Amazon's Best Cookbooks of 2018
Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2018
Food52 Favorite Cookbooks of 2018
The Atlantic Best Cookbooks of 2018
Grub Street (New York Magazine) Best Cookbooks of 2018
James Beard Award-nominated Chef Todd Richards shares his personal
culinary exploration of soul food.
Black American chefs and cooks are often typecast as the experts of only
one cuisine--soul food, but Todd Richards' food is anything but
stereotypical. Taste his Hot-Chicken-Style Country-Fried Lamb Steak or
Blueberry-Sweet Tea-Brined Chicken Thighs as evidence. While his dishes
are rooted in family and the American cuisine known as soul food, he
doesn't let his heritage restrain him. The message of Soul is that
cooks can honor tradition yet be liberated to explore. Todd Richards
celebrates the restorative wonders of a classic pot of Collard Greens
with Ham Hocks, yet doesn't shy away from building upon that
foundational recipe with his Collard Green Ramen, a reinterpretation
that incorporates far-flung flavors of cultural influences and
exemplifies culinary evolution. Page after page, in more than 150
recipes and stunning photos, Todd shares his creativity and passion to
highlight what soul food can be for a new generation of cooks. Whether
you're new to Southern and soul food or call the South your home, Soul
will encourage you to not only step outside of the box, but to boldly
walk away from it.
The chapters in Soul are organized by featured ingredients: Collards,
Onions, Berries, Lamb, Seafood, Corn, Tomatoes, Melons, Stone Fruit,
Eggs and Poultry, Pork and Beef, Beans and Rice, and Roots. Each one
begins with a traditional recipe and progresses alongside Richards'
exploration of flavor combinations and techniques.
