Weekend Book Review: Country Cooking from a Redneck Kitchen

When I requested the book Country Cooking from a Redneck Kitchen by Francine Bryson, I did not connect the author with The American Baking Competition.  For me the main draw was the redneck kitchen part of the title.  I just knew it would be filled with down home Southern cooking recipes.  The recipes use basic ingredients that are on hand for most southern cooks.  This is important since I often like to choose a recipe to cook at a moment's notice.

This cookbook includes everything from appetizers (Redneck Whatnots) to main dishes, sides, and breads to sweet treats.  I especially enjoyed the following included with the recipe for Buttermilk Pecan Skillet Cake:  "If  Granny heard someone say 'puh-CON,' she would ask, 'Do you see an 'o' in the word PEA-can?'"  I would have loved Mrs. Bryson's Granny as that is the correct pronunciation of the word pecan.

I tried out two recipes from the cookbook.  First was the German Chocolate Cookies which I made twice.  I admit to doing "a little fiddling" with the recipe just as Mrs. Bryson did.  My only change was cutting the amount of chocolate chips in half.  Out of everyone who tried these cookies (about 30 people), only one person did not love them.  His complaint was that they had coconut, and I pointed out that they were German chocolate.  The recipe was spot on both in the number of cookies and the cooking time which tells me that these were truly tested and not just put in a cookbook.  I also tried the Most-Requested Spinach Dip.  Taste reviews on this were mixed.  I loved it, and even W who does not eat spinach said it was delicious.  This will become an often used cookbook in my kitchen!  If you love country cooking, I highly recommend you add it to your cookbook collection as well.

disclosure:  I received this book from Blogging for Books but was not otherwise compensated for this review.  All opinions are my own!