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Princess Pamela's Soul Food Cookbook: A Mouth-Watering Treasury of Afro-American Recipes
A new edition gives due to this long-lost classic that helped define soul food.
Princess Pamela ruled a small realm, but her powers ranged far and wide. Her speakeasy-style restaurant in Manhattan was for three decades a hip salon, with regulars from Andy Warhol to Diana Ross. Her iconic Southern dishes influenced chefs nationwide, and her cookbook became a bible for a generation who yearned for the home cooking left behind in the Great Migration. One of the earliest books to coin soul food, this touchstone of African-American cuisine fell out of print more than forty years ago.
Pamela's recipes have the clarity gained from a lifetime of practice--cardinal versions of Fried Chicken and Collard Greens, but also unusual gems like Pork Spoon Bread and Peanut Butter Biscuits--all peppered with sage advice on living and loving. Her book stands out for its joie de vivre and pathos as well as the skill of its techniques and is now available for cooks everywhere to re-create these soul-satisfying dishes at home.
"If you lived in New York on big dreams and no money, Princess Pamela's was where you wanted to eat. Quirky and clubby (the Princess didn't let everybody in), her Little Kitchen served cheap cuts--tripe, chitlins', pig tails--and made them taste like food for angels. You felt lucky to be there."
--Ruth Reichl, author of My Kitchen Year
Princess Pamela ruled a small realm, but her powers ranged far and wide. Her speakeasy-style restaurant in Manhattan was for three decades a hip salon, with regulars from Andy Warhol to Diana Ross. Her iconic Southern dishes influenced chefs nationwide, and her cookbook became a bible for a generation who yearned for the home cooking left behind in the Great Migration. One of the earliest books to coin soul food, this touchstone of African-American cuisine fell out of print more than forty years ago.
Pamela's recipes have the clarity gained from a lifetime of practice--cardinal versions of Fried Chicken and Collard Greens, but also unusual gems like Pork Spoon Bread and Peanut Butter Biscuits--all peppered with sage advice on living and loving. Her book stands out for its joie de vivre and pathos as well as the skill of its techniques and is now available for cooks everywhere to re-create these soul-satisfying dishes at home.
"If you lived in New York on big dreams and no money, Princess Pamela's was where you wanted to eat. Quirky and clubby (the Princess didn't let everybody in), her Little Kitchen served cheap cuts--tripe, chitlins', pig tails--and made them taste like food for angels. You felt lucky to be there."
--Ruth Reichl, author of My Kitchen Year
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 10, 2019
WOW, I think I gained 10 pounds just reading the recipes. I did find a few recipes I may try.
February 26, 2018
I really like it hence four stars, but really should be a solid five.
I was very excited to finally dig into this beloved legendary classic and so happy that it this deluxe reprinting (complete with lovely extras like photos and snippets from interviews and things) effectively exhumed this deliciously one-of-a-kind poetic cookbook from obscurity. However, the presentation itself is busy to the point of distraction making me wonder what the original volume actually looked like. Are all the incongruous decorative typefaces and point sizes a conscious choice for this new "Lee Brothers Library Classic" edition or are they reflective of the source material?
The Lee's introduction mentions how "it's difficult to know the circumstances under which the book was published and why it was presented originally in such a meager package" (hinting at injustice beyond the crumbling, anti-archival stock it was printed on and it's inconvenient pocket size given that it's a cookbook), but if the material is so strong in it's simplicity and poetry why choose to run it through typographical endurance gauntlet of a reprinting? While I find the overall raw linen and robin's egg blue typographic mess of an aesthetic to be downright tacky (and reminiscent of that awful "Welcome Friends" country goose kitchen decor trend of yesteryears), I appreciate how thoroughly the Lee brothers have attempted to piece together the loose-woven threads of "Princess" Pamela Strobel's mysterious personal history (they even hired a P.I.), all the way to closing this edition with contact info in case anyone reading has any leads as to who Pamela Strobel really was and what happened to her.
I also love the helpful conversions, suggestions, and knowledgeable perspectives the Lees took the trouble to include in the Editor's Notes that accompany many of the recipes. So many old cookbooks worth exploring could benefit from the addition of informed updates from folks who care to keep the old foodways a-cooking, but, like Princess Pamela says:
"No two people can
cook
up the same recipe
in exactly the same
way. There's a secret
ingredient and it's
in the cook, not the
recipe. That
is—lovin' kindness."
Amen, sis.
I was very excited to finally dig into this beloved legendary classic and so happy that it this deluxe reprinting (complete with lovely extras like photos and snippets from interviews and things) effectively exhumed this deliciously one-of-a-kind poetic cookbook from obscurity. However, the presentation itself is busy to the point of distraction making me wonder what the original volume actually looked like. Are all the incongruous decorative typefaces and point sizes a conscious choice for this new "Lee Brothers Library Classic" edition or are they reflective of the source material?
The Lee's introduction mentions how "it's difficult to know the circumstances under which the book was published and why it was presented originally in such a meager package" (hinting at injustice beyond the crumbling, anti-archival stock it was printed on and it's inconvenient pocket size given that it's a cookbook), but if the material is so strong in it's simplicity and poetry why choose to run it through typographical endurance gauntlet of a reprinting? While I find the overall raw linen and robin's egg blue typographic mess of an aesthetic to be downright tacky (and reminiscent of that awful "Welcome Friends" country goose kitchen decor trend of yesteryears), I appreciate how thoroughly the Lee brothers have attempted to piece together the loose-woven threads of "Princess" Pamela Strobel's mysterious personal history (they even hired a P.I.), all the way to closing this edition with contact info in case anyone reading has any leads as to who Pamela Strobel really was and what happened to her.
I also love the helpful conversions, suggestions, and knowledgeable perspectives the Lees took the trouble to include in the Editor's Notes that accompany many of the recipes. So many old cookbooks worth exploring could benefit from the addition of informed updates from folks who care to keep the old foodways a-cooking, but, like Princess Pamela says:
"No two people can
cook
up the same recipe
in exactly the same
way. There's a secret
ingredient and it's
in the cook, not the
recipe. That
is—lovin' kindness."
Amen, sis.
February 17, 2021
I devoured this book in one sitting. Obviously haven't made anything but it doesn't matter. This book is a multi-faceted experience, part cookbook, part journal, part autobiography. I will definitely cook from this, but regardless of the success Princess Pamela is a treasure.
July 27, 2017
Interesting, especially with the Lee Brothers' notes, but very much "grandma food" - the recipes are bare-bones and you know the thing that makes them amazing is grandma's touch.
July 18, 2018
Loved this cookbook. I grew up with Southern dishes like these. Wonderful in their simplicity.
June 5, 2021
i'm buying
February 17, 2024
So many great recipes that I can't wait to try.
April 16, 2017
Enjoyed the recipes and Princess Pamela's bits of history before each recipe. Not sure if I would make all of the recipes but I would love to attempt some.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews