Savannah Celebrations: Simple Southern Party Menus
What constitutes a southern party? Like many of her peers (including Paula Deen, with whom she collaborated on four cookbooks), food writer Nesbit considers any occasion a great time to celebrate. In her first cookbook, the author selects many of the usual holidays, from St. Pat’s to New Year’s, as well as some new nonevents—a salute to Gullah cooking and an oyster roast. Although her book’s title is somewhat misleading, since menus are a simple grouping of several entrées with sides, appetizers, drinks, and desserts, the 150 recipes are, for the most part, easy to follow, especially when combined with elegant color photographs. Select crab cakes (no filler, please) and tomato pie as traditional southern dishes—with the unexpected fillip of pesto and tomato terrine and a hot chicken salad casserole. Added to her dishes are both tips (use chicken recipes if you don’t know people’s tastes) and a comforting ongoing dialogue (“It’s hard to spread mayonnaise over cheese,” or “When you can make a perfect lemon meringue pie, you are a GOOD COOK”) that will make any home chef feel like an instant low-country expert. --Barbara Jacobs