Sharing Love And Food

Food and love should be shared freely. Gullah cook Emily Meggett know this as she doles out equal parts  of them in the heart of South Carolina's Low Country Her cooking and attitude get love back, It's no wonder that she and her dishes are well known and adored.

Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote about Ms. Meggett in today's New York Times Food section. The entire world will be knowing Ms Meggett in two weeks time when her cookbook,"Gullah Geechee Home Cooking:Recipes From the Matriarch of Edisto Island (Abrams Publishing) The 123 recipes centers on  the staples of the Gullah Geechee table: rice seafood and locally grown fresh vegetables.Ms/ Meggett gives reader the definitive chicken perloo and okra soup along with one pot dishes. Other dishes reflect her own creativity to feed a large family or countless friends. She created leftover meat casseroles and canned pork and beans over rice and smoked sausage. Her wildcat sauce is made with crisped salt pork,flour and sauteed scallions with a splash of coffee. Ms. Meggett also has made countless shrimp and grits lunches for the Charleston car dealership where she gets free tune ups.The cookbook has a mix of complex recipes such as making wine(!) from muscadine grapes and stuffing shad with parsley and rice and serving it with roe. This is a two day prep. Then there's easy ones like pancakes made with melted butter and corn syrup and making juice pops called thrills or bears with Tropical Punch or Kool Aid.

Ms. Severson includes two of Ms. Meggett's recipes. One is the Gullah favorite crab cakes and the other is the classic benne wafers. The crab cakes are  made with homemade toasted bread crumbs as the filler. There's also self rising flour too (although you can sub in a mix of flour and baking powder,Mace and onion give it that distinct flavor as they're whisked into a cream sauce that also features , flours eggs, white vinegar and milk. Lump crab meat is added to the sauce and mixed lightly. They're then divided into thick rounds and coated with the bread crumbs. They're fried in half a cup of vegetable oil and then drained. Of course the benne wafers could follow these. This classic Gullah cookie gets its name from the benne seeds used

 in the recipe. They're actually sesame seeds so you can use these as well.These are rich  cookies thanks to th the addition of half a cup of butter used. There's also the mix of brown and white sugar for more flavor and baking soda for lift.Eggs and vanilla are also in the mix too. These' are a lovely ending to any meal.

Emily Meggett carries on the Gullah tradition of making good food and sharing it with those she loves. Thanks to her new cookbook, now the world can also love her good food and share it with those they love. It is food from the heart.