I love the cookbooks that people compile to fundraise for their organisations here. Mom buys them for me and they are so much fun to read. There are some great recipes in them too.
You can tell so much about a community by what they eat and my latest cookbook has been compiled by a hunting group so there are lots of recipes using deer. The great thing about this book is that it includes a Recipe Note for each recipe submitted. They are fantastic. It's everything from 'This is different but yummy' to 'Only a coon-ass could come up with this recipe' to 'This is one of Bubba's favorites'. A lot of times they'll say where the recipe came from and very often it's been passed down from a Grandmother, Great Grandmother or, in one instance, a Great-Great Grandmother.
The recipes are a hoot too. There' s one for Twinkie Surprise which uses Twinkies, Jello Pudding, cherry pie filling and Cool Whip to make a kind of trifle dish. It would probably be delicious but it just might kill you. The majority of the recipes use namebrand products or start off with 'a box of cake mix' or 'a small package of Velveeta'. It's all worlds away from my usual cookbook reading of Nigella Lawson who makes everything from scratch and stresses the importance of fresh, quality ingredients. Nigella does include a recipe using Coke to cook ham (which is one of my all time favorites) but in her book it comes under the jokey chapter heading of 'Trashy'. I've always wondered what Nigella would make of my country cookbooks and have even thought of sending her one. To be honest, I think she would love them. They're such an amazing slice of a community's history and a real peek into a totally different way of life (for Nigella, it's all normal for me of course).
I was very pleased to see they included a recipe for crawfish etoufee (using a can of Campbell's Vegetable Soup). Tobes and I had Cajun for lunch yesterday and it was soooooo good. I've got some friend crawfish stashed in the fridge right now. In fact, I think it's calling my name. Time to run. Got a busy day today. Gotta buy those Twinkies.
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3 comments:
i have a few of those cookbooks and let me tell you, they're the first things i check when i'm looking for a recipe. mainly because i know they'll be easy. i love them!
be sure and bring back the good old southern pecans to cook with! and don't forget the kayro syrup and instant grits! some things just can't be gotten "at the shops!" do hope you are still sittin' and rockin' and enjoyin' the texas love i know you and tobes are gettin' !!!! nana
I do love these cookbooks. I'd like to get Toby's preschool to do one because there's such a mix of nationalities there. I think it would be really good.
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