Taste of Tombstone or Down Home Southern Cooking

Taste of Tombstone: A Hearty Helping of History

Author: Sherry A Monahan

The image of Tombstone, Arizona, doesn't often stray from its rough and tumble roots. Despite a tradition of gunslingers, gamblers, and cowboys, the town's businesses, hotels, and restaurants continually emphasized the boomtown's refinements, and nowhere was their promotion more apparent than in the foods of the town. The massive silver strike of 1879 gave rise to a number of grocery stores, butcher shops, ice cream parlors, and restaurants that spoke to a refined urban scene.

In this lively study, Sherry Monahan offers a brief history of Tombstone and the evolution of its increasingly sophisticated dining scene. Businesses that began in tents due to a lack of building supplies raced to keep up with the area's exploding population. Soon the town boasted restaurants to rival the finest establishments of San Francisco and the business district achieved fame for the availability of posh hotels and luxurious eating. Monahan includes 140 recipes from the 1880s, most from Tombstone restaurants, so that readers may experience their own taste of Tombstone.

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Down Home Southern Cooking

Author: LaMont Burns

With wit, warmth, and a generous helping of Southern hospitality, this renowned chef/restaurateur explores the roots of Southern cuisine and the unique heritage of four generations of black cooks. Down Home Southern Cooking reveals the secrets of certain herbs, spices, and sauces, which offer a satisfying odyssey through real American cuisine.

Publishers Weekly

Burns, a restaurateur and originator of a line of condiments, draws upon his Southeastern black culinary heritage to offer recipes that are more utilitarian than spectacular. Great-grandmother Lucinda's chicken casserole is a simple, clove-flavored dish using leftover chicken. Broiled or baked ham and apple are basic, uninventive renditions. Curry powder and vegetables or canned pineapple and brown sugar are added to rice to provide variations on that plain side dish. A few items, such as chilied chicken and oven-barbecued short ribs, have a touch of hotness, though most dishes are mildly seasoned. Cooks who want to experiment with traditional Southern fare will enjoy sweet-potato pone or chicken-oyster gumbo. Instructions are facile and direct. Most dishes feature familiar, readily available ingredients, with the exception of the few game or regional items, such as pigeon pie, opossum and diamondback terrapin stew. Illustrations not seen by PW. (April 17)