Junettenth is an important African-American holiday, much in the same way as Fourth Of July. It celebrates freedom but also the different recipes and customs of Black-Americans and their ancestors. There are so many different recipes , each tasty , each traditional.
Nicole Taylor , chef and author of the definitive Juneteenth cookbook Watermelon And Red Birds :A Cookbook For Juneteenth and Other Black Celebrations (Simon and Schuster 2022) just out now, wrote this in the cookbook.Today's issue of the New York Times Food section excerpted it along with some of her recipes.Some background is needed here. Juneteenth celebrates and acknowledges when Major General Gordon arrived in the port city of Galveston Texas and issued General Order 3. This meant,that, two years after Abe Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that all enslaved people were free,. This happened on June 19th, hence the name Juneteenth although some plantation owners waited to tell the enslaved in the fall after harvest season. A year later festivities commenced. Like the Great Black Migration, it moved from the South to the north , east and west. with it not only came recipes for barbecue but a place at the table for watermelon. June in Texas was prime season for the fruit.in 1883 The Galveston Daily News has reported that there were celebrations across the state but one in San Antonio had "twenty-three wagons loaded with watermelons. They're now an integral part of the celebrations.
Chef Taylor's recipes are amazing with different spins on traditional dishes. yet they represent her deep roots in Georgia where her family has lived for generations. Her recipe for peach and molasses chicken is a spin on the traditional barbecue soaked one of years past. The sauce is a tangy mix of peach jam and apple cider vinegar mixed with tomato paste, soy sauce ,mustard and coriander seeds. The chicken is basted twice in it and served with more coriander. She takes the traditional cole slaw and zings it up with poblanos and scallions and dresses it in a coating of virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar and garlic cloves. Celery seeds are also added and a dash of hot sauce can also be thrown in. What to finish it off with? A strawberry sumac (!) cake. The berries are macerated with a mix of ground sumac, granulated sugar and almond extract. They're dotted on the homemade cake that's also spiced with the ground sumac. The perfect drink for this is Chef Taylor's watermelon ginger beer. This is a fiery mix of red watermelon and ginger beer with the pureed fruit. Ice cubes , full of fennel fronds are put in to cool it.
Juneteenth is a day of thought but also f celebration and honoring all those who were enslaved. They should be celebrated with good food and good drink. It's their recipes and their legacies that should be honored.
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