Sweet Home Café Cookbook

June 4, 2018
Lucas, supervising chef of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture’s café, and Harris (The Martha’s Vineyard Table) present the museum café’s recipes in this fascinating cookbook. Included are recipes for hoppin’ john, shrimp and grits, buttermilk fried chicken, chocolate chess pie, and many more. African, Caribbean, Native American, European, and Latin-American influences appear throughout in dishes such as Jamaican jerk chicken, duck and crawfish gumbo, fried okra, and numerous smoked and barbecued dishes. Organized into “Salads and Sides,” “Soups and Stews,” “Mains, Pickles/Snacks/Breads,” and “Sweets/Drinks,” recipes are coded by geographic area (“Agricultural South,” “Creole Coast,” “Northern States,” and “Western Range”) and include historical background: for example, pork shoulder is from the agricultural South, served with an Eastern Carolina vinegar sauce, and “hickory or hardwood chips is a must” if smoked; shrimp and grits comes from the creole coast, and “for authenticity, use stone-ground grits”; and salmon croquettes originated in the northern states and the dish often “shows up on the breakfast table, sometimes scrambled into eggs.” In these refined café dishes, Lucas and Harris deliver a delicious food history lesson for home cooks.

July 1, 2018

Named for the cafe at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, this cookbook collects classic and contemporary dishes inspired by historically African American foods. Chapter introductions and headnotes from culinary historian Jesica B. Harris (High on the Hog) provide social and historical context to 109 regional recipes such as potato salad, Louis Armstrong's red beans & rice, fried croaker with corn hush puppies, and banana pudding. There are also contributions from the cafe's supervising chef Albert Lukas and executive chef Jerome Grant. Collectively, they showcase the influence of African American cooking on the nation's foodways. VERDICT A satisfying blend of recipes and culinary history. Highly recommended.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2018
Part of the phenomenal success and overflowing crowds at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History has been the museum's Sweet Home Cafe, a welcoming venue. The restaurant's menu includes all sorts of tasty dishes that connect both directly and indirectly with African American culinary history. Expected soul food standards, such as collards and potlikker, fried chicken, and sweet potato pie, appear in this beautifully illustrated cookbook, and there are also supplemental ideas from other New World African traditions, such as Jamaica's curried goat, Trinidad's Afro-Indian Trini doubles, and Guyanese oxtail pepper pot. African American dishes born outside of Dixie include New York City restaurateur Thomas Downing's celebrated oyster pan roast and frontier cowboys' son-of-gun stew. Befitting a cookbook produced by a museum, every recipe is carefully categorized by geographic origins, and a paragraph illuminates how each dish fits specifically within African American cuisine's diverse history and origins.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)