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Every now and then, you find a new book that’s hard to put down. But perhaps that’s less expected when that book is a cookbook. But that’s exactly the case with chef Anne Byrn’s “Baking in the American South.” The recipes are an eclectic mix that includes traditional Southern fare as simple as the buttermilk biscuit, as unexpected as the heavenly chocolate-tomato sheet cake, as elegant as the fig and lemon clafouti, and as comforting as Ma Hoyle’s double crust blackberry cobbler.
But what elevates the book to the next level are the backstories that accompany the food, like a history of the ingredients or the recipe’s connection to the Civil Rights Movement; Zephyr White’s pecan pie might have influenced President Johnson’s passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Plus, the book includes beautifully written essays at the beginning of every chapter.
Author Byrn joins host Lisa Mullins to discuss “Baking in the American South.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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