Southern Comfort: A Down-Home Holiday

In the South, the holidays run from Thanksgiving clear through New Year's Day — and every stop on the calendar has its own dish. In this holiday volume of Southern Comfort, Dr. Christopher D. Pritchard, D.D. — a Buffalo boy who learned Southern cooking in Marine Corps chow lines, church potlucks, and little kitchens where somebody's grandmother was patient enough to teach him — sets the whole down-home holiday table.

Country ham with red-eye gravy. Cornbread dressing with giblet gravy. Oyster dressing from the coast, holiday collards with real pot liquor, and Hoppin' John to start the year lucky. Cheese straws and pick-ups for the party, Christmas-morning casseroles that bake while the wrapping paper flies, and the sweets that close the season: brown butter pecan pie, Lane cake, old-fashioned divinity, boiled custard, and honest eggnog.

Fifty recipes, grocery-store ingredients, and directions written like a friend standing in your kitchen. Set the table big.

WHAT'S INSIDE:
Part One — The Holiday Table (Mains): oven-roasted turkey with sage butter and pan gravy, country ham with red-eye gravy, Cajun fried turkey, smothered turkey wings, roast duck with cane syrup glaze, Cornish hens, stuffed pork loin, braised brisket
Part Two — Dressings & Gravies: classic Southern cornbread dressing with giblet gravy, oyster dressing, sausage and sage bread dressing, wild rice and mushroom dressing, apple-pecan cornbread dressing, standalone giblet gravy
Part Three — Sides & the Lucky New Year: holiday collards with ham hock pot liquor, Hoppin' John, lucky greens and peas soup, sweet potato casserole with praline crunch, stewed green beans with country ham, corn pudding, scalloped oysters, creamed pearl onions, ambrosia, cranberry congealed salad, deviled eggs, pickled shrimp
Part Four — Breads & Christmas Morning: cheddar-chive spoonbread, angel biscuits, orange-cranberry cornmeal muffins, sausage and cheese grits casserole, ham and cheese strata, pimento cheese grits, monkey bread, praline French toast casserole
Part Five — Pick-Ups & Party Plates: cheese straws, Charleston benne wafers, sausage balls, mini country ham biscuits, spiced holiday pecans, Benedictine sandwiches, hot crab dip
Part Six — Sweets & Sippers: spiced sweet potato pie with gingersnap crust, brown butter pecan pie, eggnog bread pudding, coconut layer cake, Lane cake, divinity, pecan tassies, boiled custard, cooked eggnog