Customer Reviews

Hoppin' John's Low Country Cooking

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

 

 

There are many "Southern" cookbooks out there, however few ring true, as many recipes are "Southern style" with added ingredients that would make folks from Mississippi, through Georgia, and up to Kentucky cringe in disbelief!

Tonight I wanted a Southern style cornbread, so I tried his recipe. WOW! The addition of bacon grease to the bottom (and also to the sides) of a cold then heated to 450 degree seasoned iron skillet, to which is added the room temperature batter mix, produces a loud sizzle, quick rise, and a delicious light brown crust, and the light cornbread (free of such adulterants as sugar, cheese, fancy flours and the like) is delicate and tasty, served hot with warm butter or even honey! Just like I had as a child! Now, no disrespect to cornbread with different additions such as sugar, jalapeno, cheeses, fancy flours, etc, that's fine and tasty, but PLEASE don't call those variations Southern Corn Bread!

He has recipes for grits (not the 5 minute kind), fish, shellfish, duck, quail, turkey, marsh hens, meats ( usual, and also oxtail stew, veal sweetbreads, blood pudding) breads, vegetables and desserts. There's even various game, coon, cooter, gator tail and squirrel, pickles, preserves and relishes. The recipes ring true to other recipes I've cooked and read in other cookbooks, so I expect to taste things as I had, again, as a child in the South.

It's odd and no loss that he doesn't have a recipe for fried chicken, heck, I learned that watching others cook theirs with light dusting of salt, pepper, flour, and perhaps a touch of cayenne and spices, then skillet fried in Crisco, till brown and crisp. His crab cakes recipe has so little filler that he warns you it'll fall apart, and it'll be so much tastier and crabbier for the better. Use lump crabmeat if possible, and putting it in the fridge for an hour or two before cooking may help it stay together.

He has a nice commentary for most of the recipes, and he clearly has researched and loves Southern cookery. Enjoy this and try Edna Lewis's (and other southern chefs') books as well for other Authentic Southern recipes.

John Martin Taylor does an outstanding job of sharing the history, culture, the exact how and why of South Carolina Low Country (Costal Carolina)Cooking. This book is enjoyable, reads like a good novel and will be appreciated by both novice or experinced cooks. If you enjoy good regional cook books, this one is a gem and is well worth owning!

This is a cookbook alright but it is also a history of lowcountry food, agriculture, and recipes. Plus, Hoppin' John has an attitude and man is he strict: You'd better boil your shrimp with the heads on and you'd better make iced tea the right way.

John Taylor has writtem a delightful review of the history of the region that is as much fun to read as it is to use.

Reasonable cookbook for those interested in Low Country cuisine. A good few recipes relate to animals I don't eat but it does have the usual low country suspects. As a bonus this book, purchased used, turned out to be signed.

I enjoyed the history lesson and the great recipes in this must own cookbook!