Customer Reviews

A Gracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the American South

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As a reformed "Yankee" and a student of the Univeristy of Mississippi I have had the great pleasure of living in the south for the last four years. The south is a culture of small towns and their dinner tables and southern food is literally a story of life told on the kitchen table. A story about the many cultures that were mixed together and the wonderful cream that rose to the top to create the wonderful recipes that exist today.

I am a good cook so says my husband and cook books for me are a passion. However, this book in particular reminds me each time I pick it up of four wonderful years lived in the gracious palm of the south and of the hearts of the many people I have gotten to know. As we move on (a military family) I can open this book and truly remember a place I have come to call home. There's a saying down here for Yankee's "I wasn't born in the south, but I got here as fast as I could."

This book is a wonderful gift to any graduate of a southern school or for any southern bride. But most of all for anyone who wants a taste of the south and a good story to read. Also, rest assured that Ole Miss would not blindly stamp their seal of approval on something that was not the finest example of southern culture.

This is a cookbook I turn to all the time. I get homesick for the South (where I grew up) whenever I look at these evocative black-and-white photos that reveal vistas into the Southern way of life -- the church supper, the front porch where someone sits shelling beans, the hot and steamy kitchen where dinner rolls sit rising. I also love reading the reminiscences in this book written by various Southerners. All the essays make my heart ache, but one especially took me back, to the long hot summer I spent in the poor black town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in the midst of the civil rights struggles of the Freedom Riders. Most importantly, these recipes are real, culled from community cookbooks, and representative of the best of Southern cooking, from humble water-and-cornmeal cakes to the ethereal Forgotten Kisses served at the finest luncheons. Just the other evening, I made Aunt Effie's Custard Johnny Cake for the first time, having heard it described as one of the best recipes in the collection, and I have decided that this one recipe alone is worth the price of the book! Mmmmm-mmmmm. This book is a must-have for lovers of good Southern food.

This cookbook, A Gracious Plenty, was definitely all about true Southern recipes. Recipes for Souse (the South's original form of Scrapple), Hog's Head Cheese, Smothered Doves, Casserole of Possum, Boudin, and Cracklin's have some ingredients in them that I personally may not eat (like hog's heads, pig's skin, or just a mixture of water and pork fat to eat as a snack) but they are some sure Suthern favorites. Other recipes include: Spiced Pecans, Tomato Sandwiches, Sun Tea, Planter's Punch, Mint Julep, Hot-Water Cornbread, Sally Lunn Bread, Hush Puppies, Festive corn and Black-Eyed Pea Salad, Buttermilk-Garlic Dressing, Succotash, Corn Fritters, Fried Grits, Louisiana Seafood Gumbo, Southern Catfish Stew, Chicken-Fried Steak, Jambalaya, Pigs' Feet, Fried Chicken, Chicken and Dumplings, Oyster Po'boy Loaf, Fried Catfish, Watermelon Rind Pickles, Chow-Chow, Mississippi Mud Cake, Coca Cola Cake, Peach Pie, and Creole Pralines.

There are litterally hundreds of recipes sprawled out onto these pages with as many as four on a page with a few needing the page turned, which is my cardinal sin. Most of the recipes are easy to follow and easy to make with only a few needing ingredients that may not be readily available in your local markets. Some of the recipes are time consuming but have incredible ending results. I am sure this cookbook will look much better printed in color, as it is supposed to be, even with the many black & white photographs that are scattered throughout the pages. I am quite sure that most of the recipes will destroy my low-cholesterol and blood-pressure lowering meals that I am supposed to now be eating but my taste buds will be thanking me.

This book is an excellent reflection of Southern food and living. The recipes are well done, traditional with that wonderful southern flare. The Forgotten kisses recipe is out of this world and well worth trying and sharing with friends. Ellen Rolfes has a history of excellence and heart in all she does. Bravo to her in this amazing accomplishment she has added to her list of great publications in and behind the scenes. Happy to see her name in print and getting the accalates she deserves for her fabulous creations. Looking forward to more in the future!

I got this book from the library, but my friends have loved the results so much that I had to buy it for myself. I've enjoyed the recipes, although I haven't taken the time to read all the extra things in there yet. Maybe I'll do that next time I make the 100 Year Old Blueberry Cake.

This is truly the definitive book on good "down home" basic southern cooking. Author Ellen Rolfes has done a wonderful job intertwining stories which she calls "meal moment" which will make you reflect upon your own memories of special times around the table. I come from a long generation of southern cooks and many of these recipes were reminiscent of my family. Excellent book, chocked full of recipes and well worth it!

I really loved this cookbook-but I also really loved this BOOK. This book brings back so many memories of my childhood in my grandmothers kitchen-from summer picnics up to the mountains, Sunday dinners after church, pickles in the summer and fruitcake at Christmas---And who can forget those family reunions!!!! This cookbook has so much history. I love reading and rereading the info for the recipes also. The only problem is that I can think of many many recipes that should also be remembered... Maybe we can look forward to a sequel?

This is a story book about how people in the South live around the meal table. Wonderful recipes and memories brought flashbacks to my life as a child. I read it like short stories at night!

A friend gave me this book for my birthday, and I love it! I've cooked from it twice already and I can't stop looking at the pictures! They remind me of learning to cook with my mother when I was a little girl.

I could not wait to receive this book in the mail and the day that I received it I had to try one or two of the recipes. This book gives it to you straight. No fancy namby pansy ingredients that you have to search for. This is real southern cooking at it's best. Loved this book and will value it's recipes forever. This book can make you a hit cook at any reunion, party or any food occasion that you might attend.