Grace Hartley's Southern Cookbook: Over 40 years of recipes from the Atlanta Journal

This cookbook is recipes complied from many years while the author was food editor of the Atlanta Journal. I was impressed by two things in the book. I like that the author writes a personal page before every section, telling stories about her self and things like what a tradional southern kitchen was like. Another thing I especially like is that its not all fancy recipes, but alot of real ones that would actually have been made in a normal southern woman's kitchen. Recipes like classic corn bread (made with drippings!) dumplings, a small section on smoking and another on curing ham, and one on barbecue meat that reads- "Split the cleaned and dressed pig carcass down the middle, and place over coals in an open pit..." Which sounds extreme to those who aren't Southern, but used to be quite common for big gatherings. If you want a glimpse into the heritage of southern cooking, then this book is for you!