`Frank Stitt's Southern Table' is a coffee table cookbook published by Artisan with very much of the same style, size, and heft of their earlier books by Thomas Keller and Eric Rippert, with most of the same strengths and weaknesses of these two other celebrity chef show books.
The book begins with a highly personal Foreword by North Carolina novelist Pat Conroy who must have a more than casual eye for good food, as he just happened to run into Frank Stitt about 24 years ago across the aisle on an airplane as Conroy happened to see Stitt taking notes from what Conroy recognized as cookbooks by some very high end authors. Stitt was just on his way back to Birmingham, Alabama to open his own restaurant and confided to Conroy that he was a very, very good chef.
Stitt's introduction fills out his culinary pedigree, citing the fact that he apprenticed at `Chez Panisse' with Alice Waters, from whom he received an introduction to leading French food writer Richard Olney. Stitt became Olney's assistant and through him met Jeremiah Tower and leading English food writer Elizabeth David. When Stitt opened his own restaurant `Highlands' in Birmingham, he combined traditional Southern cooking with these heavy French and Provencal influences with superfresh ingredients to create a cuisine with a skill which has landed him near the head of the class of American chefs.
All this pedigree and all these paeans to fresh ingredients do not mean this is a good book. It only certifies that Stitt has in him what it takes to write a good book. The proof is in the reading, not in the reputation. For starters, he has to prove that he has added sufficient value to overcome book's drawback of being better suited for the coffee table than the kitchen counter. The book is too heavy and the typeface is too small to work well `in situ'.
The first chapter of recipes deals with classic Southern dishes such as fried green tomatoes, Hoppin John, baked grits, corn bread, cracklins, pimiento cheese, and mint tea. All the dishes are true to other Southern writers I've read including James Villas, Edna Lewis, and Paula Deen, with a few deluxe touches such as making the pimiento cheese with home roasted red bell peppers instead of canned pimientos.
The next chapter covers mixed drinks and bar food. While I consider mixed drink recipes in a cookbook to be not much better than filler, these do succeed in filling out part of the promise Conroy made in the Foreword that `Highlands' has some of the best mixed drinks. And I have learned from Jim Villas that mixed drinks are as much a part of the Southern culinary experience as wine is to French and Italian cuisine. This does not mean wine is ignored. The author includes one of his little essays to wine appreciation. Most of these three page bon mots deal with restaurant staff members and suppliers. The intro. to the bar food gives some conventional advice on cooking for entertaining.
The next chapter covers appetizers, soups, and salads. My appreciation for the author jumped a bit when I saw him present recipes for both classic Southern tomato salads with bacon AND the Italian Panzanella salad without confusing the two. He does confess to adapting the Panzanella to Southern tastes by using corn bread, but I really appreciate the appreciation of tradition shown here. All recipes show a subtle mixture of things in common between Provencal and Southern cuisines such as greens, peas, beans, tomatoes, pumpkin, and mint. I am beginning to like this book more and more.
The fish chapter continues the Southern / Provencal fusion with a little Yankee chowder thrown in for good measure. This chapter adds a new word to my vocabulary, `pirlau', a Carolina low country rice and protein stew that be made with the sweepings of leftovers from the icebox and the pantry. A mistake would be to try to duplicate this recipe exactly. It's the kind of thing where you want to internalize the spirit of the dish and make it `ad hoc' when the proper time arrives. There are some simple dishes here, which make the reader appreciate the fact that `haute cuisine' is not always about complicated preparations. Some simple flounder dishes alone may be worth the price of the book.
The poultry chapter covers both domestic and wild bird cooking with quail being the most popular winged protein in these recipes. Again, a fair number of recipes are pretty simple sautes with prominent French tastes. Most protein dish recipes include the recipe for a vegetable garnish. Very nice.
The meat chapter is evenly divided between lamb, beef, and pork recipes, with some French rabbit recipes thrown in to spice it up.
The rather long chapter of vegetable dishes continues the mix of Southern and Provencal with potatoes, corn, asparagus, peas, and greens in pirlaus, ratatouilles, and gratins. I always salivate over a new gratin recipe. The `old fashioned potato gratin' will never appear in Weight Watchers, but it looks delish. Note that the heavy cream is not just for taste, lighter dairy will quickly curdle in a hot gratin dish.
The desserts chapter is a grand mix of Southern, French, and Italian classics, with apples, peaches, strawberries, pecans, and Jack Daniels in starring roles. The blackberry cobbler, for example, is nicely done with some taste of lemon added in. Peaches and blueberries combine to make another great variation on a classic.
The last chapter is on pantry preparations. They are generally a waste of space except in teaching cookbooks and books meant to capture the cuisine of a specific place. True to Southern tradition, the author will make his own mayonnaise, but freely allow us to use Hellmans.
This book is a fine evocation of Stitt's restaurant experience and a source of good, interesting, and simple recipes. If you like Keller and Rippert, get this one too.
