Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina, To Harlem [Hardcover]

Sylvia Woods (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 23, 1999

Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook begins as Sylvia recalls her childhood, when she lived with both her mother and her grandmother -- the town's only midwives. The entire community of Hemingway, South Carolina, shared responsibilities, helped raise all of the children, and worked side by side together every day in the bean fields. Perhaps most important, the community shared its food and recipes. When Sylvia set out to write this cookbook, she decided to hold a cook-off back home in Hemingway at Jeremiah Church. Family and friends of all ages shared their favorite dishes as well as their spirit and love for one another. The recipes offered at the cook-off were then compiled to create this incredible collection, along with many of Sylvia's and the Woods family's own recipes.

Here are the kinds of recipes you'd find if you visited the Woods family's home. Sylvia's daughter Bedelia is well known for her Barbecued Beef Short Ribs, which are as sassy and spicy as Bedelia herself. Kenneth, Sylvia's youngest son, has loved to fish ever since he was a child, spending his summers by the fishing hole in Hemingway. Now Kenneth's son, DeSean, enjoys fishing, too. Kenneth's Honey Lemon Tilefish, DeSean's favorite, is just one of Kenneth's special recipes presented here.

And there are many, many other wonderful dishes, too. In this remarkable cookbook, Sylvia has gathered more than 125 soul food classics, including mouthwatering recipes for okra, collard greens, Southern-style pound cakes, hearty meat and seafood stews and casseroles, salads, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and more. These recipes are straight from the heart of the Woods community of family and friends. Now Sylvia gives them to you to share with your loved ones. Bring them into your home and experience a little bit of Hemingway's soul.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Sylvia and Herbert Woods bought a small Harlem luncheonette in l962, they never dreamed that it would become famous as the premier soul food restaurant in New York City. Their four children and many friends and relatives all contributed to this accomplishment, and Sylvia's latest book (after Sylvia's Soul Food) is as much a testament to them as it is to the Southern food she serves. A friendly introduction describes Sylvia's early life in Hemingway, S.C., emphasizing hard work, spirituality, devotion to family and cooking according to the seasons. Seventy photographs illustrate the stories she tells, creating the atmosphere of a family album. All her famous dishes are hereAfrom Bedelia's Oven-Fried Chicken, Holiday Chitlins and Bert's Catfish Stew to Candy Yams Souffl?, Frances's Old-fashioned Collard Greens, Hush Puppies and Creamy Banana Pudding. Soups, main courses of all kinds, sides ("the heart of soul food"), breadstuffs and lavish desserts are all deeply flavorful; Chicken Soup, for instance, is loaded with vegetables, black pepper and hot sauce.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Sylvia Woods, born in Hemingway, South Carolina, started the world-famous Sylvia's Restaurant in 1963 and opened a second restaurant in Atlanta in 1997. She owned a line of canned and bottled food products that is sold in supermarkets across the country.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1 edition (June 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688162193
• ISBN-13: 978-0688162191
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.9 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finger Lickin' Good March 9, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

My family is entirely from Kentucky (except for myself, I was born in New York) and I grew up on good southern cooking.Though I love to cook, I never learned to cook real southern food. I regret not taking the opportunity when my great-grandmother was alive and my grandmother is too ill to teach me now.

Sylvia's book covers many of the staple recipes my family whipped up and they are truly *easy* to prepare. She even has several more health conscious recipes for those who must have them (Southern and healthy are not synonymous).

I've prepared many of her recipes with great success. The tuna croquettes are easy and yummy! You probably already have all the ingredients in your cupboards. The smothered pork chops are to die for, and I finally can make a gravy my grand mother would be proud of! There are a few recipes I simple will not try. I wouldn't as a kid and I'm not starting now! (Eeewww chitterlings! ), but if you're adventurous or your taste bud run that way, enjoy! If you love real southern cooking, you can easily make it yourself with this book.

It's also filled with lots of interesting stories and anecdotes about her, her family and her restaurant. She's a wonderful woman whom I hope writes another cookbook soon!

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Soul Food for sure! December 14, 1999

By TMCD

Format:Hardcover

Sylvia Woods has provided a true delight to your senses! She relates rich experiences of growing up in the Hemminway S.C. community where people basically raised collected, slaughtered, canned and froze almost everything they ate.

My memories of summers in the south as a child, eating packed sandwiches in the car on the way back north and going to the community freezer locker, came flooding back. And the recipes themselves, provide an accurate taste of many of the old southern favorites. For those not privileged to have connections in the south, it may have been hard to come by some of the recipes and Ms Woods has taken the time to chronicle the old classic southern dishes that were typically learned from grandmothers and mothers. But it's not just the food, it's the "soul" that's connected to the preparation. How many of us pass down great experiences connected to the fast food and pizza that we so often eat?

Try some of my favorites: Frances's Lily White Biscuits, Nan's Extra-Special Marinated Spareribs and Peach Cobbler, put some soul into it and create lasting memories of your own.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Queen of Soul Food Cooking August 1, 2001

By Regina Bryant

Format:Hardcover

When I first received Sylvia's book I thought it was just going to be another cookbook where the pictures look good but the flavor never turns out...,Well not this book. If you follow the recipes to a tee you will end up with absolutely delicious dishes. My family really thinks I learned how to cook..I tell them "honey it's not me but my best friend Sylvia". The cake recipes are excellent and are all flavorful and moist. How many times have you baked a cake from the book and it is dry and never looks like the picture? Sylvia has recipes for pound cakes that...., well I can't believe she gave out these secrets. Invite your family and your mother-in-law over for pot roast, string beans, sweet potatoes, etc., etc., etc. all seasoned great and turn out delicious. Don't forget the last recipe in the book -- Fresh Squeezed Lemonade -- do it exactly as she says -- You don't know what you're missing. If you know just the basics in the kitchen and want your soulfood meals to taste like "Mama's" get this book and you're in for a big surprise. Before Sylvia came along I just cooked but now I BURN in the kitchen!!