As restaurants like Ulele and Fodder & Shine, which opens Friday in Seminole Heights, load their menus with dishes full of native Florida ingredients, Joy Sheffield Harris’s 160-page A Culinary History of Florida (around $20 via Amazon) should be on every Tampa Bay foodie’s holiday wish list.
Starting from the age of nomadic inhabitants, a time when massive animals like saber-toothed felines were common eats, Harris takes readers through a grub-filled rundown on the state’s first cooks, farmers and tribes, and way more.
Historic Bay area eateries like the Tarpon Springs-bred Louis Pappas Fresh Greek and Ybor City’s Columbia Restaurant are acknowledged. Harris writes of her experience at a Cuban sandwich workshop led by the Columbia, and also shares the recipe, salami and all.
In other chapters, she outlines the evolution of Floridian cookbooks, as well as food- and drink-slinging establishments that range from roadside markets to luxury resorts. She discusses a handful of cooking styles, including Seminole and Cracker (Fodder & Shine will specialize in the latter).
And toward the end — where simple ingredients and easy-to-follow directions for items like orange blossom honey butter, skillet chicken pie, succotash and boiled peanuts are included — Harris reminds readers, thoughtfully, that “recipes are portals to the past.”
Though modern kitchen techniques and ingredients are incorporated, the recipes remain inspired by OG Floridians. Of the more than 25 listed, here are two that make nods to Ted Peters’s smoked fish majesty, and the famed salad dressing of the Columbia.
P.S. Read about CL Food Critic Jon Palmer Claridge’s cookbook recommendations, which also make for snazzy gifts, in this week’s Books Issue.
Easy Smoked Fish Dip
1/2 pound smoked mullet, skin and bones removed
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon grated onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon datil pepper sauce
Combine all ingredients and chill before serving with crackers.
Special 1905 Salad Dressing
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons salad oil
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well.
This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2014.