Soul Food: Classic Cuisine from the Deep South (Paperback)

by Sheila Ferguson (Author) "Just imagine how important breakfast was for folks who worked from dawn to dusk, picking the cotton and plowing the fields, churning the butter and..." (more)
Key Phrases: Aunt Peacie, Aunt Ella, North Carolina (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"Soul Food is just what the name implies. It is soulfully cooked food . . . good for your ever-loving soul . . . the shur-'nuf kinda down-home cookin' that I grew up on," writes Sheila Ferguson. In Soul Food she captures the essense of this cooking through 200 mouth-watering recipes, seasoned with vivid anecdotes, photos, and tales capturing the unique spirit of soul food. (Grove Press)February

Product Details

• Paperback: 55 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 12, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802132839
• ISBN-13: 978-0802132833
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #149,638 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #6 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Regional & International > U.S. Regional > African American
  #10 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Regional & International > U.S. Regional > Soul Food

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding in every way, February 17, 2001

By	Niel Rishoi (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You might call this a "complete" book on authentic soul food cooking. Sheila Ferguson outlines the history and origins of soul food, and the importance it placed in the Southern home. She gives intriguing historical details, as well as mildly entertaining anecdotes of her family, and their traditions. Best of all, Ferguson has a wonderful sense of humor, and the delightful exaggerations of expressions are charmingly all in good fun. The recipes themselves are explained with breezy enthusiasm, and are carefully outlined, so that the novice on soul food cooking is led in all the right directions. Everything I've made has proved outstanding; the buttermilk biscuits recipe is the best ever - they were high, light and fluffy. And by the way: unlike many other Southern type cookbooks, which disappointingly advocate using only chemically altered, bland shortening in recipes, Ferguson freely uses lard, bacon fat and butter. It's unbelievable how much better, and lighter textured biscuits and pie crusts are with lard. The BBQ sauce is the best I've ever had, flavorful, rich and satisfying. It was good to know about how to cook greens, and Ferguson certainly espouses their value highly. When it comes to fried chicken one won't find a better guide than here: nothing is left to chance, and the cook won't go wrong following these pointed instructions. In short, this book "sold me" and then some, on soul food - highly recommended.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cooks Companion!, January 17, 2000

By	Tonya Alston Maxwell (Fairfield, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have many cookbooks and this is one of my new favorites! My step-mom bought the last store copy as a Christmas present for my sister. After flipping through its pages, my step-mother and I decided we each MUST have this book...I ended up getting it for Christmas from someone else and now I'm buying it for my step-mom. With that being said, the best Red Beans and Rice recipe that I ever made, came from this book! The only way to make cornbread is by baking it in a cast iron skillet and although I have a great recipe of my own, Ms. Ferguson's recipe is superb!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars damned authentic from what I ate as a chile!, May 27, 1998

By A Customer

a white friend cooked up some great soul food. How'd you do this I demanded. she showed me the book. ALL my childhood favorites were in there, everyone I could think of to look up. I bought the book within the week.