The Florida Cookbook: From Gulf Coast Gumbo to Key Lime Pie--KCA Pbk (Knopf Cooks American) - Softcover

Voltz, Jeanne; Stuart, Caroline

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679765751 ISBN 13: 9780679765752

Publisher: Knopf, 1996

Synopsis

A generous and delicious sampling (more than 200 recipes) of the cooking of Florida, along with an entertaining excurison into the land where the story of American food began and where today one can find the most interesting culinary diversity in the U.S.A.

Jeanne Voltz and Caroline Stuart take us through all six areas of Florida: the Northeast (for Oyster Roasts, Smoked Beans, Peanut Butter Pie); the Panhandle (Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant, Cheese Grits, Blackberry Dumplings); the Space Coast, Gold Coast, and the Keys (Conch Salad, Broiled Yellowtail with Orange Butter); the Big Bend and the Sun Coast (Crab Boil, Calabaza Salad, Rum Spanish Flan with Caramelized Oranges); Central Florida (Smothered Rabbit, Greens with Corn Meal Dumplings); and Florida's Great Lake (Frog's Legs, Hoppin' John, Fresh Banana Layer Cake).

Anyone who loves good food will welcome the delightful fare to be found in these pages. And Floridians—newcomers, old-timers, and those just passing through—will discover a wealth of information about where and how to enjoy the riches of land and sea.
With more than 65 photographs and illustrations

About this title

From the Back Cover:

More than 450 years ago, Florida became the cradle of American cooking as we know it now, the place where European foods were first blended with the foodways of Native Americans. The great mix was set in motion in 1513, when Ponce de Leon staked a claim for Spain near Ponte Vedra. The exchange of multicultural food customs has never ceased, creating a cuisine of more ethnic diversity than any in America, and possibly in the world....

It was the founding of St. Augustine in 1565 and, two years later, the Nombre de Dios mission that introduced European cooking to the new continent. Franciscans traveling the mission trail to Pensacola were making egg custards in the Spanish manner and using rice and spices unknown then in the Western world, and settlers in Florida were eating in the Spanish style long before Father Junipero Serra, the culinary trailblazer in the West, founded the first mission in California.

However, two powerful influences moderated the Spanish flavor of Florida. First, there were the people of African heritage. A small number of Moors and Africans came as free persons with the Conquistadors, then thousands were brought here as slaves, starting in the middle of the sixteenth century. The blacks carried with them sesame seeds, yams, eggplants, and okra, for their own use. The second influential non-Spanish group was the Anglo-Americans descendants of settlers in New England, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who began to trickle into Florida before the American Revolution. They brought sweets, a taste for rice cooked differently from the Spanish, and quick hot breads. Not until the Spanish migrations to Key West and Tampa after the Civil War did European-type wheat breads come into general use, except in Pensacola, where a unique hardtack was made for the salad called gaspachee.

From the Inside Flap:

licious and generous sampling (more than 200 recipes) of the cooking of Florida, along with an entertaining excursion into the land where the story of American food began and where today one can find the most interesting culinary diversity in the U.S.A.

Jeanne Voltz and Caroline Stuart take us through all six areas of Florida as they explore:
The Northeast in search of An Oyster Roast, Florida Smoked Beans, and Peanut Butter Pie
The Panhandle for Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant, Baked Cheese Grits, and Blackberry Dumplings
The Space Coast, Gold Coast, and the Keys for Florida Conch Salad, Broiled Yellowtail with Orange Butter, and Mango Tarte Tatin with Lime Custard Sauce
The Big Bend and the Sun Coast for Coastal Crab Boil, Ybor City Calabaza Salad, and Rum Spanish Flan with Caramelized Oranges
Central Florida for Smothered Rabbit, Greens with Corn Meal Dumplings, and Strawberry Cobbler
Florida's Great Lake for South Florida Frog's Legs, Hoppin' John with Trim

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0679765751
• ISBN 13: 9780679765752
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416