Synopses & Reviews
Iconic chef and world-renowned opera singer Alexander Smalls marries two of his greatest passions — food and music — in
Meals, Music, and Muses. More than just a cookbook, Smalls takes readers on a delicious journey through the South to examine the food that has shaped the region. Each chapter is named for a type of music to help readers understand the spirit that animates these recipes.
Filled with classic Southern recipes and twists on old favorites, this cookbook includes starters such as Hoppin’ John Cakes with Sweet Pepper Remoulade and Carolina Bourbon Barbecue Shrimp and Okra Skewers, and main dishes like Roast Quail in Bourbon Cream Sauce and Prime Rib Roast with Crawfish Onion Gravy.
Complete with anecdotes of Smalls’s childhood in the Low Country and examinations of Southern musical tradition, Meals, Music, and Muses is a heritage cookbook in the tradition of Edna Lewis’s A Taste of Country Cooking.
Review
“In Meals, Music, and Muses, Alexander creates a lyrical culinary anthology of our lives....He sets the table in a unique way from jazz to blues to divas on a plate...This is not your mother’s cookbook..." Dee Dee Bridgewater
Review
“If wine is bottled poetry, and jazz is brown sugar sprinkled in your ear, then Meals, Music, and Muses is a smorgasbord of fine words and sounds, a delicious symphony of haute cuisine...” Kwame Alexander
Review
“...a must-read journey through a life well lived and in recipe and reminiscence details the musical forms learned, the friends and family who instructed, and the foods shared along the way.” Jessica B. Harris
About the Author
Alexander Smalls is a restaurateur and co-owner of the celebrated Harlem jazz club Minton’s. As the former chef/owner of Café Beulah, Sweet Ophelia's, Shoebox Cafe, and The Cecil, Smalls has received great acclaim in the restaurant scene — including cooking at the James Beard House and being named one of Zagat’s 19 NYC Restaurant Power Players. His memoir and cookbook,
Grace the Table, features recipes from his upbringing of Southern Revival cuisine. Smalls is also a world-renowned opera singer and the winner of both a Grammy and a Tony Award. He lives in Harlem, New York.
Veroncia Chambers is the editor of the New York Times archival storytelling team, a new initiative devoted to publishing articles based on photographs recently rediscovered as the paper digitizes millions of images. She is the editor of The Meaning of Michelle, celebrating the former first lady, which was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and a Time Magazine Top Nonfiction of the year. Veronica has written several books as well, including Mama’s Girl, a critically acclaimed memoir, and she co-wrote Yes, Chef with Marcus Samuelsson and 32 Yolks with Eric Ripert.