Opening the pages of Damon Lee
Fowler's New Southern Baking is like opening the oven door when
a luscious cake or scented bread is baking. In this aroma are traces
of the old south, and they hint at cooking secrets told with a southern
drawl.
Southern baked goods are the stuff
of legend, woven into the cultural history of the south - airy biscuits,
wheel-shaped skillet cornbread, pies and pound cakes, layer cakes whose
centers hold lemon curd, coconut or fudge. Fowler states in his introduction,
"There are historical recipes that have been halfway (or completely)
forgotten over time, telling of its beginnings and early blending, and
there are new ideas that tell of the continuing evolution."
Fowler has compiled more than 150
recipes, each chosen to tell the story of the south. There are classic
recipes that reflect any one of the three dominant influences on southern
cooking, or, as Fowler tells us, a blending of all three. There are
muffins, a favorite of Thomas Jefferson, which continued the Anglo tradition.
There are lemon-ginger benne wafers which descended from the African-Americans.
There is hot water corn bread, made in a cast iron skillet, an ancient
bread that is also called the hoecake and is a gift of the Native Americans.
Equating this mixture of influences to music, Fowler states that "What
we are beginning to learn is that its music can't be unraveled, for
without each part the melody is incomplete."
And what a melody these elements
have produced. Fowler gives us one more mouthwatering recipe than the
next, and the selection is wide in scope: Old-fashioned Lemon Jelly
Cake, Peach Upside-down Ginger Cake, Carolina Rice Jam Fritters, Creole
Pets-de-Nonne, Bourbon Pecan Pie, Kentucky Chocolate Chip Bourbon
Pie.
In addition to the recipes, Fowler,
a culinary historian as well as a cook, traces the evolution of the
great southern baked goods to the contemporary table of today. The south
held fast to its traditions of baking long after other states turned
to manufacture. The traditions are close enough for Fowler to find personal
anecdotes, tips from experienced cooks, and the women whose hands have
worked the dough. Complete with comprehensive resource lists, Damon
Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking brings the warm graciousness
of the South to any kitchen.
About
the author: Damon Lee Fowler is the author of four previous,
critically acclaimed cookbooks, including Classical Southern Cooking,
an IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award and James Beard Foundation Award
nominee, and Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Kitchen. Aside from
his work as a culinary writer, historian, and lecturer, he is a cooking
teacher and the featured food columnist for the Savannah Morning
News. Born in north Georgia and raised in upstate South Carolina,
he lives in Savannah.
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