Blue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen by Francine Bryson, Jeff Foxworthy (Foreword)

A pie champion and down-home Southern baker reveals her winning recipes for pies, cakes, cookies, and more in this proudly American baking book.

A mom, homemaker, and self-proclaimed redneck, Francine Bryson and her award-winning desserts were thrust into the national eye when she was chosen for The American Baking Competition and went on to become a finalist on the show. Now she shares her recipes and baking tips with everyone, always staying true to her Southern roots, which means pairing chocolate and peanut butter with bacon, turning an apple pie upside down, using cherry pop in a cake, and always making use of seasonal fresh fruit-and plenty of cream cheese.

MY REVIEW: A heartfelt foreword from comedian and TV personality Jeff Foxworthy perfectly matches the down-home tone set by cookbook author Francine Bryson in "Blue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen". Foxworthy and Bryson became acquainted when she was a contestant on the "American Baking Competition" hosted by Foxworthy. While Francine didn't win the top prize, she did go on to fulfill her dream of producing her own cookbook. Her many years of baking championships combined with her family's Southern kitchen legacy resulted in "Blue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen". Filled with fantastic recipes, funny anecdotes, and poignant memories, this delightful book is delicious from beginning to end. While it may be short on food photos of the finished recipes, that won't stop you from preparing the many irresistible treats and temptations found between the covers. I was impressed with the number and variety of pie crusts included, and the first recipe in the book, "Purdy's Peppermint Pie", is made with a rolled chocolate crust. While pies are her prize-winning specialty, there are also fabulous recipes for cakes, cookies, biscuits, cheesecakes, breads, candy, and much more. Here are some of my favorite featured recipes: "White Chocolate-Banana Cream Pie"; "Winter Fruit Pie"; "Texas-Sized Gingersnaps"; "Eggnog Cookies"; "Granny's Queen Cake"; "Cinnamon-Chocolate Cake"; "Apple-Caramel Cheesecake"; "Blueberry-Lemon Streusel Bars"; "Upside-Down Apple-Pecan Pie"; and "Biscuits Like Nana Made". With expert baking tips scattered throughout the book, along with funny family stories and touching memories, this is one cookbook that you will enjoy reading again and again.

Book Copy Gratis Clarkson Potter Publishers via Blogging for Books

Country Cooking from a Redneck Kitchen by Francine Bryson, Ann Volkwein

Few people know that national pie champion Francine Bryson got her start on the cooking contest circuit at age sixteen with a savory stuffed pork loin—that won first place. In Country Cooking from a Redneck Kitchen, Francine invites you into her home to share recipes for everything that graces her Southern table: chicken dinners, savory pies, Sunday suppers to serve the preacher, make-and-take casseroles, dips and other redneck what-nots, backyard barbecue favorites—and, of course, three chapters devoted to her celebrated baked goods, including her most-requested holiday sweets. Feeding people is what Francine loves to do, and here are simple instructions for 125 dishes with 60 color photographs to help you to bring her Southern charm to your table.

MY REVIEW: Country cook Francine Bryson may have made her name as a championship baker, but she’s nothing less than a down-home diva when it comes to serving up delicious dishes for every course and occasion. “Country Cooking from a Redneck Kitchen” is loaded with beautiful, uncluttered color photos that suggest a breath of fresh country air carrying the mouthwatering aromas of these awesome recipes. At age sixteen, Francine began her competitive cooking career with “Blue Ribbon Stuffed Pork Loin” (see page 74). Check out this recipe for yourself, and you’ll see why it was a first-place winner. Like many Southern women, Francine comes from a long line of amazing cooks, and she carries on their traditions and blends them with her own innovative ideas. All great Southern cooks know how to “make something from nothing”. Growing your own food, using what’s seasonal and fresh, preserving and “putting up” food, and hunting and fishing are all time-honored ways of sustainable food management. No matter what you’ve got a “hankering for”, Francine has you covered, and you will also enjoy her family memories and food insights. Here’s a sampler of the real good redneck recipes you’ll find inside: “Deviled Ham Dip”; “Watergate Salad”; “Green ‘Mater Chow Chow”; “Hot Fried Chicken”; “Chicken and Dumplings Like Mama Made”; “Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Burgers”; “Pork Chop Casserole”; “Southern Fried Catfish”; “Shrimp and Grits”; “Corn Fritters”; “Beans Cooked with Ham Hocks”; “Green Beans from Nana’s Kitchen”; “Fried Cabbage”; “Brown Sugar Pie”; “Schoolyard Peanut Butter Bars”; “Sweet Potato Spice Cake”; and “Buttermilk Rolls”. Y’all come. Eat until you have to loosen your belts, and sit a spell. Come back real soon. FRANCINE BRYSON is the author of the bestselling Blue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen, a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Book Award finalist and Okra Pick. She has won more than 200 local and national baking competitions and was the runner-up and crowd favorite on CBS’s The American Baking Competition. Bryson, a member of the American Pie Council, lives with her husband in Pickens, South Carolina.

Book Copy Gratis Clarkson Potter Publishers via Blogging for Books