“Created in partnership with YETI and the Atlanta History Center, this limited-run, specialty guide features interviews with pitmasters, a barbecue almanac, our list of the 40 essential joints in the region, odes to Southern Barbecue, original illustrations and more.”
Southern barbecue and barbecue traditions are the primary focus of Cornbread Nation 2, our second collection of the best of Southern food writing. “Barbecue is the closest thing we have in the United States to Europe’s wines or cheeses; drive a hundred miles and the barbecue changes,” writes John Shelton Reed. Indeed, no other dish is served a dozen different ways just between Memphis and Birmingham.
In tribute to what Vince Staten calls “the slowest of the slow foods,” contributors discuss the politics, sociology, and virtual religion of barbecue in the South, where communities are defined by what wood they burn, what sauce they make, and what they serve with barbecue. Jim Auchmutey links barbecue to the success of certain Southern politicians; Marcie Cohen Ferris looks at kosher brisket; and Robb Walsh investigates why black cooks have been omitted from the accepted histories of Texas barbecue, despite their seminal role in its development.
Beyond the barbecue pit, John Martin Taylor sings the virtues of boiled peanuts, Calvin Trillin savors Cajun boudin, and Eddie Dean revisits his days driving an ice cream truck deep in the Appalachian Mountains. From barbecue to scuppernongs to popsicles, the forty-three newspaper columns, magazine pieces, poems, and essays collected here confirm that a bounty of good writing exists when it comes to good eating, Southern style.
This book examines how processes and rhetoric surrounding a specific food product—and food culture as a whole—shape the food appearing on our plates and how they impact people’s health and market dynamics. The book takes an in-depth look at barbecue chefs and restaurant owners to triangulate the relationship between producers and their products. It explores the intersection of deindustrialization, commercialization, and changing health concerns as well as the changes in food culture, highlighting the need for producers to justify their positioning in response to commercialization and changing environmental laws and concerns. Finally, it analyzes the creation of authentic food products and questions how these products evolve over time in response to changes in broader society.
Magic and mystery are only part of the Southern Charms of Honeysuckle Hollow….
With Charleston’s council poised to take over Honeysuckle Hollow, the town and all of its people must band together to prove they don’t need to be absorbed into the big city magical district. What better way to show off the small supernatural Southern town than to host a barbecue contest and some classic broom racing?
To keep their town safe, it’s imperative that nothing go wrong. But when one of Honeysuckle’s most important residents is attacked, leaving him on the brink of death, it’s up to Charli Goodwin to convince the two men pursuing her to work together to catch the culprit and save a life.
Who’s fanning the flames and turning up the heat? Will the love triangle prove too hot and spicy or will Charli, Mason, and Dash be able to put aside personal feelings to capture the villain before the town and its people get charred?
Everyone who knew Norma Jean McQueen Haydel knew that she’s a supreme cook and that she was the steward of the McQueen family recipes. But she didn’t measure when she cooked. Or write things down.
Norma Jean’s brother Horace got to worrying about this. He cooked, too, but his repertoire wasn’t as vast as Norma Jean’s. So he began bothering her about writing down how she made her many dishes.
I didn’t want Norma Jean’s recipes, or our Mama’s recipes, to be lost. We have kids coming. And other folks love to eat at my sister’s table, too.”
So the two got busy recording their treasured family recipes from the South. This collection of more than 250 dishes includes their best ones. This is food you will absolutely enjoy,” said Horace. Traditional, full of marvelous flavor, enhanced’ old-timeys.”
Norma Jean and Horace put together the full line-up: crawfish bisque, poblano cream soup, wilted spinach salad, smothered pork ribs, zesty broasted chicken, baked catfish, cajun rice jambalaya, stuffed cornbread, five-flavor pound cake, margarita pie, and on and on.
Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Good Books and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of cookbooks, including books on juicing, grilling, baking, frying, home brewing and winemaking, slow cookers, and cast iron cooking. We’ve been successful with books on gluten-free cooking, vegetarian and vegan cooking, paleo, raw foods, and more. Our list includes French cooking, Swedish cooking, Austrian and German cooking, Cajun cooking, as well as books on jerky, canning and preserving, peanut butter, meatballs, oil and vinegar, bone broth, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
