cover image Coastal Carolina Cooking

Coastal Carolina Cooking

Nancy Davis, Kathy Hart. University of North Carolina Press, $14.95 (179pp) ISBN 978-0-8078-1692-9

In a volume that is as much an anthropological study as a cookbook, Davis and Hart, who work with the Univ. of North Carolina's Sea Grant program, have collected recipes and reminiscences from 34 tar-heel cooks. Many of the recipes, such as Frances Inglis's plum pudding, come from 19th century family collections; others, such as Katharine Taylor's fried coot, coon hash or puppy drum (the local name for small channel bass), are indigenous to the area. Few recipes are complicated, and all have simple ingredients. Some, however, may rely to a great extent on the freshness of the ingredientsthey may not taste as good prepared elsewhere. But this caveat does not apply to Mae Tarkington's Coca-Cola cake or Jeanie Williams's chocolate pound cake. While city cooks may not have the meansor the willto make a roast swan, they will certainly want this book for their kitchen. (May)