Wilbert Jones - Smothered Southern Foods

W HEN I WAS GROWING UP in the South, I remember seeing so many wonderful foods on our family dinner table. Some of my favorite foods were smothered dishes, especially smothered pork chopscut thin, browned in a pan, then we would add some flour and water to the reserved juices to make a wonderful sauce served over white rice.

Wilbert Jones, my beloved culinary friend for many years, has brought back that art of smothering . His early books proved his love for connecting to those foods that bring us comfort. What I love about his work is that he has a keen sense of taste, yet is concerned with healthy cooking. He was the first to write a healthy soul food cookbook, which showed how traditional recipes can get an extreme makeover, but still have plenty of soul left in them.

Wilbert contributed to Back to the Table , sharing his famous smothered catfish recipe. People all over the world have made this recipe time and time again. Lets celebrate Wilbert, who has taught us to appreciate and connect to those foods that bring us comfort and are just darn good!

You will not be disappointed with the many wonderful, great-tasting recipes in this book, and your family will look forward to eating them over and over. My mother, Addie Mae, always said, Honey, Im going to smother you with a lot of love! Wilbert, thanks for smothering us with your love for food and family.

Art Smith, best-selling author of Back to the Table and Kitchen Life , and personal chef to talk show host Oprah Winfrey

T HANKS TO THE FOLLOWING family members, friends (old and new), and culinary colleagues who are very passionate about food and entertaining.

Christine Randle, Ramona Douglass, Courtney Quiroga, Maryann David, Donna Hodge, Antoinette Fields, Cassandra Banks, Ruth Banks, Nancy Ryan, Charles (Art) Smith, Joyce and Lloyd LeVine, Alva Thomas, Pat Brickhouse, Donna Pierce, Deon Williams, Gloria and Bob Hafer, Charlotte Lyons, Kocoa Scott-Winbush, George and Gale Pearson, Leonard Fields, E. Lynn Harris, Don Browne, Jorgina Pereira, Sonny Lim, Roberta and Rich Trenbeth, Robert and Linda Garland, Frank Garner, Gwen Meeks, Van Woods, Robert and Lisa Nicholson, Charla Draper, Claudie Phillips, LaVena Norris, Doris Odem, Beth Rosenberry, Reid Henderson, Charles Pendleton, Jason and Gwen Swack-hamer, DeNita Morris, Burt and Alene Culver, Alan Gordon, Jacquie Bird, Lisa Cureton, Melaine Cooper, Romaine Dauliac, Jesus Salgueiro, Marcus Samuelsson, Royal Allen, Materesa Marshall, Joyce White, Ti Adelaide, Caludia ODonnell, Gwynne Conlyn, Edna Stewart, Leah Chase, Albert Bullock, James and Kim Butler, Ann McFadden, Vanessa Ruffin, Tina Wilson, Dorothy Barnes, and Ada Penn.

A special thanks to Matt Nielsen at Nielsen-Massey Vanillas and Brian Maynard at KitchenAid.

And very special thanks to the staff at Kensington books, especially my editor, Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, to the copy editor, Navorn Johnson, and to Kristen Hayes, who designed the cover. Thanks.

A FTER DOING EXTENSIVE RESEARCH , I discovered that most Americans are not familiar with the term smothered . Those that are live in the south or had some form of family connection in the southern part of the United States.

When it comes to food, hospitality, and cooking techniques, we owe the south a lot of acknowledgment and thanks. Millions of folks around the world have southern rootsincluding me.

When I think of foods that are linked with the south, I think of shrimp and grits for breakfast; smothered pork chops and rice for a leisurely lunch; and fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, black-eyed peas, and bread pudding for Sundays supper. Other foods such as jambalaya, gumbo, she crab soup, barbecue spare ribs, smoked ham, Bananas Foster, pecan pie, and Mississippi mud cakes also come to mind.

My familys roots are in Clarksdale, Mississippi. It is known as the Delta because of its rich fertile soil, thanks to the mighty Mississippi River that runs through the area. Cotton, soybeans, potatoes, and peanuts are the choice crops for this region in Mississippi. Clarksdale is a small town (population of 20,000) that has made its mark on the music world because of the many great blues musicians who were either born there or lived very close by. During my childhood, I spent many weekends with my grandparents, Frank and Ruth Randle. On Saturday mornings, I would always get out of bed early just to watch my grandmother cook. I liked watching her through the window or front screen door as she inspected freshly caught fish, delivered by the local fishermen. She would buy fresh buffalo or catfish, always frying it and smothering it with onions, garlic, green peppers, and tomato sauce. I was most happy when she would buy catfish, it was easier to eat, because it contained fewer bones, and the flesh tasted more flavorful (these were fish caught in the open lakes and rivers of the wild).

R UTH L. R ANDLE

My grandmother worked as a cook for an Italian-American family for more than forty years. She learned how to prepare many authentic Italian foods such as gnocchi, marinara sauce, and ravioli made with a variety of fillings. Like most great cooks in the south, she mastered the art of cooking by learning to use her five senses. I never saw her read a recipe.

Although Grandmother has been dead for almost thirty years, I still have great memories of her in the kitchen making delicious foods such as homemade parker house rolls. She measured the ingredients by sight, using no measuring utensils. She determined when to stop kneading the dough by touch, never overworking it. She would taste a pinch of the dough for flavor adjustment, then listen to the fire turning on and off in the oven, moving the rolls around so they would cook and brown evenly. Finally, the smell would tell her when the rolls were done just right.

Spending quality time with my grandfather, Frank, was also a real treat. He and I would go to Wades Barbershop in Clarksdale to get our hair cut. Wades was the place to hang out on Saturday afternoons, because all of the great amateur and professional blues musicians in the area would pop in for their haircuts. While waiting, many of them would fill the tiny shop with their music. Wade Walton was the owner of the shop, and he was also a blues musician who recorded one hit record in 1958 (that was widely distributed throughout Europe) titled Shakeem on Down. Wade was friends with the likes of B.B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Ike Turner.