Come on in: Recipes from the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi (Spiral-bound)
by – Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi
Junior League of Jackson Ms (April 1992) I’m not all that knowledgeable on spiral bound Junior League and local organization’s cookbooks. While I grant that they are valuable references for documenting heirloom recipes and local cuisine, I’ve just never gotten into the collection of such cookbooks. I find that there are just too many “crab dip” and “red eye gravy” recipes masquerading as secret family recipes.
So, my endorsement of this book should be taken as both acknowledgment that I really don’t know enough about the genre to directly compare with the competition and an extraordinary endorsement of a very handsome volume.
First of all, the graphic design of the book is beautiful. the photos have an antiquey old South feel. There is a tasteful use of graphical page highlights and the traditional spiral binding is disguised by a very nice hard cardboard cover that the above photo doesn’t do true justice to.
The recipes are sort of Southern nouvelle cuisine. There are plenty of the traditional Southern party foods and family heirlooms. But there’s an emphasis on appearance and clean flavors. There are numerous quotes, tips and hints creatively integrated on the page by sidebars extending from the top of the page to the bottom in slender colored ribbons on the edge of the page.
This is a very useful volume that deserves a place on your bookshelf if only for one of the finest cookie recipes you’ll ever want to find – Lou Lou’s Cookies, in a sidebar on page 168. This is the traditional lace cookie – a flat, caramelized crispy delight – a cookie that looks like a bit of Belgian lace – a latticework of brown sugar goodness laced with nuts and raisins. It even teaches you how to achieve that effect – you rap a still hot cookie tray out of the over on a flat surface – this causes the puffy hot cookie to collapse on itself and go flat. It creates the network of tiny holes that gives the cookie its name.
If you want to explore upper crust Southern cuisine, this is the volume for you.
ISBN-10: 0960688617
ISBN-13: 978-0960688616
So You Want to Be A Waiter
So You Want To Be A Waiter 