Book Review: The American Beach Cookbook

review by Stephanie Jane Carter

The American Beach Cookbook

By Marsha Dean Phelts

University Press of Florida

Details: 320 pages     6 x 9
Paper: $19.95   ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-3210-8
Pubdate: 3/30/2008

The American Beach Cookbook, by Marsha Dean Phelts, celebrates the food, drink, and culture of American Beach on Amelia Island in Florida.  The Afro-American Life Insurance Company, started by the first African American millionaire Abraham Lincoln Lewis,  purchased the beach in 1935 to ensure that African Americans had unrestricted access to the Florida Coastlines.

The American Beach Cookbook gives us unrestricted access to the food and beverage that is at the heart of the party, along with vintage photos, maps, and anecdotes.  Even if you can’t make the party, you can relish in American Beach resident and historian Marsha Phelt’s community recipes for Grannie’s Tomato Gravy (click here for recipe), Jalapeno Hoecakes, Sweet Potato Pone, Big Mama’s Tea Cakes, He Shorty’s Pigs Feet in BBQ Sauce, and Mrs. Mary’s Sweet Tomato Pie.

Whether your plans this summer are to visit the beach or not, this cookbook should be in your kitchen.  Filled with recipes that aren’t fussy, it is a cookbook that puts celebration and community in the substance of each recipe.  The National Historic Register added American Beach to the list in 2002.

Recipe: American Beach Tomato Gravy

image by S.J.Carter

This recipe has been adapted from The American Beach Cookbook by Marsha Dean Phelts, University Press of Florida, 2008.

2 tablespoons rendered bacon fat

1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 pound ripe tomatoes, small-dice, seeds and skins removed

1/2 c milk

salt and black pepper, to taste

Add bacon fat to a cast iron frying pan over medium-low heat.  As the bacon fat slowly becomes warmer, sprinkle in the flour.  Stir constantly.  Cook until flour and bacon fat mixture is brown.  Add some salt and a generous amount of pepper.  Once the mixture is a deep brown, add the diced tomatoes.  Once the mixture becomes slightly thicker, add milk to reach the desired consistency.

Serving Suggestion:  Serve over grits and pan-fried trout, or on a biscuit.