With the preponderance of recipes available at the click of a Google search, I’m a firm believer that cookbooks must be more than just recipes these days. They must be special enough to merit holding in one’s hands, to warrant flipping through its pages. When HelloFresh beckons, cookbooks must teach something and stand for something. They should invite the reader into another world. One cookbook that exemplifies my rather extreme metrics is Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes by Ronni Lundy.
Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes
I first discovered the hardback book, appropriately, while in the mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina. The book itself, with its cover of mountain ridges, a linen texture and a photo of buttermilk soup with potatoes and country ham, felt special. Its pages revealed a true journey into the author’s home region, Appalachia.
Famed southerner Emmylou Harris accurately reviewed the photos of misty mountains, weathered farmers and shuck beans mid stringing. Featured are salt-heavy dishes as “a marvelous travelogue and history of an under-appreciated and often misrepresented part of America, its people and culture.”
Additionally, the cookbook reads like a storybook of prodigal chefs who returned to small towns to make bacon-wilted greens as their grandmothers did. It tells of the bakers and meat curers, of Irish immigrants, and Lundi paints the landscape with sensory mastery. As Lundi references, “stars pouring down from hilltops” and “the sound of a train passing by broke through the deep velvet.”
It’s a book of respect and deep connections, which prompted featured Chef Ian Boden to muse, “That’s Appalachia, isn’t it? That seating everyone at the table? That sense everyone can share?”
I was raised by Midwesterners, with similar values, which is why my table felt like the right place for sharing this book. Hospitality is the heart of my dining room, and by extension, it’s the heart of a cookbook club. Gathering over food is a chance to collectively try new recipes, exchange stories, and forge connections.
Bringing Victuals to Life: Menu and Local Partners
To bring Victuals to life, I called on Wise County Biscuits for their buttery, flaky authenticity. Founded by husband-wife duo James Wolfe and Lena Laskaris, the biscuit-based offerings are inspired by the Appalachian home-cooking of James’s Grandma Sallie. She taught him that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, and afternoons were dedicated to stringing beans, shucking corn, and picking greens. You can find WCB at local farmers’ markets. At the market, just look for the long line of loyal customers and start debating whether you want pimento cheese, greens or both?
A culinary journey of Appalachia was an appropriate time to share a special bottle of whiskey I saved from a trip to West Virginia. Tucked away in a hollow of Rich Mountain, Still Hollow Spirits come from two gents with Appalachian roots dating to 1790. They distill whiskey with water from their natural spring and home-grown, heirloom corn.
Honoring Appalachian Sustainability
Importantly, Victuals is steeped in the sustainability of the region. In that spirit, transform leftover beet greens, carrots, greens and radish. The ingredients work into a Southern-inspired side of braised greens.
Featured Victuals Cookbook Club Menu
- Pimento Cheese & Crostini
- Heirloom Tomato Salad with Cornbread Croutons
- John Fleer’s Buttermilk Cornbread Soup with Cornbread Croutons & Dill (serve hot or chilled)
- Wise County Biscuits
- Real Cornbread
- Skillet Fried Chicken & Milk Gravy
- Buttermilk Cucumber Salad
- English Pea Salad with Cream Dressing
- Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with Bacon & Orange Sorghum Vinegar
- Buttermilk Brown Sugar Pie & Still Hollow Corn Whiskey
Southern Cookbook Recipes from Ronni Lundy
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John Fleer’s Buttermilk Cornbread Soup
- Yield: Serves 4
Description
Use that leftover cornbread atop a creamy and savory soup.
Ingredients
- Peanut oil
- 1/3 cup chopped leeks, white parts only
- 1/3 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 tsp minced garlic
- 2 1/4 cups chicken broth, plus extra if needed to thin the soup
- 1/2 cup crumbled day-old cornbread
- 1 cup whole buttermilk
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Set a medium soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, and add enough peanut oil to coat the bottom.
- Add the leeks and celery, and reduce the heat to medium-low; sweat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables become lightly translucent without coloring.
- Add the garlic and cook for another minute; then add the chicken broth and cornbread.
- Bring to a low simmer, and let simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the heat.
- Combine the buttermilk and heavy cream in a large bowl.
- Gradually pour in the hot broth mixture, stirring constantly.
- Puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth.
- Taste, and season with salt and pepper as needed. If the soup is too thick for your liking, add a touch of broth.
- Return the soup to the pot; cook over low heat just until warmed through, or serve chilled.
- Serve with a little crumbled cornbread on top and fresh dill.
- Garnish with cornbread crumbs or cornbread crouton and fresh dill.
Buttermilk Brown Sugar Pie
Description
Sweetness in every bite on top of a melty crust.
Ingredients
- Single 9-inch unbaked pie crust
- 1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup very finely ground cornmeal (see note)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 3/4 cup whole buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the crust in a 9-inch pie pan and refrigerate it while making the filling.
- In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, cornmeal, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.
- Beat in the melted butter.
- Add the dry mixture and stir vigorously until the brown sugar is dissolved.
- Add the buttermilk and vanilla.
- When all is well combined, pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for 45 minutes, or until the center is set (no longer liquid, but still tender to the touch).
- Allow the pie to cool until just barely warm before slicing.
Notes
If your cornmeal is not very fine, you can whir it in a blender until it is a little denser than flour. If it is mostly fine but not fully so, you can sift it to remove any larger pieces.
Recipes by Quelcy Kogel, Adapted from Victuals
Story & Styling by Quelcy Kogel
Photography by Erin Kelly
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