Southern from Scratch: Pantry Essentials and Down-Home Recipes

by Ashley English, Johnny Autry (Photographer)

Overview

A guide to Southern scratch cooking—150 recipes for pantry essentials and modern twists on traditional recipes.

Build a from-scratch Southern pantry with 50 essential recipes, then discover the versatility and flexibility of cooking from your larder with 100 more recipes for fresh takes on Southern favorites. Learn how to make the most of local ingredients with recipes for pickles and relishes, jams and spreads, sauces and vinegars, and more that use whole, natural, and in-season produce. With these flavorful bases and embellishments on hand, Ashley English opens up a world of Southern cuisine by sharing ideas and recipes that incorporate these classic staples. Have a batch of Dill Pickles? Make Fried Dill Pickles with Sorghum Mayo. Not sure what to do with that Muscadine Jelly? Make some Pork Meatballs with a Muscadine Glaze. With recipes ranging from Southern Greens with Chow Chow, Pickled Beet Deviled Eggs, and Succotash to Cornmeal Catfish with Spikey Tartar Sauce, Slow Cooker Barbeque Chicken, and Grit Cakes with Country Ham and Applesauce, this is a warm and down-to-earth homage to Southern Appalachian home cooking.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611803310
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	04/24/2018
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

ASHLEY ENGLISH is a lifelong cook, baker, and gardener with a wide breadth of knowledge on issues of sustainability and foodways. She has earned degrees in both holistic nutrition and sociology. She is a member of Slow Food USA and has worked over the years with a number of non-profit organizations committed to social and agricultural issues. She maintains a blog at www.small-measure.blogspot.com and a bi-monthly column at Design*Sponge (200K regular readers). Her Homemade Living series (Lark) launched in Spring 2010 includes four books total. She has regular columns in the new magazines Where Women Cook and Taproot. Ashley and her husband currently reside in Candler, NC, with their young son and a menagerie of chickens, dogs, cats, and bees, where they are converting their land into a thriving homestead.

Johnny Autry's work has been featured in Victuals by Ronni Lundy, Poole's by Ashley Christensen, and Buxton Hall Barbeque's Book of Smoke by Elliot Moss, as well as in Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Southern Living, Better Homes & Gardens, GQ, and more.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Creating a Southern Foods Pantry 5

1 Pickles & Relishes 17

2 Jams & Spreads 61

3 Sauces & Vinegars 87

4 Fruits & Vegetables 115

5 Dry Goods & Sundries 137

6 Fats & Meats 171

7 Icebox & Freezer 193

8 Sweeteners & Desserts 215

Resources 239

Index 240

About the Author 248

About the Photographer 248

Editorial Reviews

"Starting with the delicious fundamentals of the southern Appalachian larder, Ashley first fills your pantry with the goods, then shows you how to turn them into a bountiful table of delights. A born teacher with a storyteller's charm, her directions are both fun, clear, and will make you capable in no time. And nothing could inspire you more than Johnny Autry's luscious photos, so roll up your sleeves, and get down to scratch!"—Ronni Lundy, author of Victuals

“Southern from Scratch is sure to become one of the definitive, essential volumes on the cuisine of the American South. A culmination of Ashley English's own history and the region that shaped her, this book is packed with fundamental recipes that will wow you with flavor while always teaching you something new. Ashley shares her skill with such generosity and warmth, inviting us into her Appalachian kitchen with every breathtaking page.”—Alana Chernila, author of Eating from the Ground Up and The Homemade Pantry

“With Southern from Scratch, Ashley English teaches her readers how to create a culinary ecosystem bursting with flavorful, hardworking condiments, preserves, and baked goods that flow seamlessly into simple snacks, easy meals, and company dishes. While grounded in the Southern tradition, if your love language is food, this book is for you.”—Marisa McClellan, author of Naturally Sweet Food in Jars

“Very rarely does a cookbook make your heart warm and your mouth water at the same. Southern from Scratch finds the soul and comfort of both place and food.”—Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Beekman 1802 Almanac

"This volume is an inspiring resource for homesteaders, but even urbanites will like the ideas for putting up seasonalabundance, Southern style. This book is full of tempting foods that will have you reaching for your wooden spoon, castironskillet, and claw hammer (for knocking together another pantry) all at once."—Foreword Reviews

"Alongside beautiful photography from G&G contributor Johnny Autry, Ashley English shares steadfast recipes that build on the pillars of the Southern larder, like pickled okra and dilly beans, plus some with unexpected twists you’ll want to try tonight, like macaroni and cheese with a potato chip crust."—Garden & Gun

"Cookbook author and homesteader Ashley English is proof that a grandmother's influence during a child's formative years can fire the imagination and cultivate a life's work."—Southern Living 

"This is a friendly straightforward approach to Southern-style weeknight meals, snacks and special occasions."—Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher

07/01/2018
English (A Year of Picnics) demonstrates building a Southern pantry filled with scratch-made staples such as chow chow, tomato jam, dried apples, and potato chips. Serving suggestions are provided—for instance, the author recommends adding the chile sauce to homemade Thousand Island dressing—and incorporated into substantial recipes for snacks, meals, and desserts (e.g., mac & cheese with potato chip crust, pork tenderloin with cherry & dried fruit compote). Novices will sail through straightforward instructions for canning and fermenting but may falter when asked to make a roux or procure a small aspic cutter. VERDICT Pair English's attractive new collection with comparable or contrasting pantry titles such as Jennifer Chandler's The Southern Pantry Cookbook or Alana Chernila's The Homemade Pantry.

Library Journal