Flagg - Fannie Flaggs Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook

ALSO BY FANNIE FLAGG

CANT WAIT TO GET TO HEAVEN
A REDBIRD CHRISTMAS
STANDING IN THE RAINBOW
WELCOME TO THE WORLD, BABY GIRL!
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE
DAISY FAY AND THE MIRACLE MAN

A Fawcett Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group

Copyright 1993 by Fannie Flagg

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Fawcett Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Excerpts from Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg copyright 1987 by Fannie Flagg. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

Fawcett is a registered trademark and the Fawcett colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

www.ballantinebooks.com

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-90148
eISBN: 978-0-345-53382-1

Cover design Barbara Leff
Cover Illustration by Dan Brown

v3.1

Aunt Bess couldnt resist feeding anybody.

This book is dedicated to the memory of my Aunt Bess. It was in her cafe that I first learned about good food and kindness, two things I still treasure.

F irst and foremost I must again thank the wonderful McMichael family, owners of the original cafe in Irondale, Alabama, for all their generosity and help in making this book possible. Special thanks to Debbie Maugans who worked tirelessly on the recipes. Thanks also to my other Birmingham, Alabama friends, Norma Warren and Ann Harvey for their help. Also, many thanks to my good friend and photo researcher for this book. Jo Roy Donaldson, and her research assistants, Leslie Thompson and Michelle Andrews. Also, thank you to the following for their assistance in photo research: Don Veasey, Dr. Marvin Whiting, Jim Murray, George Ewert, Elisa Baldwin, Mike Thomason, Tanya Zanish, Del Wilson, Gail Miller DeLoach, Jerry Cotten, Nancy Bounds, Elaine Owens, Petie Bogen-Garrett, Deborah Evans, Kathryn Tucker Windam, Donna L. Newton.

Many thanks to my wonderful agent and friend, Wendy Weil, and to my Ballantine editor Ginny Faber and her assistant, Phebe Kirkham, who were both a joy to work with. Last but not least I wish to gratefully acknowledge my beloved Random House editor Sam Vaughan, who thankfully oversees every word I write and earns his unofficial title of the nicest man in publishing every day. His encouragement and support are the two balloons that have kept me, and continue to keep me, afloat.

A cookbook! Why in the world are you of all people going to write a cookbook? That was the response when I told my friends what I was doing. You would have thought that I had just announced my attempt to overthrow a foreign government with a fork. Why not? I asked somewhat defensively, considering that most of them had been to my home for dinner. I turned to my friend. Mickey, how can you say that? Why just the other night your very own husband, Bob, just raved and raved about my pork chops and black-eyed peas! She paused. Now, Fannie, I didnt say they werent good; its just that they are the only thing you ever serve.

Thats not true, I cried. Remember the year before last when I had the pork chops and turnip greens instead?

Anyway, I guess by now you can pretty much get the picture. My culinary skills are somewhat limited. To tell you the truth, I was surprised myself when my publisher called. A cookbook! Why in the world would you want me of all people to do a cookbook?

Then I thought, Hey, wait a minute why not me? After all, doesnt my relationship with food go way back? But then, whose doesnt? But I am a Southerner and everyone knows we have all been preoccupied with food and stories since birth. Me, perhaps, more than most. I have always loved to eat, loved to be around other people eating; why I even love to see pictures of people eating. Besides, I have written two entire novels, both of which revolve around restaurants, one a malt shop and one a cafe. So, why not me indeed?

As the only child of a mother who did not like to cook, I have eaten out almost every day of my life and enjoyed myself immensely, so I certainly know good food when I see it. Better still, when I taste it. Anyhow, they say you should only write about things that you are interested in and care about, and I certainly qualify on both counts.

So I knew right off the bat that this book would be great fun. But there was another reason I wanted to do this book. Since the novel and the film version of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe were released, I have received thousands of letters from sweet people all over the world, asking me if there really was a Whistle Stop Cafe. Did I have one in mind when I was writing the book, and if so could they please have some of the original recipes?

The answer is yes. There really was such a cafe. The Irondale Cafe was started by my great aunt Bess in the thirties and she ran it for over fifty years. It is located in Irondale, Alabama, a small town just outside my hometown of Birmingham. The good news is that it is thriving, doing a roaring business, with people still coming from miles around to enjoy those same hot delicious meals. Not only that, Virginia Johnson, that fabulous cook who first went to work for my aunt when she was eleven, can still be found in the kitchen, happily frying up a fresh batch of fried green tomatoes every day, the same kind that I, along with generations of others, have enjoyed since we were children. And the best news of all is that the McMichaels family, who bought the cafe from my Aunt Bess and continue to run the cafe so successfully, are dear friends and the nicest people you will ever meet.

So I am delighted to share their original recipes with you, just in case you cant make it down to Alabama anytime soon. We all want you to be able to enjoy and have the fun of making and tasting real downhome cafe cooking in your own kitchen. Not only can you fix and serve it, you can be right in style, foodwise. The marketing people tell me that these recipes fall into the category of comfort food that has suddenly become very In and Trendy. When I heard that, I surely had to laugh. Just think I had been In and Trendy all my life and just didnt know it, because I have always been comfortable eating a good meal.

Which brings me to the main reason I wanted so much to write this book. Lately it seems everyone is mad at someone, with groups on every corner, on the radio, on television, screaming about something or someone or other they dont like. And there is so much anger in the air that you almost see it like a thick fog. In times like this, I think it is particularly important to try to be as calm and happy as possible. And I dont know about you, but, I have always been happiest where food was concerned. Some of the best times in my life have revolved around meals. Lets face iteating is fun. I like everything about it. I particularly like the sounds and the smells and the friendly atmosphere. People laughing, dishes rattling, and glasses tinkling are music to my ears, and I find it impossible to be miserable and angry and enjoy a good meal at the same time. Everybody could use a little comfort these days and is there any place better for a little comfort than a cafe?