Magnolias: Authentic Southern Cuisine [Hardcover]

Donald Barickman (Author), Rick McKee (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2006

Donald Barickman brings his contemporary take on Southern flavors to the table at Magnolia's Restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. Following up his successful first book, Magnolia's Southern Cuisine, Barickman offers this new, expanded edition and long-awaited sequel, bringing forth over fifty new mouth-watering recipes while retaining many of the most popular originals. Chef Barickman's resource guide and easy-to-follow recipes make this cookbook a must-have for anyone with an interest in cooking in the "lowcountry" style.
Magnolias, featured in Patricia Schultz's 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, has been a member of the prestigious Distinguished Restaurants of North America since 1995 and has received awards and widespread recognition from dining authorities such as Gourmet Magazine, the New York Times, The Food Network and Southern Living Magazine. The New York Times sums it up best: "Recommended by a life-long Charlestonian . . . Magnolias was my best meal in a city of great food."
Try modern versions of Southern classics like these:
Skillet Fried Whole Flounder with Lemon Caper Aioli
Shrimp and Rice Salad with a Lemon, Garlic & Dill Vinaigrette
Shellfish over Creamy Stone-Ground White Grits
Hickory Smoked Pork Shoulder with Carolina BBQ Sauce, Crackling Cream Biscuits and Spicy Yellow Corn
Elwood's Ham Chowder
Sweet Biscuit with Fresh Strawberries, Whipped Cream and Orange Custard Sauce

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cypress is beautifully illustrated through the rich photography of Rick McKee. Rick also collaborated on Magnolias (Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 2006). A frequent contributor to national magazines, Rick works out of his studio in historic Charleston, South Carolina.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Hickory Smoked Pork Shoulder with Carolina BBQ Sauce, Crackling Cream Biscuits and Spicy Yellow Corn
Serves 6-8 people
Pork shoulder (Start a day ahead or early in the day)
1 each, 7-8 pound pork shoulder.
Remove bone if present and trim the meat that surrounds it. Reserve the meat (about 1 pound) and the bone (for the sauce) and dice meat into a 1/2 inch dice. Reserve for the cracklings.
Dry Rub
4 tablesponns (split quantity)
2 teaspoons granulated garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin
3 teaspoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons granulated onion
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Mix the spices together. Rub the entire shoulder with 3/4 of the spice mixture and let it rest for 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator.
Reserve the other 1/4 of the rub.
Place the shoulder in a grill or smoker with hickory chips or chunks that is preheated to 265 degrees and has smoke present. Place the pork indirectly over the heat source and smoke for 5-7 hours or until the shoulder reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees for sliced pork shoulder and 190 degrees internal temperature for pulled pork shoulder. If you are using wood chips and a grill, the chips should be soaked and applied every 40 minutes or so.
When the shoulder has reached the desired temperature, remove and allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate overnight or use within a couple hours.
Cracklings
1 pound pork shoulder trimmings from above
1 quart vegetable or peanut oil
2 teaspoons dry rub
Preheat the oil in a large pot to 260 degrees. Gradually add the pork trimmings carefully and increase the temperature of the oil to about 290 degrees. Allow the pork to cook for 30-40 minutes stirring occasionally. The oil will first be cloudy and will clarify itself as the cracklings become close to being cooked. They should be deep brown in color and firm. The point is to have all of the moisture cooked out of them. Remove the pork cracklings from the oil and place on absorbent paper. Season immediately with the remaining shoulder rub and then place in a food processor with the steel blade and process until the pork cracklings are shredded. Spread again on absorbent paper and allow to air dry for 30 minutes.
*The cracklings can be kept for up to two weeks in a container in the refrigerator.
Carolina Barbecue Sauce
3 cups
2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons mustard seeds, yellow
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 each, smoked neck bones or ham hocks
In a sauce pot, combine all of the ingredients. Place over medium heat and allow to cook slowly for 30-40 minutes. Remove any foam that may appear on the surface of the sauce as it cooks and discard it. Check seasoning. Remove the smoked products and allow the sauce to cool to room temperature. Check seasoning and hold warm for service or refrigerate for future use.
Crackling Cream Biscuits
24 each, 1 inch biscuits
2 1/2 cups White Lily self-rising flour
2 cups heavy cream (split quantity)
3 tablespoons of the cracklings from above
3 tablespoons whole butter, melted
2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place the measured flour in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the cream (the additional cream is to brush the top of the biscuit dough) until it starts to come together and is a wet sticky dough. Add the cracklings and work together for a minute or so. Place on a lightly floured surface and press or roll out to less than 1/2 inch thick. Brush the tops of the biscuit dough with the remaining cream. Sprinkle the cracklings and kosher salt over and gently press them into the dough. Cut with a 1 inch biscuit cutter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and cook until golden brown 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush with the melted butter and reserve in a warm area.
Corn kernels
1 tablespoon light olive oil
2 ears of corn (cooked, cooled and removed from the cob)
2 tablespoons cracklings
dry rub to taste
Heat the oil in a pan and add the corn kernels and allow for the kernels to caramelize over medium heat. Add the pork cracklings and season with the spice rub. Reserve.
To prepare the dish:
Warm the pork in a small amount of the sauce and season. Place a nice pile on the center of the plate and place 3 of the crackling cream biscuits around. Drizzle with more of the sauce and then sprinkle with the corn and crackling mixture.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith (April 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941711870
• ISBN-13: 978-0941711876
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Southern Restaurant book., July 23, 2007

By 

I. Seligman - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magnolias: Authentic Southern Cuisine (Hardcover)

This is a good overall book, for those who want to cook Magnolia's, Barickman's restaurant's Lowcountry inspired Southern-style foods. It's ideally for those who want to have a selection of Donald Barickman's "Southern style" recipes, that are generally easy to cook, at hand. This is not a text for "really" authentic Southern recipes, overall-that's just a fact, not a plus or a minus for the book.

Start with crab cakes with panko crust, cleverly formed in long tubes within plastic wrap, then cut to create a more compact crab cake. The recipe is basic, not "messed up" with superfluous ingredients that mask the sweetness of blue crab, which is lightly skillet sauteed.

There's plenty of "common" recipes, such as macaroni and cheddar cheese, creamed corn, collard greens, okra, Hoppin' John, black beans and rice, and creamy grits- slow cooked in water and heavy cream. To dress things up, there's Pimiento cheese grits with seared scallops shrimp, tasso and grits, or salmon over grits, and even lobster and grits. Grits galore! Things get an Asian/Latin twist with Coriander-seared tuna with jalapeno and mango vinaigrette and sauteed escarole. Barickman also offers squash blossosms stuffed with scallop and lobster moussse, or a steak topped with pimiento cheese and madeira sauce.

I was mildly disappoined that this lacked the "kick" in its selection of recipes to get it up to a 5 star rating, however with it's simple to moderately complex Southern recipes, good color photos, and almost too brief instructions, it will be more than sufficient for a lover of Charleston's Magnolias Restaurant to duplicate many of the older recipes. I do favor "chattier" cookbooks that give a local flavor in the side notes; this is "just the facts, ma'am" on its recipes. Other Southern cookbook authors- John Martin Taylor, Edna Lewis, James Villas, the Lee Bros., and Frank Stitts -have classic cookbooks books that clearly rate "5"'s in my opinion. Check these out first, and see what you prefer to buy.

This version is said to be the original 1995 book, Magnolia's Southern Cuisine, from over 10 years ago, it was updated in 2006 with 50 or so new recipes. Now, why he subtitled this as "Authentic Southern Cuisine" and then put a photo of a clearly non-Southern Chinese style sliced eggroll on the cover, is beyond me. A warning? Too much sake, perhaps? Let's just say that while he has a good number of definitely non-Southern recipes, he balances it in the quality of the Southern style ones he shares.

Visit Charleston, and try this and several dozen excellent restaurants, to sample many variations of classics such shrimp and grits, fluffy biscuits, and all around great food!

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnolia's:Authentic Southern Cooking, February 10, 2012

By 

diane - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magnolias: Authentic Southern Cuisine (Hardcover)

Easy to follow recipes. Tasted just like we had eaten at their restaurant!

Loved the picture that went with recipes.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Cooking Book, December 7, 2011

By 

Gordon G. Marcum (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magnolias: Authentic Southern Cuisine (Hardcover)

The recipes and pictures are superb. Instructions allow you to create meals that rival their excellent food at the restaurant.