A Slice of the South
YOU CAN TELL a lot about a person by their cookbooks. In my mother’s kitchen in Memphis, her favorites are packed tightly into several open shelves above the stove. If you combed through them without knowing her story, you might think she’s from Louisiana. The ones that show the most love—with stained, tattered pages and their covers falling off—came from the Junior Leagues of Cajun country, which perhaps explains my childhood diet of gumbo, étouffée, and red beans and rice. Within easy reach on the bottom shelf are Jambalaya: Cookbook of the Junior League of New Orleans, River Road Recipes: The Textbook of Louisiana Cuisine, and Talk About Good! Le Livre de la Cuisine de Lafayette. The only local cookbook in the mix is Gracious Goodness: The Taste of Memphis,…
