 325degrees. Working in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan, add crab patties to hot oil and fry, turning once, until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.
Drain on a crumpled brown paper bag or paper towels. Serve immediately with Creole mayonnaise.
Serves 6.