Customer Reviews

Mama Dip's Kitchen

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book for my wife whose been looking for a cobbler receipe. Not only did this give us an excellent cobbler but fantastic receipes for all sorts of southern dishes. My wife is not originally from the South and wanted the "secrets" to good southern cooking. Mama Dip has provided her with some of these secrets.

In addition to the receipies, the story of Mama Dip's life was inspiring. It gives us a glimpse into the life of a poor southern family. The book is worth buying for this story alone.

I'm anxiously awaiting additional titles from her!

When it comes to Carolina Country Cooking, Dip is simply the best. No wonder people line up at her Chapel Hill restaurant, patiently waiting for the South's best fried chicken (crispy-golden outside, juicily tender inside), her heavenly fried chicken livers, her marvelous chicken pot pie. And oh those collard greens cooked with a piece of side meat. Dip has made this Southerner mighty happy by putting all of these recipes -- and oh, so many more-- in her new cookbook. Also, by telling her story of growing up poor "but not knowing it" because of her close and loving family. We should all be so lucky. A Chapel Hill fan.

This book starts out with a delightful autobiographical story of Mildred Council and her life of cooking for her large family, and later opening a restaurant. She talks about using local, seasonal ingredients. Unlike most foodies, this knowledge was necessary for survival of her poor sharecropper family. I found this short story worth the price of the book alone.

A transplanted Midwesterner in California, I bough this book to expand my cooking skills to include southern cooking / soul food. The recipes are all pretty simple, suspiciously simple suggesting a few trade secrets have been left out. Ms. Council admits as much, encouraging the reader to experiment and play around with her recipes. That's nice, and I respect Mama Dip's need to hold family/trade secrets, but I would have preferred more insight into how to experiment, to guide the reader. (A good example is Paul Kirk's Championship BBQ Sauces, where the secrets are not revealed, but plenty of insight is given for the reader to develop their own secret sauce.) Thankfully, there are cooking tips here and there, often given out in a folksy manner. Certainly one of the best things about this book is that with so many simple recipes, everyone will benefit from it.

Some of the recipes were surprisingly good in their simplicity. The Creole Shrimp, Fried Okra, and Fried Catfish turned out great. (Per Mama Dip's encouragement, I added a couple of my own ingredients to the mix.) The Baked Beans had a muddy taste, without much character to it. A couple others turned out a little bland. I have some philosophical differences with Mama Dip's Pecan Pie recipe. For the record, I think it needs brown sugar and perhaps some other ingredients for a richer, deeper flavor. Using light Karo syrup, butter, sugar, eggs, and pecans, and nothing else, I think Mama Dip's pecan pie tastes too light. (Of course, nobody is asking me to make my Pecan Pie on the Today Show as Ms Dip has, but that's what I think.)

The fact that this book has resonated so well with Southern reviewers certainly means a lot, but I can't give a book five stars that seems to give out a number of incomplete recipes, and gives the reader little insight on how to round them out. And not everything turned out great. But don't get me wrong, I loved reading this book, and it's been a good tool to expand my cooking skills to include Southern Cooking/Soul Food.

I first saw Mama Dip on the Food Network. I immediately went online to find the cookbook that was mentioned. I now have a book of recipes and techniques that I can leave for my children when I am gone. I was afraid that I would have to write down my techniques etc. but she did it for me. What a wonderful read the book is also. I can hardly wait for her to find time to put another collection together. What a wonderful woman.

The Best of the best - this cookbook has true old-time southern recipes with easy to follow instructions. This lady cooks exactly like my Alabama grandmothers - deliciously!

I watch the Food Network a lot; this book is the antithesis of that. No weird names; no combining ingredients that weren't meant to be together. The opposite of chi-chi. Just good, comfortable food that'll sit well on your stomach and you'll get a decent portion besides! Restaurants like Mama Dip's are always popular wherever they are. You'd think the big corporations would learn that...

We all need to have a mom like Momma Dip. She keeps us on the right track in and out of the kitchen. What a marvelous woman and super cook! All her stuff is yummmy!

The recipes found in this book are a great place to start if you're trying to impress your new in-laws, or family. You will have to add seasonings here and there to put your family's mark on the dishes, but her measurements are accurate, and her instructions are precise. Rather than intimidate the novice cook, she offers some dishes that don't necessarily have to be made from scratch; a blessed opportunity to cheat a little when you're running low on time.
I highly recommend the recipes for Sunday Cornbread, and biscuits. They come out perfect every time!

"Mama Dip's Kitchen" by Mildred Council is a great cookbook of traditional Carolina recipes -- recipes for the sort of dishes made by "dump" cooking, i.e., you "dump" the ingredients into the pot without precise measuring, but by an process of improvisation guided by experience. Of course, there are measurements provided, but Ms. Council makes clear that adapting the recipes to your liking is part of the learning process. There are more than 250 recipes for things like chicken pie, pork chops, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, poundcake, and banana pudding, arranged into chapters on breads and breakfast dishes; poultry, fish, and seafood; beef, pork, and lamb; vegetables and salads; and desserts, beverages, and party dishes. An additional plus to this cookbook is the introduction by the author which is a mini-biography of her life with food, starting with learning to cook for her family on the farm, then working as "domestic help" in a white family's kitchen (and inventing a dish on the spot), and finally opening and operating a restaurant that has become an institution. Get this book for anyone who likes traditional southern cooking.

I have the luxury of living fairly close to Mama Dips restaurant and it's always a real treat to go for lunch or dinner. It's the kind of cooking we grew up with in NC. I was so excited when she published her cookbook. I bought it and have read it cover to cover. I not only love the recipes but the story itself is inspirational. If you ever go to her restaurant - don't skip the banana pudding. Like the recipe in the book, it's served warm and it's TO DIE FOR!!