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All Cookbook Commentary Courtesy of
Thumper
The Ebony Cookbook: A Date with a Dish
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by Freda De Knight
Format:
Hardcover, 390pp.
ISBN: 0874850037
Publisher: Johnson Publishing Company, Incorporated
Pub. Date: November 1975
It seems to me that the cookbook genre is in a “reaching back” period. Meaning that the more popular cookbooks from yesteryear are being reprinted in facsimile editions. The Ebony Cookbook is one of them. In my mind, The Ebony Cookbook is essential. The Ebony Cookbook has recipes upon recipes, over 500. Dishes that I thought my grandmother took with her: tomato cobbler; chess pie (how it really should be made, my mother still talks about it); even a sour milk yellow cake (excellent, by the way). It’s all here! I easily place The Ebony Cookbook, along with The Joy Of Cooking, as two cookbooks that should be in every AA kitchen.
A Taste of Heritage: The New African-American Cuisine
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now)
Format:
Hardcover, 280pp.
ISBN: 1559723254
Publisher: Carol Publishing Group
Pub. Date: April 1996
by Joseph Randall
A true staple in my kitchen. A Taste Of Heritage, for those of you that follows my picks, is the first and so far only cookbook that made my Picks list. A Taste Of Heritage is my Sunday/Holiday Dinner cookbook. It’s one of my big guns, baby! A Taste Of Heritage contains recipes from some of the leading AA chefs in the country. Many of the recipes are taken from the ordinary to the extra-ordinary. I wouldn’t lie to you. If you don’t buy now-nother cookbook, ever again in life, buy this one.
The African-American Heritage Cookbook: Taste Of Tuskegee
(Click title to order book on-line
now)
Format:
Hardcover, 280pp. by
Carolyn Quick Tillery
ISBN: 1559723254
Publisher: Carol Publishing Group
Pub. Date: April 1996
Let me put it to you like this, any cookbook that possesses 5
different recipes for fried chicken, is three notches above
the rest. Although The African-American Heritage Cookbook is
a cookbook that recipes centers around the dishes that was
served at Tuskegee during time of Booker T. Washington, this
cookbook has slowly become one of the cookbooks, after Sylvia
Woods’, that I reach for first before I enter my kitchen for
my weekend cooking and baking. Liberally sprinkled with
photos, quotes, and stories, The African-American Heritage
Cookbook is a “must have” cookbook. All the dishes that I
have tried from it are excellent. You all know of my love
for some good rolls, The African-American Heritage Cookbook
is the only book that has the recipe for Butter Rolls. You
talk about good!! You’ll be ready to slap your mother!
Good Things to Eat: As Suggested by Rufus
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now)
Format:
Paperback, 200pp.
ISBN: 0965433315
Publisher: Howling at the Moon Press
Pub. Date: August 1999
by Rufus Estes
In 1911, Good Things To Eat: As Suggested by Rufus was the
very first AA cookbook ever published. Rufus Estes was born
in slavery. He became one of the leading chefs in the
nation, having cooked for presidents and royalty. Good
Things To Eat is a facsimile of the original cookbook, with
the addition of an historical essay and advertisements from
that time period. I’m not only recommending Good Things To
Eat because of the historical significance of the cookbook,
but because the recipes are not only still valid, many are
exceptional. It also does me proud to know that we were
always in the mix, even back then, when it came to cookbooks
and preserving our legacy in the culinary sciences. I love
this book so much, that it don’t leave my house under any
circumstance!
Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina to Harlem
(Click title to order book on-line
now)
Format:
Hardcover, 275pp. by
Sylvia Woods
ISBN: 0688162193
Publisher: Morrow, William & Co
Pub. Date: June 1999
Look, as far as I’m concerned, there’s only two cooks that I
would blindly (just do as I say baby, and it’ll turn out just
fine) follow in the kitchen; Julia Childs and Sylvia Woods.
Sylvia Woods two cookbooks; Sylvia’s Soul Food and Sylvia’s
Family Soul Food Cookbook, are the very first cookbooks that
I reach for when I want to bake that red velvet cake, coconut
cake, do up the chicken, or seafood salad. Superb.
Cookin' up a Storm: The Life and Recipes of Annie Johnson
(Click title to order book on-line
now)
Format:
Hardcover, 1st ed., 166pp. by
Jane Lee Ranki
ISBN: 0965738701
Publisher: Grace Publishers
Pub. Date: May 1998
Ok, so you don’t know Mrs. Annie Johnson. Don’t let that stop
you from getting this cookbook. These are recipes that you
saw your mother and your grandmother cooking everyday.
There’s not a lot of seasonings in these recipes, but that
doesn’t take way from the goodness and taste of the food.
Truth be told, if you can’t make your food taste good with
just salt and pepper, you have a problem. Cooking Up A Storm
is a very good cookbook for the beginning cook and those of
us who can’t remember how to fix au gratin potatoes without
the assistance coming from a box.
The Peppers, Cracklings, and Knots of Wool Cookbook: The Global Migration of African Cuisine
(Click title to order book on-line
now)
Format:
Hardcover, 421pp. by
Diana Spivey
ISBN: 0791443752
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Pub. Date: November 1999
I’m proud to announce that we are also in the beginning of
another cookbook, one in which the cookbook explores the
history of food, the where-it-all-came-from. The Peppers,
Cracklings, and Knots of Wool Cookbook answers a lot of the
where-it-came-from questions. Spivey also does a wonderful
job in establishing that many dishes and cooking methods
originated from the same place, different regions of Africa.
Entwined with the culinary history are recipes that
wonderfully illustrate the point Spivey is making. For the
historian and cook alike, The Peppers, Cracklings, and Knots
of Wool Cookbook is a must-have cookbook!
I don’t normally go for shortchanging my food by thinking
about fat, sugar, salt and all of those other things that has
to be watched when it comes to our diet. So, for the health
conscious eating folks, here’s some suggestions for you. *smile*
Essence Brings You Great Cooking
(Click title to order book on-line
now)
Format:
Hardcover, 480pp. by
Jonelle Nash
ISBN: 1567430333
Publisher: HarperTrade
Pub. Date: September 1993
Although, I will still talk about that Mixed Greens recipe
like it has two horns and a tail, I will still give Essence
Brings You Great Cooking their props. There are plenty of
other recipes that could make you forgive them for the Mixed
Greens recipe.
Down-Home Wholesome: 300 Low-Fat Recipes from a New Soul Kitchen
(Click title to order book on-line
now)
Format:
Paperback, 283pp. by Danella Carter
ISBN: 0452273250
Publisher: Penguin Putnam Incorporated
Pub. Date: May 1998
I’m in great like with this book. I’m not in “love” with it,
I have a greater affection for it than what one would
consider “like”. The author has some marvelous recipes that
I like anyway, despite the fact that it’s good for me. *smile*
The Black Family Dinner Quilt Cookbook: Health Conscious
The Black Family Dinner Quilt Cookbook: Health Conscious Recipes and Food Memories
(Click title to order book on-line
now)
Format:
Paperback, 1st ed., 222pp. from
the National Council of Negro Women Related Links Real Mean Cook
Satisfy Your Soul a Dining Guide by Carla Labat
ISBN: 0671796305
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Trade
Pub. Date: May 1994
The Black Family Dinner Quilt Cookbook is one of the latest
additions to my ever growing cookbook library. I’m already
liking this one. Many of the recipes put me in mind of their
fat, plenty of sugar and salt counterpart recipes.
http://reviews.aalbc.com/real_men_cook.htm
