Black Family Cooking

I am not black but some of my friends are and when they show up for dinner, I try to do my best to entertain them. My cooking is great. They never had any complaints but one did say he would like it if I would try some food that he is more familiar with so his wife sent me this cookbook called THE BLACK FAMILY COOKBOOK. It is fabulous. I have found some great recipes in this book but no one one can convince me collard greens is good. No one. And fatbacK? No way am I gonna eat that. I have been told that it is good but...............well...........I think I can pass on it.

I have a couple that come out to visit us quite often and it is often at thanksgiving time. He is trying to get me to do the cornbread stuffing but my husband is such a traditionalist and only wants the regular stuffing and I am too lazy to do both.

Ashcake is a cake that has been made from the time of slavery on and it was baked in the embers of a fires ashes. Remember, slaves had to make do with what they had and some fabulous recipes came from those who had nothing.

Hoecake was a bread which slaves baked over open fires and they used the on the blade of a hoe. Today the term can be applied to a large biscuit that is traditionally made and saved for the man of the house.

Hopping John is a dish made of rice and black beans. No one knows how it got it's name and it is served on New Years day.

Pot LIkker....When greens have been cooked "down to a low gravy", the cooking liquid that has absorbed all the nutrients is the pot likker (a corruption of pot liqour). The african habit of consuming the "pot likka" provided the extra nutrients that saved the lives of many slaves and masters alive during the antebellum period.

Sop..dipping bread into sauces and juices.

I like the book because it not only has some great recipes I may not have tried if not for these friends but there is a history lesson on most every page.