Bill Smith || Seasoned in the South

Bill Smith || Seasoned in the South

"With a narrative as rich as the stocks that he cooks, Bill Smith invites the reader to come into his kitchen.

There he shares truly magical Southern dishes like Green Tabasco Chicken, Persimmon Pudding, and mayhaw and honeysuckle sorbets. In Seasoned in the South, Smith unvels an exciting new chapter in our region's cuisine."
— William Ferris, Coeditor of Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

Peach Pie or Blackberry Pie with Lard Crust
Monday, July 13, 2009

This pie combines a crust recipe I got from Kathleen Purvis at the Charlotte Observer with a filling from the 50th Anniversary edition of the Joy of Cooking. Whenever I need to make something basic that I don't really have any experience with, I go to that Joy of Cooking. I decided to switch to a lard crust after I tasted some cookies that my kitchen manager, Hector Gonzales, made one slow night at work. . .

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has been
the chef at Crook's Corner for more than a decade. His essays have been featured in newspapers and on radio and television, and his recipes were selected for The 150 Best American Recipes and Food & Wine magazine's Best of the Best.

Be sure to visit Bill Smith's blog A Year in the Kitchen and follow the daily triumphs and tribulations of a working chef.

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Content in the Fall Kitchen
Tue, 06 Dec 2011 new

Duck with Cranberries

We’re a very seasonal restaurant. Always have been. That’s the way Bill Neal ran the kitchen at La Residence, where I first began cooking professionally, and it carried over here later when he opened Crook’s Corner. This approach makes sense to anyone of my generation, who remembers when transportation systems were less sophisticated so that a lot of what was around to cook was by necessity local and seasonal. We also had mentors in the newly burgeoning food publishing world. Paula Meyers comes to mind first because of her seminal book “The Seasonal Kitchen”. In the mid seventies everyone owned a copy. A month ago I found Perla Meyers having dinner on our patio. I was utterly charmed.