Taste of Country Cooking (Paperback)

by Edna Lewis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The recipes and reminiscences of the American country cooking Lewis grew up with some 50 years ago. A richly evocative memoir of a lost time and a practical guide to recovering its joys in your own kitchen.

From the Inside Flap
The recipes and reminiscences of the American country cooking Lewis grew up with some 50 years ago. A richly evocative memoir of a lost time and a practical guide to recovering its joys in your own kitchen.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (May 12, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394732154
• ISBN-13: 978-0394732152
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #375,816 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Classic From The Seventies!, October 27, 2001

By	J Keistler "[e-mail]" (Lake Jackson, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've owned this book in one form or another since the book came out in the seventies. There were many people out there who were interested in moving away from can opener cookery, but were intimidated by the average 'hippie' cookbook. Mrs. Lewis, through her clear, excellent narrative and precise recipes, reminded many in the cities and suburbs of just how good fresh ingredients, prepared simply and with love, can elevate the eating experience to the sublime.

This is one of those special books combining two of my main reading interests: American history and cooking. Ms. Lewis has the book divided into chapters like meals; e.g. breakfasts, lunches and dinners, all occurring within the major season subheads. This makes perfect sense after you read the book and understand her emphasis on eating by the season. All Americans used to do this, but with modern transportation and food preservation, it doesn't exist anymore.

Over the past twenty-five years I think I've made just about every recipe in the book, and all of them can be recommended. I am a fan of Southern cooking and hers is certainly authentic.

That this book is still available is testament to its worth. It still makes for excellent reading and cooking, twenty-five years on.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reminiscence of a southern cook: A culinary history of the south, October 2, 2005

By	southern craft (UP Michigan) - See all my reviews

When I first started cooking I relied on recipes that had been in the family a long time; as I started branching out and trying new recipes though, I would frequently browse my mother's cookbook collection. One day as I was thumbing through them I came across a book entitled "A Taste of Country Cooking" by Edna Lewis. I opened it up, intrigued by the cover and wound up reading the whole thing, as I would a novel, then and there. Reading her book was like stepping through a portal to another world; that of a lively, down-home southern family and their way of life 50 years ago. I was initiated into their methods of preparing, harvesting and cooking their food as well as the "rituals" that surround them.
One of my favorite things about "A Taste of Country Cooking" is the layout: it is divided by the different seasons and subdivided within those categories by meal (i.e. breakfast, dinner, supper). Because of this display style Lewis was able to relate intimate details of how food for that season was prepared; in that time the food people cooked depended largely on what was ripe in the garden and what kind of meat was available during that time of year etc.
A favorite section of mine is the one located in the spring section of her book when she relates how all the men in her community would gather together to slaughter their hogs; it was fascinating reading about that process, so many methods such as these have been lost over the generations. Her book captured a slice of a forgotten time and allowed me a glimpse into the past.
I used this cookbook for the first time when I was looking for a recipe for Johnny Cake (a sweet thin cornbread) because I couldn't find my mothers' recipe. I decided to alter the spoon bread recipe (since the ingredients were similar) and see if it could double for Johnny Cake as well. It turned out perfectly; in my eyes the mark of a good recipe is its versatility and hers more than met my criteria. Every recipe I've tried in "A Taste of Country Cooking" has been excellent. Her recipe for spoon bread when unaltered comes out just right: tangy (from the buttermilk), moist but not too dense, buttery without being overly rich; it's the perfect compliment to a dinner of pork roast or ham with fresh vegetable sides, her mother would probably have served green beans and new potatoes as an accompaniment.
My grandmother was the epitome of an old fashioned southern cook; she made fried okra, pork-chops, biscuits and gravy with tomatoes, purplehull peas, and
cornbread - in short if it was traditional old south she made it. Even though Edna Lewis and my grandmother came from different regions of the south (Virginia and Arkansas respectively) there are many similarities in the type of foods prepared and also the method of preparation. Edna Lewis's cook book "A Taste of Country Living" is full of authentic southern recipes, if you're interested in cooking old south or for the history in the book alone, I would recommend it as a worthy addition to your personal library.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taste of Country Cooking, an American Standard, December 27, 2000

By A Customer

This book is a living document, a standard that should be on any American cookbook collection. Edna's style of writing can bring on tears of joy as she shares how life was for the citzens of Freetown. One the greatest strenghts of this book is the historical documentation of a rural town founded by freed slaves. I've cooked almost everything out of this book and found the receipes are acurate and down right beautiful! If you're a fan of Alice Water's Chez Panisse style, this book will not dissappoint. Edna uses the best of each season in her cooking style. This is true American food at its finest! The only people that might be dissappointed with this book would be vegans, this book deals with rural farming culture.