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African American "Soul-Food"
African American Food Culture and History
What we know as "soul food" is the descendant of slave cooking. It is the brilliant masterpiece that derived from want. Slave cooking is distinct in its use of greens, beans, and the parts of the pig rejected at the plantation house: pig's knuckles, ears, tripe, hog maws. These were added to the corn rations which were sometimes the only food allotted to the slaves. The meager pantry was further supplemented by wild game and fish pulled from the streams. Squirrel and possum figure among the meats used, catfish, trout, and shrimp among the fish. Much soul food requires the use of only one pot, as time for cooking and money for its tools were both hard to come by.
In the past, African American food was prepared in many ways. Since there were no refrigerators or freezers years ago, meat was smoked in a smokehouse to make sure it wouldn't spoil. Meats were barbecued, roasted, boiled, or made into stews. Feathered wildlife was prepared by frying, baking, roasting, making broths, or simmering to form gravies. In the rivers and streams, there were lots of fish and other water life that could be eaten. Vegetables were boiled or fried. Drinks were made from the juices of fruits.
Meals were cooked in open fires using black kettles or were barbecued in open pits. The people who cooked just knew how to do it. They didn't need to follow a recipe.
Back in the days of slavery, slaves were often forced to eat the scraps that their slave masters did not want. They turned these scraps into delicious dishes. Some of these foods are black-eyes peas, cornbread, bread pudding, greens, sweet potato pie, and chitlins.
From this tradition came many delicious African American food recipes.
African American Recipes: Breads
Breads
Cornmeal is an important part of the African American diet. There are many ways to use cornmeal. You can fry it to make fritters, or you can bake it to make cornbread. You can even make corn sticks and corm muffins using cornmeal.
Grease a 9-inch pan with oil. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Pour mixture into the pan and bake in the oven at 425 degrees for 18 minutes.
From Westridge Young Writers Workshop, Kids Explore American's African American Heritage. New Mexico: John Muir Publications, 1996.
Corn Pone
1 cup flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk (or use water)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Heat skillet, add 1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil until hot enough that a drop of batter bubbles immediately. Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, egg, and milf or water until smooth with no lumps. Place a spoonful in 4 or 5 places in a hot skillet. Let brown, then turn over like a pancake and brown on the other side. Serve with butter and honey.
From Westridge Young Writers Workshop, Kids Explore American's African American Heritage. New Mexico: John Muir Publications, 1996.
Banana Nut Bread #1
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
2 eggs
3/4 cup floured nuts, chopped ripe bananas, mashed with fork
Cream sugar and butter. Add flour, salt, soda and eggs. Fold in nuts and bananas. Turn into a greased, paper lined 5 x 9 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Yields 20 servings. Serve with softened cream cheese if desired.
Hoe Cakes
1 cup white cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons bacon fat, butter or vegetable oil
Mix meal and salt in bowl. Add boiling water. Stir constantly with spoon. Mix well. Beat until smooth soft dough. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough into hot oil. Spread to form flat circles. Cook until golden brown (2 minutes) on each side, turning once with spatula. Frain on paper towel. Serve hot. (Makes 8)
Banana Nut Bread #2
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda in 1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 teaspooon butter nut vanilla flavoring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, flour and salt. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
Down-Home Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening or cooking oil
3/4 cup milk
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut shortening into flour mixture until it forms coarse crumbs. Add milk. Mix with fork until particles cling together. Form dough into a ball and transfer to lightly floured bread board. Knead gently 8 to 10 times. Roll dough out with rolling pin until about 1/2-inch thick. Cut with 2-inch round cutter or cut into 2-inch squares. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.
To make shortcake, add 1 cup sugar. Then prepare the filling and topping. Wash and prepare 2 pints of strawberries. Top with milk, cream, or whipped cream.
Heritage Recipe from The Black Family Reunion Cookbook by the National Council of Negro Women.
Church Social Yeast Biscuits
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees F.)
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Beat butter, eggs, and sugar; add dissolved yeast and stir. Add flour, salt, and boiling water; mix well. Refrigerate dough overnight or until well chilled. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough to 3/4 inch thickness and cut into biscuits. Reroll scraps and cut again until all dough is used. Let biscuits rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and bake until golden brown, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. (12 to 18 biscuits)
Butter Rolls
1 cup milk
1 cake compressed yeast
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey
3 eggs
5 1/2 cups enriched flour, sifted
1/2 cup melted butter
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a medium saucepan, heat milk until small bubbles form on side of pan, and cool to lukewarm. Add yeast to milk and stir until dissolved. In a large bowl, cream butter, salt, and shortening; gradually add sugar and honey. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Gradually add flour, alternating with milk mixture, mixing well after each addition. Beat for 2 or 3 minutes after final addition. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a tea towel, and allow to rise in a warm place 1 hour or until double in bulk. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours or until chilled. Turn out onto a floured board, rool out to a thickness of 1/2 inch, and cut out with floured biscuit cutter. Reroll scraps and cut again until all dough is used. Place in a greased pan, brush with melted butter, and let rise until double in sixe, about 35 minutes. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. (Makes 2 dozen rolls)
From Tillery, Carolyn Quick, The African-American Heritage Cookbook, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, 1997.
Spoon Bread
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs - beaten
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine cornmeal and boiling water. Stir until smooth. Add butter and salt. Mix well. Let cool. Add milk and beaten eggs. Pour into greased casserole. Bake at 375 degrees F. for approximately 30 minutes. (Serves 6)
Refrigerator Rolls
1 cup milk
2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
6 cups flour
4 eggs - well beaten
2 packages yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
4 teaspoons salt
Scald the milk and add the butter, sugar and salt and stir until mixture is dissolved. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and let it cool. Add the eggs and yeast (pre-dissolved in water). Mix the flour, 3 cups at a time into the mixture. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it is doubled in bulk. Push the dough down and refrigerate overnight. NEXT DAY: Roll out the dough on a floured board. Cut dough with a biscuit cutter. Brush the tops with melted butter. Fold over and top with melted butter. Let the dough rise again until it is twice its size. Bake at 375 degrees F. until brown. (Makes 3 dozen)
Desserts
Sweet Potato Pie
2 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes
1 1/3 cups sugar (brown or white)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk or half-and-half
3/4 stick of butter
Peel and culbe sweet potatoes. Mash potatoes with all the above ingredients. Beat with mixer on medium speed until smooth (or you can mix it by hand until smooth). Place in pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until firm when touched in the middle.
From Westridge Young Writers Workshop, Kids Explore American's African American Heritage. New Mexico: John Muir Publications, 1996.
Bread Pudding
Years ago, people could not afford to throw anything away. If they had a lot of leftover old bread (the bread that was made with flour, not cornmeal), they would crumble and save it. The whole message behind bread pudding is that people could not afford to waste or throw away food, so they rexyxled it. With bread pudding, they used the stale bread to make this delicious dessert.
Mix all the above ingredients. Place in 350 degree oven. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the center is firm to the touch. Can be served hot or cold.
Cream Cheese Pound Cake
3 sticks of butter (the real thing is best!)
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
6 eggs
3 cups sugar
3 cups of flour
1 tsp lemon or vanilla extract
Cream the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer until well blended. Add 1 cup of sugar and blend well. Add 1 egg and blend well. Alternate 1 cup sugar and 1 egg until sugar is depleted. Add 1 cup of flour, blend well. Add 1 egg and alternate flour with egg until flour is depleted. Add extract and blend well. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake in a pre-heated 325 degree oven for 1 hour and 25 minutes. Ice with lemon glaze.
LEMON GLAZE
About 2 cups of confectioners sugar
1 tbsp butter melted
milk
3 tbsp lemon juice
(all of these measurements are approximate)
Mix these ingredients until smooth and the consistency of a glaze (thicker than regular milk, but as thick as Eagle sweetened condensed milk) Pour over the cake.
Poppy Seed Cake
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1/2 cup cream sherry
1/2 cup corn oil
1 cup sour cream
Mix all ingredients together well. Pour into a greased tube or bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hr.
Pound Cake
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 cups cake flour - sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 eggs - separated
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 teaspoon lemon flavoring
Cream the butter or margarine and sugar. Add the egg yolks. Beat well. Add sifted cake flour, salt and baking powder alternately with milk. Add vanilla and lemon flavoring and stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in a greased tube pan at 350 degrees F. for 1 hour or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. (Makes 8 - 10 Servings)
Strawberry Pound Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 pkg strawberry jello (small)
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 box strawberries (small)
3 tbsp self rising flour
1/2 cup of water
Mix cake mix, flour and jello. Add oil. Beat in the 4 eggs. Add 1/2 cup water with 1/2 of the strawberries. Beat and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
ICING
2 cups powered sugar
1/2 stick butter and the rest of the strawberries
Mix together the sugar, butter and the rest of the strawberries. Ice the cake with this mixture.
Combine all ingredients in large mixer bowl. Mix until blended, then beat at medium speed for 4 minutes. Turn batter into greased and lightly floured 10 inch tube pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until done. If desired, dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.
Best Brownies
1/2 cup butter, creamed
1 cup sugar
2 eggs slightly beaten
2/3 cup sifted flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 squares bitter chocolate melted
Add sugar to creamed butter or margarine. Mix in eggs. Add vanilla and stir in flour. Add chocolate. Use 8 inch greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Serves: 9-10
Scripture Cake
1 1/2 cups I Kings 4:22 (flour)
1/2 cup Judges 5:25 (butter)
2 cups Jeremiah 6:20 (sugar)
2 cups I Samuel 30:12 (raisins)
2 cups Nahum 3:12 (figs or dates)
1 cup Numbers 17:8 (almonds, nuts)
Dash II Chronicles 9:9 (season to taste)
2 T. I SAmuel 14:25 (honey)
6 Jeremiah 17:11 (eggs)
Pinch Leviticus 2:13 (salt)
1/2 cup Judges 4:19 (milk)
2 tsp. Amos 4:5 (soda)
Follow Solomon's prescription for making a
good boy - Proverbs 23:14. Beat well and you will
have a good cake. Bake in a square pan, greased and
floured for 1 hour at 300 degrees F. Cool before
serving.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
2 1/2 cups flour (sifted)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream butter, add sugar gradually, blend well. Beat eggs well and add to butter and sugar mixture. Mix sifted flour, salt, and baking powder. Add milt a little at a time. Finally, add vanilla. Use two 9" x 12" buttered cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
From Westridge Young Writers Workshop, Kids Explore American's African American Heritage. New Mexico: John Muir Publications, 1996.
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 can (30 oz.) pineapple slices
10 maraschino cherries
2 cups cake flour - sifted
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg - beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup milk
Sprinkle brown sugar in bottom of well-greased pan. Dot with butter. Drain pineapple. Place slices in pan with cherry in center of each pinapple slice. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Cream shortening. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, alternately with milk. Pour batter over fruit. Bake at 350 degrees F. until brown. for 50 to 60 minutes. Turn upside down on servind plate. (Serves 8-10)
