Bookshelf: Farmhouse to Table

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Bury your nose, whet your appetite

The Farmhouse Chef

University of North Carolina Press, 2017

Across the country, farm to table fare is in vogue. But for many Southerners, including Jamie DeMent, owner of Coon Rock Farm in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and Piedmont Restaurant in nearby Durham, farm to table is more than a mere trend; it’s a way of life. She welcomes readers to her farmhouse table in this cookbook for all seasons. Channeling Piedmont’s vegetable-forward fare (but without the intimidation factor), The Farmhouse Chef helps home cooks make the most of their local bounty. Recipes run the gamut from Southern staples—butter bean succotash, sweet potato pudding—to new-school twists like country ham carbonara, and fava beans with garlic scape pesto, all influenced by DeMent’s personal history and travels. The common thread throughout the cookbook is sustainability: livestock on Coon Rock Farm, from heritage breed pigs to turkeys, are free range, and DeMent encourages readers to buy heirloom produce, meat, and grains to support local farmers. Much like life on the farm, the book’s chapters follow the seasons. Several recipes are dedicated to preserving the bumper crops of spring and summer, from squash and Vidalia onion pickles to oil-cured peppers. (Farm produce, DeMent says, shouldn’t only be enjoyed fresh from the ground.) With a heartfelt acknowledgments section—her father died shortly before the publication of the book—DeMent sets the tone for a family-friendly collection of recipes that can be scaled up to feed a crowd or be thrown together for impromptu gatherings.

Roadfood

Clarkson Potter, 2017

When Jane and Michael Stern penned their first guide to regional restaurants, there were no online food blogs, only a handful of food shows on television, and publishers doubted there were enough decent American restaurants to fill a book. Forty years later, they’re back with the tenth iteration of Roadfood, a state-by-state handbook for chain-weary travelers. The book has it all, from familiar characters like Arnold’s Country Kitchen in Nashville to de- serving newcomers. Drop a copy in your glove box and hit the open road.

Distillery Cats

Ten Speed Press, 2017

From shipyards to bookstores, there’s a storied tradition of employing cats in the workforce. In his latest release, Brad Parsons sheds light on the distillery cat, charged with the safe-keeping of expensive grain at craft distilleries and breweries across the country. Nowadays they’re more than mere workers—the felines have evolved into social media darlings, at times amassing a larger following than the distillery. Above all, they’re brand ambassadors (take Sugar Maple, so named for Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery’s filtration of whiskey through sugar maple). Find their stories, plus cocktail recipes, in this new release.