August 2022
Writing about cooking often gets you cooking yourself then you're writing about that cooking, too
Here’s my (try as hard as I can) monthly round-up for those of you who want to learn about or keep up a little more with me and the work that I do. Hope you enjoy.
One thing leads to another in the kitchen and at the desk
If you follow this show on Instagram, then you know that I clocked into my kitchen in 2020 like so many of you, and as a result, my cooking style tilted from functional to more fun. I’ve cooked since I could stand at the stove, so what I’m attempting to explain was more of an internal shift, but a real one nonetheless. It brings me consistent joy with a combination of science experiment, puzzle solving, feeding those I love, and sensory overload that begins with the shopping and sourcing.
So two new bylines for Simply Recipes invite you behind the scenes in my kitchen instead of those behind a restaurant’s plate pass: Pimento Cheese and Chow Chow. If you decide to try either, please let me know. And either would work with the produce coming out of Charlotte’s Small City Farm, which I featured in an episode last month and this month in a feature for Eater Carolinas, highlighting many of the Queen City chefs who glean inspiration from the vegetables that Kim Shaw gleans from her 3-acre suburban neighborhood farm.
Finally, I was frankly overjoyed to share the silly joy of Life Raft Treats for Oprah Daily readers as part of their joy series. Cynthia Wong and her delicious creations have given me so many smiles through the years, and I had an extra big one when I got the opportunity to write for this publication!
Not Fried Chicken Ice Cream by Life Raft Treats. Photo: Jonathan Boncek
Episode Updates
One of my most anticipated cookbooks of 2022 is Vishwesh Bhatt’s I am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef, and as soon as I received it, I had to cook from it and have Vish on the show! We recorded an episode in 2018 , so listen to them back to back to really get a feel for why this chef is so beloved throughout the Southern culinary community.
If Vish inspires you to get into the kitchen, then Joy the Baker will inspire you to stay through dessert. She’s been posting wonderful, approachable, and frankly eye-popping baked goods on her blog for years, and I got the opportunity to chat with her from her home in New Orleans. We start the conversation with beignets and go from there.
Then it’s deep into the countryside of South Carolina for an episode with Marvin Ross of Peculiar Pig Farm. The farm has been in his family for generations, and his sustainably-farmed pork is served at some of the best restaurants in the region.
And finally, if you’re looking for a wonderful new spot to eat out in Charleston, SC, then look no further than Vern’s. This neighborhood bistro is one of the hottest restaurant openings in the last year in a city full of them, and so I sat down with friends Dano & Bethany Heinze to discuss the behind the scenes of their first project together.
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Other podcast episodes I like right now: Dana Carvey and David Spade have an excellent new comedy podcast, Fly on the Wall. I am a longtime fan of King of the Hill, and hearing their recent guest Mike Judge talk about the creation of voices on that show made a long highway stretch a lot of fun. And in keeping with the TV theme, Sandman is lighting up Neil Gaiman fans, but I’d rather listen to Neil read his own work in audiobook form, or in this City Arts & Lectures episode from earlier this year.
On my mind: always a million things, especially at 3 a.m … this month — trees. I’ve always been a water girl, wowed and awed by the ocean, by creeks full of sparkling fool’s gold, or wide rivers edged curving to the horizon, but the last few years I’ve really come to enjoy trees, both on trails and in forests, and more in the everyday from my front porch. Trees make my days better, my walks with the dog better, my cicadas and cricket sound tracks as dusk falls better.
But here in SC (and I suspect many other areas of the country), power lines trump trees, which are butchered and disfigured every so many years by powerful power companies. Why can’t we take that money and bury lines? I was told because that stipend we pay for buried lines already in our bills is usually allocated for NEW development. And the trees lose again. I can’t help but think about the danger they’re communicating to each other. And what we are losing limb by limb in our overall quality of life. Ugh.
Cooking soundtrack album: Aretha Franklin 30 Greatest Hits, Aretha Franklin
Best thing I cooked this month: South Carolina Peach Crunch (Cobbler) from South Carolina Always in Season by Ann Burger Thrash. I make this every year, so here is this year’s version, and this highlight from my Instagram profile can show you how to make it.
Until next time,
Steph
I’d like to recommend a book for you- Peter Wohlleben The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate. Absolutely fascinating and will even more change your relationship with trees.