Frank Stitt's Southern Table: Recipes and Gracious Traditions from Highlands Bar and Grill

I'm just a regular mom who likes to plunk down with a really good cookbook and try new gourmet recipes to amaze and delight my family. Lets just say that my 3 year old toddler and husband look forward to dinner every night that I pull out Frank Stitt's cookbook. Some recipes make me crazy, especially when I have to flip through 3 different pages to get various related recipes such as sauces, but oh what heavenly delight if you persevere and see the recipe through to completion. I can't say enough good things about this book - makes one appreciate the time, effort and loving care that is evident in the recipes. The sauce gribiche is worth the price of admission. The book feels like an old friend, calling me every few days to try another recipe. What a fantastic chef. This cookbook rivals my other beloved and tattered cookbook " The French Recipe cookbook" by Clements and Wolf-Cohen. You will NOT be disappointed if you get this book. 5 star rating all the way.

Frank Stitt's Southern Table is truly a masterpiece. I am a Southerner and was raised on the wonderful flavors that form the recipes in this book. I love that Stitt showcases humble vegetables that can be found at any Southern farmer's market and presents them in impeccable fashion. His philosophy on using the freshest, in-season ingredients is wonderful advice for all cooks. I also keep this book on my coffee-table and I often read his charming writings on Southern food and the culture that surrounds cooking and eating in the South. I recommend this cookbook above all others. My family has adored everything I have made from this cookbook. I recommend the Lowcountry Red Rice, Pimento Cheese, All the cookie recipes, Spiced Pecans, and the fabulous section on perfectly mixed cocktails. This cookbook has got me planning a trip to Birmingham for the sole purpose of eating at the Highlands Bar and Grille.

The recipes I've tried from this book so far have produced restaurant delicious meals with some but not ridiculous effort. I have a habit of scanning and OCR'ing my cookbooks so I can Windows search for a recipe containing an ingredient. The quality of print in the book made for exceptional OCR'ing. The recipes are laid out nicely and work really well. Really high quality stuff but generally not such that you can't make it because you can't get xxx (though I'm glad I ordered the rabbit from my local store). Yes, it is a bit of a coffee table book in that it's beautiful that way, but I highly recommend it for the recipes for somewhat accomplished cooks who want to produce great meals at home, including lots of more "special" stuff. I'm still tasting my Red-Wine Braised Rabbit with Wild Mushrooms, and using dried porcini and fresh crimini's was no shame. No need for the fancy stuff. Nancy

I'm a Yankee who is a very good cook, specializing in French and Italian fare. I've married a Southerner whose mother is a superb Southern cook. My husband heard about this book and felt it would be a good blend for me... so I bought it and made several of the recipes in it for my mother-in-law, including some things which are her staples. (Took guts, that did... but it worked!) She asked us to get her a copy of this book. I made several recipes for an annual party we have - the stuffed pork roast, collard greens and white beans, ratatouille, etc. People couldn't stop raving about the food. There was barely a bite leftover, and I made more than enough for everyone to have seconds and thirds! One other note - I tend to alter most recipes - tweak them a bit, make substitutions, change this or that. With this book I find that 1. I don't WANT to change anything, and 2. the recipes are perfect as written. For anyone who loves great food, you will love this book. The 'coffee-table' size is no problem for me... and I love the added tidbits which give you an idea of who Frank Stitt, the person, is. I'd give it ten stars if I could. It's my favorite cookbook out of about 150 or so that I own.

`Frank Stitt's Southern Table' is a coffee table cookbook published by Artisan with very much of the same style, size, and heft of their earlier books by Thomas Keller and Eric Rippert, with most of the same strengths and weaknesses of these two other celebrity chef show books. The book begins with a highly personal Foreword by North Carolina novelist Pat Conroy who must have a more than casual eye for good food, as he just happened to run into Frank Stitt about 24 years ago across the aisle on an airplane as Conroy happened to see Stitt taking notes from what Conroy recognized as cookbooks by some very high end authors. Stitt was just on his way back to Birmingham, Alabama to open his own restaurant and confided to Conroy that he was a very, very good chef. Stitt's introduction fills out his culinary pedigree, citing the fact that he apprenticed at `Chez Panisse' with Alice Waters, from whom he received an introduction to leading French food writer Richard Olney. Stitt became Olney's assistant and through him met Jeremiah Tower and leading English food writer Elizabeth David. When Stitt opened his own restaurant `Highlands' in Birmingham, he combined traditional Southern cooking with these heavy French and Provencal influences with superfresh ingredients to create a cuisine with a skill which has landed him near the head of the class of American chefs. All this pedigree and all these paeans to fresh ingredients do not mean this is a good book. It only certifies that Stitt has in him what it takes to write a good book. The proof is in the reading, not in the reputation. For starters, he has to prove that he has added sufficient value to overcome book's drawback of being better suited for the coffee table than the kitchen counter. The book is too heavy and the typeface is too small to work well `in situ'. The first chapter of recipes deals with classic Southern dishes such as fried green tomatoes, Hoppin John, baked grits, corn bread, cracklins, pimiento cheese, and mint tea. All the dishes are true to other Southern writers I've read including James Villas, Edna Lewis, and Paula Deen, with a few deluxe touches such as making the pimiento cheese with home roasted red bell peppers instead of canned pimientos. The next chapter covers mixed drinks and bar food. While I consider mixed drink recipes in a cookbook to be not much better than filler, these do succeed in filling out part of the promise Conroy made in the Foreword that `Highlands' has some of the best mixed drinks. And I have learned from Jim Villas that mixed drinks are as much a part of the Southern culinary experience as wine is to French and Italian cuisine. This does not mean wine is ignored. The author includes one of his little essays to wine appreciation. Most of these three page bon mots deal with restaurant staff members and suppliers. The intro. to the bar food gives some conventional advice on cooking for entertaining. The next chapter covers appetizers, soups, and salads.