Beyond Gumbo: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim
Author: Jessica B Harris
For most Americans, Creole cooking is permanently and exclusively linked to the city of New Orleans. But Creole food is more than the deep, rich flavors of Louisiana gumbo. In reality, its range encompasses foods spread across the Atlantic rim. From Haiti to Brazil to Barbados, Creole cooking is the original fusion food, where African and European and Caribbean cuisine came together in the Americas.
In Beyond Gumbo, culinary historian and critically acclaimed cookbook author Jessica B. Harris has brought together 150 of these vibrant recipes from across the Americas, accompanied by cultural and historical anecdotes and illustrated with beautiful antique postcards.
Creole cuisine incorporates many elements, including composed rice dishes, abundant hot sauces, dumplings and fritters, and the abundant use of fresh vegetables and local seafood. In Creole cuisine you might find vanilla borrowed from the Mexican Aztecs combined with rice grown using African methods and cooked using European techniques to produce a rice pudding that is uniquely Creole. Harris uses ingredients available in most grocery stores and by mail order that will allow any home cook to re-create favorite dishes from numerous countries.
From Puerto Rico's tangy lechon asado to Charleston's Red Rice, from Jamaica, New York, to Jamaica, West Indies, Harris discovers the secrets of this true fusion cuisine. Mouthwatering recipes such as Corn Stew from Costa Rica, Aztec Corn Soup from Mexico, Scallop Cebiche from Peru, Baxter's Road Fried Chicken from Barbados, Roast Leg of Pork from Puerto Rico, Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Pineapple from the United States, and six different gumbo recipes willlead you to the kitchen again and again. Sweets and confections are an essential part of Creole cooking, and Harris includes delectable dessert recipes such as Lemon-Pecan Pound Cake from the United States, Three-Milk Flan from Costa Rica, Rice Fritters from New Orleans, and Rum Sauce from Barbados.
To complete the fusion experience, sample drink recipes such as Banana Punch from Barbados and Lemon Verbena Iced Tea from New Orleans. Tastes that are as bright as tropical sunshine are hallmarks of this international cooking of the Creole world.
With a comprehensive glossary of ingredients and lists of mail-order sources, Beyond Gumbo will transport you to kitchens throughout the Americas and take you on a culinary journey to the roots of Creole cuisine.
The New York Times
her new book, Harris broadens our understanding of what creole cooking really is -- not merely the familiar flavors of Louisiana gumbo but all the tastes that came together when ''Africa and Europe met in the New World.'' Harris promises ''tastes that are as bright as tropical sunshine,'' and far more often than not she delivers them. — Dwight Garner
Publishers Weekly
Harris achieves the same balanced blend of personal insight, history and recipes that made her previous works (The Africa Cookbook and The Welcome Table) shine in this examination of creole food. Her first hurdle is defining the word "creole," and she comes up with a credible interpretation representing a fusion of the foods of Africa, the Americas and Europe that is "greater than the multiple dishes that spawned them." Recipes are top-notch, and Harris never skips an opportunity to illuminate in a header. Some of these notes report the origins of a dish, as in the header for Limpin' Susan, a rice and okra dish from South Carolina that is a cousin to the better-known Hoppin' John. Harris generously credits far-flung friends who have provided ideas and recipes and sometimes re-creates their notes on the dishes, as in a letter from Chef Fritz Blank of Deux Chemin es restaurant in Philadelphia that arrived with his recipe for Pepperpot Soup with Seafood and Pumpkin. For other recipes, she vividly sets a scene, explaining that bites of the Roast Corn of Jamaica are meant to be alternated with coconut, or at least that's what's encouraged by "ladies who plant themselves and a brazier under the shade of a large tree or umbrella and grill away" throughout the Caribbean. Despite the title, there are recipes for eight varieties of gumbo, including Aunt Sweet's Seafood Gumbo. Sometimes cookbook glossaries feel like throw-away elements, but in typical fashion Harris makes good use of hers, not only to define such potentially unfamiliar items as the fruit cherimoya, but also to entertain (chiles "crosspollinate with the speed of rabbits") and inform. (Mar.) Forecast: Harris is one of those writers who could write about almost anything and make it interesting, but here she has found a subject rich enough to match her impressive talents. Given the paucity of books on the subject (compared to, say, Italian cooking) this should be a strong seller, and most likely will garner some awards as well. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Although Americans tend to associate Creole cooking with New Orleans, it is actually found throughout a much broader area, extending from Louisiana to the rest of the Gulf Coast (see Constance Snow and Tina Rupp's Gulf Coast Kitchens, above) throughout the Caribbean islands and down to Brazil. The noun Creole has a confusing variety of definitions, but Harris finds the most useful description of Creole cooking as "the mixing of Native American, European, and African culinary arts," resulting in the original fusion cuisine. The author of Tasting Brazil, among other titles, Harris has traveled widely throughout the region that she focuses on here, and once again she combines culinary and cultural history. She prefaces the 175 recipes-from Chorreadas (Costa Rican corn pancakes) to Guadeloupe Chicken Curry to New Orleans Pralines (found in different variations throughout the Creole world)-with a 40-page glossary of ingredients, and chapter openings include vivid reminiscences of favorite places and people encountered along the way. For most collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Book review: Walk Away the Pounds or Diabetics Brand Name Food Exchange Handbook
Study Guide to Accompany Nutrition for Foodservice and Culinary Professionals Sixth Edition
Author: Karen Eich Drummond
Nutrition for Foodservice and Culinary Professionals is the must-have reference for the most thorough, up-to-date information on nutrition and diet. New and expanded material in this Sixth Edition addresses important topics such as the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, MyPyramid, balanced menu options and recipe ideas for morning and afternoon breaks, basic principles of food presentation, meeting special dietary needs, weight management, and much more!
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