The Southern Fork

What is Southern food? And how does that differ from asking the question, What is cooking in the South? Those are just the sort of questions I try to answer through each episode of The Southern Fork, so it's fitting to begin this, our eighth season together, with a conversation with Chris "Chino" Hathcock of Husk Savannah in Savannah, GA. He's been working to define his style for four years under...

 It's the season finale! Steph details the top 5 podcasts, her favorite eats and drinks, and shares other insights.

Dooky Chase's Restaurant opened its doors for business in 1941 in New Orleans. What was initially a sandwich shop and lottery ticket outlet in 1939 blossomed into a thriving bar and later a respected family restaurant in the Treme neighborhood. Founded by Emily and Dooky Chase, Sr., the restaurant soon became the meeting place for music and entertainment, civil rights, and culture in New Orleans....

Most food tours in the US involve quick stops at multiple restaurants, but in Charleston, SC, there is one that is very unique, led by a chef and certified tour guide with a passion for the history of Lowcountry foodways. Undiscovered Charleston is the brainchild of Forrest Parker, a chef whose restaurant tenures include Opryland, Louis's, the Old Village Post House, and Revival. A former 2016 Sou...

New Orleans restaurateur Ralph Brennan grew up in restaurants. Part of a storied New Orleans family, the restaurant group he helms today owns multiple spots -- including Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen located at the Disneyland Resort -- but to me, the crowning jewel of this group is Brennan's , a restaurant in the French quarter opened in 1946 that still celebrates the pageantry of eating out in its...

In 1850 Sawyer Hayward came to New Orleans from the West Indies to start in the cotton business but soon expanded to source other items, including beans, which were prized by the large population of Caribbean immigrants. Vince Hayward is a descendant of Sawyer and the CEO of L.H. Hayward and Company , founded by his great-grandfather in 1923 to sell red beans in the famous old French Quarter Marke...

If you didn't already employ them to make a take-out dish this week for your Thanksgiving table, chances are you'll probably meet some friends at some point at a restaurant during the holidays to celebrate. There are 15 million people working in the hospitality industry in the United States, and 63% of entry-level restaurant workers identify as female. But among those in restaurant leadership, tha...

As we move into the season of cheer, many of us will dip our toes into the grand American cocktail tradition, if only to make a cosmopolitan or hot toddy for a holiday gathering. Cocktails are uniquely American, asserts Abigail Gullo of Loa in New Orleans, LA. She revels in their chemistry, caretaking, and craft traditions, and she bases her work on many of the classics, updating them with seasona...

Vaucresson Sausage has been a true flavor of New Orleans since 1899. Vaucresson's Sausage Company is a third-generation, family-owned business in the 7th Ward of the city, and its current caretakers are Vance Vaucresson and his wife Julie. They're well-known members of the community but especially visible each year during Jazz Fest when patrons que up for their famous, fresh sausage po-boys. Vance...

All over the South in city after city, the idea of a French bistro or brasserie has taken hold. There's something about those French comfort food classics, the gleaming bar, and the plates of briny oysters that invite conversation and communing with friends, but there's much more to learn behind the scenes than just what wine pairs best with steak frites. Brasserie Mon Chou Chou is one of the fine...

In this season of alchemy and the celebration of potions, harvest, and even bubbling cauldrons, we turn to a true culinary alchemist whose ideas for good food meet transformation on the daily. Elizabeth Johnson's rich background reflects her complementary philosophies at her restaurant, Pharm Table , in San Antonio, TX. The James Beard Foundation referred to Johnson as a "Food is medicine guru," a...

Steve McHugh is a 5-time James Beard-nominated chef whose career has always celebrated seasonality, sense of place, and the central idea that food is community. From his time in New Orleans in various storied restaurants to opening Cured at Pearl and now Landrace in San Antonio, TX, Steve's focus has always been more about excellence in the kitchen rather than about polishing his own rising star....

Sitting high atop a hill with a view of the scrubby brush and low oaks of the rolling landscape of Central Texas, Southold Farm + Cellar seems a long way from Long Island, NY. But less than 10 years ago, that's where this winery was located, with wines from winemaker Regan Meador filling the glasses of New York City and getting celebrated in hotspots ranging from Gramercy Tavern to Roberta's in Br...

John Washburne swears that he remembers me when I visited his restaurant Otto's 7 or 8 years ago. While I'm still not quite convinced, my Otto's German Bistro memory was one of the reasons I wanted to return to Fredericksburg, TX. The town was settled in the 1800s by German immigrants and still retains a lot of German character, and Otto's was a standout on the culinary scene even then, with a foc...

Located just 40 minutes away from Asheville, N.C. but in many ways still a secluded secret, The Swag 's 250-acre property includes distant views of the mountain city from its 5000-foot elevation, luxurious rooms, a spa, and plenty of rest and relaxation in rockers on porches. Originally built as a private family retreat, this intimate luxury spot feels a lot like an adult summer camp, and that inc...

Eating in a restaurant is more than just food -- in its simplest form, it is an experience eating food in an environment outside your home. For Kate Towill of Basic Projects in Charleston, SC, that experience is a blank slate for design, design that goes way beyond what color to paint the walls. She spent 6 years in the film industry as a set designer working on commercials, music videos and featu...

This time of year, it feels like everything is speeding up. The kids are back in school, the holidays are around the corner, and I don't know about you, but it feels like everyone is back from vacation and emailing me. But author and mixologist Mike Wolf is asking us to slow down, take the time to make a proper drink and in the process, get to know our garden, our friends, and our family tradition...

In 1954, when Dot Hubbard wanted to start a Virginia peanut mail order business from her home in Sedley, VA, there was no system for zip codes in the United States. UPS wasn't operating in Virginia and FedEx had not yet been founded. Nevertheless, Hubbard Peanut Company was born, with business phones on party lines and a fine recipe for cooking Super Extra Large Virginia peanuts. Marshall Rabil is...

What if two of the 21st century's largest problems: rising seawater levels and excess carbon dioxide, could be leveraged into next generation sustainable agriculture? That was the daunting research question that Sam Norton posed when he was in graduate school, and what eventually grew into Heron Farms in Charleston, SC. Heron Farms ' most recognizable product is the Charleston Sea Bean, produced i...

Vern's in Charleston, SC represents the culmination of Daniel and Bethany Henize's years of experience. They have worked in lauded restaurants around the country, including the now-closed Charleston institution McCrady's, as well as Animal, Jon & Vinny's, and Gjusta in Los Angeles. Located in a quaint corner building from the 1880s and named after Daniel's grandfather, the menu emphasizes of-the-m...

According to the most recent data from the USDA, out of the 3.4 million farmers in the United States today, only 45,000 are Black. Deep in the maritime forests near the Edisto River in Dorchester, SC, Marvin Ross of Peculiar Pig Farm is one of that number. He started the farm in 2009, farming 15 acres of the 100 acres that his grandfather, Thomas Henry Ross, once farmed. It's where Marvin follows...

A California girl now living in New Orleans, Joy Wilson, known more on the internet as Joy the Baker , never tires of the alchemy of baking at home. In 2008, Joy started a blog to share her indulgent, comforting, yet approachable recipes in her little corner of the internet, and the path since has been super sweet. She's a baking instructor, a three-time cookbook author , editor-in-chief of the Jo...

Vishwesh Bhatt has been a part of Chef John Currence's City Grocery Restaurant Group in Oxford, MS since 1997. He started off as a prep cook at City Grocery and worked his way up to Executive Chef at Snackba r, where he has developed a menu that intertwines both Southern and subcontinental foodways. His new cookbook, I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef , celebrates and explore...

Sometimes, waiting for the conditions to be exactly right keeps us from seeing the opportunity in starting right now, even, literally, in our own backyards. But that certainly wasn't the case for one Charlotte, NC farm. Located inside the city limits off Brookshire Freeway is Small City Farm , owned and operated by Kim Shaw and Rohan Gibbs. Although it currently stands at three acres in a rolling...

If you've spent time in Charlotte, NC in the last 40 years, Barbara McKay 's voice could be as familiar as family. One of the region's most popular media personalities, she taught a generation of viewers to cook through her consistent presence on WBTV during an era when viewers sat by the television with pad and paper ready to write down the recipes she demonstrated and dictated step-by-step. She'...