South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations
Sean Brock
James Beard award-winning chef Sean Brock is back with his second cookbook (his first, “Heritage,” won a James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook in 2015.) In “South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations,” Brock examines all regions of Southern cuisine, as well as kitchen methods and manners, such as how to care for cast iron, how to fry and more. This will be an essential guide in a Southern cook’s tool kit. Artisan, 376 pages, $40. Five stars.
Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration
Carla Hall
Although TV celebrity chef and cookbook author Carla Hall’s “Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration” has been out for a little while, the book recently took on special significance with the passing of soul food icon Leah Chase. Hall was able to serve up lunch with Chase in February just weeks before her passing. Hall has also recently toured south Louisiana spreading her own brand of love and community outreach through biscuit making. Recipe highlights include: cracked shrimp with comeback sauce, field peas with country ham and sweet potato pudding with clementines. Harper Wave, 336 pages, $29.99. Four and a half stars.
The Peach Truck Cookbook, 100 Delicious Recipes for All Things Peach
Stephen K. Rose and Jessica N. Rose
While Georgians may try and make claim, we all know that the best peaches come from northwest Louisiana. That said, the duo behind Nashville farmer’s market peach darlings Stephen and Jessica Rose have put together a unique cookbook chock full of ways to incorporate the blushing fruit into dishes, morning, noon and night … and, perhaps, midnight snack. Think: peach sticky buns, glazed ribs and peachy lemonade. The book also gives information on picking peaches, varieties and pantry storage tips. Scribner, 288 pages, $28. Four stars.
The New Orleans Kitchen
Justin Devillier and Jamie Feldmar
From the recipe files of New Orleans Magazine’s 2014 Chef of the Year and James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: South, 2016, Chef Justin Devillier and coauthor Jamie Feldmar, have put together an essential tour of modern and classic Louisiana cooking. Basic instructions on rouxs and stocks, techniques on pantry staples such as chow chow, and recipes for everything from the chef’s renowned blue crab beignets to root beer braised short ribs and brown butter crepes with rum raisin ice cream. There’s something for every appetite here. Lorena Jones Books, 384 pages, $40. Five stars.
