Courtney Dial Whitmore - The Southern Entertainers Cookbook : Heirloom Recipes for Modern Gatherings.

The

Southern

Entertainers

Cookbook

Heirloom Recipes forModern Gatherings

Courtney Whitmore

Photographs by Kyle Dreier

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2020 Courtney Whitmore

Photographs 2020 Kyle Dreier / Dreier & Company LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any meanswhatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portionsquoted for purpose of review.

Published by

Gibbs Smith

P.O. Box 667

Layton, Utah 84041

1.800.835.4993 orders

www.gibbs-smith.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Whitmore, Courtney Dial, author. | Dreier, Kyle, photographer.

Title: The southern entertainers cookbook : heirloom recipes for moderngatherings / Courtney Whitmore; photographs by Kyle Dreier.

Description: First edition. | Layton : Gibbs Smith, [2020] | Includesindex. | Summary: Serve up classic recipes and new favorites from a Southernperspective. Courtney is known for creating delicious, party-friendly food toenhance any meal and every party Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019054772 | ISBN 9781423653110 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Cooking, AmericanSouthern style. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX715.2.S68 W477 2020 | DDC 641.5975dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019054772

For Jayne and Jessica, our two best friends.

Contents

Introduction

I am proud to be from the Southwhere tea is sweet and accents aresweeter; summer starts in April; front porches are wide and words are long; macaroniand cheese is a vegetable; pecan pie is a staple; yall is the only proper pronoun;chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy; everything is darling and someone isalways getting their heart blessed. Have a good day yall!

Southern Saying

Entertaining is a way of life in the South; its as ingrained in ourculture as sweet tea and one hundred percent humidity. We have no shortage ofreasons to invite friends and family over and we always have room for one more. Bornand raised here in the South, Im proud of our rich heritage of Southernhospitality. No matter whether were polishing the silver and pulling out the finechina for a high falutin to-do or eating hand pies on the back porch, food is atthe heart of all celebrations.

Growing up, I always loved hearing my mom say companys coming. Ihave fond childhood memories of peeking through the stair rails from the secondfloor of our downtown Charleston home as my mother graciously greeted cocktail partyguests and led them into the formal dining room for drinks and hors doeuvres. Mybrother and I would wait until everyone was busy laughing the night away and thendart downstairs to sneak two pieces of chocolate fudge off the silver platter, andhope we wouldnt get caught. Of course, we knew exactly where they would be locatedbecause our mother labeled all her dishes and silver trays with sticky notes in thedays leading up to the party. She was the quintessential Southern hostess, havinglearned the art of entertaining from her parents at a very young age.

From hosting elegant tea parties in her garden to formal Christmascocktail parties, these festivities instilled in me a passion for entertaining andSouthern food. My mother organized all her best Southern recipes in a large binder,which sat on our kitchen counter, and she would flip through it to create her partymenus for every special occasion. My hope is that this book becomes your own go-tocollection of recipes for a lifetime of celebrations.

In our family, we regard our recipes with as much importance as ourfamily photo albums. Theyve been handed down through generations, bringing specialpleasures and providing unforgettable memories to every family member. Mygrandfather was one of the best scratch cooks Ive known. Youll also find many ofhis beloved favorites within these pages.