Smothered Southern Foods

Crawfish étoufée, Chicken Fried Steak, Creamed Spinach, Mixed Berry Cobbler. . .Is your mouth watering yet? These decadent, flavor-rich dishes are part of the long Southern tradition of "smothered" foods.

Rooted in the author's upbringing and peppered throughout with personal anecdotes, Smothered Southern Foods explains the simple art of "smothering" as nothing more complicated than covering one food with another food or sauce, while baking or braising the dish in a covered skillet or pot. Vegetables, meats, and even desserts can be smothered, and the results are any food lover's delight.

With tips on buying and storing vegetables, easy-to-follow directions and serving suggestions, and recipes for 105 mouthwatering favorites, Smothered Southern Foods is a delicious way to bring the true taste of the South into your own home, the way Southern chefs have cooked for generations.

"Foods that bring us comfort and are just darn good!" --Art Smith, bestselling author of Back to the Table

Includes scrumptious recipes for these smothered classics:

• Creamed Onions

• Buttered Kale

• Fricassee of Clams

• Sole in White Wine Sauce

• Chicken and Rice

• Pepper Steak

• Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

• Rum-Raisin Pears

. . .And many more!

"Finger-licking meals for a new generation of soul food lovers." --Retha Hill, vice president of Content, BET.com

Wilbert Jones is the president of Healthy Concepts, Inc., a Chicago-based food and beverage product development company, founded in 1993. He attended the école de Gastronomie Française Ritz-Escoffier in Paris, and was a food scientist at Kraft Foods. In 2002 he was inducted into the prestigious Les Amis d'Escoffier Society of Chicago. Jones is also a contributing editor for Prepared Foods Magazine and a freelance special features writer for Black Entertainment Television's website.

Wilbert's inspiration for cooking came from his grandmother Ruth Randle, who was one of the best cooks in Mississippi. Smothered Southern Foods is filled with special recipes and stories about Jones' childhood and recent meals prepared for his family and friends.