The Foothills Cuisine of Blackberry Farm

Book excerpt: Step into the world of top luxury resort Blackberry Farm, where lovers of farm-to-table cuisine and the lost arts of Southern cooking will find bliss in the gorgeous photographs, enticing recipes, and artisanal food-making tutorials of this transporting book. Blackberry Farm has long been lauded as one of the country's most excellent resorts and sought out for its perfect mix of rusticity and refinement. The Blackberry Farm Cookbook was a love letter to the experience and cuisine of Blackberry Farm. Now, owner Sam Beall takes food lovers a step further, drawing them deeply into the secrets that make Blackberry Farm cuisine so magical. It all starts with their roots in the rich traditions of "foothills cuisine." Every day, Blackberry Farm's chefs, gardeners, cheese-makers, and preservationists use wisdom passed down through generations of mountain residents. Following the natural rhythms of eight seasons or "times" allows cooks to coax the most heady dishes out of what's fresh and best, such as Lay by Time's menu of Mountain Multigrain Bread, Fried Catfish and Cucumber Slaw, Green Tomato Pie, and Banana Peanut Butter Pudding. Interspersed throughout the book are artisanal craft lessons, such as cheese-making, canning and preserving, and curing meats. A sumptuous package full of stunning photography, The Foothills Cuisine of Blackberry Farm will be both a transportive tome and a trove of fantastic seasonal recipes that any food lover will be eager to try at home.