Jean Anderson is the author of a number of previous cookbooks and a contributor to magazines like Gourmet and Bon Apetit. In the introduction Anderson states that while she was born and raised in North Carolina, her parents were both from the Midwest. While she came to love Southern cooking as she grew up eating at friends houses and restaurants, Anderson states that she is much more student than native in this American regional cuisine. Unfortunately, this shows throughout the very ambitious book.
One of the problems with writing a “Southern” cookbook is that the American South is a very large place with many different regional styles of cooking. While the book is well-written and some of the recipes clearly sound quite tasteful, I am limited in my ability to judge recipes which Anderson notes are renowned in North Carolina or Georgia. The recipes included that were most familiar to me both as an eater and as a cook were gumbo and red beans and rice. The gumbo recipe is okay. She does use okra as the thickener and clearly her soup would be tasty and in the running as classic Louisiana gumbo, though I would never make it the way she instructs. Her recipe for New Orleans style red beans and rice, however, did not honestly sound like it would even work. Which leads me to wonder how carefully tested any of the included recipes are.
I can’t honestly recommend that you go out and spend $18.20 to buy it, though if you should happen upon it at the library you might want to take it home and peruse it for yourself. A Love Affair With Southern Cooking Buy Now $18.20
