Customer Reviews

Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I actually bought this book to support Martha and the local bookstore in my hometown of Greenwood, Ms. Thinking it was just another cookbook to add to my collection...Wow, What great stories and the recipes are awesome..I had been looking for a good egg and olive sandwich and pimiento and cheese,
No more, found it in this delicious cookbook..Can't wait to try other recipes. This book has inspired me to get back to cooking...I suggest that anyone that wants a cookbook, you can actually use and enjoy....Don't miss this one!!!!....5 thumbs up..

Thank you Martha.
Cindy Sturdivant

I was determined to make a red velvet cake the other day and thought, What Would Martha Do? As in Martha Foose, not what you're thinking....Well, lo and behold, I dare you to try out her Red Velvet Cake recipe, nothing like you have ever tried before, and leave all that food coloring back at the store. Her recipe rocks and I learned alot.

Before I got started on this Red Velvet Cake venture, I mixed up a Mailbox Cocktail. Mmmm, that's all I can say and that's all there is to say: Mmmmm. My new favorite drink.

And then I read the story of Young Steve and the long wait by the mailboxes for the Regulation-Size B.B. Gun Pistol to arrive; and I was there along with ya'll on Pluto. For I know so well, those advertisements in the back of the comic book pages, the ones I grew up on in the seventies when we had no TV in South Africa, the ones that bragged about the possibility of sea monkeys, X-Ray glasses, T.V. watches, daisy guns and pup tents; those ads that were the epitome of American Spendour to me and now to Young Steve.

Thanks, your story in a blink took me back there to that time of sweet dreams and the possible, what fun. I think I will mix another Mailbox Cocktail and try out some more Pick-Up Party Food.

I TOTALLY recommend this book for anyone ready to live with the South in their heart and kitchen.

Wow- I collect & use many cookbooks, but this one in particual almost reads like a best selling novel. Along with some of the best southern inspired recipes as a main course, the reader gets treated to a side dish of recipe history and a dessert of wonderfully helpful notes! Some of my personal favorites include the Chicken Thighs & Dumplings--little pillow dumplings adrift in the richest of stews, honest devil-ed eggs, watermelon salsa (just incredible!) and the best ever, natural Red Velvet cake. Wash it all down with a McCarty Pottery Julep or a Mailbox cocktail! Well Martha, very, very well done!

I am not one to write reviews on books, but after purchasing, reading, and cooking some of the recipes in this book, I had to put in my two cents worth. This is one of the best- if not the best cookbook on Southern cooking I have read in a long time. I am an avid cookbook collector, and the owner of a cafe in Arkansas. Not only are the recipes fantastic, but the stories and pictures make it all the more enjoyable. If you cook one thing out of this book, you must try the Lemon Icebox Pie. This is one of the best pie recipes I have made. I can't wait to try the banana pudding in the mason jars. If I could, I would give this cookbook 10 stars!

I want to say up front that I don't like cooking. It ranks right up there with ironing clothes as a task to put off at all costs. HOWEVER, there is something about this book that makes me want to get in the kitchen and get re-aquainted with my measuring spoons and spice rack.

If the beautiful photographs don't get you goin' then the great stories that accompany each recipe surely will. I was so inspired by "Aunt Marynaise" that I went out and bought a food processor just so I could make homemade mayo. (My mom-in-law would be soooooo proud!)

You won't be sorry you purchased this book!

Martha, my spice rack and measuring spoons thank you, and so do I!

Any time of the year that I pick up this lovely book, I am transported to a place and time. It looks like this: I'm wearing a pastel-colored cotton dress, my hair is newly washed and hanging down my back, the rocking chair I am sitting in, on Great Aunt Sallie's screened-in back porch, is slowly creeping across its gray-painted wooden floor. I hear her dog (sleeping at my feet) chasing a rabbit in his dreams and I (impatiently) wait for Aunt Sallie to bring me the latest confections that will soon be coming out of her oven, judging by the intoxicating smell of sugar and butter that fill the air. This book takes me back to this time as an 8-year old Southern girl.

As a typical Boomer, I went through lots of changes during the 60's. Now, looking over the cubicle wall at retirement, this charming book takes me back to a time when I can see my mother's white gloves saved for Sunday church or a funeral. I hear my dad poking holes in the lid of a mayo jar so my brother and I can catch fire-flies on a summer evening. I remember entering my aunts' homes (had lots of aunts!) and not understanding when they said, "Oh, my house is such a mess today," and everything seemed to be in perfect order to me. I remember the first bridal shower tea to which my mother took me, thinking I might finally be mature enough to attend. I watched the rites and formalities of things like silver punch bowls, how the punch cups must be set out in a line, the pastel beauty of fragrant round mints in a cut-glass bowl, and wondering if I would ever fit into this dignified, orderly lady-like world when I felt such a tomboy at the time.

Now, thanks to Martha's book, I can re-enter that clean, polite tucked-in-with-a-kiss-at-night world where almost everyone was called Miss Flossie or Miss Rowena or Miss Callie once their hair turned white, no matter how many grandchildren they had. The final truth came to me at the age of 13 one Thanksgiving. My father entered the kitchen peopled by my mother, two of her sisters (all over 50) and a non-relative everyone just called Aunt Mac (60 or 70+ years old.) Daddy said, "How are you girls coming? Will we be eating soon?" I broke out laughing and questioned, "Girls???" The women all silently turned and glared at me while my father explained, "No matter how many birthdays a lady has, she is always a girl." Having become A Lady of a Certain Age, I can testify to the fact that I am still a girl and this book helps me re-enter, re-call and re-live that time. Thank you, Martha, for your breath of fresh air and making me wish I had paid more attention now during those teas, showers and dinners.

As a native Mississippian, I can attest that this is one of the most authentic and beautifully written/photographed Southern cookbooks to hit shelves in years. I so appreciate all the effort that went into it so that, selfishly, it could become part of my "go-to" collection of the very best recipes out there. The beauty and simplicity of the recipes remind me very much of the Scott Peacock/Edna Lewis classic, "The Gift of Southern Cooking." This book, and chef, is also truly gifted. BUY THIS BOOK and you'll be delighted. Now....on to those tamales....and greens....and grits.....and fine stories to match.....

As an avid cook book collector - around 250 - I can honestly say this is my favorite! I usually consider myself lucky if there are 5 exceptional recipes in a book, and I'm happy to report that I have 20 recipes marked in this one. The photography and stories are a delightful bonus and just reading this book makes you feel like you've had comfort food. This book will be something to pass on to your kids, along with the happy memories of many delicious family meals.

I buy, and recieve, hundreds of cookbooks each year. This might be the best cookbook I purchased this year. My publisher says that if someone cooks six recipes out of a cookbook, it is a major success. The first time I thumbed through Foose's book, there were several dozen recipes I wanted to prepare.

Foose got her start at the La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles, and moved on to several bakeries in Mississippi. However, where Foose shines in this, her first publishing effort, is on the savory courses that take place well before dessert-- Inside Out Sweet Potatoes, Lady Pea Salad, and Chicken Thighs and Dumplings to list just a few.

From the banana pudding she cooked for Oprah (in individual Mason jars) to Catfish in a Paper Sack, the book is filled with recipes new, true, and Southern

I learned about this book on the Alabama Chanin blog (see The Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin) and I was sure that I would love it. Sure enough, this book is exactly what I hoped it would be. Packed with recipes, stories and tips - it was like taking a trip to the South on my sofa. I can't wait to try the sweet potato dumplings, the red velvet cake (which does not take food coloring) and the rootbeer ham roast.

The next time I need a wedding present or housewarming gift, this will be the one.