The Way Home: A Celebration of Sea Islands Food and Family with over 100 Recipes

“I feel that good food... doesn’t have to have a super-fancy lineage,” writes chef Brown, the star of Food Network’s Delicious Miss Brown, in her exceptional debut, a survey of Gullah Geechee cuisine. Brown writes that Gullah food traditions are “the foundation of southern cooking,” and the tantalizing offerings—buffalo blue fried shrimp, crab cake scrambled benedict with Old Bay hollandaise, country potato salad, shrimp and grits—pay homage to her heritage and add a delicious twist to traditional dishes. Baked treats include classics: red velvet cake can be garnished with pecans, and ice cream complements blackberry cobbler with a golden brown crust. Hearty breakfast fare abounds, with fluffy buttermilk pancakes, country garlic gravy and biscuits, savory bread pudding, hash brown casserole, and fried chicken and pancakes with spicy syrup. Recipes that incorporate preserving, which Brown calls “second nature for us,” are packed with sweet and sour flavors, whether in a quick pickled okra or a strawberry balsamic jam. On the beverage end, there’s palmetto punch, and spiked peach lemonade. Gorgeous full-color photos enhance the tasty dishes. For those craving rich and soulful flavors, this is a no-brainer. (Oct.)