Soul Food Books

Sweets: Soul Food Desserts & Memories

Patty Pinner

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Recipes are easy to follow 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is a great book. I made the strawberry cake that is on the cover for Thanksgiving and it was delicious! Everybody raved about it. I also love the stories that also go along with the recipes. A great buy!

Only cookbook I've ever read cover to cover! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Patty Pinner's childhood comes to life through her stories & recipes, and her "womanly" advice adds charm to her cakes and pies. I have to admit, this is the only cookbook that has found it's place on my bedside table because of the great stories and old family photographs.

Editorial Review:

Growing up in a large African-American family in a small town in Michigan, Patty Pinner spent her childhood helping the women of the house--the Queens of Soul Food--whip up the sweet treats that crowned family dinners, neighborhood gatherings, and church socials. In SWEETS, Patty shares her family's stories, maxims, and magical desserts, many named after family members like Cud'n Daisy, Aint Sug, and My My, her beloved grandmother. Part recipe book, part family history, this sweet-as-can-be cookbook is a heartfelt tribute to women who ruled the home and the kitchen with their wisdom, hearts, and cooking.

Swedish Cakes and Cookies

Amazon Price: $12.21 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Skyhorse Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $10.74

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A full-color guide to delectable Swedish cakes and cookies—3.4 million copies sold in Sweden, a copy for every Swedish family!

Swedish Cakes and Cookies has become a modern classic since it was first published in 1945. Modernized and improved over the years, today's full-color edition, with beautiful photographs of each recipe, contains nearly 300 recipes. Some, such as Berry Muffins, Coconut Macaroons, Linzer Torte, and Jelly Doughnuts, may be familiar, while others, such as German Lemon Cake, Almond Meringues, Truffle Tarts, and Toffee Crunch Torte, are deliciously unique. Gluten-free, egg-free, and sugar-free recipes ensure that this book is accessible to all dessert lovers. Beginners and experts will be reminded that baking is both easy and enjoyable when they read the practical advice and step-by-step instructions in each section. Swedish Cakes and Cookies is an essential resource for any home baker, and for anyone who loves to meet with friends for coffee and cake. 300 color photographs.

The Black Family Reunion Cookbook: Recipes and Food Memories

National Council of Negro Women

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Black Family Reunion Celebrations, organized by The National Council of Negro Women and held in seven cities across America every summer, celebrate and preserve the values, traditions, and strengths of the African-American family. Inspired by these festivals, The Black Family Reunion Cookbook contains more than 250 recipes from home kitchens across America, seasoned with warm memories and "homemade love."

Including personal reminiscences from celebrities such as Natalie Cole, Wilma Rudolph, Patti LaBelle, and Spetman College President Johnetta Cole, this unique collection reflects the local, national, and international heritage of the Black community. It offers dishes for every occasion and every taste, from African-inspired Mustard Greens with Peanut Sauce to down-home Family Famous Chicken and Dumplings, from a traditional gumbo to sophisticated Sweet Potato Smoked Turkey Bisque, and, in honor of the council's founder, Mary McLeod Bethune, her own recipe for her celebrated Sweet Potato Pie.

Soul Food: Classic Cuisine from the Deep South

Sheila Ferguson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

SouLovely 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

A delightful book full of delicious recipes with clear instructions, family histories and a whole new vocabulary of odd expressions and descriptions of food. I also bought the more famous "Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook" (Sylvia has a famous restaurant in New York), but I actually prefer this one slightly more, although both are absolutely wonderful. Sylvia's book is larger, more colourful and has more photos than this unassuming book by Sheila Ferguson, but the recipes for both books are just as mouth-watering; Sheila's book has a delicious recipe for "Red Devil's Food Cake" and Sylvia has a similar one called "Red Velvet Cake", for example. It's just that "Soul Food" by Ms. Ferguson has a few more unusual and unknown recipes in it, like her recipe for "Fergy's Fried Chicken". Most of the recipes look delicious and it all depends on the skill of the cook attempting these gems I guess, but I think both books are great references on this style of cooking and both are equally perfect. I would just be more likely to give Sylvia's cookbook as a gift because it is more elegant and I'd probably keep "Soul Food" for myself. No, come to think of it, I'd keep both.

Editorial Review:

“Soul food is just what the name implies. It is soulfully cooked food . . . good for your ever-loving soul . . . the shur-‘nuf kinda down-home cookin’ that I grew up on,” writes Sheila Ferguson. Abundant in flavor and variety—ranging from classics such as barbecued spare ribs, fried chicken, cornbread, and collard greens to less well known but equally sumptuous recipes such as sweet potato biscuits, grits soufflé, and wild fox grape wine—soul food is a truly American cuisine, originated in the deep South by slaves and later shaped and expanded by the rich diversity of African-American culture.

The New Soul Food Cookbook for People With Diabetes

Fabiola Demps Gaines

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: American Diabetes Association Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $8.43

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Down Home Food With Less Fat/Sugar 5 out of 5 stars.
25 of 25 people found this review helpful.

"Authors Gaines and Weaver show the reader how much of the hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes plaguing the African-American population can be avoided by making easy changes to traditional soul food recipes without losing too much of the flavor. The basics of healthy food preparation and menu planning are incorporated with suggestions for cooking with traditional herbs and spices, along with advice for reducing fat, calories and sodium. Portion sizes are given to aid in blood sugar control and weight loss, as well as complete nutritional information and official ADA exchanges.
Now you can experience palate-pleasing soul food recipes such as Barbecue Pulled Pork, Hoppin' John, Hoe Cake, Soul Slaw, Collards with Smoked Turkey, Chicken and Dumplings, Key Lime Pie, Rice Pudding, Sweet Potato Pound Cake and more in The New Soul Food Cookbook." (review from the National Federation of the Blind website, Marilyn Helton reviewer)

Editorial Review:

The first and only African-American cookbook for people with diabetes

Although there are many cookbooks for people with diabetes, there is only one for people interested in African-American cooking. The New Soul Food Cookbook for People with Diabetes enters a new edition with great-tasting and offers you flavorful recipes such as barbecue pulled pork, fried okra, orange sweet potatoes, shrimp jambalaya and more. All of the Cajun, Creole, and down-home favorites are here for you--and now in healthier versions than ever before! Each recipe adheres to the new nutrition guidelines of the American Diabetes Association and is guaranteed to be low in saturated fat.

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

Sylvia Woods

Amazon Price: $17.79 List Price: $26.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Cookbooks Amazon Marketplace: 88 new & used starting at $6.92

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

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.

Sylvia's Soul Food

Sylvia Woods

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Sylvia Woods has been barbecuing, baking, frying, and smothering New York City's best soul food for nearly thirty years. According to the Zagat New York City Restaurant Survey, "For down-home delicious Soul Food, this funky Harlemite is the real thing; go for great ribs, incredible fried chicken, fiery greens, and other artery-clogging Southern staples. Don't tell your doctor what you ate."

Now, for the first time, the "Queen of Soul Food" reveals her recipe secrets for more than one hundred of the authentic, stick-to-your-ribs soul food and classic Southern dishes she serves at her world-famous Harlem restaurant.

Start off with a breakfast of homemade pork sausage with eggs and the tenderest, flakiest biscuits you've ever eaten. Move on to tried-and-true soul food favorites that include Smothered Chicken, Fried Catfish with Hushpuppies, Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings, Blackeyed Peas and Rice, and, of course, "Sylvia's World-Famous Talked-About Barbecued Ribs."

Of course, no meal at Sylvia's would be complete without a couple of "sides": Fried Green Tomatoes, Collard Greens with Cornmeal Dumplings, Candied Sweet Potatoes, and more. Sylvia's desserts are enough to satisfy any sweet tooth: Peach Cobbler, Lemon Pie, and Three-Layer Caramel Cake.

So, "if you're craving great barbecue, down-home soul food, and something uniquely New York, catch a cab up to Sylvia's, a marvelous restaurant serving up batches of great ribs, pork chops, candied sweet potatoes, and pecan pies that will satisfy the biggest eater in the family" (Passport to New York Restaurants). If you can't make it to New York, Sylvia's Soul Food will make you feel like you're there.

Delilah's Everyday Soul: Southern Cooking With Style

Delilah Winder, Jennifer Lindner McGlinn

Amazon Price: $17.97 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Running Press - Model: 0762426012 Amazon Marketplace: 67 new & used starting at $5.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

For Readers...not Cooks 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Any reviewer rating this cookbook higher than one star is rating how Delilah's personality and the story of her success comes across in the book...it is certainly NOT because of the success of the recipes.

Not enough attention was paid to documenting and testing the book's recipes. I have now tried two recipes (at great additional expense to serve the (gi-normous) macaroni and (multiple exotic) cheese casserole and bake the lemon cake only to discover that both recipes have missing steps and/or ingredients.

I feel the publishers owe those who (like me) purchased this book for full price a place where we can see the corrected recipes. On the publisher's website there is no place where they receive/post the corrections, and to add insult to injury, are still selling the book for full price.

Be forewarned! There is a reason why a new (non remaindered) copy of this cookbook sells for less than $2...spend the money for the back story and pretty pictures. It is not worth the investment if you seek new soulfood recipes.

Editorial Review:

DelilahÆs Everyday Soul Southern Cooking with Style by Delilah Winder with Jennifer Lindner McGlinn"In DelilahÆs Everyday Soul, chef Delilah Winder shares the Southern-inspired recipes that helped earn her the devotion of many, including televisionÆs Opra

Soul Food: Recipes and Reflections from African-American Churches

Joyce White

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Cookbooks Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $7.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When Joyce White moved to New York City from Alabama, she left small-town life behind and landed ajob as a food editor at a major women's magazine. Weekends, however, found her visiting churches in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvestant, looking for a taste of home. Food has long been a part of the spiritual life of African-American churches, and what she found there, along with what she missed from home, was the comforting blend of cooking and fellowship that feeds both the body and soul.

In this warm and joyful collection, White offers more than 150 recipes for the foods that worshipers look forward to after services, and she captures the spirit of these sociable meals with warm, conversational and occasionally poignant reflections from African-American churchgoers around the United States.

"We don't just come to church service and leave," says a retired nurse who directs hospitality for a large church in Los Angeles. "Many of us stay here half the day. That way we get a chance to rub shoulders and see what is going on or going wrong with each other."

From delicious renditions of classics such as Sugar-Crusted Biscuits to updated favorites such as Black Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, as well as special fare for entertaining and Kwaanza, the pages of Soul Food are alive with the spirit and love of African-American churches -- and the terrific food to be found there.

Naomi's Home Companion: A Treasury of Favorite Recipes, Food for Thought and Country Wit and Wisdom

Naomi Judd

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

One of my better cookbooks--- 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I have made about 1/3 to 1/2 of the recipes with much success. The BBQ chicken is fabulous! A few disappointments (such as Tammy Wynette's Pork Chops) but overall good, simple, country food. The recipes are easy to follow. The many pictures are great---about 2/3's of the recipes have pictures, and, of course, you will see pictures of Naomi and her family in various times of their lives with interesting stories. I highly recommend this if you are a country music fan and a "country" cook---this would not be for you if you are looking for the Julia Child style of cooking.

A delightful read and the recipes are good too! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The recipes for fried chicken, coconut cake and macaroni and cheese are really good. Plus, the book is entertaining with anecdotes and stories from Naomi. The book really is a keeper.

can see why it's out of print... 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I really wanted to love this cookbook. It's been on my most wanted listed for years. Finally I caved and bought a used copy.

The text is... contrived. There are small quotes and sayings throughout the book that are not Naomi's own. Which is part of the disappointment. It seems like she is trying to hard to appeal to Ms. Betty Homemaker. "I suggest you spend more time and less money on your kids", "You know you've met the wrong doctor when... offers to paint your car for $50"... and this doesnt even get into the two pages on how to be a good wife (an excerpt from a 1950's magazine, offered in jest?) and overuse of quotes on family statistics "about 75% of women dont know what's for dinner... until 4pm", "the avg american eats 1/3 of his/her meals away from home"...

So getting to the recipes... nothing seems overly great or amazing. My attempt at the corndogs was miserable with repeated effort and following the recipe to the T. Getting the oil to 370' would burn the corndog batter. At 270' they would brown too quickly and form a big air bubble on one side refusing to turn in the oil. And the flavor wasnt anything to write home about let alone fit to publish.

I'm very disappointed that I even bought the used copy.

"76% of married women work outside the home. In 1950, only 28%"; "Dinner conversation appetizer: ask each other 'what would you be doing if you knew you couldnt fail?'"....