I'm P.C., and I have studied food and cooking around the world, mostly by eating, but also through serious study. Coursework at Le Cordon Bleu London and intensive courses in Morocco, Thailand and France have broadened my culinary skill and palate. But my kitchen of choice is at home, cooking like most people, experimenting with unique but practical ideas.

I live, mostly in my kitchen, in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

Hot Milk Cake and Strawberry Caramel Sauce

Hot Milk Cake and Strawberry Caramel Sauce

Leaf through the pages of any old Southern community cookbook, and you are likely to come across a version of this cake.  And it might not draw your eye, being so plain and simple.  I am sure I flipped past many times before I actually stopped to read one.  But once I get intrigued, [...]

Country Captain with Coconut Rice

Country Captain with Coconut Rice

Country Captain is an old Low Country dish that dates from the days when Charleston and Savannah were important stops on the spice route, and the British influence of trade with India held sway.  Early dishes from the Southern repertoire include lots of interesting spices, and the older the recipe, the more exotic it [...]

Bacon Fried Pecans

Bacon Fried Pecans

I don’t know who makes these decisions, but there is an endless list of “National Days” celebrating foods, dishes and ingredients.  I recently saw that it was National Pecan Month, so I thought I better pull out a preparation for the iconic Southern nut.  These are a salty, crunchy snack for the bar, or [...]

Country Ham Biscuit Bites with Cheese

Country Ham Biscuit Bites with Cheese

My love for biscuits is well documented (13 recipes on the site at last count), and my love of country ham equally evident when you peruse my recipes.  I have always enjoyed a warm, buttery biscuit with a slice of salty country ham tucked inside, so the next logical step seemed to be incorporating [...]

Sweet Tea Jelly

Sweet Tea Jelly

Canning is my summer time obsession.  From the first strawberries of spring to the last pears of fall, I spend my weekends putting up my famers market bounty.  Then the market closes for the season, I put the canner back in the pantry and shelf the jars for the next year.  But at some [...]

Crawfish Cornbread

Crawfish Cornbread

It’s Mardi Gras time, and so it’s time for crawfish.  Crawfish Cornbread is a recipe I have seen in many Louisiana community cookbooks over the years, and I’ve whipped up a batch or two in my time. I have no idea if this is a traditional Cajun recipe, or started it’s life on the [...]

Red Beans and Rice – My Way

Red Beans and Rice

Red Beans and Rice are a classic of the Louisiana cooking canon.  And I assume every Louisiana cook has there own version that they would assert constitutes the only way to properly make the dish.  And I’ll tell you, the same can be said of me.  No, I am not from Louisiana and I [...]

Black-Eyed Pea and Cornbread Skillet

No self-respecting Southerner, I boldly say, would let New Year’s Day pass without at least one bite of black- eyed peas.  They bring luck and good fortune for the New Year, and everyone can use a little bit of that.  Hoppin’ John is traditional in many quarters, but peas slowly cooked with a piece [...]

Southern Candied Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Streusel

Sweet potatoes are a foregone conclusion on the Southern Thanksgiving table.  I would never consider serving mashed white potatoes at the big meal.  For most of my life, I only had sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, though a pie may have snuck in at some other time during the year.  I have now discovered the [...]

Sweet Potato Angel Biscuits

I do give thanks for biscuits.  And I love a little biscuit bite in the Thanksgiving bread basket, particularly when they are made seasonal with the addition of sweet potato.  These angel biscuits use yeast to get an extra rise, which is helpful when you add the dense potato purée.  Make sure you potato is [...]