Delta Hot Tamales

“A destination book filled with tales of intrigue and eccentricity . . . [about] a distinct strain of hot tamales born deep in the Mississippi Delta.” —Eat Y’all Several theories surround the traditional Delta tamale. Some trace it back to Mexican and Italian immigrants, while others say the Delta version of the hand-held meal is a spin on the old African American food called “cush.” One thing not disputed is the popularity. From hot tamale legends Joe Pope, Shine Thornton and the Scott family to current chefs, the traditions and the secret recipes live on. Writer and historian Anne Martin showcases the stories behind the traditional Delta hot tamale, as well as the countless variations of the delicacy found within the region. “Author Anne Martin explains in her new book about the Mississippi Delta’s own version of hot tamales and why they have remained a staple of Delta cuisine for generations . . . Even if you’ve never tasted ‘the Delta’s favorite food,’ Martin’s book will have you running for the nearest hot tamale stand.” —Today in Mississippi “Delta Hot Tamales: History, Stories & Recipes is not a traditional cookbook by any means. The book uses local food as a lens to explore the rich culture and history of an often misunderstood area in an often misunderstood state.” —Eat Y’all “Serves up a historical record and a thorough look at the current status of this distinctive culinary treat.” —Clarion Ledger

Several theories surround the traditional Delta tamale. Some trace it back to Mexican and Italian immigrants, while others say the Delta version of the hand-held meal is a spin on the old African American food called "cush." One thing not disputed is the popularity. From hot tamale legends Joe Pope, Shine Thornton and the Scott family to current chefs, the traditions and the secret recipes live on. Writer and historian Anne Martin showcases the stories behind the traditional Delta hot tamale, as well as the countless variations of the delicacy found within the region.

The Mississippi Delta is a complicated and fascinating place. Part travel guide, part cookbook, and part photo essay, Eat Drink Delta by veteran food journalist Susan Puckett (with photographs by Delta resident Langdon Clay) reveals a region shaped by slavery, civil rights, amazing wealth, abject deprivation, the Civil War, a flood of biblical proportions, and—above all—an overarching urge to get down and party with a full table and an open bar. There’s more to Delta dining than southern standards. Puckett uncovers the stories behind convenience stores where dill pickles marinate in Kool-Aid and diners where tabouli appears on plates with fried chicken. She celebrates the region’s hot tamale makers who follow the time-honored techniques that inspired many a blues lyric. And she introduces us to a new crop of Delta chefs who brine chicken in sweet tea and top stone-ground Mississippi grits with local pond-raised prawns and tomato confit. The guide also provides a taste of events such as Belzoni’s World Catfish Festival and Tunica’s Wild Game Cook-Off and offers dozens of tested recipes, including the Memphis barbecue pizza beloved by Elvis and a lemon ice-box pie inspired by Tennessee Williams. To William Faulkner’s suggestion, “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi,” Susan Puckett adds this advice: Go to the Delta with an open mind and an empty stomach. Make your way southward in a journey measured in meals, not miles.

Everybody has one in their collection. You know—one of those old, spiral- or plastic-tooth-bound cookbooks sold to support a high school marching band, a church, or the local chapter of the Junior League. These recipe collections reflect, with unimpeachable authenticity, the dishes that define communities: chicken and dumplings, macaroni and cheese, chess pie. When the Southern Foodways Alliance began curating a cookbook, it was to these spiral-bound, sauce-splattered pages that they turned for their model. Including more than 170 tested recipes, this cookbook is a true reflection of southern foodways and the people, regardless of residence or birthplace, who claim this food as their own. Traditional and adapted, fancy and unapologetically plain, these recipes are powerful expressions of collective identity. There is something from—and something for—everyone. The recipes and the stories that accompany them came from academics, writers, catfish farmers, ham curers, attorneys, toqued chefs, and people who just like to cook—spiritual Southerners of myriad ethnicities, origins, and culinary skill levels. Edited by Sara Roahen and John T. Edge, written, collaboratively, by Sheri Castle, Timothy C. Davis, April McGreger, Angie Mosier, and Fred Sauceman, the book is divided into chapters that represent the region’s iconic foods: Gravy, Garden Goods, Roots, Greens, Rice, Grist, Yardbird, Pig, The Hook, The Hunt, Put Up, and Cane. Therein you’ll find recipes for pimento cheese, country ham with redeye gravy, tomato pie, oyster stew, gumbo z’herbes, and apple stack cake. You’ll learn traditional ways of preserving green beans, and you’ll come to love refried black-eyed peas. Are you hungry yet?

A Good Meal Is Hard to Find is more than just a cookbook: it's a love letter to the women and food of the Deep South. With charming narratives, visual storytelling, and delectable recipes, A Good Meal Is Hard to Find is everything you've ever wanted in a Southern cookbook. Inside are 60 go-to recipes organized into five chapters—Morning's Glories, Lingering Lunches, Dinner Dates & Late-Night Takes, Afternoon Pick-Me-Ups, and Anytime Sweets. Written by award-winning cookbook author and Southern food expert Martha Hall Foose. • Each of the 60 recipes opens with a short vignette about a story about a unique Southern character. • Divided into five chapters from breakfast to dinner, with cocktails and desserts in between • Recipes paired with gorgeous, vintage-inspired oil paintings by Amy C. Evans Inspired by generations of storytelling and Southern comfort food, this genre-bending cookbook is a must-have for cookbook lovers, vintage collectors, and Southern cooking enthusiasts alike. Recipes include Francine's Strawberry-Glazed Doughnuts, Camille's Bridge Club Egg Salad, The Suzy B's Spinach and Mushroom Frito Pie, Stella's Harissa Gold Chicken, and Estelle's Butterscotch Pound Cake.• Master the art of traditional Southern cooking and soul food. • Perfect for fans of Poole's: Recipes and Stores from a Modern Diner by Ashley Christensen, Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines, and Heritage by Sean Brock • A great cookbook for readers of Southern Living and Garden & Gun

Several theories surround the traditional Delta tamale. Some trace it back to Mexican and Italian immigrants, while others say the Delta version of the hand-held meal is a spin on the old African American food called cush. One thing not disputed is the popularity. From hot tamale legends Joe Pope, Shine Thornton and the Scott family to current chefs, the traditions and the secret recipes live on. Writer and historian Anne Martin showcases the stories behind the traditional Delta hot tamale, as well as the countless variations of the delicacy found within the region."

When Latino migration to the U.S. South became increasingly visible in the 1990s, observers and advocates grasped for ways to analyze "new" racial dramas in the absence of historical reference points. However, as this book is the first to comprehensively document, Mexicans and Mexican Americans have a long history of migration to the U.S. South. Corazon de Dixie recounts the untold histories of Mexicanos' migrations to New Orleans, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, and North Carolina as far back as 1910. It follows Mexicanos into the heart of Dixie, where they navigated the Jim Crow system, cultivated community in the cotton fields, purposefully appealed for help to the Mexican government, shaped the southern conservative imagination in the wake of the civil rights movement, and embraced their own version of suburban living at the turn of the twenty-first century. Rooted in U.S. and Mexican archival research, oral history interviews, and family photographs, Corazon de Dixie unearths not just the facts of Mexicanos' long-standing presence in the U.S. South but also their own expectations, strategies, and dreams.

In her new book, But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria!, Julia Reed, a master of the art of eating, drinking, and making merry, takes the reader on culinary adventures in places as far flung as Kabul, Afghanistan and as close to home as her native Mississippi Delta and Florida's Gulf Coast. Along the way, Reed discovers the perfect Pimm's Royale at the Paris Ritz, devours delicious chuletons in Madrid, and picks up tips from accomplished hostesses ranging from Pat Buckley to Pearl Bailey and, of course, her own mother. Reed writes about the bounty—and the burden—of a Southern garden in high summer, tosses salads in the English countryside, and shares C.Z. Guest's recipe for an especially zingy bullshot. She understands the necessity of a potent holiday punch and serves it up by the silver bowl full, but she is not immune to the slightly less refined charms of a blender full of frozen peach daiquiris or a garbage can full of Yucca Flats. And then there are the parties: shindigs ranging from sultry summer suppers and raucous dinners at home to a Plymouth-like Thanksgiving feast and an upscale St. Patrick's Day celebration. This delightful collection of essays by Julia Reed, a master storyteller with an inimitable voice and a limitless capacity for fun, will show you how to entertain guests with style, have a good time yourself and always have that perfect pitcher of sangria ready at a moment's notice.