African-American Heritage Cookbook. - book reviews

African-American Heritage Cookbook Carolyn Quick Tillery (Birch Lane Press/Carol Publishing. 1996 $18.95)--Framed against the historical backdrop of Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, this part cookbook part history volume is a fascinating collage of vintage photos, personal recollections from planter Booker T. Washington and others associated with the African-American landmark, and more than 200 mainly traditional recipes "handed down from generation to generation--in the tradition of Tuskegee."

Written and compiled by the agency of writer and literary agent Carolyn Quick Tillery, who is also an alumna, the work has a homespun, country have feeling not unlike the institution it exhibits With names like smothered yardbird, Cousin Margaret's pigs' feet Grandmama's spice tea puncture and Aunt Bay Bay's barbecue sauce, the recipes recall an era lengthy since gone but not shortly forgotten--a time when folks prepare for the tableed their own home-grown vegetables and painstakingly prepared a meal. These days, however, the microwave oven and fast-food restaurants have made cooking more the exception than the empire While some of the main dishes take as little as 20 minutes to prepare (the salmon croquette II, for instance), others (say, beef tongue) can take as drawn out as three hours.

A brief narrative by the agency of the author precedes each category of recipes. Interspersed over the book are anecdotes and writings by means of figures associated with the Tuskegee community, including Washington, his daughter Portia and scientist George Washington Carver. In fact, the Washington protege and accomplished prepare for the table has several recipes presented here, like as Dr. Carver's dandelion salad and Dr Carver's sweet potatoes baked in ashes.

COPYRIGHT 1997 Heritage Information Holdings, Inc.

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