Customer Reviews

Bon Appetit, Y'all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking

5 star:		(73)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you don't cook, but live with someone who does, I highly recommend you buy this book and just leave it on the table. In less than 24 hours I was offered an incredible cobbler. All I had to do was provide vanilla ice cream.
It is a beautiful book which I am enjoying reading and looking through. Virginia's voice is strong and clear as I read and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for the crust of that cobbler. I look forward to already promised biscuits and hopefully many many other kitchen events. "Yes Honey, I will go get real butter." Can you believe it, delicious cobbler in less than 24 hours! Buy this book now and just put it on the table. If he or she loves you, you might get cobbler too.

I have been waiting for this cookbook to come out and read it cover to cover once I received it. Virgina Willis has included the best Southern recipes from her family which means she put her heart and soul into this. I just took the pimento cheese stuffed into tomatoes to a family party and the plate was wiped clean. Her stories are priceless and I felt like I was in the kitchen with her family. I have attended her classes and enjoy her french style mixed with her Southern hospitality. This is a must have essential cookbook to great home cooking.

A thoroughly enjoyable cookbook to read. Easy to follow recipes, nostalgic dialog, just an all around nice addition to my southern cookbook gallery. I have made the barbeque sauce she recommended and with a few personal tweeks, and it is now one of my go-to sauces. It's really tangy and good. I am planning to use this book alot. Virginia Willis has really hit a home run with this one! I also love "The Glory of Southern Cooking" by James Villas. Both of these authors have that old southern charm about them that just warms my heart.

I have studied Southern food for years, yet I've never found another book like this one. Each page enlightens cooks of all skill levels. The recipes are written meticulously well while Virginia's beautiful writing brings back memories of times gone by. Ms. Willis has written about Southern food the way it should be - honest. My copy has a permanent home right in my kitchen.

Ms. Willis has written a cookbook like no other. It is filled with absolutely breathtaking and stunning photographs which belong in a coffee table tome. The recipes feature both fresh twists and standards alike but all explained so clearly that I actually thought of making a soufflé and knowing with Ms. Willis' work telling me how at my side, that I would be a success! The short stories introducing chapters and recipes will make you feel as if you have known her for years and even shed a tear at times. This book will end up splattered with the ingredients of dinners never to be forgotten and certainly repeated and way too many pages folded with the intentions of "I've got to try this!" You just have to hope your guests, family and friends don't steal this essential book from your cookbook library! When I read that Ms. Willis edited portions of The Joy of Cooking when updated, it only made sense. These are recipes that you'll want to pass off as your own. From simple to things I've never tried, (but I want to now), every one is easy to read and understand, taking clarity to a new level. Every cook and aspiring chef must have this-as essential as salt in a kitchen!

As soon as I purchased this book I was excited to use it. I'm a Southerner first and a foodie second. The recipes in this book offer a great assortment of southern-charm mingled with the french countryside. I've made over 15 recipes ranging from 'Nibbles and Starters' to her delicious desserts and have not been disappointed. I use this book everytime I entertain, and I suggest everyone do the same. I've sent over 10 copies to friends and family from south Florida to Boston, Mass. It's a great 'thank you' and hostess gift for all those that love food and want to elevate their education in southern and french cuisine. It's a must addition for those that have 1 or 100 cookbooks!

Virginia has created a masterpiece comprised of recipes, stories, and incredible photography bound together by the soulfulness of three generations of amazing Southern women. This book strikes a deep harmonious cord with anyone who learned to cook at the heels of their grandmother, aunts and/or mother. The beauty of family recipes that produce delicious food and wonderful times shared around the table together is a tradition that should never die. For those who had this experience, Bon Appetit Ya'll is reminescent of family and friends, for those who have not, you'll be inspired to create traditions of your own to enjoy for years to come. This book is a must have!

As a former chef and current owner of several hundred cookbooks, I can be pretty critical. I've got nothing to complain about with this book. Ms. Willis has used her considerable experience with food and cooking to author a beautiful and beautifully written book. This volume is well illustrated with great photographs that make me hungry to try the recipes. There is plenty that even an accomplished cook can learn from this fun-to-read book.

I LOVE cooking classes at The Cook's Warehouse. I'm probably one of their most devoted "students" since they always offer very talented chefs with interesting classes and menus. I can unwind after work with a glass of wine and a real pro showing me a dish or a whole coordinated meal I can make myself. And then the chef will teach you the technique that makes that dish his or her signature, something you can't always get from a cookbook. Besides our local culinary stars, national chefs come from New York or famous restaurants and I guess I'm just star-struck with those folks. And the kicker is a discount on anything in the store that night. I just love the classes and the store.

Bon Appétit Ya'll is a delightful walk through the Old South from a new perspective.
For any of us who spent any time at all standing on a stool or chair at the kitchen counter to cook alongside an older member of the family, Virginia's beautifully written and photographed new book is a poignant reminder that time spent in the kitchen with a child is doubly precious. Virginia reminds us that the kitchen is a place where we hand down stories, traditions, and a small part of our legacy in a uniquely wonderful environment. No other place in the world is quite like your mother's or Grandmother's kitchen - only there does love meet food in way that stays with you forever.

Food wise, Virginia serves up the both of best worlds: straight up old school southern classics like you wished your mama made (or if you are lucky soul, maybe she did), and her signature New South outlook derived from a wonderful fusion of her southern upbringing in her grandmother's kitchen and her classical French training.

Bon Appétit Ya'll is a lovely tribute to Virginia's southern legacy firmly based in the here and now. I heartily recommend you take this lovely walk; you'll enjoy it immensely.