Customer Reviews

Magnolias: Authentic Southern Cuisine

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

Easy to follow recipes. Tasted just like we had eaten at their restaurant!
Loved the picture that went with recipes.

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

Magnolias is a top-of-the-line restaurant in Charleston, specializing in Low Country cuisine. The chef (at the time of this publication) has won many awards and is known for using local products, especially seafood. The beautiful thing about this book (besides the gorgeous pictures!) is that he makes even the most complicated dishes easy to achieve. There are a couple recipes I keep a permanent marker on, and this is one cookbook I reach for again and again.

We always eat at Magnolia's while in Charleston several times a year. This cookbook not only has fabulous recipes, but I really enjoyed reading it. As a Southerner, I appreciate his authentic food traditions. I've also given this book as a gift and people just love it!

After our extraordinary meal at Magnolias in Charleston, I knew I must have the cookbook to try some of Donald Barickman's recipes at home. The book is pretty enough to put on a coffee table and is full of wonderful southern style recipes that are easy to follow and turn out just as good as they look.

This book is great...great recipes...yummy! The book was in excellent condition, like new. Thanks

Donald Barickman's Magnolias: Authentic Southern Cuisine takes a modern approach to Southern dishes, gathered from his Magnolias restaurant in South Carolina which has been acclaimed throughout the country. If it sounds familiar, it's because Magnolias Southern Cuisine first was published in 1995 to share these recipes, and here provides a sequel to offer over fifty new dishes plus some originals. While color photos pepper the coverage, the easy dishes don't really need them and lend to home cooking success.