Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: A Cocktail Recipe Book: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks

by Toni Tipton-Martin

JAMES BEARD AWARD NOMINEE • Discover the fascinating history of Black mixology and its enduring influence on American cocktail culture through 70 rediscovered, modernized, or celebrated recipes, by the James Beard Award–winning author of Jubilee.

A BEST COOKBOOK OF THE The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Food Network, Good Housekeeping, Garden & Gun, Epicurious, Vice, Library Journal

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice spotlights the creativity, hospitality, and excellence of Black drinking culture, with classic and modern recipes inspired by formulas found in two centuries’ worth of Black cookbooks. From traditional tipples, such as the Absinthe Frappe or the Clover Leaf Cocktail, to new favorites, like the Jerk-Spiced Bloody Mary and the Gin and Juice 3.0, Toni Tipton-Martin shares a variety of recipes that shine a light on her influences, including underheralded early-twentieth-century icons, like Tom Bullock, Julian Anderson, and Atholene Peyton, and modern superstars, such as Snoop Dogg and T-Pain.

Drawing on her expertise, research in historic cookbooks, and personal collection of texts and letters, Toni Tipton-Martin shows how these drinks have evolved over time and shares the stories of how Black mixology came to be—a culmination of generations of practice, skill, intelligence, and taste.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking, History, Foodie, Food and Drink

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 14, 2023

About the author

Toni Tipton-Martin is an award-winning food and nutrition journalist who is busy building a healthier community through her books, classes, and foundation. She is a James Beard Book Award winner and has appeared as a guest judge on Bravo’s Top Chef. In 2016, Toni was featured on CBS Sunday Morning’s annual Food Show; in the anthology, Best Food Writing of 2016; and in Aetna’s 35th Annual African American History Calendar. She received Notable Mention in The Best American Essays of 2015.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama invited Toni to the White House twice for her outreach to help families live healthier lives, and in 2014 she earned the Southern Foodways Alliance John Egerton Prize for this work. With the Egerton Prize as seed money, Toni hosted Soul Summit: A Conversation About Race, Identity, Power and Food, an unprecedented 3-day gathering that invited writers, scholars, authors, chefs, students and anyone interested in food justice to come together and celebrate African American Foodways.

In 1991, Toni became the first African American woman to hold the position of food editor at a major daily newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Prior to that post, she was the nutrition writer for the Los Angeles Times and a contributing editor to Heart and Soul Magazine (a health and fitness book for African-American women).

Toni has been a guest instructor at Whole Foods Culinary Center, and has appeared on the Cooking Channel’s Foodography and the PBS feature Juneteenth Jamboree. She has been a featured speaker at the Library of Congress, Duke University, the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and Charlotte; Austin History Center; the Longone Center for American Culinary Research, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan; Roger Smith Cookbook Conference; Foodways Texas; Culinary Historians of Southern California; International Association of Culinary Professionals; Les Dames D’Escoffier; Webster College; Prairie View A&M University; Women Chefs and Restaurateurs; the College of Charleston; Mississippi University for Women; and Austin Foodways. She has shared her passion for cooks and the community as a freelance writer for Epicurious, the Local Palate, UNC Wilmington’s Ecotone Journal, the Austin Chronicle, Edible Austin Magazine, Texas Co-op Magazine, Gastronomica The Journal of Food and Culture, and Cooking Light Magazine.

In 2008, after 30 years teaching cooking in the media and demonstrations, Toni founded The SANDE Youth Project as a grassroots outreach to improve the lives of vulnerable families. The 501(c)(3) not-for-profit is dedicated to combating childhood hunger, obesity and disease by promoting the connection between cultural heritage,

cooking, and wellness. Through community partnerships with universities, private and public entities, including Oldways Preservation Trust, the City of Austin, Edible Austin Magazine, and others, Toni’s foundation has presented two community events, Soul Summit: A Conversation About Race, Identity, Power and Food and the Children’s Picnic A Real Food Fair.

Toni is a member of the James Beard Awards Committee, Oldways African Heritage Diet Pyramid Advisory Committee, Les Dames D’Escoffier Washington, D.C. Chapter, and Jack and Jill of America, Inc. She is a co-founder and former president of Southern Foodways Alliance and Foodways Texas. Toni is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Journalism. She and her husband are restoring a 19th Century rowhouse, one of the “Painted Ladies” in Baltimore’s historic Charles Village. She is the mother of four.

Reviews

[Antoinette Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fivest of five stars! I loved this book—read it cover to cover, learned so much, and furiously scribbled notes for more history I want to dig into. So excited to start trying out these recipes.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot. The recipes and the various cookbooks that included them were fascinating to learn about…. The only thing I thought was missing was a slightly deeper connection to Black culture… why these ingredients? Why these drinks? Where did the recipes come from? How did they make it to cookbooks written by Black people? How were these recipes connected to the food being prepared by these chefs and cooks? It was very loosely touched, but not enough for me to make the connection between these cocktails and Black culture. Overall, though, the author included some wonderful cocktails and LOTS of options for mixing them up for different tastes…. And a number of DIY mixers which I’m likely to try. This was a fun (tasty!) read.

[Sarah]

A fun dive into the author's vast cookbook collection, she combines historical research with modern tastes to showcase a delicious-looking array of beverages that are inspired by African-American mixologists.

[mola tecta · Rating 5 out of 5]

full of african-american history and culture surrounding food and drink. i loved reading the snapshots in between sections; i learned a lot. really beautiful to see the notes before every recipe where tipton-martin illuminates the expertise of those before her, acknowledges contributions from fellow colleagues, and explains her thoughts behind each choice of ingredient and process. also love the extensive list of historical and modern texts she references and recommends at the end of the book.

[Sbwisni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked a lot of the recipes, however, the historical background became disjointed for me with all the references to other cookbooks and suggestions/ideas for all the other ways you could make the drinks (in paragraph form)…but then would say here’s my take and list yet another version (in recipe form). Wish they would have highlighted more variations in “recipe form” from all the references, although they did include at least one historical version side by side with the author’s take.

It just felt like I kept pausing to look up the referenced cookbooks, or just as they started to get into the historical background, it was over and I was left wishing there was more. Or again, just feeling left standing there confused by the organization…feeling incomplete or disjointed.

Still a great start as a reference point to expand into other cookbooks, place to collect a bunch of ideas to experiment with your own version of one particular cocktail, or just to open and try a new twist on an old fav using the provided recipe as is. I kind of want to purchase my own copy to keep around!

[Aleksei Borges · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting stories and background, but the editing is a bit confusing at times, with recipes using 2 or 3 different measurements for ingredients.
The recipes arent particularly new, and the fact that the author is a cook and not a bartender shows.

overall a good book if you want to know a few new references and african american history, but not as much if you’re looking for brand new or unique recipes.

[Charles Eldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a history lesson than a cookbook per se, Tipton presents the lengthy story of African American drinking culture and inventions. The presentation is gorgeous, and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read it - but this was best served as a library check-out as I just don’t seem myself returning to it as I do the authors exceptional “Jubilee”.

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply researched, this book pulls from the author's incredible collection of Black-authored cookbooks to create or recreate drinks from the past, while giving history to the how and where these drinks were made. The last section, "Zero Proof," is for non-alcoholic beverages. There are even pictures of some of the cookbook covers used in the Selected Bibliography. A book-lover's treasure.

[Elizabeth]

As heard on The One Recipe:
https://play.podtrac.com/APM-TheOneRe...

[Gary Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good recipes, introduced with excellent historical headnotes