Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties: An Entertaining Life (with Recipes) [Paperback]

Julia Reed (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 28, 2009

Julia Reed spends a lot of time thinking about ham biscuits.  And cornbread and casseroles and the surprisingly modern ease of donning a hostess gown for one’s own party. In Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns and Other Southern Specialties Julia Reed collects her thoughts on good cooking and the lessons of gracious entertaining that pass from one woman to another, and takes the reader on a lively and very personal tour of the culinary—and social—South. In essays on everything from pork chops to the perfect picnic Julia Reed revels in the simple good qualities that make the Southern table the best possible place to pull up a chair. She expounds on: the Southerner’s relentless penchant for using gelatin; why most things taste better with homemade mayonnaise; the necessity of a holiday milk punch (and, possibly, a Santa hat); how best to “cook for compliments” (at least one squash casserole and Lee Bailey’s barbequed veal are key). She provides recipes for some of the region’s best-loved dishes (cheese straws, red velvet cake, breakfast shrimp), along with her own variations on the classics, including Fried Oysters Rockefeller Salad and Creole Crab Soup. She also elaborates on worthwhile information every hostess would do well to learn: the icebreaking qualities of a Ramos gin fizz and a hot crabmeat canapé, for example; the “wow factor” intrinsic in a platter of devilled eggs or a giant silver punchbowl filled with scoops of homemade ice cream. Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns and Other Southern Specialties another great book about the South from Julia Reed, a writer who makes her experiences in—and out of—the kitchen a joy to read.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Julia Reed is another Southern writer with a fine hand for storytelling and cooking. Though you'll want to cook from her book, first you'll want to take it to the porch hammock to read. Each tasty tale - from her collard green chronicle to her Frozen Assets anecdote on ice cream - will whet your appetite for more."--The Post and Courier (SC)
“[A] charming collection. Reed's wit and her eye for the telling historical detail shine through.” –The Times Picayune
"No matter what your tastes, Ham Biscuits has something to tempt your taste buds."--The Clarion Ledger

About the Author

JULIA REED is a contributing editor at Newsweek, where she writes the magazine's Food and Drink column. She is author of Queen of the Turtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena and The House on First Street, My New Orleans Story. Reed lives in New Orleans.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312359578
• ISBN-13: 978-0312359577
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #98 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Gastronomy > Essays

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tasty Tidbits July 17, 2008

By Classicdude

Format:Hardcover

Greenville, Mississippi, native and former Manhattanite Julia Reed (now of New Orleans) compiled a collection of essays on Southern food and hospitality that are as amusing as they are informative. Recipes of classic Southern dishes supplement the book. Unfortunately there is no index. And sadly there are no illustrations or photographs. But the author manages to successfully describe colorful scenes with mouth-watering results. This book would be appreciated by fine Southern cooks and a great gift for those who aspire to be.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE this book!!! July 14, 2008

By AH

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties: An Entertaining Life (with Recipes)

What a charming, lovely, and fun book! I received it yesterday, and devoured 100 pages the first night! The author has a wonderfully descripitive, humorous voice. The book is made up of short essays that include eveything from personal backround, to culinary history, to cocktail party how-to's, to lively charatcter descriptions. Each essay is then followed by a few delightful, often historical, recipes. I wish I could meet some of the eccentric characters from the author's childhood...hostess gowns, toast points, and fancy cigarette holders! This true-blue Bostonian highly recommends this charming book! Love it!!!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for What it Is February 5, 2009

By Winter Maiden

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I understand the reviewers who object to the lack of photos or the author's hostess-with-the-mostest name-dropping, but consider the source: the book is a collection of food columns (with recipes, as the title informs us), not a cookbook. As for me, I loved this book, which fed my ex-pat Southerner's heart with both the food and the 'tude.

As one who is still mourning the loss of my copy of "Queen of the Turtle Derby" to a co-worker who moved away without returning it, I consider Julia Reed one of the best at the lighter side of Southern Studies. Not quite up there with Florence King, John Shelton Reed, and Roy C. Blount, but darn near. Light years ahead of Celia Rivenbark (who writes not-particularly-Southern Bombeckish pieces about suburban ladies-who-shop) or those Potato Queen people.

Maybe it's just that the Delta is so close to my own Memphis origins, and Reed close to my own age, but despite our very different lives (I've never run around in diplomatic circles myself, nor hung out in Manhattan cocktail spots), I often find myself on the same page in my attitudes, particularly my notions of romance, glamour, and comfort. I find her style graceful and succinct, and I happily forgive the "my very good friend" name-dropping (which does get old) for her description of a garden party of her childhood or of a classically Southern blending of food, sex, and literature in the service of a doomed romance. Plus, I was inspired to make homemade pimiento cheese for the first time--it's something I never cared for as a child, but now I'm a convert.