Sweets
Soul Food Desserts and Memories
by Patty Pinner
Ten Speed Press, 2006
$16.95, paper
166 pages
I always think food tastes better when it comes with a story. In Sweets, Patty Pinner tells stories from a time when men aspired to own cars with fins, women loved wide brimmed hats, and families gathered again and again at tables filled with food and love.
Pinner grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, in a family that had migrated from Mississippi when General Motors was hiring. More family members followed, and the sisiters and cousins established comfortable traditions that always seemed to gather at the table. Pinner remembers the kitchens of her mother, grandmother, and each of her aunts. Her grandmother's kitchen was sparkling clean, when it didn't smell like dinner, it smelled like Pine-Sol. One aunt ran a hairdressing out of a corner of her kitchen, another had a playhouse kitchen of bright yellow formica, and another had cabinets full of exotic sauces and spices.
Pinner recalls family members fondly, studs the book with their pictures, and gathers the recipes that these "cookin' sisters" loved to show off. And amid the steaming pots of greens and fried catfish dinners, Pinner recalls, no meal was complete without a sweet finish.
The recipes in Sweets are from a pre-Martha Stewart age. No one here is trying to meticulously decorate with dragees and royal icing. No one here is attempting French or Italian patisserie and no one here is shaping cakes to fit themes.
This is not to say that these aren't special recipes and special cakes. Oh, the cakes. From the three layer hot pink strawberry cake on the cover to the coconut, whisky, banana, spice cakes and more, Pinner's female relatives were never at a loss for a show stopper.
The first thing to say about Lemon Rum Cake is that it's not made from a mix, as so many of this sort of cake is these days. And you know, by reading the ingredients how good it will be. Lemon, almonds and rum have a natural affinity, echoing and expanding on each other's flavors. But you'll have no idea just how good until you taste it. Tart lemon pairs up with the tang of buttermilk and then dances off to swirl around the rum and almond.
That's not to say that Pinner's aunts didn't occasionally call on mixes. Amid Caramel Cake, Butter Cake, Old Fashioned Spice Cake, and Honey Cake are recipes for Sunday Morning Coffeecake or Quick Coconut Cake that call on Cool Whip, cakes mixes, and boxed pudding.
Other recipes recall the bounty of a home garden. White Potato Candy, Butter Bean Pie, and Yam Cake are the best kind of housewifery, making thrifty use of what's at hand, and making it into something special. Chapters on pies and cobblers, puddings and desserts, cookies and candies, and finally, ice cream include recipes for classics like oatmeal cookies and sweet potato pie to family specialties like lemon ice cream and cantaloupe pie.
And as would be expected from a family collection, there are recipes that serve for special occasions, that are the genius of one creative cook, and that you can call on almost without thinking. They range from perfect for a snack Peanut Butter Cookies or Snow Ice Cream when the weather allows to A Little of Nothing Pie, when you've got a taste for something sweet and there's not much in the house.
These are the kind of desserts you might once taste at a church supper or office potluck and remember years later, wondering about the recipe. Capture them here, at the rich source of Pinner's family kitchen.
© 2006 Claudia Kousoulas
