The Way Home

September 15, 2022
Fans of the Food Network show Delicious Miss Brown will recognize chef and host Kardea Brown. Taking readers on a food adventure from the sea islands of South Carolina, where she grew up, Brown introduces her family and the beginnings of her food career. With care, Brown teaches readers about the Gullah culture embedded in the coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina, created by the descendants of tribes from Central and West Africa who were enslaved in the U.S., making this a valuable history of Gullah culture, people, and food, too. Sharing her mother's and grandmother's recipes, Brown presents a buffet of flavorsome dishes: red rice filled with smoked sausage, blue crab-packed low-country boil, a pot of savory, mouthwatering chicken perloo. Her dessert table features sesame-rich benne wafers, her grandma's bread pudding, and a show-stopping sweet potato cheesecake. Just like a comfy homecooked meal, The Way Home is bound to leave readers craving more.

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Starred review from November 7, 2022
“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.