Kowbird

As a German, this book is very interesting.
The recipes are very different from what we know, but all sound delicious.
I would definitly recommend it to anyone, who wants to get more familiar with recipes from the american south.

I received an ARC of this cookbook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderful cookbook. The pictures are great. The recipes are varied and all look delicious and none of the ingredients would be hard to find.

I loved this. So many good, traditional family backed recipes. It’s worth it for the sauces, seasonings and gravies alone. I can’t wait to make so many things!

An excellent cookbook!
The way the food is described will make your mouth water, and just when you thought you couldn't get any hungrier, you see the pictures!
I have just about every other recipe marked for trying!

If you weren’t hungry before looking at the pictures in this cookbook, I can guarantee you will be when you’re through. Between the easy, authentic Southern recipes to the mouth watering pictures, Kowbird will surely be your new favorite for week nights, date nights, special occasions and everything in between. Go ahead and buy this book - you won’t regret it.

Colorful pictures of each recipe make this cook book pleasing to the eye. The Southern recipes and the easy-to-follow instructions make it a great cook book. Combine the two and you get a book I want on my coffee table.

“Kowbird” by Matt Horn is a cool chicken cookbook with easy to read recipes and gorgeous photos! It carries a subhead of “Amazing Chicken Recipes from Chef Matt Horn’s Restaurant and Home Kitchen” and the book delivers! The first quarter of the book describes the importance of chicken in traditional Southern cooking and especially for Southern Black American society. “Yardbird” was easier to come by for a weekly family Sunday dinner. It’s also firmly entrenched as Southern Comfort Food. The listing of popular chicken breeds was oddly fascinating. I’m a city kid but the child of farm kids, so I had heard of some of the US breeds in family stories. Then we get to the recipes. Recipe sections are “Chicken Mains,” “Southern Sides,” “Desserts,” “Southern Sauces,” “Gravies for Chicken,” and “Seasonings for Chicken” and provide the perfect spectrum of dinner combinations for full delicious meals. The “My Mother’s Smothered Chicken” recipe really got my attention; it is different than my own mother’s favorite version and I may have to try this version. And gravy recipes? Gravy is always my downfall when cooking from scratch but I shall be braving several of the gravy recipes contained herein. You’ll be hungry just looking at the recipe photos. You’ll be starving after reading the recipes. If I’m ever in Oakland, CA, I’ll definitely be looking up Chef Horn’s Kowbird restaurant.

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Kowbird is a great way to bring the Southern cooking into your home. They’re enough recipes to have a yummy feast that consists of variations of chicken (which should satisfy anyone’s taste), sides, desserts and sauces. The photos are a work of art themselves- some will make you hear an oil sizzle or others will make you feel a wind in the field.

Each recipe is made from simple, easy accessible ingredients and the instructions are short and understandable.

I chose to review this book from Netgalley as one of those books acting as a catalyst for getting me back into reading and reviewing after a long hiatus. The cover is one of the things that drew me to this book. A delicious spicy chicken sandwich with dripping sauce and pickles. I can almost taste it and feel the crunch of the chicken crust and the bite of the dill pickle, wiping a smear of sauce from my chin.

Inspired by his Oakland restaurant Kowbird, the author Matt Horn begins the book talking about the humble chicken, and its background and history as a staple in Southern cooking. I never knew that someone could have so much to say about chicken, and with such passion and adoration! He would argue that the chicken is not so humble and is such a versatile protein that can be downplayed or elevated and is a perfect representation of cooking in the south.

The book starts with an introduction to Southern cooking and the chicken's place in it. The collard greens and fried okra, chicken roasted or fried or in chicken and dumplings. This cookbook is broken into eight chapters: "Why did the chicken cross the road?", "The southern roots of Kowbird: Chicken, culture and community", Chicken Mains, Southern Sides, Desserts, Southern Sauces, Gravies for Chicken, and Seasonings for Chicken.

The first chapter walks you through the "chicken's journey through the culinary landscape". It's the ability for chicken to transport you back in time to your grandmother's kitchen with the smell of chicken stew simmering on the stove. Memories of picnics and Sunday dinners. And the author lauds the chicken's ability to "unite": "In a world brimming with differences, the love for chicken is a universal thread. It's a silent reminder that simple joys and flavors bind us all, regardless of where we come from or where we're headed."

The author then offers up a primary on chicken breeds, temperaments and reputations of each, and for what kind of dishes each breed is preferred. His restaurant Kowbird is about community:
"Kowbird is more than just a nod to my Southern roots, though it is about building bridges, reviving communities, and fostering entrepreneurship."

The chapter on "The Southern Roots of Kowbird" explores "chicken, culture and community". The author acknowledges some other culinary establishments around the country from which he's garnered inspiration, such as the hot chicken from Prince's Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville or the chicken at Honey's Kettle. He explores the origins of ingredients like black-eyed peas and deep-frying techniques being attributable to the slave trade and enslaved Africans. How many Southern dishes were born of hardship:

Many Southern dishes-- often labeled soul food-- originated during times of hardship, particularly during slavery and the subsequent eras of segregation and economic disparity. Enslaved peoples often made do with the least desirable ingredients, which they transformed into nourishing and delicious meals with creativity and resourcefulness: pork intestines became chitterlings, pig's feet became a pickled delicacy, greens slow-cooked with ham hocks were sublime, and cornmeal transformed into grits.
This cookbook offers up main dishes like Chicken Brunswick Stew, the Kowbird Chicken Smash Burger, and Georgia Peach Chicken Thighs as well as Southern staples like Southern Fried Chicken and Chicken and Dumplings. Dive into Southern Sides like Southern Green Beans with Bacon and Biscuits with Honey Butter. Finish off your meal with Desserts like Sweet Potato or Mississippi Mud Pie, 7Up Cake or Peach Cobbler. Additionally, you have recipes for things like Country Sausage Gravy and Memphis Dry Rub.

My final word: This is such a thorough southern cookbook of everything chicken! It has beautiful photography, passion, history, and above all else, pride. This is a chef who takes pride in his Southern roots and wants to share the flavors and love and novelty and versatility with the world. If you love Southern cooking, or if you just love the humble chicken, I strongly recommend this cookbook!

Will definitely be buying a hard copy of this cookbook! Chicken is probably my most used protein and I really appreciated the new approaches to that ingredient, but I also never felt like I was going out and buying an ingredient that I would never use again. Really solid cook book.

Kowbird: Amazing Chicken Recipes from Chef Matt Horn’s Restaurant and Home Kitchen
Matt Horn
Chicken is my favorite meat, so I was excited to receive a copy of this book from NetGalley for review. Matt Horn is a celebrated chef at his restaurant Kowbird. He takes great pleasure in developing chicken recipes along with herbs, spices and sauces and techniques. His instructions are easy to follow. His book Kowbird is filled with 65 delicious recipes and photographs. He shares tips and tricks for creating his dishes. There are recipes for every occasion from weekday to weekend to special occasions. While the food has a gourmet taste the recipes are fairly simple. There are also recipes to round out the meal and complement the chicken. Desserts, bread, side dishes are included with the chicken recipes.