Bianca Phillips has the passion of generations of Southern cooks in her blood.
With mama Delores and granny Ruth, she has successfully redefined and re-created the best, and homeliest dishes from her beloved childhood.
Now we can all benefit from three generations of soul-warming country cooking as Bianca has compiled dozens of family favorites in a new cookbook Cookin’ Crunk.
She says “crunk” – a Southern slang term for getting excited – conveys her passion for veganism and for her Southern roots.
The Arkansas native happily admits her recipes originated in the family kitchen: “I’m not a trained chef just a Southern gal who grew up hovering around the knees of my mama and granny in the kitchen. As a result my recipes are far from pretentious and gourmet – just simple comfort food free of meat and other animal products.”
“Ive been vegetarian since I was 14 and went vegan at 24 – at first my mom said ‘no cheese – you have gone crazy!’
“But now when we eat out together, she has what I have!”
Her mom has been a huge supporter, even creating a vegan version of her legendary cornbread dressing, which is included in the cookbook.
Bianca says she rarely cooks the same thing twice though she loves tofu.
“I most often cook a tofu scramble, and maybe the vegan pimiento cheese,” she said.
Savory dishes in Cookin’ Crunk include Chocolate Gravy, served over Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits, Southern Fried Tofu Chicken and a great vegan interpretation of chicken and dumplings.
Bianca shares her Southern vegan pantry essentials, revealing her adventurous palate, and is a big fan of seasoning salts, black salt (kala namak) which she swears adds a real egg flavor, and her favorite Sriracha sauce (sweet-hot Thai chili sauce).
“And I couldn’t have finished the book without granny’s vegan-adapted pie recipes,” Bianca said.
Thank goodness for that! The recipes for cobblers, bread pudding, dark chocolate bourbon pecan pice and of course mint julep brownies are mouth-watering enough to adopt as your own family tradition. – HEATHER FLETCHER
