Recipe Weekend / Book Review: Modern Hospitality: Simple Recipes with Southern Charm by Whitney Miller

If her name sounds familiar, it's because she was the FIRST Master Chef winner!

Yup, small town Mississippi girl done good! Living on the border between the two states, we all felt  like the South had risen to the occasion when Whitney won the contest! If there is one thing she has shown, it's that if you love food and cooking, you CAN compete with those with more training, and come out ahead!

Synopsis: Known by TV viewers as the Mississippi belle whose demure demeanor belied nerves of steel and true culinary skill, America watched Whitney Miller crush the competition and become the first winner of MasterChef Season 1. Now Whitney’s long-awaited dream of writing her first cookbook has come true as she shares her favorite recipes and entertaining secrets in Modern Hospitality.

As a little girl in small-town Missisippi, Whitney grew up cooking at the elbows of true masters of Southern cuisine: her mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. From the secret to making perfect, flaky biscuits to the art of whipping up Sunday supper for a crowd, Whitney not only learned how to create much-loved dishes for friends and family but also discovered the most essential ingredient for any meal: hospitality.

In Modern Hospitality, Whitney offers a fresh take on classic dishes passed down throughout generations of Southern women. In addition to providing more than 75 original recipes that showcase regional ingredients and authentic flavors, Whitney also shares her stories of family, tradition, and suggestions for effortless entertaining. Bring a taste of the South into your home with dishes like Oven-Fried Catfish, Shrimp and Sausage with Grits Soufflé, Mississippi Cheesesteak, and Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Blondies. With recipes this simple, elegant, and delicious, it’s easy to turn any occasion into something special. 

About the Author:  She is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, where she majored in nutrition. Whitney and her mother recently opened a small café in their hometown of Poplarville, Mississippi, realizing her dreams from Master Chef! This is her first book.

Review: This is a wonderful take on our traditional Southern recipes! Whitney really has taken the essence of what makes them great and pared the recipes down to easier to make, but that have kept that original flavor. Time savers are always welcomed in our house! AND with the holidays coming, we can all use simple but full flavored recipes! 


Whitney has included some wonderful photographs of the recipes that really make you want to start cooking NOW! AND if you're interested in this kind of thing, Gordon Ramsay has written a WONDERFUL, glowing forward for the book (I know, he CAN be uber nice, go figure!). 

This is a perfect cookbook gift for the coed moving into her first apartment to the young couple getting married, to the cookbook collector who wants to shake up their collection!  Add this one to your Christmas gift list and you won't be sorry you did!

Here's an example of a perfect holiday recipe:

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary-Cranberry Glaze

Ingredients:

Glaze
12 ounces fresh cranberries
1 2⁄3 cups sugar
1 sprig rosemary

Pork
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and silver skin
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄8 teaspoon ground black pepper
17 slices bacon (about 3⁄4 pound)

Instructions:

1. Make the glaze: Combine the cranberries and sugar with 11⁄4 cups water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. 

2. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes. 

3. Transfer the mixture to a blender and puree. 

4. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve back into the pan, pressing on the solids (discard the cranberry skins and seeds). 

5. Add the rosemary to the sauce. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat to infuse with rosemary flavor. (You might want to take a break here and just INHALE- your kitchen is going to smell SO yummy at this point, you might not want to continue!)

6. To prepare the pork: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

7. Season the pork all over with the salt and pepper. 

8. Lay the bacon strips, slightly overlapping each other, on the baking sheet. 

9. Lay the pork tenderloin down the center of the bacon strips, perpendicular to them. Carefully wrap the bacon slices on one side of the pork around the tenderloin, tucking the bacon ends under the tenderloin to secure.Roll the tenderloin forward to finish the wrapping of the bacon. Secure bacon ends with toothpicks if loose.

10. Bake the tenderloin for 25 minutes. 

11. Remove from the oven and brush a thick coating of glaze over the tenderloin. Bake until the glaze sets on the pork, 5 to 7 minutes longer. 

12. Let the pork rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

12. Serve the pork slices with any remaining rosemary-cranberry glaze. Serves 4.