CELEBRATING CUISINE OF THE SOUTH
American Sean Brock cherishes food he grew up on and hopes to contribute to its future
Heritage ingredients can make all the difference. In traditional uses, they connect past to present. In novel applications they create a spark, inspiring cooks to push an ever-evolving cuisine into the future. When compared to conventional contemporary versions, they also represent change you can taste.
Stripped down classic dishes, when made from fully realized elements with depth and complexity, suddenly make sense.
“You may have eaten hoppin’ John or a bowl of grits,” Sean Brock writes in his second cookbook, South (Artisan, 2019), “but until you try dishes like these made with the original, heritage ingredients, you have no idea how good they can be.”
The award-winning chef has dedicated his career to championing the value of heritage ingredients and cooking techniques of the American south.
Southern cuisine, he states unequivocally in the book, should be recognized as being among the world’s richest and most vibrant.
At its foundation are enduring traditions and, thanks to a movement of which Brock is part, the restoration of initial staples.
It’s been five years since Brock’s debut, the James Beard Award-winning Heritage (Artisan, 2014), which he now describes as being “a book of hope.”
He started writing it in 2010, early in his research on how to revitalize the production of historic plant varietals.
One of the most striking aspects of his followup is just how quickly these changes can take root and the myriad shapes they can take.
In the space of a decade, foods like Jimmy Red corn and Carolina Gold rice have made their way back to southern pantries inspiring a whole new generation of cooks.
“When we started the seed-saving project 12 years ago, I knew in my heart that it was the right thing to do, that it was worth the effort and would make a difference and was an important contribution,” says Brock.
“But when you see the moment that the seed stock is up where we can start sharing it with the public — especially in people’s homes — seeing people experience what I experienced the first time I cooked that varietal assures me that the effort is more than worth it.
“For people to be able to start to truly taste the way these ingredients used to taste, it’s just super rewarding.”
Raised in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, Brock has immersed himself in the study and practice of southern foodways — first in Charleston, S.C., and now in Nashville, Tenn., with two upcoming restaurants (and heirloom seed bank).
Equal parts Appalachia and Lowcountry, South is an assemblage of more than 125 dishes that represents Brock’s specific slice of the region, including southern fundamentals that can be spun into something wholly original.
In sharing the recipes he’s been honing for the past 15 years, he says his primary aim was to provide a starting point for others to build on. “It’s more of an exploration now and it’s more of a curiosity: What’s next?” says Brock. “My goal is to make a contribution to the cuisine that I was born into — the cuisine of my place, the cuisine of my region.”
When compared with some of the world’s great culinary traditions — such as China, France, Italy and Japan — southern cuisine is in its nascency, Brock emphasizes.
He presents the concept of microregions in South, the idea that, similar in size to continental Europe, the southern U.S. is home to just as many distinct food cultures.
Far from homogeneous, there are common threads that are expressed in vastly different ways.
The most gratifying aspect of travelling across North America on a book tour, he says, has been the many exchanges he’s had with readers eager to start exploring their own microregions.
Wrapped up in this examination of hyperlocality is Brock’s strict focus on seasonality: “What does it taste like, feel like, smell like and sound like to eat in this place on this day, at this time?”
In an attempt to answer these questions, he began pursuing local parallels to imported products.
By defining what southern cuisine means to him, he realized that he could no longer rely on ingredients such as olive oil and balsamic vinegar to tell his story.
Using an olive press, he started extracting oil from okra seeds, and began making his own balsamic vinegar. Limiting the use of certain products and looking deeper at those of the south served as an impetus for innovation.
“You’re so used to using something like extra-virgin olive oil, which is so delicious and was certainly used throughout early parts of southern cooking.
“But then I asked the question: What is that equivalent that I could add to this dish, to this recipe? And how can we find that component that already exists in our cooking?” says Brock. “America will be 250 years old in 2026; that’s really young. How old was Modena when they decided to start producing high-quality balsamic vinegars? … Those thoughts give me hope that there’s a completely undiscovered world out there, which makes me realize I know nothing about southern cooking, which makes me insanely happy.
“It’s incredible motivation each day to know that there are so many undiscovered traditions that are just waiting to be formed. And if we can have a small part in that, or at least inspire that: Wow.” Recipes excerpted from South by Sean Brock (Artisan Books) with permission from the publisher.