Title: The Southern Foodie’s Guide to the Pig: A Culinary Tour of the South’s Best Restaurants & the Recipes That Made Them Famous
Author: Chris Chamberlain
Source: Amazon

It’s about history, it’s about food, it’s about the South! During my time in the North, I sought out little bits of southernness I could find. The Southern Foodies Guide to the Pig by Chris Chamberlain is one of those gems that fed my soul, and my mouth. Subtitled “A Culinary Tour of 50 of the South’s best Restaurants and the Recipes that Made Them Famous,” the book more than lives up to its promise.

• Favorite profile: What sets this book apart is its interviews with the “masters” who make the meat. People like The Pit Master Pat Martin of the Fatback Collective, who raise awareness of heritage hogs and cook whole hogs around the country. The process for whole-hog cooking is described in g(l)orious detail.
• Favorite Hint: 8 Ways to Use Bacon Grease made my mouth water and brought back fond memories of my grandmother’s cornbread (hint: use a tablespoon of it to grease your skillet before you bake).
• Favorite tidbit: Then there are the nuggets of folks wisdom and myth busting between chapters. For example, “Wild hogs used to roam the fields of the lower end of Manhattan. Farmers had to build a wall to keep the pigs from digging up their crops. The street that ran alongside this wall became known as ‘Wall Street’.”
• Favorite Recipe: Tennessee Whiskey Sauce
• Meal for my bucket list: Central BBQ Baked Beans, Fresh green peas with new potatoes, fried apples, and double-cut pork chops with dirty rice. Blackberry crisp for dessert.

I’m back in the southerly regions now and looking forward to going home to Louisiana this summer to make that meal with my extended family. Thank you Mr. Chamberlain for sharing your storytelling and culinary skills with us in this Southern Foodies Guide.

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