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Calendar: August: I’ll discuss the tradition of southern picnics on Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s Splendid Table (Minnesota Public Radio). Check local listings. I’ll be taping North Carolina People with host William Friday, one of UNC-TV’s longest running and most popular shows. During our half-hour on-camera, Bill will teach me how he makes his famous peanut brittle, a recipe you’ll find in A Love Affair with Southern Cooking. Check local listings. September 5 & 7: North Carolina Bookwatch: My half-hour discussion of A Love Affair with Southern Cooking with host D.G. Martin will air on UNC-TV. The day before taping, I baked a Kentucky Bourbon Cake (one of many classic southern cakes in the book), and set it up on-set as a kind of “show and tell.” At the end of the taping but still on-camera, D.G. grabbed a piece, took a bite, and said, “Boy, this is good!” UNC-TV not only covers all of North Carolina but also parts of Virginia and South Carolina, and possibly easternmost Tennessee as well. Check local listings. September 26: During a week-long southern food symposium to be held at the historic Biltmore Estate in Asheville, Southern Living senior writer Donna Florio and I will discuss the origin, importance, and evolution of the South’s beloved chess pies and offer fresh-baked samples to taste. I’ll also be signing books so here’s a chance to get an autographed copy of A Love Affair with Southern Cooking . This symposium is open to the public and among the others participating are food historians and authors John Egerton, John T. Edge, Marcie Cohen Ferris, and Ronni Lundy. For details, click on http://www.biltmore.com. In Brief: A Love Affair with Southern Cooking has just won two “best cookbook” awards: first a James Beard (Americana category), and then a SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance). Needless to add, I am over the moon. The Last Word on the “new” Crisco? Just received this additional caveat from my good friend, cookbook author James Villas: “Even when I switched to all-butter in my pound cakes, I continued to grease the pan with Crisco only because I had the can on hand and thought this would be harmless. Well, as you know, I was getting crusts that fell apart when I included some Crisco in the batter but never suspected that wiping the pan with just a smidgeon could also affect the crust. So the other night I greased with stick margarine and the crust came out absolutely perfect. That new Crisco is scary stuff.” Bad Advice? I was startled to read in a recent piece on chocolate chip cookies that a good way to develop flavor is to let the dough (containing two raw eggs) season as long as 36 hours in the refrigerator. And this in a newspaper of record. Having spent months in pathogenic bacteriology labs at Cornell, I can tell you that I, for one, would never chance it. Being both sweet and moist, a big blob of cookie dough is a dandy breeding ground for bacteria that may cause food poisoning, salmonella to name merely one of them. Refrigerator temperatures are not low enough to prevent potentially harmful bacteria from multiplying. Nor, it seems to me, cookie baking times long enough or oven temperatures hot enough to destroy them. My advice? Bake your favorite chocolate chip cookies without delay. Pick up a copy of the July/August issue of Cottage Living. In it you’ll find my article on cool soups with four quick and easy recipes guaranteed to take the sizzle out of summer: Santa Fe Gazpacho with Toasted Tortilla Strips . . . Frosty Green Pea Soup . . . Artichoke Vichyssoise . . . Orange-Tomato Consommé with Lemongrass, Fresh Ginger, and Green Onion Flowers.

Q & A

Q   I have been searching my recipes for a biscuit called Bride’s Biscuit. Do you have the recipe?  It had flour, salt, cream cheese and butter plus other stuff. It was very easy. -- Rebecca Ryan, Cyclone, PA

A   Yes, Rebecca. But mine’s a bit different. No cream cheese. You'll find it on page 248 of A Love Affair with Southern Cooking along with a back story detailing the recipe’s origin. Also called Angel Biscuits, these are supremely light and fluffy. Small wonder given the fact that they contain three leavenings: yeast (no rising time needed), baking powder, and soda. Do give them a try.

Q   What is your favorite meal to bring to someone following a stay in the hospital? Do you have a vegetarian option for this as well? I'd like to spring into action when I receive such a request, and I wondered if you had any suggestions. Let's assume that the family enjoys a wide variety of foods and is willing to reheat the meal. Because one may be providing food for folks who are healthy as well as those who are recovering, I find it challenging to come up with the right  menu.  – Gina Mahalek, Chapel Hill, NC

A   I usually make a really good vegetable soup, then tell people how to slip in leftover chicken, turkey, ham, red meat to turn it into something more substantial, if they like. I also suggest that they might like to drop in some frozen, shelled and deveined shrimp and let them cook as the soup reheats.

Vegetable soups are endlessly versatile. And, of course, they're nutritional bombshells when loaded with carrots, tomatoes, potatoes (sweet and/or white), corn, onions, garlic, celery, etc., etc. People always seem pleased that I've taken time to make a nourishing, from-scratch soup. And are grateful to learn the many ways of varying it.  For starters, you might try the Minestrone Milanese on page 133 of The New Doubleday Cookbook, the Madeira Tomato and Onion Soup on page 99 of my Food of Portugal, or the Clean-Up-the-Garden Vegetable Soup on page 66 of A Love Affair with Southern Cooking. (All three cookbooks won “cookbook Oscars,” and the Doubleday, in addition, was named “Tastemaker Cookbook of the Year.” Forgive me if I brag.)

Gina again: What a great suggestion! Soup would be perfect. If I add a loaf of crusty bread and some dessert I'll be all set. Thanks for solving my dinner delivery dilemma. I'm ready to start cooking. 

Autographed Book Plates:

If you’d like an autographed book plate for any of my books, just let me know. Please specify which book and to whom it should be inscribed.