Martha Foose was born and raised in the Mississippi delta. After attending the Ecole Lenotre in France, she returned home and opened the Bottletree Bakery which has become a culinary landmark in Oxford, Mississippi. In 2008, she published Screen Doors and Sweet Tea which won the Beard Award for best American cookbook. Screen Doors is a really marvelous work filled with incredible recipes and Martha’s rich languid prose. It’s fast become not just one of my favorite cookbooks but one of my favorite books period. Martha was gracious enough to sit down and take a few questions from me about the book, her next project, and cooking in general.
What creative similarities do you find between coking and writing. What differences?
Flavors are a language. So, it is very much the same process.
When you get frustrated in the kitchen where do you look to keep you moving?
I seem to go back to community cookbooks and look for modern spins on classic southern fare.
Did you start as a baker or did something draw you there?
A day spent cleaning sweetbreads made baking look pretty darn good! I did start mostly baking and expanded from there. Working in a bookstore café got me hooked on cookbooks.
What do we have to look forward to in your next book, A Southerly Course?
More stories and where Screen Doors and Sweet Tea looked at the cannon of Southern cooking A Southerly Course delves into the modern/ current state of the plate.
Is Southerly Course going to be a sequel to Screen Doors or a whole new project?
It is a sequel of sorts. I think it is representative of what folks have ask for… more stories and expanded techniques.
If you could sum up your culinary philosophy in one sentence what would it be?
Let true flavors speak for themselves.
What’s a dish you couldn’t do without?
Pecan Smoked Catfish
What’s a drink you couldn’t do without?
Sweet Tea, of course, but I sure would miss Pappy Van Winkle!
It seems to me that the south is really a cradle of American culture, especially when it comes to food and music. Where do you look for inspiration?
The North Mississippi All-Stars, Blue Mountain, South Memphis String Band all inspire me in the kitchen. I am just about patting my foot the whole time I am in front of the stove.
I see quite a bit of southern influence in Midwestern cooking, particularly where I’m from, Indiana. Where do you find southern influence in other parts of the country?
Zingerman’s Roadhouse in Ann Arbor. ( I think they are closet southerners). I also think that the localvore movement reminds me of our way of cooking and eating…we have been that way for years down here.
Screen Doors & Sweet Tea is available at both Chopping Block locations.
