Supper Club Planning and Two Southern Cookbooks

One of the things I really want to do this year is start a rotating supper club with some friends. I'd love to have a steady recurring themed evening of food and friendship. I've already roped one other family in on the fun, and would like to find a third. I think it would be interesting to pick a theme or a cookbook or a famous chef and use them as inspiration. I imagine an Italian night, a meal out of A Homemade Life, and riffing off the Chopped judges. I also imagine doing a full Southern meal for my decidedly Yankee friends. In addition to picking a few family favorites, I have two cookbooks from NetGalley that will help me find just the right dishes.

First is Besh Big Easy: 101 Home Cooked New Orleans Recipes. I love love love the blues and New Orleans, and I can't stop myself from requesting every book (fiction and non-fiction) set in New Orleans that I see, but I didn't think this through really well, as the majority of the recipes are, of course, seafood.  I am not a huge seafood fan and even if I were I live in South Dakota-- as far from the sea as you can get. That said, I did find a handful of potential candidates in the book, and the writing and reading is quite lovely, as is the photography.  I've bookmarked Bananas Foster, Mamma's Bread Pudding with Hot Buttered Rum Sauce, Sweet Corn Macque Choux, and Baked Cheesy Grits as potential dinner recipes. Besh Big Easy is released on September 29th.

The second book that I've requested is Nashville Eats: Hot Chicken, Buttermilk Biscuits, and 100 More Southern Recipes from Music City.  Mike and I love Nashville, and really Tennessee as a whole. When we first were together we visited Memphis several times, and I have family in Murfreesboro so this is right up our alley. Chess Pie is definitely on our list of recipes for Southern night and I was thrilled to see a recipe for that included (tho I do have a similar family version.) Nashville Eats is more than just recipes, it also includes beautiful descriptions of Nashville itself and the musical history. This one is a book you can just sit and read, much like A Homemade Life. If I had any complaint it would be that the Kindle formatting is awkward, but there's always the paper version to get around that problem. Nashville Eats will be released on October 6th.

I am really excited to get the Supper Club going and can't wait to kick it off with a meal from home.