- First Publication of a Newly Discovered Manuscript by Edna Lewis
- Two Gourmet Entertains Menus: Atlanta Chef Scott Peacock’s Country Brunch; Simple Dixie Kicks
- Award-Winning Author Ann Patchett’s Insider’s Look at Nashville
- John T. Edge on Atlanta Restaurants
- Seasonal Kitchen: Delicious Southern Cakes
- Roadfood: The Sterns Eat Barbecue in North Carolina
- Laura Shapiro on Scott Peacock
- Kitchen Notebook: Perfect Biscuits; Southern Ingredients
- The Last Touch: Pecans
“What Is Southern?” (page 24) is a previously unpublished essay by southern culinary grande dame Edna Lewis. The essay, in which Lewis shares a lifetime’s worth of experience, was the inspiration for this entire special issue and its exploration of southern cuisine. A granddaughter of freed slaves, the late Edna Lewis left home when she was just 16 years old and went on to become a renowned chef at Manhattan’s star-studded Café Nicholson. With her four cookbooks, she was a pioneer for regional American food, spread the gospel of genuine southern cuisine, and inspired a generation of home cooks. Recipes start on page 32: Deviled Crab; Seafood Gumbo; Baked Tomatoes with Crusty Bread; Mint Julep; Sugar Syrup; Hoppin’ John; Buttermilk Cookies; Clay-Pot Guinea Hen; Brunswick Stew; Simmered Greens with Cornmeal Dumplings; Potato Casserole; Smothered Steak; Featherlight Yeast Rolls; Oyster Stew with Salsify; Green Beans in Pork Stock; and Fried Apple Pies.
In Gourmet Entertains: “Good Day Sunshine” (page 66), Atlanta chef Scott Peacock brings southern soul to a brunch menu: Champagne Punch; Pimento Cheese Toasts; Ambrosia; Braised-Pork Hash; Creamy Stone-Ground Grits; Lowcountry Breakfast Shrimp; Eggs with Cream, Spinach, and Country Ham; Slow-Roasted Tomatoes; Crisp Winter Lettuces with Warm Sweet-and-Sharp Dressing; Crusty Buttermilk Biscuits; Spoon-Bread Muffins; Sugared Blackberries; Warm Sweet-Potato Pudding with Apples and Chestnuts; Bourbon Pecan Tarts; and Boiled Coffee.
In Gourmet Entertains: “Get Your Dixie Kicks” (page 82), Gourmet food editor Lillian Chou offers her easy southern menu: Cheese Straws; Fried Chicken with Bacon and Pepper Cream Gravy; Mashed Red-Skinned Potatoes; Buttered Peas with Onion; Sweet Cucumber and Radish Salad; and Lemon Meringue Pie.
Gourmet Travels: In “Nashville Native” (page 98), Ann Patchett, the PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author of best-selling books The Patron Saint of Liars and Bel Canto, who has long lived in Nashville, takes an insider’s look at the best of what the city she calls home has to offer, from barbecue sandwiches to live-music cafés. “The Details” (page 104) recommends the Music City’s best hotels, restaurants, spas, music shops, and lounges. In “Civic Pride” (page 53), John T. Edge, author of A Gracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the American South, editor of the Foodways volume of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, and director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi, writes about Atlanta’s new culinary identity following the closing of former top toque Guenter Seeger’s restaurant. Edge profiles a new crop of Atlanta chefs who are embracing the past while redefining the future: hometown boy Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene, who changed the Atlanta fine-dining scene with his modern restaurant strengthened by deep regional roots, Anne Quatrano of Bacchanalia, Scott Peacock of Watershed, and Ford Fry of JCT. Kitchen. In Seasonal Kitchen: “Belles of the Ball” (page 92), Gourmet test kitchen director Ruth Cousineau creates six southern beauties—beautiful, rich, delicate cakes: Fresh Coconut Layer Cake; Citrus Pound Cake; Pecan Fig Bourbon Cake; Mile-High Chocolate Cake; Caramel Cake; and Dried-Apple Stack Cakes.
In “Staying On Alone” (page 64), Laura Shapiro, author of Perfection Salad, Something from the Oven, and 2007’s acclaimed biography Julia Child, profiles Scott Peacock, devoted friend and confidant of Edna Lewis and James Beard Award–winning chef of Atlanta’s Watershed restaurant.
In Roadfood: “Leave It to Cleaver” (page 58), Jane and Michael Stern travel to eastern North Carolina for whole-hog barbecue and eat at Skylight Inn, founded in 1947 and considered to be the area’s BBQ benchmark, home to a style “known to connoisseurs primarily for its disavowal of sauce.”
Kitchen Notebook includes “Perfect Biscuits” (page 106), offering tips for the best buttermilk biscuits, and “Tasting the South” (page 107), detailing everything you need to know about some of the South’s favorite ingredients: dried chestnuts; pecans; Cope’s corn; guinea hen; shank end of dry-cured country ham; turnip greens and mustard greens; and extra-fine-grind white cornmeal.
The Last Touch: “Nut Job” (page 114) features tasty pecan recipes for more than just pies: Deviled Ham and Pecan Tea Sandwiches; Pecan Currant Bread; Sautéed Trout with Pecans; and Pecan Shortbread Cookies.
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