Bill Smith came to Crook's — from the Bill and Moreton Neal-established La Residence restaurant — by way of the Cat's Cradle, which he co-founded in the 1970's.  His musical, literary and culinary interests may explain why he's been called "Chapel Hill's most quintessential resident."  A chef for more than two decades, Smith has cooked his signature dishes for most everyone who lives, works, farms and visits the good life we have in Chapel Hill, NC.  His book Seasoned in the South:  Recipes from Crook's Corner and from Home was published in the fall of 2005.

     A writer as well as an intuitive chef, his essays (commenting on such pleasures as "Cuisine de Gran Mere and Covered-dish Suppers," "Why Collards May Have Saved the South and are a New Year's Tradition," "Foraging for Flowers to make Honeysuckle Sorbet") have been featured in newspapers, radio, and television.

     In Bill's cookbook, every recipe (reliable) and story (mostly true) has only one season.  Bill Smith takes us through a year of favorite dishes and shows us the genius of simplicity -- in instruction and inspiration for such delicious dishes like "Fresh Tomato Pasta" and "Fish in Paper."  He also offers complicated, creative economies such as "How to use a Whole Duck."

     For Crook's Corner, Bill Smith prepares the Bill Neal classics:  Shrimp and Grits, Mount Airy Chocolate Souffle Cake, Hoppin' John and Jalapeno Hushpuppies.  These recipes are not in his cookbook, but he did include his favorite Bill Neal recipe, a version of  Persimmon Pudding not before published.

     In Chapel Hill, the year begins in the fall and so does Seasoned in the South.  Persimmon's fall from the trees, reminding us of our favorite pudding, Fried Oysters, Aunt Hi's Oyster Stew, Mashed Rutabagas.  Winter brings House-Cured Corned Hams that take 12 days, Sweetbreads, Pot Pies.  Spring brings Mint Syrups, the beginning of Goat Cheese and Cows Milk Crotins, Soft Shelled Crabs, Salads, and Honeysuckle Sorbet.  And at at the height of the summer:  Wild Mushroom Pasta, Figs and Ham Bellevue, Tomato and Watermelon Salad, limitless Salads Composees and more inventive ice creams and sorbets.

IN HIS OWN WORDS :

"When I do get to my parent's home in New Bern, the holiday is a real event.  Sometimes we have up to 40 people. Everyone stays late and talks.  It's really loud.  If we bring guests, they just sit, stunned.  They can't get a word in." The Smith family get togethers include, thanks to Bill's twist of his Dad's tradition, "Corned Ham (short-cured ham an Eastern North Carolina specialty), Collard Greens with Cornmeal Dumplings." — Reader's Digest

"I've had to tap into my childhood and stir it up: ... the big midday meal, everyday ... the things I remember from Church picnics." — Christian Science Monitor

"Southerners who come to Crook's like to be reminded of their childhood.  My cooking harkens back to things I ate when I was growing up, but not in a museum-like way," says Bill Smith.  "This is not a theme park." .... Cooks like Smith have learned to keep the best of Southern cooking: farm-based freshness, seasonality and variety ...  Smith, who says he eats a bowl of collards and a bowl of black-eyed peas every day, grows positively rhapsodic when it comes to Eastern North Carolina corned ham.  (His father used to send him hams from New Bern before Smith learned the curing technique himself.) — News & Observer.