Todd Richards' Soul is an explosive culinary journey of the essence of African American cuisine and its impact on American foodways. Richards organizes his chapters by traditional ingredients, such as collard greens, beans and rice, and corn to build upon the foundation of familiar soul food classics. My favorite recipe in the book is the collard green ramen- delicious! I love ramen and collard greens and never thought about combining the two ingredients. In addition to inventive twists to familiar favorites, Soul features magnificent photography and a soundtrack to keep you inspired. I cannot wait to cook my way through the rest of this book.

I received this book as an advanced read copy from NetGalley.

A delicious collection of a huge assortment of 150 mouthwatering southern soulful recipes that the author perfectly paired with playlists, wine, and even beer. The photos had me craving all sorts of foods that normally don't excite me, and I loved that about this book. I loved that it opened my eyes ( and stomach) to new food pairings. I can see this book being extremely popular in kitchens all over the world.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it!

This book had me thinking of all the food parts I’ve wasted so many times because I thought they were not usable. A nice perusal through this book will get you to rethink the part you will have a tendency to waste and there will be no turning into compost either! Your creativity will definitely increase.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book however the thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

This book reveals what a true cook can do when he frees himself from the narrow path that informs so many culturally specific cookbooks. It presents a charming read wherein Todd reaches back to his childhood memories, slurping noodles for example, and then morphs those memories into a riff on collards. Would have never thought of that. Every page is a wonder. This is a cookbook to be read and savored and the recipes are within reach of any adventurous cook. My students are going to be liberated.

This is a stunning book, with Restaurant Quality Recipes. Only challenge might be that many of the ingredients look hard to come by, but if you're looking to make "fancy food" or a meal for a special occasion, this might just be your book! Recipes are rich and flavorsome, so may not be a hit with kids.
Would be a great gift for a couple, or gourmand.

This book is a beautiful celebration of Soul food, taking the familiar ingredients and tastes and giving them a new and exciting look! There are a lot of books out there on food from the south, being southern I have read a bunch of them, but few of them feel like a celebration of the culture and history that created this style of food, and I really appreciated that. Reading this book I felt as though I was transported back in time and a thousand miles to Atlanta where I grew up! It is beautiful and the recipes are clear and concise, I definitely recommend for anyone who has an interest in soul food.

Bless my Heart this is a truly different take on southern food. Being form southern Californian and raised Italian and married into a Mexican family. I have found myself enjoying many different types of food. But I do not care how you make it and in this book spicy I just can’t eat collards. Other than that this is a fabulous book. The pictures are good and there are stories that go along with the chapters. The spicy slaw recipe is one that I will be trying as well as the grits, I do like grits. I do like the way the author gave many different ways to cook many different items including ramen. This I found to be very helpful since my daughter has been getting into wanting to make this at home. Each chapter is well thought out and the directions for each recipe is easy to follow. A very good book.

TITLE: Taking “Soul” to a sophisticated, higher level

Or, I could have titled this review: Collards and bourbon for evermore!

A story to introduce this book: My husband went grocery shopping with me yesterday. At the checkout line, he was helping (and overseeing) the bagger, when the bagger made a comment about the three bunches of collard greens and packages of smoked turkey, jowl bacon and pork hocks. I overheard my husband say, “My wife makes the best collard greens you will ever eat!” I looked up, and both the bagger and my husband were grinning from ear to ear, and visibly swallowing some mouth-watering. It was obvious to see that my efforts in the kitchen were appreciated—and it was a good feeling, and it made me happy!

Seven weeks ago, I could count on one hand the amount of times I had made collard greens with pot likker. Today? After trying two very similar recipes from this book, I can’t seem to NOT make a huge pot of collard greens every week. I crave the taste and textures. I crave the pot likker.
From another point of view: Why are Richards’ collard greens so special? Do an internet search on collard greens and bourbon and you will find loads of them…… And, I must admit, if you already put bourbon in your collard greens, you may be wondering what all my raving is about. And you’d be right/spot-on. And this other point of view is an important one. (I’d never thought to consider bourbon with greens before, but I did go to check the internet regarding Mr. Richards’ originality before writing this review.

I have made double recipes of Mr. Richards’ “Collard Greens with Smoked Ham Hocks”—with some variations—SEVEN times already. And therein lies one of my issues with this compilation of recipes. I have had to create variations of two very similar recipes to get it just right. One recipe is for smoked pork hocks, bacon and collards, the other is for smoked turkey wings and collards. Other ingredients in both recipes are the same—except the ratio of vinegar to water to bourbon changes. The pork hock recipe uses ½ cup vinegar and the smoked turkey wing uses 1 cup vinegar. I noticed it right away, and am very glad that I began with the ½ cup vinegar. Because, even though we are lovers of vinegar—one cup is just too much! (I currently use the ratio amounts of greens, water, bourbon and vinegar that is found in the "Pork Hock" recipe, but I use smoked turkey drumsticks with the bone cracked, and I saute my onions in cubes of pork jowl bacon and leave the cubes in to melt into the pot likker. I serve the collards over soupy bolita beans and long-grain rice. We top it all with home-made, pickled-in-bourbon jalapeno slices.)

So, what I am trying to say that the reader must have enough experience to be able to see when an ingredient amount needs adjusting. Same thing happened with another “keeper” recipe in this book: “Onion Broth with Onion Dumplings and Braised Chicken Wings”. Yum! You should see the picture of this recipe: Mouth-watering. And it really tastes wonderful! But, it calls for “4 yellow onions (about 8 ounces), julienned”. Not 8 ounces each, but 8 ounces. And that cannot be right—just looking at the picture, you can see there are more than 8 ounces of onions in this dish. So, my experience told me that the word “each”, as in 8 ounces each, was missing from the ingredient list. I made the dish with two pounds of onions and I was happy with it. There are other instances of this—let’s call it “doubtful” instruction throughout the book, and I’m sure I’ve not caught them all yet.

Despite my love for some really fine recipes in this cook book, I almost gave it a three-star, average rating. There are about ten recipes that I’ve tried and liked, maybe ten-fifteen more that I will try, but there are way more that I will never make—and have no interest in making.

Please excuse me if this review seems too long to you. (You know you can stop reading at any time!) But, I have spent some sleepless nights trying to put all my thoughts on this book together. If you've ever read any of my other cook book reviews, you know I try to tell both sides of the story. I realize that what I might like, could very well be what you don't like. And vice versa. From experience, I know this is going to be one of those instances.

Depending on your experience level, depending on what you look for in a cook book, depending on how open you are to creating your own variations in ingredients, and depending on how involved and intricate you want your ingredient lists and construction steps--you will either love, love, love this book or you'll wish you never spent money on it.....

If you seriously consider the subtitle on this book's cover, you will know that the recipes in this book do not take you back to Todd Richards’ roots. (And, and they won’t take you back to your roots either.) This book is not anything about going back. It is a totally forward and up sort of philosophy. These recipes are all—all--about the chef and his evolution. It’s totally about his own personal soul, (and there is a LOT of defensiveness in there). Is there room in this book for you? Maybe. If you are a cook that takes pieces of recipes that interest you and combine those with certain foods that you like, and build and concoct new dishes, then you already incorporate “soul” and “soulful” into your meals. You will gain insight, possibly much insight, from this book by a fellow soulful person. This book is good for that.

These recipes do not take typical dishes that fall in the category of “soul food” and make them better. No. These recipes create totally new riffs and combinations on some familiar “soul foods”. Approaching the recipes with a concerted effort towards being open-minded, I did come away with several new techniques and a handful of great recipes.

As I’ve already said, you will need experience, but also time, to tackle many of the recipes in this book. The steps—the construction—are not difficult, just time-consuming, detailed and numerous. And they will seem daunting and overwhelming to those new to cooking. (As a basic example, you don’t just throw the smoked turkey wings or the corn cobs in their respective baths to make a broth, you sauté/brown/caramelize them first). As with any self-centered chef’s cook book, it’s all in the details. Every little extra step builds a bit of flavor. So, bottom line: These are not recipes to create after a hard day at work and a long commute. These are not recipes to create on days when the kids are all over you or you need to drive them here or there and back again. Hey, if you are looking for simpler versions of Richards’ recipes, you only need to do an internet search…..you won’t need his book.

If you are already a lover of soul food, you may wonder what planet this chef resides on. Sea urchin? If you think that soul food is down to earth, get ready for a much elevated version in this book. Some people are going to call this “Snobby Soul”, some will revel in the high altitude/attitude. You will probably go looking for recipes that will use up the bounty in your garden, and you will often be surprised by what you do NOT find. Same with economical cuts of meat. You will wonder about the conundrum that this chef has built into his philosophy of “soul”. If you believe that soul food is basic, “down-home” southern cooking, made with economical ingredients, you will be surprised to find how hard-hit your budget will be with a majority of these recipes—depending on where you live, of course. (This chef has restaurants in Atlanta.)

Todd Richards is known for his fried chicken. Do you get that recipe in this book? You do get a fried chicken recipe and a seasoned flour recipe. I can’t tell you if it is the recipe that Richards’ uses in his restaurants—he does not say. I would bet it’s not the same, or he would happily say so.

Pictures in this book are decent. Page layout is easy on the eyes. Index works well. Definitely click on the “Look Inside” feature on this product page. You can see how the pages are laid out, see the Contents page, and the index. All those will be helpful in making your decision.

I love to cook and I really love to eat and so I am always on the lookout for new and exciting food ideas. This book was filled with so many beautiful pictures that my mouth was watering. The recipes are a combination of a "traditional" take on southern soul food and then Chef Richards spins your head with all the new ways to make them. I never, ever, ever would have considered using collard greens in ramen or on a sandwich. This is just one small example of how amazing this book was. I also loved that the recipes were not over complicated and rarely required ingredients I couldn't find locally. This is a solid 4 stars for me ( because I wish there had been even more lol).

Soul includes 150 southern soul food recipes that look uniformly delicious thanks to great photographs.

With chapters focusing on a single ingredient, each chapter in Soul progresses from simple to complex recipes. The chapters include: Collards, Onions, Berries, Lamb, Seafood, Corn, Tomatoes, Melons, Stone Fruit, Eggs and Poultry, Pork and Beef, Beans and Rice, and Roots.

Soul includes menus and playlists plus wine and beer pairings. It includes simple traditional soul food fused with other cuisines like Fried Green Tomatoes made with tomatillos and ancho chili BBQ sauce and Chicken and Waffles with sweet potato waffles. Some are ideas I have never seen before like zucchini slaw. Since the book doesn’t contain nutritional information, I have to take off one star leaving it at 4 stars!

Thanks to the publisher, Southern Living, and NetGalley for a copy.

Love Soul Food? Almost everybody does, and Todd Richards has released an excellent cookbook, SOUL: A Chef's Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes, which is full of fabulous recipes that are a bit different from the norm, but definitely mouthwatering. While there are dozens of excellent soul food cookbooks in print, this one is a cut above. Richards seems to be an expert on this subject – is passionate about it - and it shows. Each recipe has an introduction, usually with personal comments from the author, and these comments make the book personal so that readers can relate. Even for those who aren’t in the mood to cook, this book is a good read. And once read, even less passionate cooks will find themselves in the kitchen preparing soul food dishes.

Every recipe tried so far has turned out perfectly, from his simple recipe for cornbread to an excellent, but a little more involved recipe for Shrimp and Grits (a new favorite). Fried Chicken and Sweet Potato Waffles is hard to resist, and Richards’ Hot and Spicy Zucchini Slaw makes a perfect side dish to an outdoor party or backyard barbecue. Recipes in the queue include Red Beans with Smoked Sausage and Shrimp, Dad’s Smothered Potatoes, Curried Broccoli Salad with Peanuts, and Fried Green Tomatillos with Ancho Chile BBQ sauce.

Although there aren’t photographs for every recipe, there are photographs of most, and they are excellent; they also make it difficult to decide which recipe to make first.

Anyone who wants to prepare delicious soul food dishes should not be without this beautiful cookbook. It is well-written, has mouthwatering recipes, and includes fascinating information on the subject. Highly Recommended!

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Soul is Todd Richards's self-proclaimed "sermon about my Soul food" as he describes food as a religion of its own.
Each chapter is organized by ingredient. The recipes at the beginning of chapters are traditional and evolve into unique flavor combinations with the progression of his culinary skills. I especially enjoyed the featured menus and the playlist of songs included with each.
My favorite chapters (because bless my heart, I'm a GRITS - Girl Raised in the South) are collards and tomatoes. Any cookbook that has entire chapters dedicated to these ingredients has a permanent home in my kitchen!
Standout recipes for me are: ginger and collard green fried rice, hot and spicy zucchini slaw, and fried green tomatillos.
The vibrant photographs of ingredients and overhead dining table displays (with recipe page numbers for convenience) throughout are a lovely feature that blend food and art. This is a "sermon" I can read again and again!
Thanks to Time Inc, and NetGalley for providing an ARC for review.

I love the way this cookbook is structured! The recipes in this cookbook are simple, easy to follow and flavorful, and don't require any crazy, hard to find ingredients. The history and background given with the dishes are interesting and informative, and the visuals included within the cookbook are masterful. I can't wait to cook even more recipes from this book!

Soul is such a beautiful cookbook! The gorgeous pictures make me think of meals on my Nana’s farm. I really enjoyed the author’s approach in this book; it’s sectioned off by ingredients. There are definitely whole meal suggestions complete with drink pairing for every recipe, but you can see his evolution of thought with the chapters broken down this way. He starts each section with a more traditional soul food recipe, but then he takes those flavors or techniques and mixes them up for fresh, innovative new recipes. I really appreciate the abundance of recipes for each ingredient without the food getting boring. I can’t wait to try some of these new ideas as each ingredient comes in season. Several recipes seem pretty time consuming, so if that’s not your thing then this might not be the book for you. Living in the South allows me access to most of the ingredients called for, but people from other regions may struggle to find some ingredients.
.
3.5 ⭐️ for this beautifully curated book of Soul food.
.
Thanks to the publishers through NetGalley for the eARC

When I saw SOUL cookbook, I immediately knew this would be a Southern style cookbook that I needed to crack open. SOUL is a twist traditional soul food cooking that adds flair and kick. My favorites of the cookbook are the seafood/fish dishes and that whole chapter. I recommend any soul food lover to give this book a try. These recipes can up our cooking game!

An immersive feast for the eyes, ears, stomach, and SOUL. Food history, playlists, stunning photos, mouthwatering recipes--this book has it all.

Soul food--oh, where do I begin? So homey, unpretentious, flavorful, and eclectic. I've loved it ever since I was a kid growing up in the South. Todd Richards evidently does to, as he establishes from the first few pages how deeply soul food runs through his veins. An award-winning, James Beard-nominated chef from Atlanta, he brings his passion for this often overlooked cuisine to the table with a dense cookbook of recipes that elevate it to an art form.

Seriously. Forget your standard fried chicken, collard greens, and biscuits. Try Collard Green Ramen, Candied Bacon with Turnip Hash; and Curried Cauliflower, Crab, and Sweet Potato Gratin. The recipes are fun and ridiculously creative. It's clear Richards has some serious chef chops and isn't about to slow down for the reader. He's cooking like your grandmother would cook if she trained at Le Cordon Bleu. In the process, he challenges everything you thought you knew about soul food.

Being a home cook who is slightly lazy and lacking in culinary ambition, I have to admit I was intimidated by some of the recipes. Like a lot of recipes supplied by professional chefs, they are really multiple recipes in one and require completing many separate components that come together at the end to compose the final dish. I naturally gravitated towards some of the easier recipes, such as Blueberry Fried Pies with Meyer Lemon Glaze and Mom's Fried Catfish with Hot Sauce. Even these can't escape the pro chef touch, with little details in the fried pies like vanilla bean paste, thyme, and orange zest livening up what could have been an otherwise straightforward flavor profile. If your tastes are decidedly non-gourmet (a friend of mine hates what she calls "fancy food"), this will not be your cookbook. If the idea of pairing blueberries and thyme makes sense or even thrills you, this will be an inspiring read.

Like a lot of pro chef cookbooks, this one falls into the trap of requiring a lot of ingredients that may be expensive or difficult for the home cook to procure. There is liberal use of smoked salt, bourbon vanilla paste, and more obscure cuts of meat like venison or pork jowls. As mentioned earlier, the recipes aren't for the beginner chef. They require a lot of ingredients, a lot of planning, and some serious commitment. This is clearly his passion project, and it's clear he cares deeply about the quality of his food.

Each recipe comes with a sizable blurb about his thought process behind each dish. Anyone who knows me knows these blurbs are why I read cookbooks in the first place, and his writing doesn't disappoint. There are dozens of memories of growing up in Chicago and visiting relatives in the South, and they are so vividly described that I almost believed for a second that I was reading about my own childhood.

The organization of the book is also a little different and may take some getting used to. The book is split into a number of chapters by staple ingredient, which can be as specific as collard greens, and as broad as beans and rice or eggs and poultry. Each recipe is photographed in some capacity, but they often annoyingly don't appear until pages later. Likewise, components for recipes that pop up again and again (his sweet tea brine, his piecrust recipe) require flipping to the back for that component's recipe, and it is difficult to navigate, at least in my e-book format. While the photographs are beautiful, I wish each recipe got the full-page close-up shot it deserves instead of being photographed on a table with a number of other dishes from farther away.

However, these are smaller complaints compared to the quality, quantity, and sheer ambition of these recipes. The book really does celebrate soul food, but it also gives it a fresh new coat of paint, perfect for modern eaters. This is a book that Todd Richards should be proud of.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Todd Richards describes this book as a chef's culinary evolution in 150 recipes. The introduction paints a picture of a cultured childhood. Richards visited his father's family in Hot Springs, AR, and basked in the southern style of food. He talks about racial divides, as well as differences in customs regarding Catholicism and the Baptist faith. I live an hour and a half from Hot Springs, and I know exactly what Todd experienced when he was a young boy in this region. Everything we do in the Bible Belt is tied to or, more likely, revolves around food. He goes on to say that food has become a religion of it's own, and that different regions have produced great preachers of cuisine. Todd's stories in the book and descriptions of each dish showcase his passion for food and his desire to preserve the customs and traditions of his heritage.

The recipe are organized by ingredient rather than type of food. This is an interesting concept for a cookbook, and it works quite well. The ingredients are as follows:
1. Collards
2. Onions
3. Berries
4. Lamb
5. Seafood
6. Corn
7. Tomatoes
8. Melons
9. Stone Fruit
10. Eggs & Poultry
11. Pork & Beef
12. Beans & Rice
13. Roots
14. Essentials

Each chapter begins with a traditional dish, then progresses into different flavor combinations and techniques. The brilliant full color photos of dishes and ingredients will make your mouth water. Richards also provides drink pairings and notes for other serving suggestions to round out your meal, plus sample menus sprinkled throughout the book for parties and special occasions. The end of the book provides an index that is categorized by both ingredients and dishes.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that has a passion for unique food, and anyone that is interested in learning more about soul food. I received this as a free ARC from Time Inc. Books, Oxmoor House on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Soul is a down-to-earth, but exciting cookbook. I usually pass by the author's stories and descriptions of recipes, but found myself settling in and reading not only the opening passage, but also the descriptions before each and every recipe. Mr. Richards talks about influences of family, but is utterly professional in the composition of his recipes and instructions.

The first recipe I made is the Chicken Thighs and BBQ Beans. It incredibly uses one pan (I recommend a Dutch oven) to cook the thighs, then all of the other ingredients, including the beans are added. The beans are cooked low and slow and then homemade BBQ sauce ingredients are added. The thighs are added back and you end up with the most incredible chicken with BBQ beans! Even if I don't use the chicken, I'll be making those beans again.

The sections are unusual and interesting - Collards, Onions, Berries, Corn, Tomatoes, Roots among many others. They're very specific to the ingredients (eg. 10 recipes that use collards) and the elevated down home and soul food recipes are genius. The next ones I'll be trying are Blueberry Fried Pies with Meyer Lemon Glaze, Blueberry Sweet Tea, Pork Chops with Apple Butter and Spiced Pumpkin Seeds, and Okra, Andouille and Crab Fritters. I have great confidence that the quality and flavors will be outstanding!

I really enjoyed "SOUL". It was obvious -- even from the photos (beautiful!) -- that this is a deeply loved subject for the author. Historical descriptions of food (I didn't know collards were originally grown in the Americas), food facts, inclusion of songs playing on the radio of the time, (recipes + music!!! right up my alley), recipes I'd never heard of (sausage-stuffed onions), I could go on, and on! This is a great resource book to have on your shelf or give as a present.