Tamales or Seasoned in the South

Tamales

Author: John Sedlar

"Mouthwatering . . . this book's a treat for eye and palate." —Metropolitan Home magazine

"Nobody makes a tamale quite like Sedler." —Ruth Reichl

Popular features of southwestern and Mexican cooking, tamales—little packages of corn masa dough—are quickly becoming one of America's favorite wrapped foods thanks to the genius of these three chefs. Tamales are inexpensive, easy to prepare, and highly versatile. Best of all, they can be made with all types of fillings and in limitless styles.

Try these tempting variations:

• Roasted Potato, Garlic, and Sun-Dried Tomato Tamales
• Asparagus and Hollandaise Tamales
• Caribbean Jerk Shrimp Tamales
• Lobster Newburg Tamales
• Smoked Salmon Tamales with Horseradish Crema
• Arroz con Pollo Tamales
• Chicken Tamales with Mole Poblano
• Coriander-Cured Beef Tamales with Barbecue-Onion Marmalade
• Lamb Tamales with Mint, Black Beans, and Blackened Tomato and Mint Salsa
• Mom's Apple Pie tamales
• Chocolate Bread Pudding Tamales
• And more than 100 other recipes
• After tasting these tantalizing recipes, you'll agree it's true that good things do come in small packages.

Book review: Rutherford B Hayes or Twice as Good

Seasoned in the South: Recipes from Crook's Corner and from Home

Author: Bill Smith

Crook's Corner is a landmark in North Carolina and beyond. Bon Appetit called it "a legend." Travel and Leisure described it as "country cookin' gone cool." A reviewer for the Washington Post said, "I have yet to eat an average meal at Crook's Corner—the food is consistently outstanding, sort of nouvelle down home." And Delta Sky rated it "the best place to eat in Chapel Hill, in North Carolina and possibly on earth."

It's that good, and it has sustained its reputation since 1982, when legendary Southern chef Bill Neal, author of three popular cookbooks, opened the restaurant with partner Gene Hamer.

For more than a decade now, Bill Smith has presided over the kitchen, bringing his creative cuisine to an ever-growing, always enthusiastic crowd who have come to associate dining at Crook's with good company, great food, and a belief that every meal is reason for celebration.

Bill Smith's recipes are marvelously uncomplicated: Tomato and Watermelon Salad, Fried Green Tomatoes with Sweet Corn and Lemon Beurre Blanc, Pork Roast with Artichoke Stuffing, Scallops with Spinach and Hominy, Really Good Banana Pudding, and Honeysuckle Sorbet. Structured around the seasons and inspired by the abundant local produce, these recipes reinvent classics of the Southern culinary tradition and offer up imaginative interpretations of bistro fare.

Seasoned in the South captures the flavors of the freshest seasonal foods and the spirit of one of the South's liveliest and most innovative kitchens.

What People Are Saying

"Bill Smith's South is not fixed in some moonlight-and-magnolias past. At Crook's Corner, kindly grandmothers, Vietnamese immigrants, and scraggly rock and rollers hold sway; saffron and salt pork coexist; and the door swings wide to welcome all."

—John T. Edge, author of Fried Chicken: An American Story