Maggi Hall’s book, Flavors of St.Augustine: An Historic Cookbook, is not simply a collection of recipes, but rather a walk through history. The book includes periods of time in St. Augustine spanning from the British, through to the early American territory and ends with the current era of restoration in America. As it walks through these time periods, the book provides recipes that are both easily made and delicious. According to reviews of the book, most of the recipes are manageable except for the alligator tail and bullfrog legs. Florida’s FORUM Magazine published several of the recipes in one of their issues as well.
What other types of recipes can be found inside Flavors of St. Augustine? Coconut fried shrimp in cognac butter, St. Francis Inn Bread Pudding, mincemeat cookies, and even a recipe for bootstrap jerky. What do people have to say about the book? Flavors of St.Augustine has received only five-star reviews. Here are a few:
Ernie Marchant said the book is:
“A terrific book of old Florida recipes, some of which come from the archives of the old Ponce de Leon hotel in St Augustine, built by Henry Flagler in the late 1800’s. It is a treasure! I was born in St Augustine and have fond memories of dining at the “Ponce”. The recipe for coconut fried shrimp in cognac batter is worth the cost of the book.”
Virginia Allain wrote that:
“This cookbook presents recipes appropriate for the different periods in St. Augustine’s 500-year time span. The history for each period is painlessly woven into each section. It even includes likely recipes (roasted bear, raccoon and venison) from the Timucua Indians. This book makes a wonderful souvenir for anyone who visits historic St. Augustine, or a useful book for anyone who likes heritage recipes or any cook looking for diverse recipes.”
Maggi’s one disappointment though with the publisher was that the rattlesnake “steak” had to be rejected. The publisher felt the company would be liable if someone was bitten by a rattlesnake in the pursuit of fulfilling the yummy recipe. By the way, Hall, her family, and friends tested all recipes, even the rattlesnake delight!
Published in 1999, the illustration and artwork for the book were completed by a local St. Augustine artist, Jean Light Willis. Jean includes over 100 pen and ink sketches of scenes from St. Augustine. This informative, unique book is available in both new and used versions at Amazon.com.