Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking

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25th July 2010

Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking

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Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking

At rural oyster roasts and barbecues, in fancy Charleston restaurants and renovated townhouses, and on the pages of national magazines, the luxuriant cooking of the Carolina coast, known as the Lowcountry, has made a dramatic reappearance. This is the book that launched the culinary revival. John Martin Taylor, who grew up casting shrimp nets off Hilton Head Island, has collected a wealth of traditional and contemporary recipes that represent the region’s best, from She-Crab Soup and Sweet Potato Pie to Shrimp and Grits and Sweet Watermelon Pickles. The result is a lyrical American cookbook and a travelogue to a unique way of life.Lowcountry cooking–the food of South Carolina’s coastal plain–is a refined mix of English, French, African, and West Indian culinary traditions. John Martin Taylor’s Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking, a collection of more than 200 accessible recipes, is the preeminent modern source for this treasured fare. Published in 1992, the book has become a class

Rating: (out of 4 reviews)

List Price: $ 18.00

Price: $ 9.99

the girl & the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant

In 1997, Sondra Bernstein opened the doors to the first girl & the fig restaurant, showcasing her love of locally grown ingredients and her passion for French food. She named her restaurant for the fruit that symbolizes passion: the fig. Now with three restaurants in Sonoma County and with chef John Toulze at the helm, the girl & the fig restaurants are not only local favorites but also captivate thousands of visitors every year. In the girl & the fig Cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant, Bernstein offers an inspired collection of simple, yet sophisticated recipes from the restaurant, featuring the finest, freshest ingredients. These are restaurant-quality recipes adapted for the home kitchen, with dishes for beginners as well as experienced cooks. Bernstein brings the culinary traditions of France to the California wine country. The author’s devotion to seasonal ingredients is wonderfully apparent in every recipe — from the savory

Rating: (out of 6 reviews)

List Price: $ 30.00

Price: $ 14.99

There are currently 9 responses to “Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking”

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1 On July 25th, 2010, I. Seligman said:
Review by I. Seligman for Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking
Rating:
There are many “Southern” cookbooks out there, however few ring true, as many recipes are “Southern style” with added ingredients that would make folks from Mississippi, through Georgia, and up to Kentucky cringe in disbelief!

Tonight I wanted a Southern style cornbread, so I tried his recipe. WOW! The addition of bacon grease to the bottom (and also to the sides) of a cold then heated to 450 degree seasoned iron skillet, to which is added the room temperature batter mix, produces a loud sizzle, quick rise, and a delicious light brown crust, and the light cornbread (free of such adulterants as sugar, cheese, fancy flours and the like) is delicate and tasty, served hot with warm butter or even honey! Just like I had as a child! Now, no disrespect to cornbread with different additions such as sugar, jalapeno, cheeses, fancy flours, etc, that’s fine and tasty, but PLEASE don’t call those variations Southern Corn Bread!

He has recipes for grits (not the 5 minute kind), fish, shellfish, duck, quail, turkey, marsh hens, meats ( usual, and also oxtail stew, veal sweetbreads, blood pudding) breads, vegetables and desserts. There’s even various game, coon, cooter, gator tail and squirrel, pickles, preserves and relishes. The recipes ring true to other recipes I’ve cooked and read in other cookbooks, so I expect to taste things as I had, again, as a child in the South.

It’s odd and no loss that he doesn’t have a recipe for fried chicken, heck, I learned that watching others cook theirs with light dusting of salt, pepper, flour, and perhaps a touch of cayenne and spices, then skillet fried in Crisco, till brown and crisp. His crab cakes recipe has so little filler that he warns you it’ll fall apart, and it’ll be so much tastier and crabbier for the better. Use lump crabmeat if possible, and putting it in the fridge for an hour or two before cooking may help it stay together.

He has a nice commentary for most of the recipes, and he clearly has researched and loves Southern cookery. Enjoy this and try Edna Lewis’s (and other southern chefs’) books as well for other Authentic Southern recipes.

posted on July 25th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
2 On July 25th, 2010, Paul A. McKee, Jr. said:
Review by Paul A. McKee, Jr. for Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking
Rating:
John Martin Taylor does an outstanding job of sharing the history, culture, the exact how and why of South Carolina Low Country (Costal Carolina)Cooking. This book is enjoyable, reads like a good novel and will be appreciated by both novice or experinced cooks. If you enjoy good regional cook books, this one is a gem and is well worth owning!

posted on July 25th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
3 On July 26th, 2010, TK said:
Review by TK for Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking
Rating:
This is a cookbook alright but it is also a history of lowcountry food, agriculture, and recipes. Plus, Hoppin’ John has an attitude and man is he strict: You’d better boil your shrimp with the heads on and you’d better make iced tea the right way.

posted on July 26th, 2010 at 12:20 am
4 On July 26th, 2010, "Book Smart Gal" said:
Review by “Book Smart Gal” for Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking
Rating:
I enjoyed the history lesson and the great recipes in this must own cookbook!

posted on July 26th, 2010 at 12:24 am
5 On July 26th, 2010, B. Marold said:
Review by B. Marold for the girl & the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant
Rating:
This book by restaurant owner Sondra Bernstein, with recipes by executive chef John Toulze represents the cuisine served at a chain of Sonoma County based restaurants after which the book is titled. Based on the passions of Ms. Bernstein and her staff, the book and the restaurants focus on figs; dishes based on figs; the produce of Sonoma County; the cuisine of Provence, France; and the similarity of the terroir of Sonoma with Provence.One object of the book is to publicize the chain of restaurants and the line of products based on the owner’s love of figs. This is not too unusual, as I am certain this is one of the motives behind every celebrity chef / restaurant owner’s cookbook. Some, like Tom Colicchio are less obvious about this interest. Others, like Emeril Lagasse, are pretty out front about this objective. All restaurant based cookbooks aim at providing the reader with some twist to their cuisine or it’s presentation which adds sugar to the bait to create an interest in the restaurant(s).One special feature of this book is borrowed from Ms. Bernstein’s distinguished California culinary neighbor, Thomas Keller of the French Laundry. This is the addition of sidebars on some of the restaurants’ more important, or, at least, more interesting suppliers. This includes fig, mushroom, and cheese vendors, past and present. This highlights one weakness to the book, in that it is so thoroughly based on what is available from the gardens and vineyards of Sonoma County. Not everyone in the United States is blessed with access to wild mushrooms and the talented foragers who supply them, or to cheeses from artisinal cheese makers. Happily, the chef / recipe writer has supplied generally available products to substitute for his Sonoma pantry.The cornerstone of the book’s cuisine is the parallel between the Sonoma and Provence produce and the cuisine which can be based on that similarity. Therefore, it should be no surprise to see most recipes appear to be straight out of the pages of books by Patricia Wells and Lydie Marshall. One of the most pleasant parallels is that the Bernstein / Toulze cuisine is based on fairly simple recipes, often with the kind of recipe modularity of sauces and pantry preparations common to an influence from Julia Child. The recipes for stocks, for example are about as simple as they come. There is no Thomas Keller / Judy Rodgers obsessiveness about technique here. Most recipes follow a recent quote I heard from Wolfgang Puck who said that the trick was to start with great ingredients and try not to mess them up. There are some unusual twists, such as the cooking oil of choice, a `blended oil’ of one part olive oil and three parts canola oil. I am totally baffled that disciples of Provencal cuisine should eschew pure olive oil.The recipes are organized by size and role of the dish rather than by main ingredient. Recipe chapters are:`a small bite’ hors d’ourves with figs, radishes, mushrooms, olives, shellfish, charcuterie, and crackers
`from the garden to the stockpot’ soups, including many Provencal classics
`in the salad bowl’ with lots of vinaigrettes, figs, asparagus, beans, endive, beets, walnuts, and cheese
`large plates’ 25 familiar dishs such as pastas, coq au vin, duck cassoulet, and lamb shanks
`sauce over and under’ with lots of butter, aioli, pistou, rouille, citrus, shallots, remoulade, and figs
`on the side’ with lots of balsamic reductions, familiar vegetable, polenta, couscous, olives, mushrooms…
`sweets’ with lots of figs, apples, pears, nuts, lavender, cheese, and creamThe cuisine owes a fair amount to the exchange of cuisine between Provence and northern Italy, with a fairly substantial contingent of recipes involving pasta, risotto, polenta, cipollini onions and balsamic vinegar. This makes the abandoning pure olive oil in favor of the blended oil even more puzzling. In spite of this mystery, I am certain that these recipes, especially those based on figs, are superior to many and worthy of the authors’ dedication to Provence.One very serious aspect of the restaurants’ connection to Provence is Ms. Bernstein’s commitment to wines based on varietals originating in the Rhone valley rather than the wines which made Napa and Sonoma wines famous. These are the Carignane, cinsault, Grenache, Roussanne, Syrah and Vognier grapes. All but the Syrah are unfamiliar to me, but that’s just a symptom of my ignorance of wine. Each recipe gives a very simple recommendation of wine selected from this list. The emphasis on simple is important to contrast it to the elaborate, sometimes arcane recommendations given by Patricia Wells and others.The authors’ dedication to their chosen cuisine and their featured product is genuine and fruitful, producing many simultaneously simple and worthy recipes. There are occasionally long recipes for standards such as cassoulet and coq au vin, but that should be no surprise. They have convinced me to look forward to a visit to their restaurants if I ever get to northern California.Recommended recipes for even novice cooks. A good read at a fairly reasonable list price. If you already own 10 books on Provence cuisine, you may want to take a pass.

posted on July 26th, 2010 at 12:44 am
6 On July 26th, 2010, Chicago Book Addict said:
Review by Chicago Book Addict for the girl & the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant
Rating:
I own and have cooked from countless cookbooks so my expectations are very high and this book delivered on them in spades. It includes more than 100 recipes from The Girl & the Fig restaurant and all strike a perfect balance of being refined and elegant with being appropriate for preparing in the home. You also don’t have to visit The Girl & the Fig to appreciate it. I’ve never been and I still love these recipes.

What makes this book a five star cookbook for me is that all of the recipes are very unique. I didn’t feel like I was reading a collection of recipes I’ve seen elsewhere. Best of all, they turn out flawlessly. Of everything I have made so far my favorites are The Chicken Liver Mousse and Biscones. The latter has become my go-to recipe whenever I want to serve something like a berry shortcake. It was also the first recipe for a scone/biscuit recipe I’ve made that called for chopped hardboiled egg. I was also impressed with the mousse because although it was time consuming it wasn’t challenging to make. It didn’t really require any specialized skills.

I think this book would be most appreciated by someone who likes refined flavors, isn’t afraid to try more unusual or less mainstream ingredients (i.e. chicken livers), and who doesn’t mind spending a little time in the kitchen. Most of the recipes have taken me well over 30 minutes and often have long ingredient lists. However, if neither of these things bother you the results are worth it. All the dishes are restaurant quality so you feel like you’re getting a classy meal in the comfort of your home.

Highly recommended.

posted on July 26th, 2010 at 1:01 am
7 On July 26th, 2010, Stephen Pringle said:
Review by Stephen Pringle for the girl & the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant
Rating:
For me, this book was a fun and very usable introduction to a new world of foods…and the Rhone-style wines that go with them.

I admit it: I’d rather go to Sonoma than to Napa. And when I do go to Sonoma, I always try to visit the author’s restaurant, The Girl and The Fig, located on the corner of the Town Square. When I can’t be there, I love using the book at home to remind me of being there.

I like this book a lot and use it about once a month.

posted on July 26th, 2010 at 1:06 am
8 On July 26th, 2010, Jeannie Lella said:
Review by Jeannie Lella for the girl & the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant
Rating:
My first experience with Girl and the Fig was it’s first home in Glenn Ellen, CA. which is still there. The restaurant quickly became a favorite. The newer restaurant in the town of Sonoma, also excellent, has a wonderful bar. Great place to join friends for a glass of wine from their excellent wine list or enjoy one of the best martinis. They have also opened a restaurant in Petaluma, CA.

I am delighted that they have finally come out with this wonderful cook book. It represents the best of the Girl and the Fig’s cuisine. I love to cook and I am thrilled to have this cook book in my collection.

posted on July 26th, 2010 at 1:09 am
9 On July 26th, 2010, Reduce, Re-use, Recycle! said:
Review by Reduce, Re-use, Recycle! for the girl & the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant
Rating:
As a local who lives and works within two blocks of the girl & the fig restaurant, I admit to being biased, but I just have to correct the previous reviewer: the girl & the fig restaurant is not and has never been a chain! There’s only one restaurant, and it’s my favorite place to take visitors who want to experience authentic Sonoma Valley cuisine at its very yummiest and most inspiring. The cookbook is a delicious introduction to the area for foodies who are still planning their first visit … and a great way to keep the experience alive for those who can’t wait to come back. I highly recommend it.

posted on July 26th, 2010 at 1:37 am