Publisher's Synopsis
Gravy's Fall 2022 journal offers two delicious paths: one for your living room chair and another for the kitchen. This first-ever double issue is one part thought-provoking stories, one part recipe book of soon-to-be favorites.
Fall features and essays provide new contexts for familiar stories, inviting readers to question what they think they know about food and place. Jeff Johnson describes how Bertha Fontaine and other home economists on the Gulf Coast helped create a national market for fresh shrimp, grouper, ballyhoo, and red snapper in the mid-20th century, bringing expertise and scientific approaches to food preparation. Columnist Hanna Raskin tells of competitive pitmasters who borrow techniques from family kitchen canons, pairing gochujang pork and kimchi slaw and topping injera with berbere-rubbed brisket. In an excerpt from her new illustrated memoir Landings, Arwen Donahue shows daily life on a Kentucky family farm: chopping wood, tending goats, and the struggle to survive and thrive. Katie King explores kuzu, a kudzu starch traditionally used to thicken sauces and desserts, asking: when kudzu ate the South, why didn't the South eat kudzu? Finally, Maurice Bailey of Georgia's Sapelo Island and Maricela Vega, chef at Chico restaurant in Atlanta, talk about Latino and Black land use and reclamation in the South.
Flip the issue, and readers find Choosing Sides, fine homemade fixings for a barbecue feast created by cookbook author and recipe developer Sheri Castle. While few attempt pit-smoked barbecue at home, she notes, the classic side dishes are reassuringly accessible. And sides are every bit as distinct between states and regions as the meat. Taking inspiration from classic Southern barbecue joint sides, Castle shares eight recipes designed to be cooked at home, together or individually, and paired with all types of barbecue. Some are common; some may be new to readers. She made these sides the way she would if she could have y'all over to her house. You can bring the barbecue.
