Coastal Cookbooks You Must Have
Our food writer Liz Biro picks the books that help tell the story of Eastern North Carolina cooking. They are essential reading for anyone who loves our coast, she writes.
Food
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Our Coast’s Food: Potato Salad
The Memorial Day weekend is the symbolic start of summer. Liz Biro, our food writer, kicks off the season with a story about a staple of backyard barbecues, church reunions and fish fries.
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Our Coast’s Food: Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry shortcake means different things to different people. A tender, split biscuit layered with sugar-macerated berries and fluffy whipped cream is recognized as the traditional version. But they come in many varieties.
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Our Coast’s Food: Southern Workhorse
Our food writer Liz Biro takes a loving, personal look at the cast-iron frying pan, a mainstay of any Southern kitchen.
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Our Coast’s Food: Cornmeal Dumplings
Cooks on the N.C. coast traditionally add cornmeal dumplings to collard greens but the tasty dollops can also be used to stretch seafood soups, stews and chowders, even when pinching pennies isn’t necessary.
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Our Coast’s Food: Keeping It Local
Chef Kyle Lee McKnight helped launch a local foods movement in Wilmington and although he’s no longer working on the N.C. coast, the flavors, traditions and friends from this region still guide his choices.
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Our Coast’s Food: Hoppin’ John
Tradition has it that eating black-eyed peas on Jan. 1 guarantees a prosperous new year but proper preparation is key with the dish known as “hoppin’ john.”
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Have Yourself a Colonial Christmas
A cook in Ocean Isle Beach modernized recipes from Colonial-era cookbooks to come up with a meal that could have graced holiday tables in the 1700s.
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Our Coast’s Food: Lightning Rolls
Christmas is about five weeks away, but our food writer, Liz Biro, can already smell the yeast rolls, called “Loitin’ Rolls” along the Core Sound and the Outer Banks, baking in the oven.
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Our Coast’s Food: Candied Yams
Candied yams is a favorite Southern dish but this noble, historically significant root deserves a more fitting crown than the familiar marshmallow goo.
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Our Coast’s Food: Cornbread
Introduced to colonists by native Americans, cornbread, a simple staple that varies in preparation from region to region, continues to endure as it evolves.
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A Simple Favorite: Shrimp Cocktail
Shrimp cocktail has been a familiar appetizer since the early 1900s, and while the preparation may be simple, seasoning and presentation can make it unique.
