(via Octavia Books)
Bragg’s new book memorializes his mother’s cooking, and he will present it at 6 p.m. Thursday (May 3) at Octavia Books. For information on the event, see the announcement from Octavia Books below:
Join us for a special evening with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rick Bragg when he returns to Octavia Books to present and sign his new book, “THE BEST COOK IN THE WORLD: Tales from My Momma’s Table.”
From the beloved, best-selling author of “All Over but the Shoutin’,” a delectable, rollicking food memoir, cookbook, and loving tribute to a region, a vanishing history, a family, and, especially, to his mother. Including seventy-four mouthwatering Bragg family recipes for classic southern dishes passed down through generations.
Margaret Bragg does not own a single cookbook. She measures in “dabs” and “smidgens” and “tads” and “you know, hon, just some.” She cannot be pinned down on how long to bake corn bread (“about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the mysteries of your oven”). Her notion of farm-to-table is a flatbed truck. But she can tell you the secrets to perfect mashed potatoes, corn pudding, redeye gravy, pinto beans and hambone, stewed cabbage, short ribs, chicken and dressing, biscuits and butter rolls. Many of her recipes, recorded here for the first time, pre-date the Civil War, handed down skillet by skillet, from one generation of Braggs to the next. In “The Best Cook in the World,” Rick Bragg finally preserves his heritage by telling the stories that framed his mother’s cooking and education, from childhood into old age. Because good food always has a good story, and a recipe, writes Bragg, is a story like anything else.
RICK BRAGG is the author of seven books, including the best-selling “Ava’s Man” and “All Over but the Shoutin’.” He is also a regular contributor to Garden & Gun magazine. He lives in Alabama.
