South by Sean Brock
Sean Brock burst onto the culinary scene with his ground-breaking restaurant Husk, where he grew all his own produce and worked to reclaim the integrity of Southern foodways; along the way he essentially created the entire New Southern food movement and picked up countless accolades. The beginning of his journey was detailed in his encyclopedic James Beard Award-winning Heritage and he now continues in South (Artisan, $40). Heritage was an astounding cultural guide but a bit off-putting as a cookbook. What a pleasant surprise, then, to encounter the clarity and simplicity of the recipes in the well-designed and intuitively-organized South. This book is both a useful resource for the experienced cook and a welcoming gateway for curious beginners. The selections are never obvious, but, like his recipes for ramp leaf oil or corn, green garlic and sweet potato purees, they are all boiled down to their beautiful core flavors and tastes.
