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Hallelujah! The Welcome Table

“Now the truth is evident: Poet and literary legend Maya Angelou is as mighty with her spoon and spatula as she is with her world-renowned pen.”

—Chicago Sun-Times

“Hallelujah! The Welcome Table—a cookbook in a sense that there are recipes—is the poet’s life laid out like a colorful banquet.”

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Warning: Don’t read Maya Angelou’s new book while hungry. …This cookbook is a tour-de-force collaboration of two of Angelou’s major passions—writing and cooking.”

—Ebony

“Readers of this book will find not only a wealth of dishes that will allow them to set aside their own problems and to procrastinate by whipping up cakes, pies and fried chicken, but a close-up, personal glimpse of a compelling writer and her family.”

—New York Daily News

“Poet Maya Angelou serves up a feast for lovers of food and great stories … an evocative work.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“It is not surprising when a culinary life is played out in the pages of a book with recipes. But when the life of a poet-autobiographer, already revealed through verse and narrative, comes even more alive through plumes of aromas, a palette of flavors and a recipe box of memories, a cookbook is something else.”

—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Hallelujah! The Welcome Table is more than a collection of printed recipes … it’s a humorous and poignant memoir graced by good food.”

—El Paso Times

Also by Maya Angelou

Autobiography

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Gather Together in My Name

Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas

The Heart of a Woman

All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

A Song Flung Up to Heaven

Essays

Wouldn’t Take Nothing for

My Journey Now

Even the Stars Look Lonesome

Poetry

Just Give Me a Cool Drink

of Water ’fore I Diiie

Oh Pray My Wings Are

Gonna Fit Me Well

And Still I Rise

Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?

I Shall Not Be Moved

On the Pulse of Morning

Phenomenal Woman

The Complete Collected Poems

of Maya Angelou

A Brave and Startling Truth

Amazing Peace

Mother

Celebrations

Children’s Books

My Painted House,

My Friendly Chicken, and Me

Kofi and His Magic

Picture Books

Now Sheba Sings the Song

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me

Dedication

I dedicate this book to every wannabe cook

who will dare criticism by getting into the kitchen

and stirring up some groceries.

To O, who said she wanted a big, pretty cookbook.

Well, honey, here you are.

Acknowledgments

To all the great cooks whose food I have eaten and whose recipes I have read and whose stories I have heard. My thanks to Bettie Burditte, Patricia Casey, Frances Berry, Sterling Baker, and Rosa Johnson Butler, who helped me at all hours for months to compile the recipes. I am proud that frustration did not cause them to move abroad and change their names. I thank my entire family for trusting me in the kitchen. And a salute to Brian Lanker, who helped me see clearly the images of foods that were becoming fuzzy in my memory.

Here’s to Brian Daigle, who drove my bus so steadily across the U.S.A. that Lydia Stuckey and I could cook everything from baked acorn squash to zucchini gratinée.

A salute to Chef Don McMillan, who, at the drop of a toque, stepped in and helped me tremendously.

Thank you all.

Maya Angelou

Contents

Pie Fishing

Lemon Meringue Pie

Meringue

Chicken and Dumplings

Bouquet Garni

Drop Dumplings

Fried Yellow Summer Squash

Green Peas and Lettuce

The Assurance of Caramel Cake

Caramel Cake

Caramel Syrup

Caramel Frosting

Coconut Cake

Coconut Frosting

Chocolate Fudge

Momma’s Grandbabies Love Cracklin’ Cracklin’

Crackling Corn Bread

Momma’s Rich Beef Stew

Collard Greens

Potato Salad Towers Over Difficulties

Cold Potato Salad

Fried Chicken

Snow-White Turnips

Mustard and Turnip Greens with Smoked Turkey Wings

Pickled Peaches

Buttermilk Biscuits

Liver to Grow On

Liver and Onions

Recipes