"Margaret Bragg does not own a single cookbook. She measures in "dabs" and "smidgens" and "tads" and "you know, hon, just some." She cannot be pinned down on how long to bake corn bread ("about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the mysteries of your oven"). Her notion of farm-to-table is a flatbed truck. But she can tell you the secrets to perfect mashed potatoes, corn pudding, redeye gravy, pinto beans and hambone, stewed cabbage, short ribs, chicken and dressing, biscuits and butter rolls. Many of her recipes, recorded here for the first time, pre-date the Civil War, handed down skillet by skillet, from one generation of Braggs to the next. In The Best Cook in the World, Rick Bragg finally preserves his heritage by telling the stories that framed his mother's cooking and education, from childhood into old age. Because good food always has a good story, and a recipe, writes Bragg, is a story like anything else."
My thoughts:
My children did not grow up near their grandparents on either side, but that does not stop them from remembering and talking about the good foods and smells they always remember from Mama and Papa's Southern home. Even son-in-law John tells of walking into their home for the first time and seeing and smelling two stoves overflowing with delicious southern food and two refrigerators housing desserts. Real food. Good old-fashioned food.
That's basically what Rick Bragg is talking about in The Best Cook in the World. Of course, he thinks that title belongs to his mother. In true Rick Bragg fashion, he has given us down home country southerners, his family,'s stories, a glimpse back into the day, an aha moment because we had the same experiences at our best cook's house, and a taste of home. Get ready Alabama families and all Southerners, even those who had to get here later in life or who still live in other places. This is the book you must have. Full of memories, stories, and 74 Southern recipes!
Now available at book outlets and online.
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