White Trash Gatherings: From-Scratch Cooking for down-Home Entertaining

by Kendra Bailey Morris

With a respectful nod to Ernie Mickler's original WHITE TRASH COOKING, Kendra Bailey Morris pulls open the back door to her Granny Boohler's kitchen to chronicle the next generation of cookin' and socializin' the white trash way. Bubbling over with more than 150 treasured family recipes--including "Real" Kuntry Grits, Lou Lou's Fried Squirrel, and Viola's Fiery Three-Bean Hot Pot--plus entertaining and homemade décor ideas, WHITE TRASH GATHERINGS has the perfect dish for every occasion, whether you're potlucking, just havin' ‘em ovah, or hosting a holy gatherin' from scratch.Reviews

“No other book will tap into your appreciation of Spam, white bread and canned goods.”—Boston Herald“Whether you speak grits or grinders, this book creates newfound respect for all that is ‘white trash.' Armed with a vat of fatback and plenty of down-home sass, Kendra Bailey Morris spins family recipes into living memoirs where grandma's measuring cups transcend their wear, becoming magical tools in crafting the precious taste of home. One read, and you'll be a grit hater no more.”—Dana Craig, Richmond Times-Dispatch “Recipes . . . are interspersed with backwoods tails of squirrel huntin' and rat shootin', plus etiquette and decorating tips. Morris recommends recycling burlap sacks or paper grocery bags to scrawl invitations on, and transforming toilet paper rolls adorned with dried pinto beans into napkin rings. Take that, Martha.”—Kristen Mueller, Utne Reader“Kendra Bailey Morris has me yearning to bake Granny Boohler's yeasty rolls and to taste Reba May's Creamy Mashed Potatoes. Good reading and great cooking.” —Antonia Allegra, director, Symposium for Professional Food Writers “Written with love and warmth, White Trash Gatherings brings Kendra Bailey Morris's West Virginia family traditions alive. Each recipe is handled with care and presented with tenderness.” —Monica Bhide, author, The Everything Indian Cookbook “Like The Empire Strikes Back, WHITE TRASH GATHERINGS is the rare sequel that exceeds the original. If you're not white trash, Gatherings will make you wish you were; if you're white trash already, it will make you proud.”—Steven A. Shaw, author, Turning the The Insider's Guide to Eating Out

"The sequel to Ernie Mickler's beloved White Trash Cooking is the memoir of a kitchen-educated West Virginia girl, told in recipes. With her sincere love for food and family and her keen sense of humor, Morris documents a tradition of cooking and congregating in a voice that is one pinch M.F.K. Fisher, a dash of Florence King and heaping tablespoons of West Virginia grandmother. Invite characters from her childhood into your kitchen with recipes like String Bean Earl's Cornmeal Fried Oysters, Miss Earlie's Dee-Lightful Chicken or Viola's Coconutty Black Walnut Cake, guaranteed to please your kin."—Virginia Living Magazine

 

 The author of White Trash Gatherings offers a tribute to beans and cornbread on NPR.org

Genres: Cookbooks, Food

176 pages, Spiral-bound

First published August 15, 2006

About the author

KENDRA BAILEY MORRIS is a cookbook author, food writer, recipe developer, and television host. Her writing appears in Better Homes and Gardens, NPR's Kitchen Window, CNN's Eatocracy, Saveur, Richmond Times Dispatch (where she was a food and recipe columnist for four years), the Associated Press, Washington Post, and Richmond Magazine. She served as a judge for the 2011 James Beard Awards, and has a master's degree in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Reviews

[Tamara]

I enjoyed the humorous little stories as well as the down home recipes. This book reminded me of my grandmother's kitchen and all the hustle and bustle of family get togethers, the gossiping and the aunts working together to feed a hungry pack of wolves!

[Dana]

I learned that grape jelly on meatballs is pretty damn tasty and that even if you try to use the term "white trash" in an endearing (and first-person) way (as Bailey Morris so eloquently does), you're gonna get crap from alot of people too stupid or too close-minded to even read the book in the first place. Bring on the fatback.

[Kyla Hookey]

This book truly surprised me. Though it delivered the "trashy" classics of West Virginia, it did so in a way that was both humorous and respectful of the people in her family and culture. Most of these recipes are homey and approachable, and I look forward to trying them for future gatherings. The stranger recipes are great for ice breakers, too.