You asked, baby. I wrote it down.

"Odessa, how much butter was that?" Every cup is in here.

The Old Way is my whole Southern table, 120 recipes, put on paper with the cups, the oven heat and the minutes. Cook it once and it comes out like mine.

Send Me The Book$27.99 this month, $37 from December 1 · PDF, yours in a minute Let me turn a few pages first ▼

Press play. I will tell you myself.

From my table to yours

Three little steps, and you are cooking

Pay one time

Card or PayPal, on Payhip's locked checkout. Your card number never comes near me.

Open it right then

The book shows up on your screen in about a minute. Phone, tablet or computer, whichever is closest to the stove.

Keep it for good

A copy lands in your email too, so the book is there next Sunday and the Sunday after.

No box in the mail. No account. No password to remember.

Kitchen arithmetic

What cooking by guess really costs

A handful is not a measure. Here is one Sunday dinner, cooked two ways.

Cooking by guess

Oxtails, bought as a restaurant plate: about $30
Ribs rushed in a hot oven: dry, a rack wasted
Greens at a hard boil: gray and bitter
Cornbread pulled by eye: crumbles, bake it again
"About that much" of everything: never the same twice

You paid for the food, and then you paid again.

Cooking from the page

Oxtails at home, page 89: a few dollars a plate
Ribs wrapped at 300 F, page 91: slide off the bone
Greens at a low simmer, page 121: tender, with the pot liquor
Cornbread, 20 minutes at 450 F, page 33: right the first time
Cups, grams and minutes: the same every Sunday

One supper that does not go in the trash covers the book.

Prices move from store to store, so take the dollars as a rough guide.

Straight from the book

Go on, turn a few pages

These are the pages you get, not a drawing of them. I had the letters set large so you can read them with flour on your glasses.

Page 10, photo of buttermilk biscuits — p. 10 · every dish starts with its picture

Page 11, the buttermilk biscuits recipe — p. 11 · the measures, the steps, my trick

Page 209, the candied yams recipe — p. 209 · candied yams. Do not stir them!

Page 164, photo of baked macaroni and cheese — p. 164 · mac and cheese, the custard kind

Page 233, the peach cobbler recipe — p. 233 · peach cobbler, two oven heats

Page 8, the contents — p. 8 · twelve chapters, ten recipes each

Slide sideways for more pages. Tap one to read it up close.

That is what I need. Take me to the book ↓

The table of plenty

What you will finally get right

Twelve chapters, breakfast through dessert. Each recipe carries its photo, its measures, my trick, and the one mistake I do not want you making.

Biscuits that rise tall. Three folds, then hands off.p. 11
Cornbread with a dark crust. Listen for the hiss in the skillet.p. 33
Fried chicken, cooked through. Which piece goes in first, and how hot the oil.p. 55
Oxtails off the bone. A humble cut and three patient hours.p. 89
Ribs from a plain oven. The foil, the heat, and how to know they are done.p. 91
Collards with their pot liquor. Simmered low and tested by the bite.p. 121
Mac and cheese, no roux. Cold custard in, then fifteen minutes of leaving it be.p. 165
Candied yams, no water. Syrup spooned over, never stirred.p. 209
Deviled eggs that hold. Salt goes in the white too.p. 211
Peach cobbler with a crisp top. Leave room for the fruit to bubble.p. 233
Banana pudding, dry meringue. Spread it clear to the glass.p. 253
And 109 more, each one measured the same way.p. 276

Take it home

Here is the book, baby

A PDF cookbook. It opens on your phone a minute after you pay, and it prints clean if you like paper by the stove.

The Old Way

120 Southern Soul Food Recipes, Written Down the Way Mama Made Them

Every recipe measured: cups and Fahrenheit, grams and Celsius beside them
A photo of every dish, and of what goes in it
"Odessa's trick" and "Don't do this" on every recipe
Safe meat temperatures, conversions and the pantry list
Opens on any phone, tablet or computer, and prints
30 days to change your mind, and new editions free

$27.99~~$37~~ · first-month price until November 30 · pay once

Send Me The Book

Locked checkout by Payhip · card or PayPal · no subscription, ever

Who is talking

Odessa Mae Tillman

I never measured a thing in my life. I cooked by the look of the batter and the smell off the skillet, same as my mama. Then you all started writing under my videos, asking how much and how long, and I saw the trouble: you cannot cook from a feeling you never had.

So this book does the measuring for you. Follow it a few times and the feeling comes on its own. Then you can put the book down, and that will suit me fine.

Odessa

Before you decide

Things folks ask me

Will a book come in my mailbox?

No, honey. This is a PDF, a book you read on a screen. It opens as soon as you pay. Print the pages you want and keep them in a binder.

I burn water. Can I cook from this?

You can. The steps are numbered and short, the amounts are exact, and each recipe warns you about the one place people go wrong.

Will I find the ingredients?

At any grocery store. Flour, cornmeal, buttermilk, a ham hock. The pantry list at the back tells you what to keep on hand.

I do not use cups. Does it have grams?

It has both. Cups and Fahrenheit first, grams, milliliters and Celsius right beside them.

I am no good with phones and computers.

One button and it opens, like opening a picture. If it gives you trouble, write to us and we will sort it out or send your money back.

Will you bill me every month?

Never. You pay once. There is no club, no trial and nothing to cancel.

What if the file goes missing?

Look in your email for the copy we sent. If that is gone too, write to us from the address you bought with and we send a fresh one.

And if I am not happy with it?

Tell us inside 30 days and you get every dollar back.

Are these the recipes from your videos?

Yes, with the same numbers I say on camera, and more than a hundred others around them.

Supper is waiting on you.

Come cook the old way with me

A PDF cookbook, on your phone a minute after you pay.

Send Me The Book$27.99 this month, $37 from December 1 · 30 days to change your mind

Something you want to ask first? Write to us: hello@odessaskitchen.com