Customer Reviews

The Heritage of Southern Cooking: An Inspired Tour of Southern Cuisine Including Regional Specialties, Heirloom Favorites, and Original Dishes

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have a copy of the original `The Heritage of Southern Cooking' by Camille Glenn, published by Workman Publishers, and it is a fabulous guide. We've yet to find a recipe that disappoints us. The problem with this edition is that it's `adapted' from the original. In this case, `adapted' means that they omitted a significant percentage of the recipes (I'm going to guess about half). There is nothing that indicates the significant difference between the two editions. My son had learned to appreciate the original and I was trying to provide him a copy. I was sorely disappointed at the deception.

If you have "Southern Roots" you will love this book. Every time I make a dish from this book I remember my grandmother. This book is a treasure.

There are a few recipes in this book that won't make a cardiologist faint, but not too many. But then again that really isn't what true southern food is about is it?

This book contains a nice recipe for homemade English Muffins, and Hush puppies. If want to make something that is very southern try to Carolina Grits Souffle. This recipe turns out very light and delicate and extremely flavorful from the sharp cheddar. The recipe for Crabmeat Imperial will blow your socks off. If you aren't a southerner you may not realize that this recipe alone is worth the price of the book.

I highly recommend this book for those that enjoy real Southern Cooking.

I have been cooking from this book for about five years now and have used it so much the pages are dog-eared. The recipes are clear, easy to follow and will make you hungry just reading them. Her commentaries with each recipe make interesting reading by themselves. My favorite recipes include: Queen Anne's Carrot Cake, Crab Imperial, and Montecello Rolls. I have never had a bad meal when I used this book.

This cookbook is delightful to look at. Huge, full-color pictures on every page. Most of the recipes are quite simple to make, too. I like the little historical photos too. Unfortunately, however, nearly all of them are uncaptioned. Most of the recipes could have been introduced a bit better too, like where do they originate and what makes them Southern. Also, a few of the recipes are from Maryland, Missouri, and Illinois -- are those parts of the South?

It IS a good collection of tasty, mostly traditional Southern recipes, but I think it is inaptly named, because it doesn't speak much about the recipes' "heritage," so much as Camille Glenn's upbringing as a Kentucky innkeeper's daughter.

Also, I wish recipes for sweet potato pie and hominy had been included. Otherwise, like I said very beautiful, and I enjoyed learning how to make traditional pickles and preserves. You must try the corn pudding!

Camille Glenn has created a masterpiece of Southern Cooking, I'm serious. Each recipe has just the right amount of added tips and narration that make you feel like Ms. Glenn is right there with you in the kitchen. I'm a novice cook, but every recipe I've made from this book has turned out really well.

This is a great cookbook. Try the Alabama Yams with Orange and nearly any of the cakes....I love Ms. Glenn's writing style and comments about each recipe. You won't go wrong with this cookbook.

I purchased this book back in 1986 and it is still one of my most cherished and used cookbooks. Camille taught me to make biscuits! I was a total novice back then! The old cookbook had more old photos and nostalgia...this one seems to be glossy and full of picures of the actual food itself.

This cookbook is a classic...it has stood the test of time...I have been using it for 21 years now!

I wish I had read the critical one-star review "Deception Through Omission" before ordering this severely abridged edition. So many of my favorite Camille Glenn recipes are missing in this adaptation: Roast Teal (duck)with Wild Rice Stuffing, Grits Souffle, South Carolina Country Jam Cake, and the wonderful Moravian Ginger Thins that have become a treasured Christmas tradition in my family during the last two decades. Very disappointing!

I blindly bought this 252 pp. heavily illustrated edition thinking it would be a hardback replacement for the two soft cover copies of the original 470 pp. Heritage of Southern Cooking that I've already worn out. I guess the copy of Heritage of Southern Cooking that I ordered back in the 1980s from the Quality Paperback Book Club is the only true original.

Still, this abridged edition is a handsome cookbook with many important Camille Glenn recipes that could also double as coffee-table decoration. It should please many cooks who want to explore Southern cooking. I will gift the copy I bought to somebody who is not familiar with the original canonical work.

As for me, I will continue my quest to acquire a second replacement copy of the original 1986 paperback (sigh).

Around 1987 an acquaintance of mine purchased this book. He didnt get much of a chance to use it though. After I got a hold of it I read it so many times.. the recipes and the stories. I actually got a cozy feeling of home sweet home and got hooked on the southern hospitality of it all. I started cooking many of the recipes and to my surprise they all worked like a charm and without a glich.I was hooked!
I mostly used the book for some old fahioned recipes that had a bit of a twang to them. I especially liked the shortening bread, mincemeat,and pickle recipes. Last but not least...I value the bits of information throughout the book that I still rely on today.It is now the year 2004 and I've been living in Europe for 12 years without this book but still use many of the recipes that I had gotten from it. I think its time I buy my own book. I reaaly miss it!
This book is well written, enticing,and most of all delicious!

My wife and I have been cooking from this book for years, and have never been disappointed. This is the source for wonderful "comfort food" ideas.