Ouita Michel - Just a Few Miles South: Timeless Recipes from Our Favorite Places

Just a Few Miles South TIMELESS RECIPES FROM OUR FAVORITE PLACES Just a Few Miles South OUITA MICHEL SARA GIBBS and GENIE GRAF Illustrated by Foreword by BRENNA FLANNERYSILAS HOUSE Published by Fireside Industries An imprint of the University Press of Kentucky Copyright 2021 by The University Press of Kentucky All rights reserved Editorial and Sales Offices:The University Press of Kentucky663 South Limestone Street,Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Cover and interior design by Jennifer L. Witzke Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Michel, Ouita, author. | Gibbs, Sara T., author. | Graf, Genie, author. | Flannery, Brenna, illustrator. Title: Just a few miles South: timeless recipes from our favorite places / Ouita Michel, Sara Gibbs, and Genie Graf; illustrated by Brenna Flannery; foreword by Silas House.

Description: Lexington, Kentucky: Fireside Industries, [2021] Identifiers: LCCN 2020053352 | ISBN 9781950564095 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781950564101 (pdf) | ISBN 9781950564118 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Cooking, AmericanSouthern style. | CookingSouthern States. | LCGFT: Cookbooks. Classification: LCC TX715.2.S68 M5 2021 | DDC 641.5975dc23 This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States CONTENTS by SILAS HOUSE FOREWORD Food is love, Ouita Michel says all the time. She signs letters this way.

She says this in speeches and conversations. And that love is present in every recipe in this book, whether she is talking about the ache of missing her mothers sandwiches or the profound attachment she feels to Kentucky. I love the sight of the moon rising and the sound of the horses snorting as their grooms lather them up and comb their manes, getting them ready for the coming day, she writes, capturing a morning in bluegrass country as she makes biscuit sandwiches and stirs up a batch of grits for the workers. On every page it is clear: Ouita loves to feed people. Ouita is much more than a chef and a restaurant owner. She is a community builder and an activist for the transformative power of food, and perhaps best of all, she is one of those people whose mere presence makes the world a better place.

I write that without hyperbole, because I know it to be true from experience. When you are with Ouita, you cant help but feel the compassion in everything she does. You also cant help but learn: about the history of food, about the way a chef thinks about taste, about fairness and equity in the food industry. She is a natural teacher at heart. And she is someone who is not afraid to talk about love in this cynical time, when so many others claim that love is too precious a thought to articulate. Yet she is never precious.

Instead, she is firm in her beliefs, even while she is modest, unassuming, and deeply empathetic. Thats why this book is so important: Just a Few Miles South makes readers feel like theyre in the kitchen with Ouita. This cookbook is not just fun to read and full of beautiful illustrations; it actually makes you want to cook. It is not daunting or pretentious; in fact, it is completely down-home, just like Ouita is: straightforward but kindhearted. It took me a while to read Just a Few Miles South because I kept stopping to savor the words and savor the prospect of the dishes Id be able to make. The first recipe I tried is the one for tuna salad, which contains ingredients easily found in just about anyones pantry and is absolutely delicious.

Its so delicious, in fact, that there must be something special going on. I think it might be that some of the love Ouita exudes comes through in every carefully chosen ingredient. I think her desire to better the world by feeding it has eased its way into every recipe. Reading Just a Few Miles South also makes us more conscientious without preaching to us. I consider the local farmer my partner in expressing the taste and cuisine of Kentucky, Ouita tells us at one point. This commitment to locally raised beef helps farmers increase their efficiency and reduce food waste, encouraging consumption of the entire animal.

Ouita knows that being a good neighbor is one of the most important things we can be, and her example fosters goodwill among those who know her, those who visit her restaurants, and now, those who read her book. Just a Few Miles South is a tour of Kentucky and a praise song for place. Its a meditation on the importance of food in our lives and the importance of being a good neighbor in ways big and small. Of course its a guide to cooking some great dishes, but its also an introduction to Ouita Michels fine collection of restaurants, which everyone should visit. Here in Kentucky, we all count Ouita as one of the treasures of our commonwealth, and now this book will allow many others to meet her and learn about the fine work she is doing for our place and our palates. Silas HouseINTRODUCTION About ten years ago, after twenty years of cooking and several years of owning restaurants, I realized that I wanted my work to reflect this Kentucky place that I love so much.

I wanted to express my love for Kentucky with ingredients that are locally produced by our farming community. I wanted to express it through location and settingsiting my restaurants along scenic byways where Thoroughbreds frolic in vibrantly green paddocks and housing them in old buildings, some plain and simple and others crafted of grand limestone in the heart of downtown. I wanted to express it with recipes that are time honoredsome so old that they are new to young folks, and some that Kentuckians are lucky enough to eat nearly every day. Among my small group of family-owned restaurants, the greatest innovation might be that we refuse to bow to the omnipresent convenience fare that most restaurants have come to rely on in our fast-food culture. We bake sandwich bread ourselves, using flour from an eighth-generation mill located just minutes away. Our staple dish, a best seller across the board, is an iconic Kentucky favorite: soup beans and cornbread.