Jessica B. Harris

Rather than breaded and fried as you might expect croquettes to be, these are something more akin to a seared chicken salad patty.

The clams’ natural briny sweetness serves as a surprising foil for the tender fritter batter—just be sure to pull off the tough outer coating of the siphon.

Rubbed with garlic, lavender, and other spices, this roast is the perfect centerpiece for a celebration.

Nigerian peppersoup should be fiery hot with rich flavor—while the traditional spices can be hard to find in the U.S., this recipe approximates the taste with a few more readily available substitutes.

These skewers of marinated barbecued shrimp are pure cocktail fun because you can eat the sugarcane skewers as well. The cane gives the shrimp a subtle sweetness and everyone loves to suck on the skewers after the shrimp are but a memory.

From piña coladas to rum and coconut water, the fruit of the coco palm seems a natural pairing with the elixir of the cane reed. Here is a different twist on the rum and coconut theme—one that can be made in a larger quantity and kept on the sideboard or the bar until ready to serve. It only gets better.

Soon after the invention of the home blender, the machines were whirring about turning out all manner of cocktails including a raft of fruit-infused daiquiris. It might seem that strawberries are not Caribbean fruit, but anyone who has traveled to Haiti knows that in Kenskoff in the hills above Port-au-Prince and Petionville, the climate is cool enough to support strawberries and they grow there—small, sweet, and delicious.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from A Kwanzaa Keepsake by Jessica B. Harris.

The traditional roast pork is given a southern accent with a crust of well–seasoned crushed pecans. Thinly sliced pork loin with a slathering of chutney makes perfect sandwiches to take to work or school.

No African-American summer picnic, North or South, would be complete without deviled eggs wrapped in wax paper. I remember that, as a child, part of the fun was unwrapping the eggs and seeing if some of the savory yellow insides had managed to squeeze out onto the paper, in which case I was allowed to lick it off. Years later, I was very surprised to learn that deviled eggs are also a part of the general culinary history of the South. There are even plates especially designed for serving this delicacy. To me they'll always be part of summer fun-hard-cooked eggs taken to the nth power.

Greens are a direct part of African-Amercans' African heritage. Dishes using leafy greens abound in the cooking of the African Atlantic world. They turn up as a couve in Brazil, as a callaloo in the Caribbean, as sauce feuilles in French-speaking West Africa, and simply as greens in the southern United States. The African-American twist with greens is in the manner of cooking. We cook 'em long and slow —down to the proverbial "low gravy"— (but then again that was the way all vegetables were cooked in much of the past). The real innovation is in the eating: We savor not only the greens but also their cooking liquid or "pot likker," a rich source of vitamins and iron.

My mother is a member of a club that meets during the months of July and August on Martha's Vineyard, where we have summered for more than thirty-five years. One season the members compiled a souvenir cookbook, and my mother contributed her recipe for a deviled ham spread that she makes from leftover ham. Like deviled eggs, it's devilishly simple and satanically good. It can be spread on pieces of celery or toast points. Those who do not want to use ham can substitute smoked chicken or smoked turkey.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This dish harks back to West Africa, where black-eyed peas, according to some culinary historians, were eaten prior to European arrival. Certainly for many African-Americans, black-eyed peas were, and are still, the staff of life. They turn up with rice in Hoppin' John, the traditional New Year's dish that has spread from South Carolina to the rest of the South; and they are often served at other times of the year as a main dish or vegetable.

This is a basic recipe. The black-eyed peas may also be cooked with a ham bone, a precooked ham hock, or with olive oil instead of bacon fat. This last sacrifices the traditional smoky taste to contemporary concerns about cholesterol, but whatever way black-eyed peas are served, they're delicious.

Black-eyed peas can even be pickled, as in this recipe, which also goes by the name of Texas caviar. The dish can be prepared with either cooked dried black-eyed peas, canned ones, or, if you are really lucky and live in an area where they can be obtained, with fresh ones.

May be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The first African dish I tasted and truly enjoyed was Senegal's Chicken Yassa. The chicken marinated in lemon and onion was served with rice in a brightly decorated enamel basin. The thrill of eating in Senegal in the open air and the delicious gustatory counterpoints of lemon, chile, onion, and chicken combined to make my first taste of this dish one of my favorite culinary memories. Later, I served the dish in a modified version on the "Today Show." It has become my trademark dish, and many of my friends, if they haven't had a Yassa in a while, will ask for it. I've gotten so bold about my Yassa, that I've served it to my Senegalese friends. It's relatively simple to prepare and a perfect introduction to African food.

Around the Gulf and other coastal regions of the United States, African-Americans revel in shrimp. In this recipe, the shrimp are spiced twice, once while cooking and a second time in an overnight marinade.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

The fritter tradition harks back to West Africa, where frying in deep oil is one of the major cooking techniques. In the African Atlantic world, fritters can be served as appetizers, as a vegetable, and even as a dessert, as they are here.

My maternal Grandma Jones had a way with fritters. She would prepare them from the overripe bananas that she found at low prices at her local greengrocer's.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

From Maryland to Georgia, crabs are a prized part of the African-American diet. If the crabs need to be boiled before other steps in preparation (as are the pickled shrimp above), a commercial crab boil such as Old Bay seasoning is often used. For the lucky few, though, there's homemade crab boil, an all-purpose seasoning that, besides for shrimp and crab, can also be used for crawfish.

The abundant use of leafy greens is one of the hallmarks of the food of the African continent in general. Here, the familiar collard green, which has become emblematic of African-American cooking, is given an Ethiopian twist in a dish that can be served either warm or at room temperature.