The Blue Grass Cook Book, published originally in 1904, is a loving testament to the power of food-inspired memory, while being evocative of the sights, smells, and tastes of Kentucky in the 1900s. This book should be remembered, not just because the recipes were compiled by Minnie Fox, the mother of John Fox, Jr., American journalist, novelist, and short story writer, but also on its own merits. Fox gained a following as a war correspondent, working for Harper's Weekly in Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898, where he served with the "Rough Riders." Six years later, he traveled to the Orient to report on the Russo-Japanese War for Scribner's magazine. It was from this post in Japan that Fox, Jr. wrote the introduction to his mother’s book. A compilation of heirloom recipes from Kentucky and Virginia, the book was groundbreaking in its celebration of the vital role Black women played in building and sustaining the tradition of Southern cooking and Southern hospitality. As Fox, Jr. noted in his Introduction:

“All honor then to that turbaned mistress of the Kentucky kitchen—the Kentucky cook. She came to the Blue Grass from Virginia more than a hundred years ago, swift on the flying feet of the Indian. She was broad, portly, kind of heart, though severe of countenance, as befitted her dignity, and usually quick of temper and sharp of tongue. Her realm was not limited to the kitchen. She disputed the power of "mammy" in the drawing-room, and there were times when all, black and white, bowed down before her….As far as I know she has never got her just due….Publicly I acknowledge an everlasting debt, and to that turbaned mistress of the Kentucky kitchen gratefully this Southerner takes off his hat.”

While Fox’s celebration of slavery and the place of the black women in the plantation kitchen certainly is full of problematic social assumptions, this book is unique for its time in its recognition of these women—giving them their “due” was not something generally done within literature, culinary or not, at the time.

Despite this issue, the book is a joy to read for it is full of authentically regional Kentucky recipes, from the ubiquitous Mint Julep to the five different recipes for curing ham. While brain croquettes may not be on everyone's menu today, there are few who can resist the ten variations on corn bread, or the multiplicity of recipes for biscuits, or the wealth of ice cream flavors and desserts. While some of the recipes (such as the Peach Ice Cream below) call for some kitchen experience, presupposing the cook will have an understanding of basic kitchen skills, the majority of these recipes can easily be reproduced in today’s home kitchens. And while they may not always be the most dietetic (many call for frying in lard or for large amounts of cream and butter), this is Southern cooking at its homiest best.


PENDENNIS CLUB MINT JULEP
(Print this Recipe)

By a well-known member of the club, Louisville, Ky.
These are some essentials:
1st. Fine, straight, old Kentucky Bourbon whisky-blended whiskies do not give good results.
2d. An abundant supply of freshly cut sprigs of mint—preferably young shoots—no portion of which has been bruised.
3d. Dry, cracked flint ice. A glass will answer the purpose, but a silver mug is preferable. At this club, silver cups are kept on ice. A syrup of sugar and water is also kept on hand.

The silver cup is first filled with the ice, and then the desired quantity of fine whisky poured in and thoroughly shaken with a spoon or shaker until a heavy frost forms on the mug. The desired amount of syrup is then poured in and stirred enough to be mixed. The mint is then carefully placed in the mugs with the stems barely sticking in the ice and the tops projecting 2 inches above the top of the cup. Straws are then placed in the cup, reaching from the bottom to about 1 inch above the top, and the sooner one sticks one's nose in the mint and begins drinking through the straws the better. There is no flavor of mint, merely the odor.
Any stinting in quality or quantity materially affects the result.
 
MARCELLUS’S PEACH ICE CREAM
1 gallon rich cream
½ gallon ripe peaches and juice of a lemon
1 pound or more of sugar, the amount depends on the sweetness of the fruit.

Make a syrup as in other recipes, and when cold add the cream and put in the freezer. Mash the peaches and add the lemon and a little sugar. When the cream is half frozen, add the fruit and freeze. Very good.

KENTUCKY BAKED HAM
E. D. P.

Take a good magnolia ham 1 or 2 years old and let it soak 36 hours. Make a stiff dough of flour and water and envelop the ham and put in a baking-pan. Add enough water to keep from sticking. Baste frequently and cook till thoroughly done, or till the hock can be removed 5 or 6 hours. When done, skin it and make an icing of brown sugar and yolk of 1 egg, and cover top and grate bread-crumbs over. Put in oven and brown.