WARNING: do not read A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for your Kitchen by Hugh Acheson if you are hungry. It will make you crave good food. I learned this the hard way when I reviewed this book of magical cooking secrets. The design is fun, filled with scribbles and notes, almost like getting a sacred text from mama’s cooking.
From Ottawa, Canada, you would not imagine that Chef Acheson would be enamored with Southern cuisine. Howeve,r he now calls Athens, Georgia his new home where you find great music and Bull Dawgs, all nestled within the heart of Dixie. REM’s manager Bertis Downs writes an honorable introduction. Acheson has gained some major recognition from his work on television Bravo TV Chef Masters.
This book also shows that Southern cuisine is evolving from the notion that tasty food is simply fried food. Acheson covers the gambit of soups, delicious morsels, with a few cocktails sprinkled in. He has a great a cornbread recipe.
Acheson’s book is sprinkled with helpful hints. For instance, sticking problems to the pan probably means that the pan is not hot enough. The metal is porous but smooths out as it is heated up. The protein fills these holes and grabs hold.
There are some new twists on old traditions, like Fried Green Tomatoes with Pickled shrimp. Acheson also gives grilling tips, and who can go wrong with a fried chicken recipe?
Chef Acheson seems to take a simplistic approach in preparing food and his philosophy is local first, sustainability second, and organic third. We live in communities that represent a small ecosystem, so why not support them and put that energy into our bodies?
A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for your Kitchen by Hugh Acheson is the perfect addition for any kitchen library and has some amazing recipes from a young fun chef. Now I am off to the local market to spruce one of his warm soups for this cool fall evening.
To find out more about Chef Acheson visit: http://hughacheson.com/ or follow him on Twitter @hughacheson
Book Facts:
A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for your Kitchen by Hugh Acheson
2011 Crown Publishing Group 300 pp
ISBN: 978-0-307-71955-3
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