The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook
edited by Sara Roahen and John T. Edge forward by Alton Brown
I can go home and look through my Mom’s cookbook collection and I see all kinds of grease splattered, gravy stained, broken spiral binding stored in a ziplock bag cookbooks that have come from various local community groups. The look of these cookbooks lets me know that those are the ones I want to look through and maybe cook something. The Southern Foodways Alliance has put together their version of the Community Cookbook and I think it might become a grease splattered, gravy stained cookbook in my collection!!
These recipes are divided into sections such as Garden Goods, Grist, Yardbird, The Hook, and Cane. This book of recipes really represents southern food and people no matter where you are living or where you were born. The contributors are “someone” you know — whether they are a catfish farmer, an attorney, an academic, a restaurant chef, or your next door neighbor’s cousin twice removed — and if you don’t know them you will definitely want to be introduced.
With hunting season about to start here is a recipe for Venison and Noodles by Gayle Brooks of Brooksville, Florida (pg 206)
2 lbs venison roast 1 stalk celery, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 medium onions, sliced (about 6 cups)
1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 cups chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons bacon drippings Hot, cooked noodles, for serving
Cut the venison in to 2-inch pieces. Stir together the flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Lightly coat the venison in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. Set aside in a single layer.
Heat the drippings in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the venison and brown it on all sides. Stir in the celery, onions, Worcestershire, and tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the meat is very tender. 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Serve hot over the noodles.
There is a quote from Eudora Welty right when you open the book and having lived in Jackson, MS all my life I must say I agree with her….
“I daresay any fine recipe used in Jackson could be attributed to a local lady, or her mother — Mrs. Cabell’s Pecans, Mrs. Wright’s Cocoons, Mrs. Lyell’s Lemon Dessert. Recipes, in the first place, had to be imparted — there was something oracular in the transaction — and however often they were made after that by others, they kept their right names. I make Mrs. Mosal’s White Fruitcake every Christmas, having got it from my mother, who got it from Mrs. Mosal, and I often think to make a friend’s recipe is to celebrate her once more, and in that cheeriest, most aromatic of places to celebrate in, the home kitchen.”
…and I believe, Miss Welty, I have eaten a few of these recipes a time or two myself.
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