16 November 2015

Southern Cooking Without a Tub of Lard

Describe Whitney Miller's New Southern Table cookbook in one word?  Normal.  As in, these are recipes actual, real normal non-professional chef families might get round to trying.  I can't tell you how often I've picked up a cookbook and wound up never using it because of the extraordinary number of ingredients that would require a special trip, or some painstaking preparation.

In this book, she'll throw in some weird ingredient occasionally, but from the look of the quality and "do-ability" of the recipes, it may become something you'll like enough to justify a special purchase. 

Miller travelled the world after winning MasterChef, so she was able to add international flavours to her great-grandmothers' Depression-era cooking recipes for this book.  It's not what you'd likely expect.  Would you pop some pickles into your potatoes for a new dill-y and delicious flavour?  There's a recipe for it that and it's remarkably similar to what we tried in Lindsborg, Kansas, at the Swedish Crown restaurant.

It's a thick, hardbound book with glossy pages.  Breakfasts, party foods, sides, soups, sandwiches and suppers are all covered.  The illustrations are very helpful and I think fairly represent what the finished product will look like.  Not too fakey-perfect. 

The only criticism I have (and I suppose it is not even that) is that the pages don't lie flat during cooking.  Easily fixed with a heavy plastic ruler here, but if they come out with a second edition or an update?  I would suggest they spiral-bind it. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

3 comments:

  1. Nice to have a book that can be used. I have several that I don't even open anymore because I don't want all the fuss of so many ingredients and so much time and clean up for just one person. Yes, I could probably freeze leftovers, but I already do that and my freezer is very small.
    I use a heavy metal ruler (if I can find it) or more often a heavy knife to hold pages open.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Often I hold mine open with a mixing bowl, but presently I have FOUND the plastic ruler, so I will use that until it's lost again...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a winner! I don't like complicated recipes! Like you mentioned in your comment above, I often use a mixing to hold open recipe books as well--or a cookie jar, whatever's handy!

    ReplyDelete

Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...