Classical Southern Cooking

by Damon Lee Fowler

Damon Lee Fowler's critically acclaimed and award-nominated celebration of classic Southern cooking returns to print in a fully revised and updated edition. Hailed as a bible of Southern foodways and a major contribution to the literature of American culture, this compendium of more than two hundred traditional recipes broke new ground in food writing. Rooted in meticulous scholarship, a passion for good cooking, and a deep love for the unique culture of the South, Classical Southern Cooking presents the history and substance of this cuisine in a uniquely casual and anecdotal way that has earned it a reputation as a modern classic. Here are all the icons of the Southern table, from humble to sublime-boiled peanuts, golden fried chicken, smoky barbecue, fluffy biscuits, crusty skillet cornbread, mint juleps, and rich pound cake. Here, too, are many surprises from history's table that would be considered cutting edge at any modern restaurant-Gulf shrimp-stuffed tomatoes, delicate stuffed spinach soup, venison medallions with cranberries and Madeira, robust trout steaks with rosemary and white wine, quail stuffed with oysters, and young, tender chicken sautéed with bourbon and wild mushrooms. Supplemented by new research, enriched with new recipes and elegant new photography, this timeless classic is essential for the kitchen of anyone with a passion for food history and simple, good cooking. Damon Lee Fowler is a nationally respected authority on the history of Southern foodways. He has authored six critically acclaimed cookbooks including The Savannah Cookbook and New Southern Baking, has edited and annotated three facsimile reprints of important American cookbooks, and was editor and recipe developer for the Jefferson Foundation's first Monticello Cookbook, Dining at Monticello. His work has appeared in Food & Wine, Relish, and Charleston Magazine. He lives in Savannah, Georgia, where he teaches cooking and is the feature food writer for the Savannah Morning News.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

416 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 1995

Reviews

[Arrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revised and updated version of the 1995 classic, Savannah's Damon Lee Fowler's widely acclaimed Bible of Southern cooking and foodways is a good read with hundreds of recipes, a few nice color photographs at the center of the book, and useful tips and historical tidbits too. Worth owning by anyone who cares about "Classical Southern Cooking" - most everyone should! A very enjoyable read even if you choose not to cook by any of his recipes. A very nice book.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is only for those in love with Southern culinary history. These aren't the recipes your grandmother made - these are the recipes folks made during the Civil War! Some aren't really practical by today's standards, but there are plenty that are simply delicious. A good dose of history with every recipe - where it first appeared in print, or who is credited with its creation - and every recipe is at least somewhat adapted for the modern kitchen (no cauldrons over campfires necessary). The chicken and dumplings recipe is heavenly, and so is the fruit cobbler recipe!

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, passionate, detailed discourse on the foods of the south. Many recipes are surprising in their simplicity and delicacy, others are surprising in their level of attentio to food quality. Very few I would not be able to replicate due to narrow locality of ingredients. Overall an excellent window into the history of the area, the influences it blended and how wonderful many of the recipes still sound. I am about to make Eggnog Kentuckian that I have heard is the best in the world.