Customer Reviews

The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have bought many, many cookbooks not for cooking, but for reading. My favorite format in cookbooks are those where text is woven with recipes; it 'fleshes out' the recipes.

Anyone who has derived pleasure from reading the Foxfire series over the years will also want to buy this one. It follows the general Foxfire format, specialized for cooking. It will be of particular value for those young people interested in cooking. As becomes apparent, cooking in this country used to be quite different from what we consider it now. For most Americans, by the end of WW II kitchens had been transformed by the addition of running water and gas/electric powered appliances. My grandparents didn't get electricity in their rural location until 1948. Before then, there was a kerosene-powered refrigerator, gasoline-powered washer, and wood stove. It took longer for many in the Appalachian region, and 'old' cooking methods continued to be used. Fixing chicken, for example, meant killing and plucking, not going to the grocery store!

History always becomes more immediate when it can be related to 'real' people. The characters in this book come to life with the sensitive narration, and only grow in depth with re-reading.

I've tried some of the recipes in this book, especially those related to baking. All have worked well. Mere recipes, though, can't communicate the commitment and love that these people have given to their efforts.

This is a great book to read, and a good pathway to cooking methods of our ancestors. Comprehensive, and an excellent buy!

Got this as a gift and what a treat it is proving to be. It is a book that is really helping me broaden my homesteading skills and I adore the running dialogue and photographs that show the how to's and bring back wonderful memories of growing up.

The recipes are good and easy and delicious and I like the discussion of how to dress out livestock and wild game as well as how to make crock pickles and things like sauerkraut which I love doing. I also like, but some people may be turned off by the meat section that deals with waste not want not, and how to make use of most of the animal one slaughters. Something my family knew well when I was growing up.

This is also a good book is someone simply wants to learn about how self sufficiency works and how most people used to live, especially in rural areas.

It is my favorite and most usable of all the Foxfire books.

This book is filled to the brim (or shall I say binding!) with old-fashioned recipes, fun facts and historical folklore. The authors interviewed many southern old-timers to gather their material and their book is truly authentic. As a southerner myself, although of a younger generation, I can attest to the validity and authenticity of its contents, and I find the book refreshing, entertaining and useful. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in southern cooking, folklore and/or food history!

This book is filled with many family recipes and special touches that only your Great Grandmother might have known. The book covers different cooking methods including fireplace and wood fired cook stove techniques in excellent detail, with plenty of photographs for clarity. It also covers the specialized utensils needed to perform such cooking. There is even a section on preparing a brand new cast iron fry pan for first use. As for the recipes, they are absolutely delicious! I have tried many of them and found them all wonderful! I was even to ascertain the secret of my own Grandmother's secret to the best fried chicken from the section dealing with the subject (corn meal!). And if you like homemade biscuits, you are in for an extra special treat if you will try the recipes and techniques described within! I have had my copy for over two years now and still read it over and over not just as a reference, but for the stories! They themselves are worth the price of the book! You will NOT be disappointed.

This is a great addition to the Foxfire book family. On a personal note, I was raised on many of the recipes noted here. The food of the Missouri/Arkansas Ozarks is quite similar to the Appalachians. This book gives a great representation of the "way it was," and the delightful writing and personal stories and interviews just add to the fun and usefulness of this work. One needs to note though, that this is not a "cookie cutter" cook book. If you are looking for a recipe book with standard, boring directions, then you need to probably look elsewhere. There are dozens and dozens of that type of book out there and they are not all that difficult to find. No one book can do it all...that fact is pretty much a no brainer. This is a history book, a book about a vanished or vanishing culture, even more than it is a cook book. This is quite important to remember.

That being said, this work is an absolute delight to read. From the preparation of the animal being cooked all the way to the making of sauerkraut, the book is filled with wonderful facts and insights to a time long past. One of the things that I found most interesting was the ingenious methods used to be sure that everything, and I mean everything, was used. These folks of past generations did not leave much to waste.

The reading is easy, but do be warned, that you must get use to the dialect used here. It may throw some off, but once you get use to it, it adds so much to the story being told. The book has plenty of black and white photographs, gives around 300 recipes and absolutely hundreds of bits of trivia. This is one of those works you will probably want to add to your library because it is one that deserves rereads. Highly recommend this one along with the entire series.

I am a serious cook with a large cookbook library. I am a Southerner who made my first biscuits and gravy at age 5. This book is a not-so-well done re-hash of other Foxfires and sorely disappointing. It is difficult to use as a cookbook-more poignant than useful. Also a tad light on recipes. A much better book from North Georgia (Southern Appalachia, like the Foxfire series) is Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking. I use this one a lot, enjoy reading the stories, and frequently give it as gift to visiting Yankees. Plus it has the wit, charm, and authenticity so sadly missing from the Foxfire Cookbook.

What makes this book so special is the narratives with each recipe. It is as though you are sitting in a West Virginia or Carolina kitchen with family long-gone, listening, as they tell how to make that special family recipe. As I have researched my family roots, I've often wished I could have known some of my ancestors from this part of the country, what their stories were, their everyday experiences. This book is a jewel and the recipes are absolute treasures. The memories it holds are a bit of disappearing Americana. This is comfort food at its best and a sampling of the simple lives and times that brought it to us. The canning recipes are some of the best you'll find anywhere. It even has recipes for squirrel, possum and other mountain delicacies that I've heard in family stories (but oooh, who'd want to eat them now?!) We've laughed and sighed as we poured over each page, each story. This will be a book you'll cherish.

Don't buy just one, get two because you will never want to be without a copy. My kids kept borrowing mine so often I just went ahead and got them their own copy. Then I got mysef a spare for just in case. This is way more than a cookbook, it is a way of life. The stories that go along with some of the receipes are entertaining but also a history of a people that were self-reliant and made the most of what they had. Money was scarce and times were hard by today's standards but these folks thrived in spite of the hardships. Follow the receipes and you will turn out some real southern down home comfort food. Buy it for the stories, buy it for the receipes, but above all, buy it!!!

This book is fun to read. It contains so many good recipes and cultural stories. If the Appalchian Mountains are as special to you as they are to me, you will love this book.

If a person has read the "Foxfire" series of books, they will enjoy this compilation of all the recipes from each of the books. The book is very well put together with lots of pictures and intersting facts from the people who gave the recipes. Enjoy!