The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook

Starred review from September 4, 2006
With respect for the past and an enlightened, modern sensibility, the Lee brothers roll up their sleeves and get elbow-deep in Southern cooking in all its sugary, fried goodness. The authors grew up in Charleston, S.C., where they developed a love for boiled peanuts, shrimp and grits, and she-crab soup. Now New Yorkers (and co-proprietors of a mail-order source for Southern pantry staples), the brothers are aware that certain Southern foods have quite a reputation elsewhere in the country ("grits run a close second to lard as the longest-running joke about southern food, perceived by the uninitiated to be a curiosity rather than what they are: a pillar of southern cooking"). As a result, their approach to the cuisine is steeped in research and never snobby. Many recipes are coded "quick knockout," meaning they use just a few ingredients and can be prepared relatively quickly (Fried Oysters, Shrimp Burgers). More involved recipes (Lady Baltimore Cake; Kentucky Burgoo, a meat stew) come with fascinating asides on their origins. Classy, matter-of-fact and welcoming, this volume deserves a permanent place on cooks' shelves by day and on bedside tables by night, as a browsable primer on a world and its food. Photos, line drawings.

Starred review from October 15, 2006
The Lees, frequent contributors to the New York Times, Food & Wine, and Travel & Leisure, are the owners of a mail-order business called the Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalog. Their catalog, and ensuing career as food writers, had a somewhat unlikely start: recently transplanted from Charleston, SC, and homesick for the particularly Southern treat of boiled raw peanuts, the brothers cooked up a big batch in their tiny kitchen on the Lower East Side of New York Cityand then tried to market them. Eventually, the Times food section ran a note about the peanuts, and their mail-order business was born. They now travel all over the South seeking out regional specialties and writing about their experiences. Once they began developing recipes to go along with their finds, they started playing around with, or rediscovering, other favorite Southern dishes, e.g., Cheese-Grits Chiles Rellenos with Roasted Tomato Gravy and Clover Peach Fried Pies. The brothers are good storytellers, and their cookbook is as entertaining as it is informative. Highly recommended.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2006
It would be difficult to imagine any more enthusiastic or winning advocates for southern cooking than the Lee brothers. Raised in Charleston, South Carolina, but New Yorkers by choice, their entry into the southern food business began when they got a hankering for some boiled peanuts, and no place even in all Gotham could satisfy their need. A mail--order business ensued, and soon they became purveyors of all sorts of foodstuffs from the nation's Southeast. Their cookbook begins with a collection of drink recipes, from sweet tea to potent planters' punch. To accompany these beverages, the Lee brothers array a long series of snack and party foods. A section on preserves and pickles documents some rarely seen regional treats, such as Jerusalem artichoke relish. Meats, seafood, sweets, and breads round out the book. Every recipe has a story attached, and the large format makes for easy reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)