Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina, To Harlem

Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina, To Harlem

by Sylvia Woods
Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina, To Harlem

Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina, To Harlem

by Sylvia Woods

Hardcover

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Overview

Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook begins as Sylvia recalls her childhood, when she lived with both her mother and her grandmother — the town's only midwives. The entire community of Hemingway, South Carolina, shared responsibilities, helped raise all of the children, and worked side by side together every day in the bean fields. Perhaps most important, the community shared its food and recipes. When Sylvia set out to write this cookbook, she decided to hold a cook-off back home in Hemingway at Jeremiah Church. Family and friends of all ages shared their favorite dishes as well as their spirit and love for one another. The recipes offered at the cook-off were then compiled to create this incredible collection, along with many of Sylvia's and the Woods family's own recipes.

Here are the kinds of recipes you'd find if you visited the Woods family's home. Sylvia's daughter Bedelia is well known for her Barbecued Beef Short Ribs, which are as sassy and spicy as Bedelia herself. Kenneth, Sylvia's youngest son, has loved to fish ever since he was a child, spending his summers by the fishing hole in Hemingway. Now Kenneth's son, DeSean, enjoys fishing, too. Kenneth's Honey Lemon Tilefish, DeSean's favorite, is just one of Kenneth's special recipes presented here.

And there are many, many other wonderful dishes, too. In this remarkable cookbook, Sylvia has gathered more than 125 soul food classics, including mouthwatering recipes for okra, collard greens, Southern-style pound cakes, hearty meat and seafood stews and casseroles, salads, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and more. These recipes are straight from the heart of the Woods community of family and friends. Now Sylvia gives them to you to share with your loved ones. Bring them into your home and experience a little bit of Hemingway's soul.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780688162191
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 06/23/1999
Pages: 288
Sales rank: 552,272
Product dimensions: 7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.97(d)

About the Author

Sylvia Woods, born in Hemingway, South Carolina, started the world-famous Sylvia's Restaurant in 1963 and opened a second restaurant in Atlanta in 1997. She owned a line of canned and bottled food products that is sold in supermarkets across the country.

Read an Excerpt

The Absolute Best Southern Fried Chicken

Makes 4 servings

My mother, Julia, made some of the best fried chicken in all of South Carolina. She had her secrets to making it crunchy on the outside but keeping it tender on the inside. First of all, she would always shake the chicken in the coating, never dredge it. Then she cooked the chicken in a deep layer of oil in a black iron pan.

Fried chicken was a dish that she made for holidays, and oftentimes for Sunday dinner. She also fried up a batch before sending the children anywhere by train, since fried chicken makes the most delicious sandwiches imaginable. She would put the chicken between two slices of white bread, which were covered with mayonnaise. The longer the chicken sandwiches sat, the better they tasted, since the crumblings from the chicken skin and the mayonnaise would soak into the soft white bread. My son, Kenneth, would sometimes just eat the bread by itself before eating the chicken, since it tasted so good. The sandwiches were packed into a shoebox with some fruit and maybe a piece of cake or pie. You were supposed to wait until lunchtime to eat the chicken sandwiches, but none of the kids could ever wait that long. Kenny tells the story like this:

"I can remember those chicken sandwiches that my grandmother would pack for me to take on the train back to New York. It was a long train trip, maybe thirteen hours, and Grandma would make sure to pack me plenty of food. I could hardly wait to get on the train and eat those sandwiches because the aroma would just come out of the box and grab my attention. And my stomach would start rumbling and my mouth would start watering.Grandma would be waving good-bye, tears in her eyes, and I wouldn't really be paying attention. Almost before the train pulled off, I would have torn open the box and have wrapped my mouth around a fried chicken sandwich. Boy they were great!"

One 3 1/2-pound chicken, cut into eighths
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4teaspoon paprika
1 cup vegetable oil

1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. In a small bowl, combine the salt, 1 teaspoon of the black pepper, and the garlic powder. Sprinkle over the chicken. Let stand at least 20 minutes or, even better, overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Place the flour, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and paprika into a plastic bag. Add the seasoned chicken and shake until each piece is covered with the flour.

3. In a large skillet, heat the oil over high heat until it bubbles when a little flour is sprinkled in. Add the chicken pieces and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes or until the chicken is nicely browned on the bottom. Turn and cook on the other side for 7 to 10 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the skillet and drain on paper towels before serving.


Black-Eyed Pea Salad

Makes 4 to 5 servings

Black-eyed peas have always been a part of our history and an important ingredient in soul food. In fact, when someone asks me what soul food is, I always name black-eyed peas first, along with collard greens, fried chicken, and barbecue.

Black-eyed peas originated in Asia and made their way to the West Indies and throughout the South, where they flourished in the warm fields.

When I was growing up, we ate black-eyed peas mostly in the winter. We always bought them dried, since they didn't grow plentifully in our fields as field peas and cow peas did. But every now and then, we'd find some black-eyed peas growing up the cornstalks with the other beans (sometimes the seeds get mixed together). Then we'd eat them fresh. This recipe is meant for the dried kind of pea, although these days it's easier to buy them already cooked in cans or frozen. Get them any way you like, but definitely make this spicy salad next time you need something to serve at a picnic or for a buffet. There's nothing better.

1 1/2 cups cooked or canned black-eyed peas
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4cup vegetable oil
1/4cup sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

1. In a large bowl, combine the blackeyed peas, green pepper, celery, and both onions.

2. In a small bowl, combine the oil, sugar, vinegar, garlic, salt, black pepper, and hot sauce. Pour the dressing over the beans. Toss. Let stand overnight for the flavors to meld.

Recipe

The Absolute Best Southern Fried Chicken

My mother, Julia, made some of the best fried chicken in all of South Carolina. She had her secrets to making it crunchy on the outside but keeping it tender on the inside. First of all, she would always shake the chicken in the coating, never dredge it. Then she cooked the chicken in a deep layer of oil in a black iron pan.

Fried chicken was a dish that she made for holidays, and oftentimes for Sunday dinner. She also fried up a batch before sending the children anywhere by train, since fried chicken makes the most delicious sandwiches imaginable. She would put the chicken between two slices of white bread, which were covered with mayonnaise. The longer the chicken sandwiches sat, the better they tasted, since the crumblings from the chicken skin and the mayonnaise would soak into the soft white bread. My son, Kenneth, would sometimes just eat the bread by itself, before eating the chicken, since it tasted so good. The sandwiches were packed into a shoebox with some fruit and maybe a piece of cake or pie. You were supposed to wait until lunchtime to eat the chicken sandwiches, but none of the kids could ever wait that long. Kenny tells the story like this:

"I can remember those chicken sandwiches that my grandmother would pack for me to take on the train back to New York. It was a long train trip, maybe thirteen hours, and Grandma would make sure to pack me plenty of food. I could hardly wait to get on the train and eat those sandwiches because the aroma would just come out of the box and grab my attention. And my stomach would start rumbling and my mouth would start watering. Grandma would be waving goodbye, tears in her eyes, and I wouldn't really be paying attention. Almost before the train pulled off, I would have torn open the box and have wrapped my mouth around a fried chicken sandwich. Boy, they were great!"

One 3-1/2-pound chicken, cut into eighths
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 cup vegetable oil

1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. In a small bowl, combine the salt, 1 teaspoon of the black pepper, and the garlic powder. Sprinkle over the chicken. Let stand at least 20 minutes or, even better, overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Place the flour, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and the paprika into a plastic bag. Add the seasoned chicken and shake until each piece is covered with the flour.
3. In a large skillet, heat the oil over high heat until it bubbles when a little flour is sprinkled in. Add the chicken pieces and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes or until the chicken is nicely browned on the bottom. Turn and cook on the other side for 7 to 10 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the skillet and drain on paper towels before serving.
Recipe from Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook, copyright c 1999 by Sylvia Woods. All rights reserved.

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