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Cookbook Review: The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook


I recently received The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook by Alexe Van Beuren with recipes by Dixie Grimes to review from Blogging for Books. I'm planning on making a recipe from it to share with you a bit later. I still need to make one from the Irish cookbook I reviewed, but it's summer vacation and school starts back soon so I haven't had a chance to do it yet. I will try to asap though. :)

Anyway, back to the review. This is a very nicely bound book with a very neat cover that has a ridged feel to it. Very unique! The B.T.C. Old Fashioned Grocery is a store and cafe in Water Valley, Mississippi, owned by Alexe Van Beuren and her husband. Dixie Grimes is the chef for the cafe part of the store and cooks up many customer favorites. I have to say, that Mrs. Van Beuren made me fall in love with this little town. I literally read every bit that she wrote throughout this book, falling more and more in love with this town and it's people. I even had my husband do a trip calculator to see how far away it is. Only about six hours, so maybe one of these days I will be able to visit.

The recipes sounded very yummy. There are several that called for alcohol, and I am not big on cooking with it. I don't really ever have it on hand, but I am sure substitutions could be made. The recipes included everything from Chocolate Gravy, Roasted Pumpkin Soup, two versions of homemade pimento cheese to Shrimp and Grits. Many recipes had pictures and the book also featured pictures of various things/people from the town and store.

This really was an enjoyable book. The stories of this wonderful town were so enjoyable that the recipes were just an added bonus. I think it would be a great book for anyone's collection!

You can find the B.T.C. Old Fashioned Grocery on Facebook.

Read the first chapter here.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. However, these opinions are my own.
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Comments

bronxbutter said…
I've followed your blog for some time now. I hope your family are well, especially your son.

Just a suggestion: your cookbook reviews would be more impact full if you tested a few recipes. Then you could speak to the final product and whether or not the recipes actually work.

These are the tenets of a good cookbook review and what people look for if they are going to take your review seriously.
July 12, 2014 at 8:45 PM
Amanda from Faith, Food and Family said…
bronxbutter, Thank you for the comment! Honestly, my plan is to review at least once recipe from each cookbook. My kids are finishing up their last bit of summer vacation and I haven't had as much time to devote to extra recipes. However, next week they'll be in school and I already have a recipe pulled from each book to make. So look for those to come along soon. Thank you again for commenting!
July 24, 2014 at 12:30 AM
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