Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie

Rating:
Summary: Baking, Sweet and Southern
Review: Bill Neal was one of the first cookbook authors I am aware of to incorporate culinary history, as well as cultural lore and perfectly chosen old photos into his "how-we-cook-it-in-the-South book." Thus, in BISCUITS, et al. he offers a compendium of history and culture truly representative of the Southern U. S., not merely a cliched pastiche of collarded, chitterlinged, cornbreaded and mint-juleped facts and details to pad out the receipes. Native American is distinguished from Colonial cookery, African-American from Appalachian, and Creole from Charleston as the author takes pains to convey, for example, why cooks in different regions of the South tossed different ingredients in with the cornmeal to produce their distinctive cornbreads--then he reproduces each of the recipes! At the same time Neal weaves the various influences together where appropriate; for example, from the introduction to Sweet Potato Yeast Bread: "This Mississippi bread has just about everything going for it . . . delicious and nutritious. . . Similar recipes are published in local cookbooks throughout the Southern coastal regions, wherever blacks live in large numbers. The bread is most likely of African and West Indian heritage [which use other] starchy tubers such as cassava, tanyah (elephant's ear), yams, and arrowroot." Reading this book is a pleasure unto itself, and all the recipes I have tried are outstanding. Specifically, the Appalachian Corn Bread cooked up as small fritters on a cast-iron griddle was food for the gods! (Hint: I snuck in one secret ingredient.) Bill Neal, if you read this review, e-mail me at [e-mail] so that I can tell you the secret ingredient (and ask you to marry me). P.S. Also, have you published other books since '95? Next on my list to read: Through the Garden Gate and Gardeners Latin. Signed, Mirabila X.(Oh, don't forget to give me the password, being my last name, so I'll know it is really you!)

Rating:
Summary: A Real Keeper
Review: I have a several thousand cookbook collection - spanning some 40+ years. I have read each one and KNOW them. This book grabs your attention and holds it. I have a Top 100 Cookbooks (my very, very favorite ones) bookcase. A book has to pass rigid cooking/baking tests to get there. This book is there!!
Note: I have had FUN doing this all these years.
The recipe for "A Good White Bread" is about as tasty as white bread can ever be. (Hint: Make 1 BIG loaf with it) The "Pain de Babeurre" rolls are probably the best we have ever had. They raise big, fat, and are very soft inside. Where do I stop?
Get the book - trust me, you won't be sorry!

Rating:
Summary: The BEST cook book I have ever had the pleasure of reading!
Review: If you are a fan of quality cook books, for their reading pleasure as well as their content, this is THE book for you! Without a doubt the BEST cook book I have ever, ever, ever had the pleasure of delving into!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, But Mediocre
Review: It seems that all of the best American baking recipes are from the deep South: sweet potato pie, pecan pie, baking powder biscuits, cornbreads, and fruit cobblers. Any baking book full of southern recipes is promising, but this one is disappointing and nothing more than another, run-of-the-mill baking book, although it is a rather interesting collection of recipe clippings. The author's intention seems to be that of capturing the state of southern baking before disappearing before a tidal wave of supermarket breads and nation-wide coffee chain stores; he makes a good but not entirely successful run at it. It is a fascinating collection of ideas, principles, and anecdotes, but prospective home bakers searching for old fashioned, simple, hearty, and fool proof recipes will be disappointed. There is plenty of sizzle (a potentially valuable collection of old fashioned baking recipes), but little steak (solid, good, reliable recipes along with many helpful hints that you will want to do).

For the most part, this baking book is a collection of recipe clippings scotch-taped together in one book. The recipes range from 200 year old cookbooks to modern-day, womens' magazines, with the latter predominating; mostly, the recipes are cribs from other baking books. It would not be unfair to accuse the author of not really testing many of the recipes; some are anecdotal stories rather than modern recipe instructions as such. It takes an experienced baker to sift through the chaff in this book to find the few precious gems; they do exist, but you will have to hunt for them. The recipes specify cups rather than weight for flour, and the instructions are very informal, so this book is not that easy to bake from.

It has chapters on: corn, biscuits, waffles, yeast, British, whole grain, candy, fruit, frozen, custards, cookies, petit fours, pies, and cakes.