The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook

Yay! The Lee brother’s won two James Beard Awards (Cookbook of the Year, and Food of the Americas) for their cookbook, The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners. I’m excited and proud because they’re from my home state, South Carolina, and I already own their glorious cookbook – plus, I adore cute men with receding hairlines.

What makes The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook so great are the personal stories, histories, and insights that come with each recipe. I grew up with these recipes, stories, and visits to some of the exact places mentioned in the cookbook, so I can attest that each recipe truly is Southern cooking – the way that real cooks from the South eat. There are a few modern twists to recipes, but they tell you up front about their reformulations.

This cookbook comes highly recommended by myself and the James Beard Foundation. If you want a cookbook on true Southern food, or are a collector and reader of cookbooks, the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook is a must-have.

Favorite foods included in the book: boiled peanuts, hush puppies, pimento cheese, pickled peaches, red rice, squash casserole, hash and rice, benne wafers, and sweet potato pie.