Recipe by Julie Stehling of Early Girl Eatery, an Asheville restaurant that serves dishes made from scratch with ingredients from local farmers.

Fried pies are a Southern tradition and came about as a way for frugal cooks to use every bit of food. According to How to Eat Fried Pies by writer Paul Lukas (April 1, 2006, The New York Sun), "Fried pie history is sketchy. Before cold storage and imports made apples available year-round, lots of folks sliced up their fresh apples and then dried them, which was an effective means of long-term preservation. According to the book Apple Pie: An American Story by Southern food historian John Edge, "Many of those dried apples ended up in fried pies. From dried to fried—nice."

The fried pies at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View are one of the most popular food offerings at the park.

Recipe courtesy Shirley Blackwell, Ozark Folk Center State Park.

Roasted Apple Crisp©
Apples—whether or not they are in pie—are as American as you can get.

We have an orchard here on the Resort property that we are restoring that is more than a hundred years old. In fact some of the local historians say it may well have been around when Stonewall Jackson himself was hiking through these mountains near his home at Jackson’s Mill only 15 miles north of here.

That orchard was my inspiration and it convinced me that our signature dessert should feature apples. The apples in this crisp are baked the way my grandmother did hers—there’s no sugar added; she caramelized them in their own natural fruit sugars. I developed the recipe after I visited the Bruderhof—it uses their granola. Then I made some adaptations of my own—the lavender whipped cream.

Hope you enjoy this New Appalachian favorite.

Granola
One of our staff grew up in a Bruderhof—a German Utopian Community—in upstate New York. When we visited his family, we were very impressed with the wonderful food. It’s not surprising that almost everything they eat is from their land where it is organic and “slow grown” (no hormones or genetic engineering) to conserve both the earth and their health.

At the Bruderhof all but two meals a week are eaten communally and one breakfast we had Mother Rachel’s granola. It was in its way as down home as our Appalachian fare, and so I decided we should incorporate it into our menu here at the Resort.

This delicious recipe for She-crab soup is served in Charleston’s most historic restaurant, 82 Queen. Dating back to 1688 when South Carolina was a newly formed colony, the three buildings known as 82 Queen Street are located on the site of the former Schenckingh's Square, once part of the original walled city of Charles Towne. Since 1982, 82 Queen has been providing its guests with gracious Southern hospitality, award-winning wines and authentic fresh Lowcountry cuisine.

Recipe provided by Zambra, a Spanish tapas restaurant located in downtown Asheville. The restaurant uses all natural meats and local organic produce when available. They have been awarded the Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence for their collection of Spanish and New World wines.

Recipe Courtesy of:
Tyler Brown, Executive Chef
The Capitol Grille

Many dishes in South Louisiana cooking with a hot flavor are called “piquant”. However, only a rich brown roux-based dish colored with tomato and just the right hint of spice is a true Louisiana sauce piquant.