My Work
I consider myself a storyteller, but most of my stories are about food, from recipes to essays on the roles that our foodways play in our families, lives, history, and culture. I write books — as an author, collaborator, consultant, and ghostwriter.
The 350 creative, easy to follow recipes — organized from Apples to Zucchini — in The New Southern Garden helps cooks make the most of what’s in season and on hand. It’s peppered with fabulous stories that entertain readers who never lift a spoon. It’s good food and a good read. It was named 2012 Cookbook of the Year by the Southern Independent Booksellers Association.
Southern food and food stories are bound together. This book reflects great cooks, regardless of where they come from, who claim Southern food as their own, whether for a lifetime or a mealtime. People feel deep affection for their local community cookbooks, especially those well-worn volumes that serve as a timestamp of a particular place and time. No other type of recipe collection is more generous, gracious, and welcoming.
Sheri Castle streamlines go-to Southern dishes to be one-button easy for cooking in an Instant Pot®, multicooker, pressure cooker, or slow cooker. From jambalaya to deviled eggs and praline cheesecake, in Instantly Southern you’ll find 85 ways to get fresh, delicious, and soulful breakfasts, lunches, and dinners on the table with less fuss than ever.
When Le Creuset decided to craft their first signature cookbook for American home cooks, they invited me to be the writer and recipe editor. The book debuted in October 2017. It is filled with stunning photography, 80 timeless French recipes, practical cooking techniques, and tips about favorite ingredients – all to tempt and inform home cooks as they explore the pleasures of the French table.
In the cult classic movie-turned-Broadway production, the eternally optimistic protagonist of Waitress expresses her hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations through the whimsically named pies she bakes. Sugar, Butter, Flour celebrates this art of baking from the heart, with foolproof and flavorful pies for seduction, pies for mending a broken heart, pies for celebrating new beginnings and pies for all the little milestones that come afterwards.
As a coauthor, I tested and edited all of the book’s recipes. The book has been recognized in Garden & Gun and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and has won several awards including the 2010 Gourmand Award and was a 2011 Finalist for the IACP Cookbook Award.
Rhubarb is published by Short Stack Editions, a collectible series of small format, single-topic cookbooks focusing on inspiring ingredients. There’s so much more to these blush-colored stalks than pie. Through recipes as varied as pork chops with rhubarb pan dressing and rose-rhubarb trifle, this springtime stunner deserves our year-round attention in the kitchen.
