Southern Cooking: The How-To Guide, by Wanda LongReview
A southern guide, probably written by someone from the North.
First, seasoning a cast iron pan takes more than one brief exposure to oil in the oven. But, as you go thru just the first few recipes, you can see the author doesn't know much about the subject.
Cornbread is southern, but the recipe shown is a very northern one, 3/4 white flour and would have little cornbread taste or texture - a true southern recipe is 100% cornmeal, while some do cheat a bit and add white flour, eggs are the secret to a cornbread that holds together (for a 9-inch recipes, you need two-three eggs, not one). Then, you cook it cast iron, not a cake dish (as is common with northern recipes). And you ABSOLUTELY do not, EVER, NEVER add sugar to corn bread!
Nor to biscuits, for that matter, which is done in the first recipe of the book (and butter will work, but a true southern recipe calls for pure white lard, as biscuits should be pure white and flaky, not yellow like out of a can), and the flour should be a low-gluten type, not all purpose (ok, it absolutely should be White Lily, although there is some controversy over whether it's still the same, now that the plant moved to the north, which involves using new grinding equipment and possibly the region where the corn is grown, which changed the texture).
Zucchini bread is usually served with coffee, just as any other dessert bread, either for breakfast (instead of a pastry) or a mid-afternoon snack (or after dinner, not with it; that's where your cornbread should go, if you make it so it isn't a sweet dessert). Country fried steak that isn't dipped in flour? Really? Frankly, I quit reading the recipes closely after that. The recipes may be fine, they may work. But, it's northern recipes for southern foods (and probably created without any input from the anyone in the south).
