Big Bad Breakfast: The Most Important Book of the Day [A Cookbook] - Hardcover

Currence, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1607747367 ISBN 13: 9781607747369

Publisher: Ten Speed Press, 2016

Synopsis

From the James Beard Award winner, Top Chef Masters contestant, and acclaimed author comes this fun, festive, and highly caffeinated ode to the joys and rituals of the Southern breakfast, with over 125 recipes inspired by the author's popular restaurant in Oxford, Mississippi.

John Currence is one of the most celebrated and well-loved chefs in the South. Among his string of highly successful restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi, Big Bad Breakfast holds a special place in diners' hearts: It is a gathering place where people from all walks come together to share the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Southerners know how to do breakfast right, and Currence has elevated it to an artform: dishes like Banana-Pecan Coffee Cake, Spicy Boudin and Poached Eggs, and Oyster Pot Pie are comforting, soulful, and packed with real Southern flavor. Big Bad Breakfast is full of delicious recipes that will make the day ahead that much better--not to mention stories of the wonderful characters who fill the restaurant every morning, and a meditation on why the Southern breakfast is one of America's most valuable culinary contributions.

About this title

About the Author

John Currence opened City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi in 1992. Since then, the City Grocery Restaurant Group has opened a number of restaurants, including Ajax Diner, Nacho Mama’s, Kalo’s Tavern, Big Bad Breakfast, Bouré, Lamar Lounge, The Main Event, and Snackbar. Currence is the recipient of the 2009 James Beard Award for Best Chef South and the Southern Foodways Alliance Guardian of the Tradition Award. He has appeared on television programs such as Parts Unknown, Mind of a Chef, Bizarre Foods, Treme, and Top Chef Masters and his writing has appeared in Food & Wine and Bon Appétit, among many others. He is a contributing editor for Garden & Gun magazine, a board member of No Kid Hungry (a project dedicated to eradicating childhood hunger in the United States), and an organizer and past board member of the prestigious annual Southern Foodways Symposium.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF BREAKFAST
   1. THOU SHALT EMBRACETH THE DAY.
First, accept that every day is new, fresh, and unique. Position yourself in the kitchen with an attitude that reflects your solemn purpose: you are about to prepare THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY, likely for someone you care for (otherwise you would not be up and at ’em at the stove). 

   2. THOU SHALT HOLD NO MEAL HIGHER THAN BREAKFAST.
Commit to raising this disregarded meal from the depths of neglect to the place of honor it deserves. Pledge to put the same effort and passion into preparing breakfast as you would lunch or dinner. In other words, make something other than just a plate of eggs. 

   3. THOU SHALT GET THY MIND RIGHT.
This is fun, damn it. Plan ahead so you don’t stress yourself out early in the morning: shop the day before, stock strong coffee, prep certain items in advance, and find some music that gets you going in the wee hours. All of these will make the chore at hand a little easier. 

   4. THOU SHALT SLATHER WITH BUTTER.
It will not kill you (consumed in quantities within reason, that is). Just let go for a few minutes and enjoy life a little. No fat tastes better on toast with jelly or when cooking eggs (bacon fat included). 

   5. THOU SHALT ANOINTETH WITH BLACK PEPPER.
Whenever pepper is called for in an ingredients list, use freshly cracked black pepper. (The only exception is when I specifically call for white pepper.) 

   6. THOU SHALT MAKE FROM SCRATCH.
It will certainly take more time and effort, but the essence of Big Bad Breakfast is scratch cooking. It’s what made grandmother’s cooking “grandmother’s cooking.” As a matter of fact, I am certain that if my grandmothers and great-grandmothers had not succumbed to other, more natural afflictions, shame over what we accept as food these days would certainly have consumed each of them. 

   7. THOU SHALT USE RESTRAINT WITH INGREDIENTS.
Lots of folks get the wrong idea about recipes and lean toward “the more flavors and ingredients I add, the more complex the end product.” This could not be farther from the truth. The best cooking celebrates the elemental beauty of ingredients. You want to be able to taste everything in the dish, not create something that is just a muddle. 

   8. THOU SHALT SEEKETH LOCAL WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
Honey, eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, jellies, coffee, flour—whatever it is, a local product is more often than not going to have a more singular character. Visit farmers’ markets, bake sales, local farms, and locally owned grocery stores. 

   9. THOU SHALT NOT OVERCOOK.
I am fascinated with the American worry about “undercooking things.” Food can always be cooked more if it is not cooked enough, but YOU CAN’T FUCKING UNCOOK IT if you cook it too long. Granted, we shouldn’t rub raw factory chicken on our toast right before we eat, but I have been making fresh mayonnaise and Caesar dressing with raw eggs for thirty-five years and nobody has ever been sick. Trichinosis is not carried by domestic pigs, and a piece of cooked pork that’s still a little pink beats the crap out of a well-done, dried-out offering. Try the yolk runny, people. With a little salt, it transforms dishes from good to resplendent. 

   10. THOU SHALT REMEMBER THE SABBATH, BUT COOK FROM THIS BOOK EVERY DAY.
You can make pancakes for your kids, freeze them, and rewarm them later. You can make a breakfast casserole or assemble sweet rolls the night before and just turn on the oven the next day. Breakfast is a fun meal, and most of the time, it doesn’t require a ton of effort or mess. More often than not, it’s just about clearing your eyes and committing to loved ones. Remember, breakfast is a joy, not a chore, and the possibilities are endless. It just comes at a weird time of day. And if that’s the deal breaker for you, well, shit, make breakfast for dinner.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1607747367
• ISBN 13: 9781607747369
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272