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The Bookworm: Soul A Chef's Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes
Bookworm: reading the best and weeding the rest
AREVIEW BY LEEANNA TATUM OF SOUL: A CHEF’S CULINARY EVOLUTION IN 150 RECIPES BY CHEF TODD RICHARDS
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Soul: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes is a cookbook by Chef Todd Richards. This is a cookbook that brilliantly walks the line between storytelling and recipe-sharing. The food takes center stage with just enough narrative to make you want to read it from cover to cover and photographs that will make you want to leave it out on your coffee table to page through over and over.
Richards is a self-taught chef who grew up in Chicago with roots in the South. His food journey is rooted in soul food traditions but influenced through life experience and exposure to global cuisines. This book provides a deeply personal view into Richards’ experience and resulting philosophy of food.
Richards doesn’t confine himself to a narrow description of soul food and the confidence and freedom he feels to express himself in the kitchen is conveyed to his readers. We’re given permission to color outside the lines as well.
Richards frequently suggests to his readers that cooking is not all about perfection or even the end result, cooking is also about experiencing the moment and connecting with friends and family. Introducing a particularly tricky recipe, Richards reminds us that “...the act of cooking is really
As someone who wants to understand the why of things, I found this cookbook to be very satisfying. Richardson not only provides a backstory to many of the recipes that gives a personal connection, he also explains why certain ingredients are used or ways the recipe can be manipulated or altered with substitutions or variations in the process. By providing some context for the recipe, he allows for freedom of expression and experimentation with his creations.
This is a cookbook that you’ll want to read and you’ll want to preserve it because it is beautiful to look at, but it’s also one that I think will prove useful to have in the kitchen… maybe I need a second copy so that I won’t mind if it ends up with the usual spills and drips and splashes that are inevitable in my kitchen!
