I finally found a copy of Southern Cooking by Mrs. S. R. Dull. It's a book I have been searching for at yard sales and on the internet for some time. I found it on Amazon from a used book seller. Last year I found one online that was listed at more than $200. Last week I found it for around $12 and I decided I needed to go ahead and purchase it while it was available.
Above is the photo from the bookseller and below is the actual book. It's not quite in the shape the photo shows but I was quite pleased to have it, especially after searching for so long.
From what I have read about Mrs. Dull she was a women who found herself in need of making a living when her husband was unable to work. She did the only work she knew--she began cooking for people in her church and for her neighbors, then began to teach young women in schools and colleges. Mrs. Dull was so successful that she eventually found herself writing the food section for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It was quite a feat for a women who learned to cook from the servants on her family's Georgia plantation.
Mrs. Dull became an authority in the kitchen and her cookbook is like a cooking manual for southern cooks. According to what I have read, her favorite food was cornbread and she was said to be a very nice person to those who knew her.
I haven't fully checked out the recipes but it is a very complete treasury of southern cooking from what I can see so far. As a bonus, there were even some recipe cards typed by a previous owner of cheese straw and a few other desserts.
I know I will find things that will help me become a better, more authentic southern cook--a continuing legacy from Mrs. Dull.
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