Grub Americana

Brunswick Stew

Born from Southern tradition Brunswick Stew is made with already-cooked meats, it comes together quickly—just the thing for feeding a crowd or warming up a chilly day.

Kentucky Burgoo

This thick, hearty stew is as much about fellowship as it is about flavor. While most often linked to Kentucky, you’ll also find folks in Indiana and Tennessee calling it their own—each with a slightly different spin.

Brunswick Stew: A Southern Classic

Brunswick stew’s rich history blends folklore, regional pride, and a good dose of friendly rivalry over who made it first—proof that a bowl of stew can be as much about heritage as it is about flavor.

White Potato Pie

This recipe has been passed from one generation to the next, remaining a special holiday treat in Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Perfect Pie Crust

Adapted from a recipe in the November 2021 issue of Southern Living. The combination of butter and shortening produces an extremely flaky yet sturdy pie crust.

Grandma’s Watermelon Pickles

My mother’s sister Mattie claimed this was Grandma’s recipe for pickled watermelon rind, though the claim can’t be fully substantiated. Several years before his passing, my father used this very recipe to make himself a batch and swore they tasted just like grandma’s. Try it out—I’m sure you’ll enjoy the results.

Edna Lewis’ Watermelon Rind Pickles

Adapted from Edna Lewis’s recipe in her landmark1976 cookbook The Taste of Country Cooking. Born in Freetown, Virginia, Lewis was the granddaughter of an emancipated slave who helped establish the town. She left home to make her way in New York, first as a skilled seamstress and later as a writer, before finding her true calling in the kitchen. Over the years she become a beloved chef, the author of four influential cookbooks, and one of the most important voices in preserving and celebrating Southern food traditions.

Grandma’s Watermelon Rind Pickles

From family farm gatherings to centuries of culinary tradition, watermelon rind pickles tell a story of resourcefulness, resilience, and sweet-sour summertime flavor.

Marlborough Pie

An elegant, one-time holiday favorite in New England, Marlborough pie boasts an apple-infused custard flavored with lemon and sherry.

The Forgotten Apple Pie of New England

Before apple pie became the patriotic symbol we know today, early American cooks baked something far more old-world and unexpected: Marlborough Pie. This forgotten New England favorite was made, remarkably, with apples on the verge of spoiling.

Gooseberry-Ginger Jam

When the warmth of ginger pairs with the tartness of gooseberries the results are a delicious jam.

Gooseberry Pie

This is a delicious introduction to gooseberries for anyone unfamiliar with these tart summer berries.

The Lost World of Gooseberries

Gooseberries live in that curious category of half-memory, passed down through family stories of a past I never knew. And though gooseberries have all but vanished from most American kitchens, the memory of them lingers.

Raspberry Cottage Cheese Ice Cream

This high-protein cottage cheese ice cream is made with whole milk (4% fat) cottage cheese, honey, fresh or frozen raspberries, and crushed graham crackers.

Once a Dairy Darling, Cottage Cheese Makes a Comeback

From farmhouse kitchens to 1970s diet plates, this humble, curdy concoction has long been a quiet staple of American food culture. Though it fell out of favor during the yogurt craze, its story is one of surprising resilience, and its comeback is nothing short of remarkable.

Pork ’n Beans: the more you eat, the more you….

In America, baked bean dishes, including pork and beans, are thought to have began with the indigenous Penobscot, Narragansett, and Iroquois tribes, who slow-cooked beans in clay pots buried in holes filled with hot stones.

How to cook pokeweed

You should only use the leaves and stems for young plants — those under two feet tall, with no signs of purple on the stalks or stems. Absolutely no roots!**

Pokeweed, America’s forgotten vegetable

American pokeweed is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the Phytolaccaceae family. And while the leaves and stalks of this species are a nutritional powerhouse, high in vitamin A, C, iron, and calcium, its high toxicity will make humans extremely ill (perhaps even fatal) if not properly cooked.

My Momma’s Christmas Pie

Of all the pies my momma baked during the holiday season, there was one very special pie she made just for herself . . . her Christmas mincemeat pie.

Sugar’s Mincemeat Pie

This sweet, flavorful pie was one of my momma’s all-time favorite
pies. She made them every Christmas until I was almost grown,
when she said she could no longer find prepared mincemeat at
the supermarket.

Heinz Ketchup Cake

This recipe was created by Heinz to celebrate their 100th anniversary in Canada.

Homemade Ketchup

Homemade ketchup is not only great treat for your family, but it makes a terrific gift for any special occasion.

Water Pie

Born out of the Great Depression, the main ingredient in this pie is water.

Desperation Pies

The Great Depression brought with it a number of major changes in the American food scene — how to acquire food, how to make it last, and how to turn the available limited ingredients into tasty, nutritious meals.

Mock Pecan Pie

This desperation pie, also known as “Oatmeal Pie,” is said to have been created in the 1860s in the Civil War South when pecans were in short supply.

Classic Chess Pie

While chess pie’s rich, custard-like filling may not have the tanginess of its buttermilk pie cousin, what it does bring to the table is pure, simple sweetness.

Ellerbee’s Chocolate Fudge Pie

This simple but delicious pie dates back to Tennessee sometime between the late 1800s and early 1900s, and remains a popular dessert even today.

Sugar Cream Pie

Named the official state pie of Indiana in 2009, sugar cream pie (also called Hoosier sugar cream pie, Quebec sugar cream pie, and Tartes au sucre) is a simple but delicious pie.

Southern Egg Pie

A close cousin of chess and buttermilk pies, egg pie (also known as egg custard pie) is a custard-based confection made with eggs, sugar, and milk or cream baked in a flaky crust.

Vinegar Pie

With a taste that mimics that of lemon pie, this “make-do” pie could be made from staples found in practically every home cooks kitchen.

Mock Apple Pie

While it may only be mind over matter, most folks will agree that mock apple pie looks, smells, and tastes like real apple pie.

Shoofly Pie

Shoofly pie began as a crustless molasses coffee cake for the 1876 U.S. Centennial. A crust was added four years later to make it a pie.

Buttermilk Pie

During the Depression era, buttermilk was for many families a means of survival. In this delicious sweet and tangy pie buttermilk is the star.

Bread: The Staff of Life

Bread is one of the oldest, most important, yet perhaps the most presumed foods in the world. In its simplest form, bread is wheat flour and water formed into a shaped dough and baked.

Best Ever Focaccia

Adapted from Paul Hollywood’s “Ultimate Focaccia” recipe in his new cookbook, “Bake”. Hollywood proclaims this is a favorite and one he takes to many dinner parties he attends.

Orange Creamsicle Float Cocktail

This delicious orange flavored ice cream soda with its boozy kick is perfect for those hot summer days, or any day for that matter.

Hot Pack Method of Canning Peaches

While limited attempts were made by some households to preserve foods using the Appert Method, it was the creation of the Mason jar and its sure-on lid that made home canning popular .

Canning, How It Started and Where It’s Come

1795 Nicholas Appert discovered how to preserve foodstuffs for long period of time, although it took 14 years of trial and error. Yet it took another 50 years before anyone knew why the Appert’s method worked.

Belgian Waffles

Belgian waffles are thicker and lighter than their American counterpart, and usually served with berries and whipped cream

The Wondrous World of Waffles

Waffles are the second most popular breakfast food after pancakes, with 45% of American’s breakfast eaters claiming waffles are their go-to dish.

My Meatloaf Recipe

My meatloaf recipe uses both beef and pork to provide wonderful flavor and moisture. Enjoy!

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