Sassy Southern Cooking with a French Twist

Books

The New Charleston Chef's Table by Holly Herrick

The New Charleston Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes From the Heart of the Old South Hardcover – May 1, 2018

The New Charleston Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes From the Heart of the Old South, a new release, May 1, 2018 (Globe Pequot Press)

Charleston hosts millions of visitors a year—many in town to immerse themselves in the eclectic and growing food scene in the area. The New Charleston Chef’s Table is Holly Herrick’s first full revision of this best-seller, which was originally published in 2009. As she points out, “Then, Charleston was already a magnificent culinary destination. But since, once relatively rare James Beard nominations, culinary accolades of every sort from virtually every medium possible are commonplace.

Restaurants that demand regular visits have popped up all over town and suburbs in greater Charleston. Where white linen tablecloths and high price tag, formal downtown destinations were once the order of the day, casual, increasingly eclectic far to table driven eateries such as Leon’s Oyster House and Chez Nous.

From roadside dives to upscale eateries, Southern to Chinese, Holly Herrick leaves no stone unturned as she winnows Charleston’s celebrated restaurant collection down to her top picks. Oysters Casino, Crab Fritters, Refrigerator Pickles, Warm Blue Crab Dip, Spoon Salad, Oxtail Grilled Cheese with Collards, Lowcountry Seafood Pilau, Fish Schnitzel, Hatch Green Chile Corn Pudding, Chicken & Dumplings, Butterscotch Pudding, Buttermilk Rhubarb Fool and more, it’s all here. Complementing the text are full-color photographs, as well as sidebars that highlight this Southern gem’s 300-year history, unique ingredients and (new to this edition), specialty shops.

Mashed: Beyond the Potato

Mashed: Beyond the Potato
(Gibbs Smith)

Mashed: Beyond the Potato a new release, September 6, 2016 (Gibbs Smith)

This fresh take on classic comfort foods includes not only delicious variants on mashed potato dishes, but also gratins, soups, dips, sauces, guacamoles, pâtés, casseroles, panna cottas, and sorbets made with a plethora of vegetables, fruits, beans, grains, nuts, eggs, and even meats. Hot or cold, savory or sweet, classic or innovative, rustic or elegant, Mashed shows that mashing doesn’t need to stop at just traditional mashed potatoes.

 

The French Cook-Soups and Stews

The French Cook-Soups and Stews
(Gibbs Smith)

The French Cook-Soups and Stews a new release,  September 1, 2014 (Gibbs Smith)

Holly Herrick loves France and French cooking. And in this cookbook (her third in The French Cook series), she jumps into bowl after bowl of glorious French soups with inspired abandon and a generous dose of classical technique.

Le Cordon Bleu trained chef and former resident of France focuses on the nuances and techniques for expertly layered flavors. Beginning with stocks, she continues with cold soups, classic soups and stews, creamy soups, and consommes in ensuing chapters, each one as delicious as the next.

Similar to sauces (Herrick also penned The French Cook: Sauces), soups are the ideal conduit for creating maximum texture and flavor. Only, with soups and stews, the cooking canvas is much broader and there is a precise yet playful emphasis on presentation and garnishes.

Whether a sumptuous French Onion Soup topped with croutons and bubbling Gruyere, or a riff on a classic sauce in the creamy, velvety Soup Soubise topped with fried shallots, all you need to know about making perfect French soups is neatly tucked between 128 beautiful pages.

 

The French Cook: Cream Puffs & Eclairs a new release, October 1, 2013 (Gibbs Smith)

The French Cook: Cream Puffs & Eclairs (Gibbs Smith)

The French Cook: Cream Puffs & Eclairs a new release, October 1, 2013 (Gibbs Smith)

The second book in The French Cook series, following The French Cook: Sauces, classically French trained author Holly Herrick dips into the marvelously versatile world of choux pastry, or pate a choux. The buttery, nutty, even-flavor of this dough invites myriad flavors, in both sweet and savory categories and in many shapes – cream puffs, eclairs, rings, and more.

Whether it be a savory petit eclair filled with an avocado mousse layered with bacon and tomatoes,  choux “gnocchi” with a buttered herb sauce, three cheese gougeres with black pepper, a sweet  Dreamsicle orange cream puff with a dark chocolate sauce, a salted caramel macadamia ice cream-filled profiterole with a warm caramel sauce,  an Almond Joy cream puff,  or a hot-from-the-fryer beignet with a cool, fresh raspberry sauce, taste delights are found all along the way.

Holly dedicates the front of the book to the art of demystifying the “puff,” making choux pastry an easy and accessible medium for every cook, novice, professional or anyone in-between. There is a chapter on sweet sauces to go along with the sweet cream puffs and eclairs and expert tips on piping, baking and garnishing these uniquely French delights.

Available for pre-order now on Amazon, the beautifully designed and photographed book will be released on October 1, 2013, just in time for the holiday baking season.

 

French Sauces Cover

The French Cook: Sauces (Gibbs Smith)

The French Cook: Sauces  a new release, March 1, 2013 (Gibbs Smith)

The French Cook: Sauces is the first in a series that will simplify and demystify French cuisine for the American home cook. A little French cooking course in a book filled with how-to photos and step-by-step instructions. Holly explains how to prepare all five classic French mother sauces:  veloute, bechamel,  tomates, espagnole/brown sauces/reductions and hollandaise with many derivatives for each. Beautiful and delicious, the book will be released March 1, 2013. Loook for The French Cook: Cream Puffs and Eclairs in fall, 2013.

 

Cover for Food Lovers’ Charleston and Savannah. To order from Amazon, please click the cover.

Food Lovers’ Charleston and Savannah, The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings.  Released December, 2011, Globe Pequot Press. 264 pages; ISBN-10: 0762760125. The ultimate guide to the food scene in Charleston and Savannah provides the inside scoop on the best places to find, enjoy, and celebrate local culinary offerings. Written for residents and visitors alike to find producers and purveyors of tasty local specialties, as well as a rich array of other, indispensable food-related information including: food festivals and culinary events; specialty food shops; farmers’ markets and farm stands; trendy restaurants and time-tested iconic landmarks; and recipes using local ingredients and traditions. Read reviews on Amazon.

 

Tart Love book cover

To order from Amazon, please click the book cover.

Tart LoveSassy, Savory, and Sweet. Released October, 2011 (Gibbs Smith) ISBN-10: 1423618947. Filled with sweet and savory recipes for marvelous little pies, Tart Love is a course in pastry making as well as a guide to using seasonal fruits produce to create scrumptious, palate-pleasing desserts and main-dish tarts.

Holly Herrick is a multi-awarded food writer and an honors recipient of Le Grande Diplome in Pastry and Cuisine, Paris, France. She has written for many southern regional publications and was the award-winning restaurant critic for Charleston’s Post and Courier for eight years. She is the author of Southern Farmers Market Cookbook and The Charleston Chef’s Table Cookbook: Extraordinary Recipes from the Heart of the Old South (Three Forks Press, Dec., 2010). She resides in Charleston, South Carolina.

One-crust sensations for every season. Read editorial reviews on Amazon.

 

Cover of Southern Farmers Market Cookbook

To order from Amazon, please click the book cover.

Southern Farmers Market Cookbook. Publisher: Gibbs Smith, Publication date: 2009. Pages: 160 p. ISBN: 9781423604747. The time to eat healthy and buy locally has arrived. Buying at farmers markets means getting better, fresh-picked produce that leads to amazing home-cooked meals. Southern Farmers Market Cookbook teaches how to enjoy shopping at local markets and gives instruction on what to look for and what’s to be expected to make the experience more fulfilling and fun. Read selected reviews.

 

Chef's Table book cover

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The Charleston Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Heart of the Old South Publisher: Globe Pequot Press. Publication date: 2010. Pages: 208 p. ISBN: 9780762750108. Charleston has matured into a world-class culinary destination, and now locals and visitors alike can take home a bit of the city’s incomparable flavor in The Charleston Chef’s Table. This sumptuously illustrated book profiles more than sixty of the city’s best restaurants and includes a signature recipe from each. From Roadside Dives to upscale eateries, Southern to Chinese, Holly Herrick leaves no stone unturned as she winnows Charleston’s 1,500 restaurant down to her top picks. Read selected reviews.

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