Book Review - The Southerner's Cookbook from Garden & Gun

From David DiBenedetto and the editors of Garden & Gun magazine, comes their heirloom quality, newly released, first cookbook, The Southerner's Cookbook, Recipes, Wisdom, and Stories, already joining the ranks on the best seller list.

Now that we've finished up Thanksgiving and opened the door on Christmas shopping, I want to tell you about a fantastic book gift that celebrates the best of Southern culture, in recipes, traditions, tales and techniques.

On the heels of the widely successful and New York Times Best Selling Garden & Gun Book of Southern Know-How, The Southerner's Handbook and Good Dog: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Loyalty, comes Garden & Gun's newly released, first cookbook, The Southerner's Cookbook, Recipes, Wisdom, and Stories, already joining the ranks on the best seller list.

My classic oven roasted turkey begins with a brine, then is left uncovered in the fridge overnight, is trussed, then stuffed with aromatics, and basted with a turkey or chicken stock or broth that is infused with apple cider throughout the roast.

Classic Oven Roasted Turkey with Cider Gravy

It took me a few years to get the Cooking of the Holiday Turkey down, but this method has worked out so well over the years that it is how I have finally settled on doing my holiday birds.

I would love to show you step by step pics, and the finished slices, but they are currently being held hostage by my iMac, thanks to me stupidly doing an OS update, that I should have waited on. 

Green Bean Casserole made with a homemade, butter roux based cream sauce, enhanced with bacon, fresh vegetables and mushrooms.

Green Bean Casserole with Homemade Cream Sauce

Let me first clarify here before anything else, that I have no opposition to cream soups. None. Nada. I have them in my pantry and I use them all the time - always have, always will.

And, like bacon, sausage, deli meats, bologna, hot dogs, red meat, grilled and otherwise, and all those other things somebody else is always trying to tell us that we shouldn't be eating, I love the cream soups!

They are convenient and tasty and Southerners have been using them as a shortcut cream sauce in recipes since they were created, somewhere around the early 1930s. I suspect we always will. There's a reason our southern béchamel has been around for this long y'all!

A casserole made with fresh broccoli and cauliflower, in a simple butter roux-based white sauce made with The Trinity, a little cheese in the base, and topped off with those buttery crackers we all love so much... and a little more cheese.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole

I believe that there are far more people who love broccoli and cauliflower than who don't, although those who don't are certainly more vocal about their dislike of one, or the other, or both. Okay by me, because they don't know what they're missing if you ask me, and that means more for those of us who love them.

Boneless country style ribs are browned and cooked down with a mirepoix of onion, carrot and celery and slow braised in a vinegar, stock and mustard cream sauce. Serve over mashed potatoes, rice or cheesy grits.

Slow Braised Country Style Ribs

A lot of us prepare country style ribs by cooking them in the oven, or on a smoker or a grill with some kind of sauce, typically barbecue sauce, and I love them that way too, of course... but I'm here to tell you if you have never slow braised them like this, you must!

Spaghetti Lover's Soup is easily made either from scratch, or using leftover meat sauce and spaghetti noodles or store-bought pasta sauce. Starting with The Trinity of southern cooking and adding carrots, provides intense flavor to this broth and tomato based soup. Spoon over pasta, sprinkle with a bit of parsley, torn fresh basil and freshly grated Parmesan for a nice finish. Pair it with some garlic bread or slices of a crusty, whole grain bread.

Spaghetti Lover's Soup

Do you find it hard to find balance in your life anymore?

Seems that there are so many demands on moms and dads and even grandparents these days, that it's hard to get everything done that needs to be done. Children and chores - just those two topics encompass so much on their own... I honestly do not know how all of y'all do it with more than one child. I have a lot of respect for you, that's for sure, and that includes my son and daughter-in-law. Their lives literally exhaust me.

Spicy Sweet Andouille Sausage Bites

Andouille smoked sausage, grilled, browned in a skillet or broiled, cut into bite-sized pieces and tossed in a spicy sweet sauce. Great party appetizer!

Spicy Sweet Andouille Bites

There is literally some kind of football on in this house every single day. Don't get me wrong - I like football just fine! The Cajun is a fanatic though, so on those three days of the week that a live football game of some form isn't on, he's catching up with a replayed game he didn't see live, because he was watching another game.

In between that, there's all the commentary shows where they show highlights, talk about all things SEC and NFL, with team reports, developing stories, player interviews, player injuries, breaking news and all other things football. He really needs a man cave with about a half dozen televisions. That probably wouldn't even be enough!

Potatoes, cabbage and onions, simply seasoned and smothered down in broth with a spicy andouille sausage, is definitely a favorite in the Deep South.

Smothered Potatoes and Cabbage with Andouille

I love cabbage, well... just about any way that you can make it, but The Cajun ... not so much. Not at all actually. I can't figure out what is wrong with him! I still buy it anyway, of course. I'm not gonna deny myself something that I really enjoy because someone in my family doesn't, and neither should you.

Over the years of blogging, I have heard so many of you saying that you really love something, like cabbage or okra, but nobody else in your family will eat it, so you never make it anymore. I can only speak to being a woman, mother and wife, but those titles often mean that we do for others and put ourselves at the bottom of the list and we really need to stop doing that, yes, even with something as simple as a vegetable. I'm not saying that we should become selfish, but that we should treat ourselves as well as we do others is all - that's the message we should give to those we love. We count too.

Oven roasting intensifies the flavor of many vegetables, giving a browned and often crisped exterior, against a creamy, soft feel inside. It's one of my favorite ways to cook them, and they're a perfect addition to your table any time of the year.

Roasted Zucchini, Onions, Peppers and Tomatoes

It's mid-October and that means that we just finished up with "America's Largest Block Party" down here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. If you have a classic car, or even if you just love them, but you've never been, I don't know why! Put it on your calendar and get on down here next year and check it out. It's quite an event, there are beautiful cars everywhere, and it always starts the first weekend in October every year, continuing on through the next Sunday.

The weather has been perfect for it too, as it usually is for this event. By October, things have usually cooled off a tad here in the Deep South finally - mid-80s during the day and low to mid-60s at night. There was one night there on the ball field with No. 1 Grandson that I was literally shivering in a t-shirt and jeans! Humidity has not been too bad either and frankly that's really the biggest factor around here because even when the temperature is up, if the humidity is down it's pleasant, and that it has been. Really gorgeous weather.

 

The pared down version of my fabulous and famous special occasion holiday macaroni and cheese. This version is the same, super creamy, gooey and rich mac and cheese, but in a smaller version, perfect for those family and church gatherings.

Super Creamy Mac and Cheese

By popular demand, I'm bringing you this pared down version of my well-loved, Big Batch, Special Occasion, Super-Creamy Macaroni and Cheese. The one I first published on my blog in December of 2008. The one that has been pinned more than 99,000 times since. And the one that I got a happy dance from David Venable when I was on QVC with my first cookbook, not once, but both times!