The Taste of Country Cooking

By Edna Lewis

Book Overview

In this classic Southern cookbook, the "first lady of Southern cooking" (NPR) shares the seasonal recipes from a childhood spent in a small farming community settled by freed slaves. She shows us how to recreate these timeless dishes in our own kitchens--using natural ingredients, embracing the seasons, and cultivating community. With a preface by Judith Jones and foreword by Alice Waters.

With menus for the four seasons, Miss Lewis (as she was almost universally known) shares the ways her family prepared and enjoyed food, savoring the delights of each special time of year.

From the fresh taste of spring--the first wild mushrooms and field greens--to the feasts of summer--garden-ripe vegetables and fresh blackberry cobbler--and from the harvest of fall--baked country ham and roasted newly dug sweet potatoes--to the hearty fare of winter--stews, soups, and baked beans--Lewis sets down these marvelous dishes in loving detail.

Here are recipes for Corn Pone and Crispy Biscuits, Sweet Potato Casserole and Hot Buttered Beets, Pan-Braised Spareribs, Chicken with Dumplings, Rhubarb Pie, and Brandied Peaches. Dishes are organized into more than 30 seasonal menus, such as A Late Spring Lunch After Wild-Mushroom Picking, A Midsummer Sunday Breakfast, A Christmas Eve Supper, and an Emancipation Day Dinner.

In this seminal work, Edna Lewis shows us precisely how to recover, in our own country or city or suburban kitchens, the taste of the fresh, good, and distinctly American cooking that she grew up with.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307265609
• ISBN13: 9780307265609
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.9" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Reminiscence of a southern cook: A culinary history of the south

When I first started cooking I relied on recipes that had been in the family a long time; as I started branching out and trying new recipes though, I would frequently browse my mother's cookbook collection. One day as I was thumbing through them I came across a book entitled "A Taste of Country Cooking" by Edna Lewis. I opened it up, intrigued by the cover and wound up reading the whole thing, as I would a novel, then and there. Reading her book was like stepping through a portal to another world; that of a lively, down-home southern family and their way of life 50 years ago. I was initiated into their methods of preparing, harvesting and cooking their food as well as the "rituals" that surround them. One of my favorite things about "A Taste of Country Cooking" is the layout: it is divided by the different seasons and subdivided within those categories by meal (i.e. breakfast, dinner, supper). Because of this display style Lewis was able to relate intimate details of how food for that season was prepared; in that time the food people cooked depended largely on what was ripe in the garden and what kind of meat was available during that time of year etc. A favorite section of mine is the one located in the spring section of her book when she relates how all the men in her community would gather together to slaughter their hogs; it was fascinating reading about that process, so many methods such as these have been lost over the generations. Her book captured a slice of a forgotten time and allowed me a glimpse into the past. I used this cookbook for the first time when I was looking for a recipe for Johnny Cake (a sweet thin cornbread) because I couldn't find my mothers' recipe. I decided to alter the spoon bread recipe (since the ingredients were similar) and see if it could double for Johnny Cake as well. It turned out perfectly; in my eyes the mark of a good recipe is its versatility and hers more than met my criteria. Every recipe I've tried in "A Taste of Country Cooking" has been excellent. Her recipe for spoon bread when unaltered comes out just right: tangy (from the buttermilk), moist but not too dense, buttery without being overly rich; it's the perfect compliment to a dinner of pork roast or ham with fresh vegetable sides, her mother would probably have served green beans and new potatoes as an accompaniment. My grandmother was the epitome of an old fashioned southern cook; she made fried okra, pork-chops, biscuits and gravy with tomatoes, purplehull peas, and cornbread - in short if it was traditional old south she made it. Even though Edna Lewis and my grandmother came from different regions of the south (Virginia and Arkansas respectively) there are many similarities in the type of foods prepared and also the method of preparation. Edna Lewis's cook book "A Taste of Country Living" is full of authentic southern recipes, if you're interested in cooking old south or for the history in the book alone, I wo

Secrets to "down-home" Southern, country cookin'!

I bought this book because i'm interested in the experiences, recipes and thoughts of such a well-traveled, Southern cook. I am not disappointed! The reading is enjoyable, the recipes delicious and the Southern "angle" to the recipes (maybe not healty; but, undoubtedly delicious) is worth the inexpensive price alone. It's like your grandma is telling you her wisdom and secrets; a vanishing breed--that's for sure. Buy it.

The Taste of Country Cooking

I just received my book today and have been unable to put it down. This book is not only a feast of good food it is a feast for the soul.Thank you Edna Lewis!