Michael Fields Cooking School

One of America's culinary experts offers an explicit, precise discussion of cooking skills and techniques in addition to providing a wide range of imaginative, appealing recipes for cooks at all levels

More than 100 heirloom recipes from a dynamic chef and farmer working the lands of his great-great-great grandfather. From Hot Buttermilk Biscuits and Sweet Potato Pie to Salmon Cakes on Pepper Rice and Gullah Fish Stew, Gullah Geechee food is an essential cuisine of American history. It is the culinary representation of the ocean, rivers, and rich fertile loam in and around the coastal South. From the Carolinas to Georgia and Florida, this is where descendants of enslaved Africans came together to make extraordinary food, speaking the African Creole language called Gullah Geechee. In this groundbreaking and beautiful cookbook, Matthew Raiford pays homage to this cuisine that nurtured his family for seven generations. In 2010, Raiford’s Nana handed over the deed to the family farm to him and his sister, and Raiford rose to the occasion, nurturing the farm that his great-great-great grandfather, a freed slave, purchased in 1874. In this collection of heritage and updated recipes, he traces a history of community and family brought together by food.

Personal stories and recipes reveal the culinary journey of the James Beard Award–winning “Queen of Southern Cuisine” (Southern Living). Nathalie Dupree is a storyteller, and in this delightful book she shares her favorite culinary stories, tracing her journey from a budding cook for her college friends through her years as a restaurant cook and cooking instructor. Her activist spirit, humor, feisty personality, and authoritative knowledge of cooking make this a must-have cookbook for everyone who’s watched her on TV, read her articles, or invoked her name in a conversation about Southern food. “In Dupree’s gastronomy, a fine meal is as much about enjoying people as it is marveling at mashed potatoes, though marvel you will.” —Charleston City Paper Includes color photographs