Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way: Smokin' Joe Butter Beans, Ol' 'Fuskie Fried Crab Rice, Sticky-Bush Blackberry Dumpling, and Other Sea Island Favorites

by Sallie Ann Robinson

"If there's one thing we learned coming up on Daufuskie," remembers Sallie Ann Robinson, "it's the importance of good, home-cooked food." In this enchanting book, Robinson presents the delicious, robust dishes of her native Sea Islands and offers readers a taste of the unique, West African-influenced Gullah culture still found there.

Living on a South Carolina island accessible only by boat, Daufuskie folk have traditionally relied on the bounty of fresh ingredients found on the land and in the waters that surround them. The one hundred home-style dishes presented here include salads and side dishes, seafood, meat and game, rice, quick meals, breads, and desserts. Gregory Wrenn Smith's photographs evoke the sights and tastes of Daufuskie.

"Here are my family's recipes," writes Robinson, weaving warm memories of the people who made and loved these dishes and clear instructions for preparing them. She invites readers to share in the joys of Gullah home cooking the Daufuskie way, to make her family's recipes their own.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2003

About the author

Born on Daufuskie Island, off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina, Sallie Ann Robinson was among the students taught by Pat Conroy when the famous author stayed for a time on her now famous island. Robinson has grown in her own right into the author of two celebrated cookbooks and an accomplished chef.

Her culinary expertise has helped to preserve the food dishes for which her native island is famous and her work as a speaker nationwide, and as a tour guide on boat trips out of Savannah, Georgia, going to Daufuskie, have made her an authentic and much sought-after representative of Gullah culture.

Reviews

[Queer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sallie Ann Robinson tells stories with her food. A time now lost to increased coastal development across the southeast: still Daufuskie trudges on here to preserve Gullah tradition. From Pat Conroy’s forward to the recipes for Pot Full O Coon, Baked Possum, and Oysters and Rice, I feel like I’m back in the salt marshes and sea islands near my home — always a source of fascination. Read this to better understand Gullah home cooking and how it bridges an ocean and time.

[Cat Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

While visiting Daufuskie Island, I picked this cookbook up at a history museum. I have been interested in Gullah culture since reading The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy many years ago. I was surprised to learn that Sallie Ann Robinson had been one of Conroy’s students the year he taught school on the island. In fact, he wrote the forward for this book.

Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way is so much more than a cookbook. Every recipe is introduced with a story about the author’s experiences growing up on the island. Robinson is a captivating storyteller and expert wordsmith. I read this book cover to cover and marked many recipes to try in my own home kitchen. I have collected at least a hundred cookbooks, and this little gem is going to be the prize volume on th bookshelves.

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-have resource and reference point for Gullah cuisine.

[Linda Harkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sallie Ann Robinson's historical and anecdotal information tends to eclipse her recipes! I'm learning more about Gullah culture of the low country in South Carolina, including its African roots. I may attempt her recipes for seafood rice, roadside blueberry biscuits, and thick-crust peach cobbler since blueberries and peaches are coming into season in these parts. Most of her Gullah cooking includes interesting ingredients that I don't use such as smoked neck bones,pig tails, pigs' feet, chitlins, ham hocks, and oxtails, much that translates into southern cuisine.

[Cheryl Schibley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daufuskie Island off the coast of South Carolina has always interested me and this book tells the reader what it's like to have been raised and living on the island. Good read but the recipes call for split pigs feet and tails, knuckles, neck bones, and things not readily available in the southwest grocery store. Still, gullah life is interesting.

[Jodi Lower · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice history. Recipes nothing special if you already know how to cook anything well.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun descriptions of low country cooking. There are even ideas in here for use in the middle of the country. Lots of good ideas.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more than just a cookbook; it is a memoir of growing up on Daufuskie Island in the Gullah culture in the 70's. Along with the yummy recipes using ingredients they grew and hunted themselves, the author details her family's story of life on the island. She was a student of Pat Conroy's when he was a teacher there, an experience that inspired his book The Water Is Wide. I enjoyed reading it over 2 days while staying on Daufuskie.

[V.L. Brunskill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of attending a home cooking event where Sallie Ann Robinson cooked up a simple,and scrumptious meal. I learned so much about Gullah traditions and was thrilled to learn that Sallie was a student of Pat Conroy's on Daufuskie Island. She makes an appearance in his book 'Water is Wide'. Sallie is a gifted historian, cook and instructor.

[kirkesque · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some tasty recipes for things I hope to never have to cook nor eat. Baked possum, although sounds tasty, is not really a dish I want to try.

Other items I fully intend on cookin up in my just-north-of-Gullah-land kitchen.

[Sleepless G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this Book. It makes me fatter than I already am. LOL! Intresting historical read also.

[Maegahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Stuff. I learned how to make Potato Salad w/o a recepie.