Southern Roots: Recipes and Stories from Mama Dip’s Daughter

Council devotes her warmhearted debut to the culinary heritage passed down by her mother, Mildred Council, the restaurateur behind North Carolina’s Mama Dip’s Kitchen, which closed in 2025 after a 50-year run. Drawing on food traditions from Chapel Hill’s Northside Black community, these 100 recipes celebrate classic Southern fare. Melt-in-the-mouth pimento cheese biscuits or grits casserole with shrimp gravy elevate a breakfast or brunch. Fresh okra enhances simple corn fritters, while braised collard greens are simmered in “pot liquor” rendered from fried fatback. Chicken dishes (fried or smothered) and rib options (braised or barbecued) abound. Dessert offerings include corn pudding that, in a French twist, gets bruléed to form a crunchy topping, and pound cake that gets unexpected tang from goat cheese. Wisdom gathered from Council’s multigenerational family kitchen and vignettes describing childhood memories capture the spirit of Chapel Hill’s Black community and the social history accompanying desegregation. The result serves triple duty as a tender homage to a Council’s mother, an appealing portrait of an important American culinary landscape, and an accessible recipe collection that offers plenty of inspiration. It’s a delight. (Feb.)