What Michael W. Twitty doesn’t know about food from the American South probably isn’t worth knowing. Born in Washington DC, raised in Maryland, and currently resident in Virginia, the acclaimed culinary historian and writer is a product of the Great Migration of African Americans escaping the Jim Crow regime in the Deep South.
But, as Twitty writes in his new book Recipes from the American South, much as his American identity has been shaped by the South, “smelling, touching, and tasting it were essential for him to actually understand it.
So Twitty researched the American South from every angle, relentlessly exploring his family roots as a framework to understand the many European, Indigenous, African, and immigrant influences on Southern cooking.
Pot Likker. Photography: Nico Schinco
His journey took him to Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods in Athens, Georgia, where the band REM got the album title Automatic for the People. He had his first mind-blowingly fresh Creole tomato in Louisiana, saw sorghum molasses being made in a Mennonite community in Tennessee, explored the remains of the rice fields at plantations in South Carolina, saw fresh verdant fields of rice on the way to Arkansas, ate barbecue in Texas, and tasted kudzu honey in Mississippi. And yet he still hadn’t tasted enough.
Texas Caviar. Photography: Nico Schinco
So he had juicy peaches from Chilton County, Alabama, watched people pull catfish and bass wriggling out of the water in Kentucky, visited The Grit, a rare Southern vegetarian restaurant (sadly recently closed), witnessed piles of steamed crabs from the Eastern Shore of Maryland down to Savannah, Georgia, and eyed heaps of fresh okra, heirloom collards, and shiny new jars of chow chow in the Carolinas.
Sally Lunn Bread. Photography: Nico Schinco
As he says, somewhat understatedly, in the book, “I am lucky.” And thanks to his efforts, so are we, because the result is Recipes from the American South, an authoritative deep dive on the most diverse of America’s regional cuisines.
For instance, the Breads, Biscuits, & Breakfasts chapter showcases everything from ice box rolls to Sally Lunn bread. Chapters on Vegetables and Soups, Stews & Casseroles take readers to the agrarian roots of Southern cuisine, and his chapter on Mains features everything from classic fried chicken to venison stew. The Desserts chapter, meanwhile, includes buttermilk-glazed fig cake, coconut custard pie, and fried dough beloved in Cajun country.
Chicken and Dumplings. Photography: Nico Schinco
Each recipe features an expansive headnote story and the Phaidon home cookbook icons—dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, 5 ingredients or fewer, and 30 minutes or less. 100 recipes are accompanied by beautifully commissioned food photography from Nico Schinco. The book’s design evokes the rich texture and colorful ingredients that shape Southern cuisine.
In between the recipes, Twitty shares eloquent essays about topics such as flour, corn, the Southern garden, rice, one-pot dishes, and more. And there is also a glossary on the peoples, places, and eras that have shaped Southern cooking, as well as a bibliography.
You can buy Recipes from the American South here. But to give you a taster, here is a very simple red eye gravy recipe from it that you can recreate in just 5 easy steps.
The ‘red eye’ in the title of this gravy allegedly dates back to Tennessee in the nineteenth century, when President Andrew Jackson asked for a gravy as red as the eyes of the inebriated chef preparing his breakfast. Some people add tomato or a touch of black pepper. Twitty’s grandmother served it with grits and ham.
RED EYE GRAVY RECIPE
PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes COOKING TIME: 20 minutes SERVES: 4
4 large slices country ham (about 8 oz/ 225 g total) ¾ cup (6 fl oz/180 ml) strong black coffee.
1 Reserving the trimmings, trim most of the fat from the slices of ham.
2 Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ham trimmings and cook until 2–4 teaspoons of fat are rendered, 4–5 minutes.
3 Add the slices of ham to the skillet and cook until browned on both sides; about 10 minutes. Once fully cooked, remove the ham from the skillet and set aside.
4 Pour the coffee into the skillet and bring to a boil, scraping any bits that are stuck to the bottom. Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid reduces to about ½ cup (4 fl oz/120 ml), about 10 minutes.
5 Discard the rendered fat pieces. Serve the ham hot with the gravy spooned on top.
