Many, many years ago when I first discovered the pleasure of reading food history I was entranced by a picture in the 1964 American Heritage Cook Book, Illustrated History (p.286), Volume I. So charming, so colorful, of such essence depicting the painful nostalgia of the American South. Here was a cookbook with a red and white gingham border with a beautiful painting of an African-American woman marketing, a basket draped over her arm and a fish about to be taken home for a family meal. The attribution states it's in the collection of The Shadows, New Iberia, Louisiana. A property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A caption below the photograph says, "Cover of a manuscript cookbook made for a New Orleans family in the early 1900s. It was bound in the colors of their cook's aprons. She was called Zouzoute and she is portrayed on the cover."
Decades later, while reading introductory remarks, "The Creole Heritage" by Shirley Abbott, in Madame Begue & Picayune Creole Cook Book, part of the Antique American Cook Books Series published in 1984, there she was again! Zouzoute as remarkable as ever. The caption said pretty much the same thing except for this poignant comment about the fabric, " a 1900s New Orleans family shows their cook, Zouzoute, from whose apron the cover was made." I could not exactly remember where had I seen her before. And let it rest.
Last year while looking at ebay cookbooks, there was this tiny little cookery book, vaguely familiar for some reason, but nothing exactly came to mind. I looked harder after I was the successful bidder. I realized had found Zouzoute's sister!!! Well, I tell you. I went to the two books in my entire collection and found the confirmation I was looking for. I must have this uncanny ability to pick the two resources that enabled me to come to some kind of conclusion. Perhaps it is as Louis Pasteur said, "Fortune favors the prepared mind." In my case, it was pretty much happenstance to get the synapses going for me.
I went into overdrive to find information about this priceless piece of culinary Americana. I wasn't shaking, but nearly. Once I had it in my possession, I couldn't believe how small it actually is, 6x8 inches. I had no idea that there were others.
I did a search for "The Shadows" and it brought up The Shadows-on-the-Teche. A plantation owned by the Weeks family. There was a community cookbook published in 1957 and I patiently waited to find the book. When I finally received it , the esteemed Helen Duprey Bullock (Helen Claire Duprey Bullock, 1904- 1995) had written the introduction. She is no shrinking violette in food history terms or on any terms, kind of Karen Hess of her era. She went right to the heart of what I was seeking.
When offered to select to comment from the "embarrassment of riches of books, recipes and menus," Mrs. Bullock said, "There is one set of six cookbooks, each containing from 4 to 8 recipes of the famous cooks of Mrs. Torian's (Mrs. Harriet Weeks Torian [Mrs. Walter S.] ) friends in New Orleans. These are bound in bright-colored calicoes and ginghams and adorned with watercolor portraits by L. Casetellanos May." Among the cooks so recorded, and some of the choice recipes for which each was known are:
Zouzoute: Poisson Rouge au gratin-Pralines
Tante Calixte: Bisque aux Ecrevisses- La Biere Douce
Carmelites: Blanquettes de Veau-Canard aux Olives
Raphaela & Tante Melanie: Pain Perdu-Gombo File
Toinette: Daube Glacee-Nougate au Pacanes"
Then, we have a missing sister. Nanette.
Gombo File. ( A Typical Creole Soup.) Court-Bouillion, Grillades. Pralines. Nougat aux Pecans. ( Pecan Nougat.), "Pain-Patate." La Biere Creole. ( Biere Douce.)
Handmade, black and red typed pages on verso. Sewn binding. Unpaginated(8p). Undated.
Voila! The sisters are reunited. Are there more? Return for more information.
I emailed the curators at The Shadows-on-the Teche but never heard from them. A friend recently visited the plantation and had the feeling that it is a pretty loosey-goosey volunteer staff, sweet, but not historians or curators.
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