Baking in the American South - by Anne Byrn (Hardcover)

About the Book

Witness the rise of Southern baking from humble recipes to one of the world's richest culinary traditions in this essential cookbook from bestselling author Anne Byrn. With 200 recipes and hundreds of photos, Baking in the American South has the biscuits, cornbread, cakes, and rolls that will help you bake like a Southerner, even if you aren't.

Book Synopsis

Experience mouthwatering Southern baking--from humble home kitchens to innovative new Southern chefs. One of the world's richest culinary traditions comes to life through this essential cookbook from bestselling author Anne Byrn. With 200 recipes from 14 states and more than 150 photos, Baking in the American South has the biscuits, cornbread, cakes, and rolls that will help you bake like a Southerner, even if you aren't.

Recipes can tell you volumes if you pay attention--the crops raised, languages spoken, family customs, old world flavors, and, often, religion. Did you know that where a mill was located affected the recipes handed down from that area? Or that baking and selling pound cakes directly impacted the Civil Rights Movement? These stories and recipes, developed from good times and bad, have been collected and perfected over years and are now accessible to us all. Anne's expertise in assessing, modernizing, and developing well-written recipes makes this the definitive guide for bakers of all levels.

From-scratch, Southern classic recipes include:

• Thomasville Cheese Biscuits
• Ouita Michel's Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins
• Nina Cain's Batty Cakes with Lacy Edges
• The Best Lemon Meringue Pie
• Georgia Gilmore's Pound Cake

This fascinating dive into the history of 14 Southern states--Texas, Florida, Kentucky, and more--features stories and beautifully photographed recipes from pre-Civil War times to today's Southern kitchens. It's about the places, the people, the products and the culture of the moment that influenced what people baked. It's about African-American women and the monumental contributions they have made to the art of Southern baking, about home cooks and how they've kept traditions alive wherever they settle by baking family recipes each year for holidays and celebrations, and about the pastry chefs who have thoughtfully reimagined how the South bakes.

Experience the recipes and the stories behind them that showcase the substantial contributions Southern baking has made to American baking at large. Food historians, bakers, foodies, and cookbook collectors from every corner of the country will want this cookbook in their collections.

Review Quotes

'Home chefs will treasure this cookbook and appreciate Byrn's entertaining stories while their delicious regional fare bakes.'--Shelf Awareness (starred review)

'Byrn provides an encyclopedia of Southern baked goods in this masterful and extensive collection encompassing the region's sweet and savory offerings--This is a treasure trove.'--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

'Byrn's wise, winning, and wonderful doorstop dive into the recipes and stories that make up the heart and soul of Southern baking is essential.'--Library Journal (starred review)

'definitive--The encyclopedic range--from hoecakes to chiffon, from humble to highfalutin--is part of what gives 'Baking' its flour-dusted charm. The other part is Byrn's sussing out of what sets Southern baking apart.'--Garden & Gun

'[A] pleasurable mix of craveable delights and culinary storytelling-- While baking in the American South was founded on a turbulent and often unsavory history, the individuals--enslaved Africans and their descendants, Creole peoples, Moravians, Jews, and immigrants--and fertile land gave rise to the towering culinary culture Byrn captures here with anecdotes, engaging prose, and passion readers will feel.'--BOOKLIST (starred review)