Jean Anderson's Love Affair with Southern Cooking

[Chris Amirault]

Just out, Jean Anderson's Love Affair with Southern Cooking is getting rave reviews. I haven't had the chance to check out a copy of the book, but that Amazon link looks mighty compelling. Sara Moulton fans will want to note the foreword -- but Society members know from Moulton's eG Spotlight interview what a big fan she is of Anderson. More information available at Anderson's website.

Anyone got it? Reading it?

[Malawry]

It's AWESOME. Not many cookbooks include recipes for Moravian Sugar Cake--which alone won me over. I enjoyed her timeline of Southern cuisine quite a lot, and there are fascinating sidebars covering favorite Southern ingredients and convenience foods. Good stuff.

I have not actually cooked from the book yet, but I read it cover-to-cover as part of a roundup of 2007 cookbooks I wrote for my local newspaper, and it's a great read. The recipes look solid to my eye. (I rarely cook from recipes, and use cookbooks primarily for inspiration.)

There's a looooong bibliography and a detailed list of sources for Southern ingredients in the back of the book, which I imagine would make it simple for anybody who wants more than they can find locally to go into their Southern food.

This is a better regional overview of Southern cuisine than the Lee Bros cookbook that came out last year--less focused on lowcountry cuisine. I did really love the Lee Bros cookbook and have cooked a lot of recipes from it, and I enjoyed the stories and sourcery tips therein. However, if you're only buying one Southern cookbook I think Anderson's will give a better variety, and it's comprehensive to boot.

The only thing that annoyed me about the book was her repetition of "Back when I was a home extension agent in Iredell County..." I get that her work for the extension offices was seminal, but she repeats that sentence or a permutation thereof at the beginning of a startling percentage of recipes. However, if you don't read the cookbook cover-to-cover like I did, you probably won't notice or be bothered by it.

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks, Rochelle. I ordered my copy on Friday and will report shortly.

Oh, and epicurious.com just named it one of its top ten for the year, in Best American Regional.

[Toliver]

In the latest issue of Chile Pepper Magazine, they raved about Jean Anderson's latest cookbook (to be fair, they rave about all the cookbooks they review).

An eGullet-friendly link to the cookbook on Amazon: Jean Anderson's "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking"

Does anyone have this cookbook? Do you recommend it?

[Chris Amirault]

Only made a few things but, so far, it's great. Tonight I made a cornbread of hers that uses only 1/4 tsp baking soda with two eggs and 2 c buttermilk, and it was bliss. Did I mention the 1/3 c melted lard?

[Katie Meadow]

I have it too, despite the fact that much southern cooking isn't exactly compatible with a low-cholesterol diet. As a result I confess I spend more time reading this book than I do making the recipes--but I love reading it.

I have made Spinach Madeleine several times, and adapted it just a bit by using olive oil to saute the onion (actually I use shallots) and cutting back on the cheese. My sister-in-law grew up in Nashville with this recipe and she subs pepper jack for the cheese and the jalapenos. I used a pecorino fresca and added hot chili flakes. I also omit the bread topping, since that's what she always did, but I am sure that would be delicious--using butter, of course. It's a great recipe.

I've made the tarragon-mustard sauce a couple of times and that's excellent. Anderson uses equal parts of mayo and yogurt (I used Fage 2 percent) which is a really nice change from straight mayo. I served it the first time with my own version of crab cakes and the second time with shrimp cakes made pretty much the way Kim's Shrimp and Crab Cakes is made.

I also used the recipe for Black-eyed Pea Soup with Greens and Ham for inspiration and made a great soup with black beans, left-over ham from a cooked shank and a bunch of kale subbing for the greens using all the other ingredients pretty much as specified. Totally yummy.

[Chris Amirault]

Looking for good sides from this book to serve with pulled pork (click). I'm thinking of using her pickled shrimp as an appetizer: any feedback?

[Katie Meadow]

Chris, at my next Southern style dinner party I am going to make the Peppered Pecans to serve with drinks. They sound great, although you would probably frighten some people if you used the larger amount of hot sauce.

Anderson's Sweet-Sour Coleslaw sounds good and very simple w/no mayo, and she says it gets better if made ahead--always a plus for a party. I'm not sure I'd use a whole onion, though, since raw onion doesn't agree with everyone, including me. Actually I have an idea: if you are making the pickled shrimp you will have some bonus pickled onions that you could substitute for the raw. Pickled onions are great mixed into slaw.

Nobody doesn't like collards...or don't they? Her recipe for New Southern Collards might be nice. I haven't made this, since I have a Robert Carter collards recipe to which I am slavishly devoted, but this one isn't acidic nor does it have pork in it. That would make it a good companion to vinegary slaw and pulled pork. Can you tell I'm not in the camp that believes no amount of pork is too much?

A natural with pulled pork--and with the pickled shrimp too--would be her Little Havana Black Beans and Rice. And a pot o' beans can be made the day before, so that's a plus. What are you having for dessert?

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks for the info, Katie! Due to some food restrictions among the 15 guests, I had to make a few changes, and I made three things from this book.

Her Favorite Deviled Eggs are fantastic -- but I kind of think most deviled eggs are fantastic. On the other hand, I think that great bean and slaw recipes are hard to come by. The Barbecue Slaw had more balance than a more traditional sweet slaw, which I think went particularly well with the cue we had.

Ditto the Barbecued Beans, which were remarkable. Credit is due in part to the folks at Rancho Gordo, whose Good Mother Stallard Beans were meaty and firm. But they took remarkably well to Anderson's treatment, which again demonstrated terrific balance. The recipe says that you need a 3 qt bean pot, but my 2 qt pot worked just fine.