SOUL

Over 150 recipes of 100% pure American deliciousness! Every single one of these recipes produces food that is far fancier than anything I could ever think of, yet it is also familiar, delicious-sounding Americana. Basically, not so fancy that a hillbilly like me would be frightened away by it. Mmmm fried catfish. (Catfish is amazing, by the way, if you've never had it before, definitely try it). Also: corn everything. Mmmm.

It comes with a bonus soundtrack, too!

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.

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!

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 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

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

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!

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.
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3.5 ⭐️ for this beautifully curated book of Soul food.
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Thanks to the publishers through NetGalley for the eARC

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 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.

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.