5 Can't-Miss Southern Cookbooks

by Anne Byrn
Buy It: $27; amazon.com

It’s your trustiest pan in the kitchen, but Anne Byrn’s Skillet Love will make you look at your cast-iron skillet in a whole new way. With 160 recipes for every meal of the day (including appetizers and dessert), you’re sure to find a new dish to add to your repertoire.

by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Stevens Graubart
Buy It: $30; amazon.com

When we called Nathalie Dupree the “queen of Southern cuisine”, we meant it. Dupree’s TV shows, cookbooks, and classes have been hugely influential among Southern home cooks. Her latest book takes you through her entire storied life in food, from serving as a one-woman school cafeteria for her college classmates to running one of the most popular cooking schools in the South. While her recipes are always worth making (don’t miss her biscuits), you’ll love reading this book too.

by Toni Tipton-Martin
Buy It: $31.50; amazon.com

Toni Tipton-Martin’s new book is already one of the fall’s most celebrated releases. Jubliee, the follow-up to The Jemima Code, delves even more deeply into the rich history of African-American cooking through more than 100 recipes and stories. Beautifully photographed and expertly written, this is an important addition to anyone’s cookbook collection, and a book you’ll want to cook from too.

Buy It: $28; amazon.com

First published in 1984, the Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery was created to preserve and carry on Appalachian foodways. Most of the information in the book came from a group of students in Rabun Gap, Georgia, who gathered traditional recipes, stories, and practical information from the community around them. The new, revised edition of the book contains all of these things, but in a more organized and up-to-date package, with an intro from Appalachian-born chef Sean Brock.

by David Norman
Buy It: $21; amazon.com

Flip through the pages of this beautiful book by David Norman, owner of popular Austin bakery Easy Tiger, and you’ll find yourself reaching for the flour. Written for both novice and avid bakers, Bread on the Table takes a global approach to bread baking. Chapters include Italian, French, German, and Scandinavian bread, as well as Bread in Central Texas, home to tortillas, Mexican sourdough, and loaves made with smoked flour.