The Complete Southern Cookbook: More than 800 of the Most Delicious, Down-Home Recipes [Hardcover]

Tammy Algood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2010

Cooking has always followed the seasons in the South. This has led to so many longstanding food traditions: strawberry jam in spring, apple cobbler in fall, fried green tomatoes in summer, pickled beets in winter, and the list goes on.

 

With more than 800 delicious Southern recipes for over 85 different ingredients, there are plenty of options when your garden is plentiful and your freezer is stocked. From Almonds to Zucchini, these delightful recipes are organized by ingredient to highlight the seasonality of the recipes.

 

Tammy Algood has been cooking Southern food all her life. Along with this complete collection of her favorite down-home recipes, she has also included some contemporary dishes as well: Lemon Butter Asparagus, Merlot Brownies, Pralines and Cream Cheesecake, Southern Chicken Cordon Bleu, and Mixed Mushroom Tart.

 

Here is a sample of the wonderful Southern recipes available

Almond Brittle

Dried and Fried Apple Pies

Southern Apple Fritters

Bacon Cheese Dip

Hot Bacon Dressing

New Orleans Bananas Foster

Carolina Baby Back Ribs

Tennessee’s Best Butt

Texas Thunder Barbecue Sauce

Appalachian Baked Beans

Seaside Black Beans and Rice

Indian Summer Beet Salad

Country Ham and Cheese Biscuits

Daisy Biscuits

Hot Cheese Drop Biscuits

Refrigerator Biscuits

Old South Cabbage Rolls

Pan-Fried Coleslaw

Sweet Kissed Carrots

Time-Honored Cheese Straws

Fresh Cherry Cobbler

State Fair Caramel Corn

Pecan “Fried” Chicken

Spicy Fried Chicken

Lady’s Lunch Old-Fashioned Chicken Salad

Cornbread Waffles

Crispy Southern Hushpuppies

Sausage Cornbread Dressing

Andouille Grilled Grits

Southern Hospitality Cheese Grits

Fabulous Fried Okra

Oyster Po’Boys

Southern-Fried Pies

Southern Tradition Pecan Pie

Firecracker Sausage Balls

Buttermilk Spoon Bread

Bourbon-Basted Sweet Potatoes

“A Sip of Tradition” Sweet Tea

Tea Juleps

Fried Buttermilk Green Tomatoes

Hot Tomato Grits

Fried Zucchini Matchsticks

And so much more . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Even readers who've never crossed the Mason-Dixon line will appreciate Algood's voluminous collection of southern staples in this soon-to-be classic. Arranged alphabetically, Algood patiently explains how to properly prepare "a mess of peas" and can like a pro, and shares the significance of regional favorites, offering recipes for Red Velvet Cake, peach pie, banana pudding, Oysters Bienville, chicken fried steak, and countless other southern staples. Iconic ingredients like Coca-Cola find new uses; apple cider not only appears in Apple Cider Cupcakes with Apple Cider Cream Cheese Frosting but also mixes with honey, a jalapeno, and apple wine to create a glaze for grilled shrimp; and peaches are used in everything from beignets to soup to salsa. Algood takes an egalitarian approach to barbecue (offering options for vinegar, ketchup, and mayonnaise-based sauces without taking sides), biscuits (22 recipes), and gravy (14 recipes). Surprises like blackberry bars, Virginia Peanut Coleslaw, and Macaroni & Cheese with Thyme Bacon Crumbs will stimulate even the most jaded palate. Missing are suggestions for meal combinations and photographs, a minor complaint considering the book's scope. Those longing for a singular reference of the many facets of Southern cuisine will be hard pressed to find a better collection.

Review

Dallas Morning News, 11/5/10
This cookbook, which you'll know at a glance is Southern, categorizes more than 800 recipes mainly by ingredient. Where else would you also find entire chapters devoted to Coca-Cola, crawfish, grits and macaroni and cheese, as well as apples, corn and zucchini? Gravy gets its own chapter, too, with recipes for red-eye, sausage and tasso ham varieties. Author Tammy Algood mingles classic and new, sometimes with folksy, descriptive names, such as Dressed-for-Sunday Black-eyed Peas and Easy-Street Oven-Fried Okra. Navigating the recipes by ingredient is different, but gems like Andouille Grilled Grits and Sweet Potato Spoon Bread make the adjustment worthwhile.

Boston Herald’s Fork Lift food blog, 10/27/10
“… 800 recipes that will have you whistling Dixie.”

Nashville Scene,10/28/10
She brings a no-nonsense instructional voice to the ambitious inch-and-a-half-thick tome — which is conveniently organized around 85 ingredients — and plates it with an endearing side of nostalgia for her grandmother's kitchen. With multiple dishes per page, Algood's short recipes are practical and manageable… In an era of chef-personalities who fill their cookbooks with glamour shots of themselves holding even more glamorous dishes, Algood relies on the character of the recipes. Hers is not a coffee-table book; it's a kitchen-counter book.

Tampa Bay.com 11/10/10
“When Tammy Algood talks of Southern food, she speaks of abundance. … Her 800-recipe book, The Complete Southern Cookbook, celebrates that bounty with traditional and tweaked favorites of her beloved South.”

DailyCady.com, 11/18/10
“…old-timey, no-nonsense primer for taking your kitchen below the Mason-Dixon. It’s got everything you could hope for…” 

The Times-Picayune, October 14, 2010
“Any book with a chapter on gravy wins my heart. The author, based in Nashville, Tenn., delivers the goods from almonds to zucchini in an unusual food-by-food chapter format.”

Tampa Bay.com 11/10/10
“When Tammy Algood talks of Southern food, she speaks of abundance. … Her 800-recipe book, The Complete Southern Cookbook, celebrates that bounty with traditional and tweaked favorites of her beloved South.” 

BookPage, December, 2010
“Worthy of landing on your holiday gift list. … Tammy Algood has taken an ingredient-oriented approach…Each ingredient comes with info on nutrition, preparation, selection and storage and a succulent array of down-home recipes.” 

St. Petersburg Times, 11/10/10
“When Tammy Algood talks of Southern food, she speaks of abundance. … Her 800-recipe book, The Complete Southern Cookbook, celebrates that bounty with traditional and tweaked favorites of her beloved South.”

Chapter16.org, a publication of Humanities Tennessee, 11/22/10
Tammy Algood emphasizes seasonality and freshness in The Complete Southern Cookbook, an ambitious collection of the South’s best recipes…. At a time when bookstore shelves are sagging with glossy, Food Network-style cookbooks, Tammy Algood’s The Complete Southern Cookbook is an anomaly. It contains no stylish pictures or fancy ingredients, no delectable yet impossible-to-pull-off meal plans. But what Algood’s book lacks in glitz it makes up for in practicality—which is, after all, what most home chefs really need. In crisp, no-nonsense recipes, Algood takes readers on a virtual tour of the Southern kitchen. From Brownie Mint Julep Soufflé to Eggplant Green Tomato Kebabs to nine different recipes for fried chicken, The Complete Southern Cookbook has something for every home chef, regardless of region or skill level.”'

Ann Weber, Bellarmine Coll. Preparatory, San José, CA, for Library Journal’s Express Review
The South is famous for hospitality, and this book is chock-full of recipes that will complement gracious living… Even if some of the regional cuisine is not appealing, everyone will find something among the numerous recipes. Because the book features seasonal foods, freshness is a key ingredient. There is plenty of healthy Southern cuisine, and this book showcases it. A substantial basic cookbook.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (September 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762438649
• ISBN-13: 978-0762438648
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 1.6 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Algood's Southern Cookbook Is the Real Deal December 6, 2010

By M. Davis

Format:Hardcover

I met Mrs. Algood at a signing of her cookbook at Bean's Creek Winery in Manchester, TN, this weekend. It's rare to meet a cookbook author and sample their recipes in person, and we got to do that. Mostly because I have a brother who is a chef-in-training, I got it and had her sign it.

Now that I've gotten the book home and flipped through it a couple of times, I'm sorry I didn't grab two of them. Mrs. Algood presents chapters by primary ingredients that make sense if you are familiar with Southern Cooking (Chicken, Corn, Coca-Cola, Caramel, Crawfish, Pecan, etc.) and shares her wisdom about the focus of each chapter, along with selected recipes.

The ingredients are things that we will not have trouble finding in our small-town grocery. Algood also advises on what foods freeze well, so that you can enjoy certain goodies year-round.

A few things that I notice and approve of:
-The author endorses the Mississippi State Cheese company
-The vast majority of recipes in the Cornbread chapter do not include sugar.
-As a southerner, the recipes I already know in this cookbook are well represented and easy to follow.
-This book leans much more to Southern tastes and ingredients than the whole "foodie" scene. I care more about cooking and eating than being entertained by food. Algood represents herself as an authoritative Southern cook, instead of branding herself as an entertainment icon. This works for me.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE the layout of this Cookbook and MORE! November 7, 2010

By John D. Gordon

Format:Hardcover

I absolutely LOVE the layout of this book. The chapters are arranged by main ingredient and that is so practical and helpful. This is not your regular "Paula Deen" style of southern cooking, loaded with butter, cream and mayonaise. These recipes are of a much healthier version. In additon to the recipes, you get a nutrition lesson in the sidebar. There are tips on purchasing, storage, selection, yields, nutrition, freezing and trivia to name a few. It is a great read and a super Cookbook. Glad it came out before Christmas, because my shopping just got easier.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is my new favorite cookbook. December 12, 2010

By Beth Cranton

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Tammy Algood's cookbook is perfect for people who have a garden or fruit trees or buy in bulk. It is arranged by ingredients so, at a glance, you can see several different ways of using one specific ingredient. This is important to me because I must "use or lose" my apricots or garden vegetables when they are ripe. This saves a lot of time, plus, the recipes are delicious.

The ingredients used are found in a regular grocery store - not in some specialty shop. The recipes are easy to follow with detailed instructions and hints on preparation, cooking and serving.

Also, this is a VERY well written book, full of sweet stories, memories, cooking advice, and all kinds of interesting facts and folklore. This is the first cookbook I've ENJOYED reading.