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"Most Southern cookbooks usually feel and taste somewhat provincial, as though their cuisine can only exist below the Mason-Dixon Line. Virginia Willis's cuisine is the opposite. Although her food is undeniably Southern, it comes across as international, universal even. Other than Patricia Wells and Marcella Hazan, I cannot think of another cook who has managed to pull this off."
-Alton Brown

The daughter and granddaughter of consummate Southern cooks, Virginia Willis inherited their love of fresh, home-cooked food and unconditional hospitality before going on to become a classically trained French chef. These divergent influences inform BON APPÉTIT, Y'ALL: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, Willis's passionate homage to her culinary roots.

Rich in folklore and history, the cooking of the American South embodies all the glamour, grit, and soul of Southern culture. Virginia Willis's part in the old and complex story of Southern food began in her grandmother Meme's country kitchen, with its walls made of heart-of-Georgia pine. From the time she was in a high chair, Willis loved to hear stories of milking cows and making butter and cheese, filling a root cellar, and curing hams in the smokehouse.

With her "simple-is-best" philosophy, Willis uses the finest ingredients, relies on traditional French technique, and lets the food shine through in a style she calls "refined Southern cuisine." She makes this down-home haute cuisine approachable, with recipes for crispy fried chicken; soft, buttery yeast rolls; old-fashioned butter beans; turnip and mustard greens with salty, smoky pot liquor; light and fluffy pound cake; and homemade jams and jellies.

With more than 100 lush full-color photographs and 200 recipes, BON APPÉTIT, Y'ALL is a unique collection of time-honored Southern and timeless French dishes (Pork Chops with Dried Plums as well as Fried Pork Chops with Pan Gravy, Old-Fashioned Pot Roast, and Boeuf Bourguignonne); hearty, tried-and-true favorites (Black-Eyed Pea and Ham Hock Soup, Coca- Cola-Glazed Baby Back Ribs, Bourbon Sweet Potatoes, Mama's Pecan Pie); and beautifully executed, simple country food that would be equally at home here and in France (Roasted Beet Salad, Vidalia Onion Quiche, Coq au Vin, Buttermilk Cornbread, Meme's Blackberry Cobbler). These recipes are meant for the family home kitchen, displaced Southerners yearning for a taste of home, aspiring cooks, and anyone who appreciates good food. Brimming with stories, photos, tips, and techniques, BON APPÉTIT, Y'ALL seamlessly blends Virginia's Southern and French roots into a memorable and thoroughly modern cookbook.

VIRGINIA WILLIS is a French-trained chef, food writer, cooking teacher, and television producer. She has worked with Martha Stewart, Bobby Flay, and Nathalie Dupree, and her articles have appeared in Country Living, Family Fun, and Edible Atlanta. She lives in Atlanta and is available for interviews. Visit www.virginiawillis.com for more information.

See Virginia Willis on Martha Stewart Living on May 7th. She will be making Mama's Angelfood Cake with Bourbon Crème Anglaise from BON APPÉTIT, Y'ALL.

Press Release