For the Love of Literature
BY KHADIJA POUNSEL
Culinary Connections
What better way to reconnect to self, to family, to ancestors or to homeland than food? As we celebrate Reconnection in this issue of KIZA BlackLit, I am pleased to spotlight a segment of literature that may surprise you: cookbooks. Grab your cup of coffee or tea as I share my notes on a few new additions to my collection.
Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking
by Toni Tipton-Martin
You know those crispy parts of the stewed chicken? That would be my favorite. Are those bell peppers? Maybe tomatoes. That parsley on top is pretty. My, my, the glint on the antique flatware, the lace on the linen table dressing … and this is just the beginning of Tipton-Martin’s Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking. I can already tell, this is one you take slow and easy. No rushing to scan the table of contents or flipping hurriedly to the index in the back.
There is an epigraph that I am not even reading because of the blackberries, the tall and rich chocolate cake and the grapes in the photograph. Look at that—those wooden chairs there. We had chairs just like that in our house when I was growing up. What did that epigraph actually say?
Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your clan. ~~Leviticus 25:10, New International Version
Jubilee, now that has been a word for Black folks. I think I’ll come back to that, but let me turn the page. Apricots, I think. Juicy, succulent and golden. I wonder if they are roasted and lightly sugared? “We have earned the freedom to cook with creativity and joy,” writes Tipton-Martin in the Introduction. Yes, we have. And yes, we do: kitchen by kitchen, family by family, neighborhood by neighborhood, in our sacred places and at regional festivals. Beloved cooks and their crave-able dishes take center stage at our gatherings, whether somber occasions or festive.
Connecting to culinary joy? That is what we are doing when we try our hand at grandmother’s pound cake recipe or dad’s fried fish, isn’t it? I know I’m not the only one. Being a native Marylander, I must test this crab cake recipe. I love ginger beer, so this ginger punch recipe with fresh ginger is a must-do.
There is a whole section on bread. I just made a batch of cream biscuits for this morning’s breakfast. Be still my heart, look at these orange biscuits, that I just must do. All of these cornbread recipes! Jam cake. Pralines. Can’t wait to make those sweets and to eat them. Already on my list to make this year and here it is like a reminder, Gumbo Z’herbes, aka green gumbo plus a lamb curry recipe.
The quotes are delicious, too. My favorite quote is on page 17:
…I hope that by the time you finish cooking your way through Jubilee, you will think of African American cooking like a sultry gumbo: built, perhaps, on a foundation of humble sustenance, but layered with spices, flavors, and aromas, embellished by the whim and the skills of the cook, served with grace and richness as well as love. Let’s cook.
The phrase, “cooking your way through” is so good. When we come together and connect through a cooking tradition, we do sharpen techniques, bless each other and often feel better in the process.
Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking
By Cheryl Day
Two words: Southern baking. That is why I bought Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking. Oh, and to discover what will become of the huge bowl of peaches on the cover. I am excited already, looking at a picture showing a pan of beignets with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar. Here is a page featuring a quote attributed to Harriet Tubman, along with a photo of a moss-covered tree. This is a book after my own heart. There are few historical figures who stand as large in my heart as Tubman. Plus, I grew up traveling roads dotted by massive moss-covered oak trees, on our way to visit kinfolk in the Deep South. I want to remember this epigraph.
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
~~Harriet Tubman
Day, who comes from a long line of bakers—her great-great-grandmother, born enslaved in the Deep South, was a gifted baker, her great-grandmother owned a general store where she sold her own desserts, her grandmother was known for her peach pies and Day’s mother also baked, reflects in her Introduction:
There must be something etched upon the genes of people whose lineage is rooted in the South, something that compels the sweet tooth and the handmade, that when passed on from generation to generation never wavers, just like a penchant for “y’all” and “yes, ma’am.
I am a witness. My sweet tooth is epic, honed by years of savoring the desserts of my stellar baking Southern grandmother. For me, to this day nothing can touch her caramel cake. It was the culinary high point every Christmas. I always went back for more. Yet, I was still surprised when the urge to bake woke up in me. I just couldn’t shake it. Genes and tradition. Oh, look what comes first—my favorite to bake: breads. I love a variation on a standard, so it looks like my go-to yeast waffle recipe will be upgraded. This one comes with a glaze. I also see a chocolate pull-apart bread that looks scrumptious. I’m in. I need a new winter cake. This citrus cake with orange, lemon and lime looks like a winner. Do I dare try these mini baked Alaskas? Time will tell, but I will make this plum pie most definitely! Fig and elderflower jam. The recipe opens, “A ripe fig is perfection all on its own.” Now that is a fact.
I can still remember my great-grandmother loving peanut brittle and here is a recipe. Where is my apron? Because this has me wanting to make one of these recipes right now. As I wind down my fun exploration, there is one more cookbook I have to open. It looks like another good one.
Black Food: Stories, Art & Recipes from Across the African Diaspora
Edited & Curated by Bryant Terry
Terry’s Black Food: Stories, Art & Recipes from the African Diaspora with its bright and bold cover sounded like a taste journey, so I just had to check it out. This photograph of a wooden bread bowl, grains of rice, peanuts in the shell, grains and greens—what a picture! It calls up good memories: of me and a friend carrying my first wooden bread bowl (it was so big and heavy) from a Brooklyn market; of eating rice with butter, salt and pepper with Sunday dinners when I was growing up; of my dad cracking the shells of hot roasted peanuts and of the smell of greens cooking on my aunt’s stove.
Terry writes in the Introduction:
Black Food represents a bridge from our ties to traditions in the Motherland to our wildest dreams that will manifest in the future.
With stories and art as well, this promises to be a multi-faceted journey. Let’s go.
Excellent! A plantain chips recipe. Fried, sweet or salty, I will eat plantains however they come. Lots of them. Buttermilk fried chicken. Need I say more? Wow, jerk chicken ramen. Yes, please. Jerk chicken and ramen! I am giddy: a doubles recipe. Only two people in my life make these and I must add myself to the number.
Look, a recipe serving collards, dumplings and chowchow. I-have-to-make-this! You know you’re special if someone puts that down in front of you. I mean it is basically a culinary love note. What about dessert? A take on bananas foster with a mango ice cream. Delicious, I bet, and the vegans in my life can eat some too. I am here for it. A culinary trip around the world that nourishes the body, soul and spirit. What more could I ask for?
Whew, this has been good. I feel like I actually just finished a good solid meal. What culinary reconnecting will you do this season? What cooking traditions will you tap? A family recipe or a great cookbook may be just the entry ticket to a fantastic journey. Happy cooking…and eating.
Loving literature,
Khadija Pounsel