photos by Kelley Libby
From contributor Kelley Libby: For years, at historic plantation sites across the South, the focus was on the big house and not on the slave cabins. But cabins like that are now being resurrected by a program called Slave Dwelling Project on the grounds of Montpelier, James and Dolley Madison's home in Virginia.
Vivian Howard is the chef at Chef and the Farmer in the small Eastern North Carolina town of Kinston. She also "co-stars" with her husband Ben Knight on their Peabody Award-winning PBS show “A Chef’s Life.”
Sign photo by Andy Hagedon of Smart Image
Hunter Lewis is currently the editor-in-chief of Food & Wine. When we interviewed him here, he was the executive editor at Southern Living magazine. Before that, he had stints at the publications Bon Appetit and Saveur. In this episode he discusses writing and cooking, Eastern North Carolina whole hog barbecue and the agricultural renaissance that is feeding the way people cook in the South.
Special music by Joel Madison Blount.
Sean shouldering Dinner. Photo: Charlene Dy
In Episode 17, we met Sean Kelley, a writer who set out to raise a couple of pigs for the purpose of butchering them himself. He was so adamant about that mission that he even named the pigs Lunch and Dinner. This episode picks up at the point where Dinner had grown to over 300 pounds, and Sean was finally ready to slaughter her.
Special music by Boone, N.C.-based Redleg Husky.
Sean slicing Dinner. Photo: Charlene Dy
Sean Kelley is a journalist, and in this show, he begins telling us the sometimes comic/sometimes tragic story about raising a couple of pigs so that he could slaughter, butcher and eat them just learn about that entire process firsthand.
"We know everything about pork and beef and poultry. We know nothing about pigs and cows and chickens," he says.
Sean with his pig named Dinner on the day of reckoning. Lunch stands in the background. Photo: Charlene Dy
Chef Hugh Acheson is one of the most celebrated and influential chefs in the country. He has a restaurant in Athens, Georgia Five and Ten. His Empire State South in Atlanta is one of the most popular places to dine in the city, and he also has Spiller Coffee with a couple of locations. Hugh is a two-time James Beard Award winner, once as a chef and once for his cookbook, A New Turn in the South. You may have seen him on television competing on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters or as a judge on the show Top Chef.
Hugh's Radish tattoo.
Cynthia Graubart attained culinary celebrity status last year when she won a James Beard Award for the cookbook she co-wrote with famed Southern author Nathalie Dupree. It’s called Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking, and it is amazing. It took four years to write, and it weighs six and a half pounds. It’s got 750 recipes and another 650 variations on the standards. It is becoming itself a standard--a bible--for any Southern cook.
Liz Barr, the reigning Miss Biscuit 2013
One of the highlights of Knoxville’s International Biscuit Festival is the Mr. & Miss Biscuit Pageant. This episode profiles Liz Barr, the reigning Miss Biscuit 2013. Her win was surely secured after she performed an interpretive dance to an original love song...about a biscuit.
The pageant's talent competition was serious. One guy ate a spoonful of flour. There was a woman who carved a butter sculpture to resemble the Sunsphere, one of the city’s iconic landmarks.
And then there was a woman who sang an a cappella piece she wrote to the tune of the Little Mermaid song, “Part of Your World.”
Pageant Emcee Erin Donovan and contestant Cheryl Burchett marvel at Cheryl's butter sculpture of Knoxville's Sunsphere.
Sunsphere of Butter
Liz during her interpretive dance to "Biscuit Song"
The raw bar sits right off of County Road 30A west of Apalachicola, FL
The Indian Pass Raw Bar is the anchor of the community in the Florida panhandle. It sits on County Road 30A, just southeast of Port St. Joe and west of Apalachicola. It’s an institution in this part of the world and has been here since owner Jimmy McNeill's grandparents opened it in 1929. People come for the oysters and the unusual 'honor system' code, but they also come for Jimmy, the unofficial mayor of Indian Pass.
This episode features the song "372" by Pressed And.
Owner Jimmy McNeill ready to hold court on the front porch.
A dozen served.
A dozen eaten.
Owner Jimmy McNeill is one of the biggest Florida Gators fans you'll ever meet.
Chef Roscoe Hall
In our food-obsessed culture, we likely never think about what's on the menu at an eating disorder clinic. A couple of chefs bring their inventive cuisine and gregarious personalities to Magnolia Creek, a treatment center in rural Alabama.
The episode features the song "Pour Traverser" by the Birmingham-based band War Jacket.
Chef Wil Drake
Roscoe's tattoo pays homage to his grandfather, John "Big Daddy" Bishop, the founder of Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa, AL
Wil's tattoo of a meat mincer pays homage to his grandfather who handmade sausage on his farm in Waynesboro, GA.
Microwave potato chips
Faux Crab Cakes by Chef Roscoe Hall
Ingredients:
2 spaghetti squash split in half, seeded, and rubbed with 1 TBL grape seed oil, S&P, then wrapped in foil.
2 cups black beans: 1 cup smashed with spoon, other cup left whole
1 cup chopped spinach
3 TBL minced garlic
3 TBLs each of chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, fresh thyme, and oregano
2 TBL honey
2 TBL lime juice & zest of limes used
2 cups Panko bread crumbs: 1 for dusting, other for binding. More if needed.
Method:
-Preheat oven at 375.
-Place foil wrapped Squash onto baking sheet and roast about 20-25 minutes or until sides push in when squeezed.
-When done, unwrap and let cool completely.
-Once cool grab fork and gently fork out strings/flesh of squash from skin and put that into mixing bowl.
-Add all spices, spinach, and beans, and toss until it is mixed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
-Now add Panko as needed to bind and the mixture forms patties with ease. You're shooting for crab cake feel.
-Once cakes are formed, dust outside of cakes with Panko. Put on tray and let cool in fridge for 30 minutes.
-Once ready to cook, turn a pan on medium heat, give a few swirls of grape seed oil and gently lay down cakes into pan. Sear about 3 minutes on both sides or until golden brown.
-Boom. You're done. Serve with a nice herb salad, rice, or even as a sandwich.
Microwave Potato Chips by Chef Wil Drake
Ingredients:
-Russet potatoes
-grape seed oil (or any other neutral oil)
-kosher salt
-fresh ground pepper
Method:
-Wash potatoes.
-Slice thin on mandolin or with a very sharp knife. You want to just barely see your finger through the slice.
-Place the slices in a bowl and cover with water. Let them hang out for at least 15-20 mins to expel some of the starch.
-Rinse them, shake off excess water, and lay out on a microwaveable plate lined with paper towels. Brush with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
-Pop them in the microwave at full power for about 4-5 mins. Take them out and flip over. Repeat the oil and salt and pepper process. Reduce your power by about 50% and cook another 3-4 mins. Continue zapping them in 1 min increments until they are brown around the edges and crispy!!
-They will keep in an air tight container for almost a week.
I believe that okra symbolizes the ever-evolving definition of the South. It is Southern to the core, but as a non-native plant, okra had to become Southern. In my search for an answer to the question, "What is Southern?" I talk to my grandmother about her fried okra, the Director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, the former editor-in-chief of Southern Living magazine, and a Korean-born pop singer-turned-chef who fries okra in tempura batter at her Southern barbecue joint in Atlanta.
John Floyd, former Southern Living editor-in-chief
Velma Latham, maker of fine fried okra
Ma Ma's fried okra in the cast iron skillet
Cody Taylor and Jiyeon Lee, chefs and owners at Heirloom Market BBQ, Atlanta
Spicy Korean pork sandwich, black eyed pea salad, green tomato kimchi, and cucumber and radish salad at Heirloom Market BBQ, Atlanta.
Sauces, Heirloom Market BBQ, Atlanta