Cheryl and Bill Jamison’s award-winning “American Home Cooking” (William Morrow, $22.95) was recently released in paperback. If you would like to eat your way across the country, this book will certainly appeal to you.
The Jamisons traveled all over to research the book. They “visited with cheese crafters in Wisconsin, overnighted with Pennsylvania Dutch farmers, and picked up techniques for frying catfish from the first African-American catfish farmer in Mississippi,” the jacket boasts.
They collected real-food recipes for regional favorites from the best cooks they could find. These are the dishes you’ll find people lined up to eat at church suppers and neighborhood diners; it’s the kind of food that people get homesick for, and the stuff they remember their moms making.
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The result is that you could breakfast on authentic South Carolina low country rice and cornmeal griddle cakes with nutmeg syrup, lunch on a Great Lakes smoked whitefish sandwich, and sup on Texas’ famous King Ranch chicken, a casserole made with tortillas.
Some states seem underrepresented–notably California and Hawaii–but you may forgive the omissions. The Jamisons together have a great palate, and their easy-to-follow recipes virtually promise success.
Ah, excuse me. My Springfield Chilli (“The Midwestern version of chili, often spelled with an extra ‘l’ in Illinois, derives from the Texas stew, but now outdistances the parent in popularity.”) is ready, and I need to take a little sentimental journey.