H. Franklyn Hall’s “Crab Cakes”
H. Fryankln Hall is another black chef whose contribution to our dining culture should be recognized. This recipe is essentially a seafood pancake made with crab.
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“Hoppin’ John -for New Year’s Eve” – Louise Kelly
The 1958 cookbook by the National Council of Negro Women, the “Historical Cookbook of the American Negro,” opens with a photograph of Sojourner Truth and Abraham Lincoln, opposite recipes for the first of January: “Emancipation Proclamation Breakfast Cake” and “Western Beef Steak” from Denver. “The Emancipation Proclamation New Years’ Day, 1863, is celebrated in all…
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Shrimp Boat ‘Maryland’, “to Frances Ellen Watkins Harper”
The 1958 “Historical Cookbook of the American Negro” proves that a cookbook can be an object of delight without being full of glossy photos of food. The recipes in the book, interspersed with history and reproduced ephemera, take on new significance, offered as tributes to historical figures or events. The cookbook’s editor, civil rights activist…
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Southern Sour Milk Biscuits, Mary Helen Dove & Mary Taylor
From Beef Broth to Banana Fritters, one of my favorite cookbooks to turn to for everyday recipes is “300 Years of Black Cooking in St. Mary’s County.” No book better encapsulates the range of delicious fare produced in the kitchens of Maryland’s home cooks. As much as I love “Maryland’s Way” and “Eat, Drink &…
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Interview: Nicholas Mimms, ‘What Mrs. Fisher Knows’ blog
Abby Fisher’s 1881 book of recipes opens with an apology. Unable to read or write, the former slave and accomplished Southern cook apparently felt uneasy about producing the cookbook that was so often requested of her. Never mind that her contemporaries – such as Mrs. B. C. Howard and Mrs. Charles H. Gibson – didn’t…
