Damon Lee Fowler

Food * History * Words

Recipes and Stories

30 March 2020: Simple Carbs in a Crisis

March 30, 2020

Tags: Classic American Cooking, Classic Southern Cooking, potatoes, Potato Gratin, spring potatoes

Gratin of New Potatoes and Spring Onions

A dear friend and fellow food writer/cooking teacher reminded me this morning of one reason that panic hoarders have cleaned out the flour, pasta, and rice from most of our markets over the last two weeks: Simple carbohydrates are a natural mood elevator.

She suggested breadmaking as a great way to expend energy in this time of confinement that has an added bonus of providing a lovely, warm simple carbohydrate that comforts and naturally lifts us from the inevitable depression that comes with being cooped up.

It's a fine idea. Unhappily, unless you made it to the market before panic emptied the shelves of bread's primary ingredient, for the moment, an idea is all it can be.

So far, however, no one has been panic-hoarding one of natures great sources of simple carbohydrates: potatoes (at least, not here in Savannah where I live). Read More

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16 March 2020: Braised Cabbage

March 16, 2020

Tags: Classical Southern Cooking, Historical Southern Cooking, cabbage, Lettice Bryan, The Kentucky Housewife, Fried Cabbage

Lettice Bryan's Fried Cabbage is actually braised, and makes a fine accompaniment for roast poultry, pork, ham, and that St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef

16 March 2020: Braised Cabbage

The middle of March marks an all-too-brief moment in the year when green cabbage, which gets so little attention the rest of the year, comes into its own and finally gets to share a bit of culinary lime light.

After months of being taken for granted slivered up in coleslaw or stewed with salt pork and languishing on the steam table of restaurants offering so-called "country" cooking, green cabbage finally gets to nestle up to that ubiquitous hunk of St. Patrick's Day corned beef and shine, if only for a day or two.

That wasn't always the case: Read More

2 Comments

11 March 2020: Why You Should Be Loving (and Using) Your Grandmother's Silver

March 11, 2020

Tags: Sterling Flatware, Silver Flatware, Family Meals, Table Settings, Formal Versus Informal Table Settings

A Tomato Server: Just because that's its name doesn't mean that it can only be used to scoop up sliced tomatoes.

Today, we're taking a break from cooking to talk about another important aspect of the meal, one that is especially timely just now.

Unless you've been hibernating for the last few weeks, you're well aware of how the outbreak of a new, influenza-like virus has sent a wave of panic over the globe, creating a renewed hyper-sensitivity to sanitation.

Instructions on proper handwashing have become common on social media. There have been runs on toilet paper, hand-sanitizer, and masks. We're being cautioned about being in the confined crowds of an airplane, theater, church, and other such public places. And when people do venture out, they've started shying away from direct contact with others, avoiding handshakes and that modern habit of hugging everything and everyone in sight.

There is, however, a simple and very effective practice that most people have overlooked, one that has almost been lost to our progressively modern world: the use of silver tableware. Read More

7 Comments

Comments

Mar 11, 2020 7:52 PM EDT

What a timely article. Who knew that Silver was more hygienic than Stainless? Not I ! Not to brag, but we do use our Silver and Silver Plate because it is sad to see it locked up under brown felt wrappings. Let it breath.

- Sylvia Frezzolini Severance

Mar 12, 2020 8:28 AM EDT

Thank you, Sylvia! I understand that surgical equipment was originally made from silver because it was more hygenic, but when stainless steel came along, I suppose it was cheaper and more durable. Thanks for following and reading!

- Damon Lee Fowler

Mar 12, 2020 10:25 AM EDT

As usual, you are a wealth of useful information with that great wit of yours, I'm dusting off my grandmother's silver tonight!

- Robin Godbold

Mar 12, 2020 11:49 AM EDT

Thank you, Robin! There's so much about silver and sanitation that I couldn't get into without making the essay too long and preachy. I didn't get into surgical equipment (see the comments above) or Communion silver, which is why no one gets sick from the common cup. Thank you for reading and following me! Miss you all so much!

- Damon Lee Fowler

Apr 01, 2020 4:36 PM EDT

I know you know how I feel about having and using silver. I have been dismayed in recent years by all of the photographs in magazines and cookbooks that have dirty, slovenly unpolished silver in them. It is not difficult to keep it clean and gleaming. The more it is used the better it looks. A collogue of yours told me, when I once complained/commented about how the food stylists for these publications use the grubby stuff in the pictures. She told me she wouldn't use it at "fish camp" looking like that. Get it out where it is at hand, use it. Don't be afraid of it. There is also the tactile pleasure one get when using it. It is smooth and silky to the touch. Eating ice cream with a silver spoon is especially pleasurable and to feel the cold from the bowl of the spoon right up the handle.

- Candy Grover

Apr 01, 2020 5:39 PM EDT

I really dislike the use of badly tarnished silver in food styling shots myself. But there is a practical reason they do it. Mind, it's not a good one, but it has nothing to do with being lazy about cleaning it: it's much easier to photograph without getting an unwanted reflection of the camera, photographer and food stylist in the bowl, becuase it's so dull that it doesn't reflect anything.

- Damon Lee Fowler

Apr 02, 2020 7:25 PM EDT

Photos, yes there is that, but it is pretty minor, they don't rough up and dull crystal do they?

- Candy Grover

Selected Works

Cookbooks

Ham: A SAVOR THE SOUTH Cookbook

A part of the University of North Carolina Press’s SAVOR THE SOUTH® series, Ham: A SAVOR THE SOUTH Cookbook contains 55 classic recipes for hams Southern and otherwise.

Essentials of Southern Cooking: Techniques & Flavors of a Classic American Cuisine

A collection of more than twenty-five years of writing about and teaching the history and techniques of the cooking of my native American South, the collection of cuisines that we loosely call Southern Cooking.

Savannah Chef's Table: Extraordinary Recipes from This Historic Southern City

A portrait of Savannah's growing restaurant scene in recipes and stories.

Classical Southern Cooking

A Celebration of the Cuisine of the Old South, hailed as a modern classic and Bible of Southern Foodways.

The Savannah Cookbook

A loving portrait of a proud old port city in recipes

Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Kitchen

Classical Southern Cooking in today's kitchen

Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking

Traditional Southern Baking for modern cooks

Beans, Greens, and Sweet Georgia Peaches

A sampling of the South's Cookery for the hundreds of regional fruits and vegetables.

Dining at Monticello

Seventy five recipes that were documented to have been used at Mr. Jefferson's Monticello during his lifetime, translated for use in a modern kitchen, with essays by the Foundation's curatorial staff.

Quick Links

John Carrington Photography

Web site for the food photographer for two of my cookbooks, Classical Southern Cooking and The Savannah Cookbook

Authors Guild

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Authors Guild Directory

A compendium of member websites