{"product_id":"ham-biscuits-hostess-gowns-and-other-southern-specialties-an-entertaining-life-with-recipes","title":"Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties: An Entertaining Life (with Recipes)","description":"Southern humorist Julia Reed celebrates Southern food, Southern women, and the Southern penchant for enjoying good times in this collection of her food writing.\n\nJulia Reed spends a lot of time thinking about ham biscuits. And cornbread and casseroles and the surprisingly modern ease of donning a hostess gown for one's own party. In Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns and Other Southern Specialties Julia Reed collects her thoughts on good cooking and the lessons of gracious entertaining that pass from one woman to another, and takes the reader on a lively and very personal tour of the culinary -- and social -- South.\n\nIn essays on everything from pork chops to the perfect picnic Julia Reed revels in the simple good qualities that make the Southern table the best possible place to pull up a chair. She expounds on:\n\nthe Southerner's relentless penchant for using gelatin\nwhy most things taste better with homemade mayonnaise\nthe necessity of a holiday milk punch (and, possibly, a Santa hat)\nhow best to \"cook for compliments\" (at least one squash casserole and Lee Bailey's barbequed veal are key).\n\nShe provides recipes for some of the region's best-loved dishes (cheese straws, red velvet cake, breakfast shrimp), along with her own variations on the classics, including Fried Oysters Rockefeller Salad and Creole Crab Soup. She also elaborates on worthwhile information every hostess would do well to learn: the icebreaking qualities of a Ramos gin fizz and a hot crabmeat canapé, for example; the \"wow factor\" intrinsic in a platter of devilled eggs or a giant silver punchbowl filled with scoops of homemade ice cream. There is guidance on everything from the best possible way to \"eat\" your luck on New Year's Day to composing a menu in honor of someone you love.\n\nGrace and hilarity under gastronomic pressure suffuse these essays, along with remembrances of her gastronomic heroes including Richard Olney, Mary Cantwell, and M.F.K. Fisher. Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns and Other Southern Specialties is another great book about the South from Julia Reed, a writer who makes her experiences in―and out of―the kitchen a joy to read.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0312359578\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: DBV.0312359578.VG\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Very Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Reed, Julia\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: Pages are clean with no markings. May show minor signs of wear or cosmetic defects  marks, cuts, bends, or scuffs  on the cover, spine, pages, or dust jacket. May have remainder marks on edges.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Dream Books Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41497303810106,"sku":"DBV.0312359578.VG","price":4.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/6011\/0138\/files\/0312359578-0.jpg?v=1782928670","url":"https:\/\/shop.dreambooksco.com\/products\/ham-biscuits-hostess-gowns-and-other-southern-specialties-an-entertaining-life-with-recipes","provider":"Dream Books Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}