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Appalachian Cooking: New & Traditional Recipes
More than 100 recipes from Southern Appalachia's culinary renaissance The southern Appalachian Mountains are rich with produce, including wild ramps, corn, berries, and black walnuts. Drawing from these natural resources and fusing traditions of Native Americans and Scots-Irish settlers, the people of the region have developed a unique way of cooking. These foodways run in John Tullock’s blood. As a child growing up on an East Tennessee farm, Tullock helped his grandmother make biscuits and can pickles, and walked to town with his grandfather to trade fresh eggs for coffee. In Appalachian Cooking , he shares these memories and recipes passed down over generations, as well as modern takes on classic dishes. Recipes Vibrant watercolor illustrations throughout remind us that beautiful produce is often the best culinary inspiration. Color illustrations throughout
196 pages, Paperback
Published March 20, 2018
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About the author
John H. Tullock
32 books3 followersJohn Tullock, originally from Eastern Tennessee, is a lifelong gardener with special interests in orchids and environmentally sound aquarium fish-keeping. John taught college-level biology after graduating with his Master's Degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Tennesse. He founded the Aquatic Specialists (1987) and the American Marinelife Dealers Association.
John continues to practice and promote 'sustainable, self-sufficient living in the urban environment.'
John continues to practice and promote 'sustainable, self-sufficient living in the urban environment.'
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 7, 2019
One of the lesser known parts of my background is that I was born to a farming family in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in Western Pennsylvania and that my Appalachian identity has always been an important part of my own approach to life and my own ambivalence towards a lot of what goes on in the United States. It is perhaps unsurprising that I am also ambivalent about the phenomenon of Appalachian cooking, and this book provides plenty of material for one to be ambivalent about. Admittedly, ambivalence is not the best of things to feel, but there are few cuisines about which I do not feel at least some ambivalence given my own allergies and peculiar tastes as well as my religious opposition to certain kinds of meat, and Appalachian cooking as a whole tends to be full of pork, which is something that makes it less appetizing than it would likely before most people who were natives of the region or others besides that. But for those who are willing to appreciate the foodways of the Appalachians for what they are, this book certainly has a lot to offer the reader.
This book of about 200 pages is divided into several chapters, as is common in cookbooks, based on various themes. The author introduces the book with an introduction and a brief discussion of what the reader will find in this book (which should be fairly obvious to many readers anyway). After that the author begins with recipes for stuff that someone would put by, made mostly of various kinds of pickled preserves (1). This leads to a discussion of foods that use the native three sisters of corn, beans, and squash, which leads to a lot of recipes, many of which would be unfamiliar to most readers (2). After this the author looks at food that is based from potatoes and tomatoes (3), which leads to some very interesting choices of dishes. After this comes foods that come from field, forest, and stream, which includes plenty of the usual pork dishes as well as rabbit and some fish dishes that are a bit more quirky and unusual (4). After this comes a discussion of sweets (5), which include some tasty pies and cakes as well as some foods that are too good to leave out although they do not fit the previous themes, like pimento cheese dip (6), after which the book concludes with sources, suggestions for further reading, and an index.
It is always intriguing to see the different approaches that people take to making cookbooks. Most of them are thematically organized, but some writers look at various ingredients or lists of incredients and some appear to engage in a bit of subtle meal planning as is the case here, with various pickled dishes serving as appetizers, foods based on native or European vegetables as obvious side dishes, and meat serving as the basis for the main dishes, along with sweets and various other supplementary dishes finishing the hearty meal. I happen to like this sort of planning even if, as is the case generally with Appalachian cooking, a lot of the food happens to include large amounts of varied pork products in the ingredients list. The fact that the author has written books on how to turn one's gardening efforts into a part-time business capable of making $10k a year suggests that the author has a strongly practical bent with the sort of foods that he is putting on a menu list, perhaps assuming correctly that many cooks will want to grow quite a few of the ingredients or bottle them personally as a way of either saving money or making money.
This book of about 200 pages is divided into several chapters, as is common in cookbooks, based on various themes. The author introduces the book with an introduction and a brief discussion of what the reader will find in this book (which should be fairly obvious to many readers anyway). After that the author begins with recipes for stuff that someone would put by, made mostly of various kinds of pickled preserves (1). This leads to a discussion of foods that use the native three sisters of corn, beans, and squash, which leads to a lot of recipes, many of which would be unfamiliar to most readers (2). After this the author looks at food that is based from potatoes and tomatoes (3), which leads to some very interesting choices of dishes. After this comes foods that come from field, forest, and stream, which includes plenty of the usual pork dishes as well as rabbit and some fish dishes that are a bit more quirky and unusual (4). After this comes a discussion of sweets (5), which include some tasty pies and cakes as well as some foods that are too good to leave out although they do not fit the previous themes, like pimento cheese dip (6), after which the book concludes with sources, suggestions for further reading, and an index.
It is always intriguing to see the different approaches that people take to making cookbooks. Most of them are thematically organized, but some writers look at various ingredients or lists of incredients and some appear to engage in a bit of subtle meal planning as is the case here, with various pickled dishes serving as appetizers, foods based on native or European vegetables as obvious side dishes, and meat serving as the basis for the main dishes, along with sweets and various other supplementary dishes finishing the hearty meal. I happen to like this sort of planning even if, as is the case generally with Appalachian cooking, a lot of the food happens to include large amounts of varied pork products in the ingredients list. The fact that the author has written books on how to turn one's gardening efforts into a part-time business capable of making $10k a year suggests that the author has a strongly practical bent with the sort of foods that he is putting on a menu list, perhaps assuming correctly that many cooks will want to grow quite a few of the ingredients or bottle them personally as a way of either saving money or making money.
May 26, 2018
Initially when I flipped through the cookbook, I was rather enamored with it as I recognized a lot of the "make do with what you have" recipes from years before I was hatched. Vinegar Pie, doesn't even sound appetizing...right? And bacon grease, who didn't have a a bit stashed away for green beans among other things.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews