I don’t have much appointment TV viewing, but Monday nights at 7:30 are reserved for A Chef’s Life on PBS. I have always been so fond of Vivian Howard, chef and star of the series, because of her roots in Eastern, North Carolina and her exploration of our culinary traditions. But I also feel a connection with her as a working Mom on a constant search to find balance in raising children while working alongside her husband running a family business. More of a documentary than a cooking show, A Chef’s Life follows Vivian after she has “escaped” North Carolina, worked in high end kitchens in NYC and eventually returned to settle in her hometown of Deep Run, NC. Each episode, she highlights one regional ingredient and its traditional cooking methods, interspersed with footage of she and her husband working to raise their family and run their wildly successful restaurant, Chef and the Farmer. She visits local farmers and suppliers to learn the origins of the ingredients and meet the rural folks working so hard to grow and produce them. Hearing the dialect and those particular accents call up so many of my childhood memories. Scenes of Vivian cooking alongside her Mom and striving to perfect her Mother’s Chicken Rice, have often brought me to tears in gratitude of the recipes I was able to share with my own Mom. The series also took us along as Vivian tediously wrote, developed the recipes and eventually embarked on a publicity tour for her long awaited first cookbook.
It goes without saying that her cookbook, Deep Run Roots, occupies a place of honor in my kitchen and I can’t recommend it highly enough. In it, you’ll find a similar structure to the show, each chapter dedicated to one ingredient. Some chapters offer a dozen uses for standards, like blueberries, tomatoes, oysters, apples, sweet potatoes and corn while others venture in a more Southern direction, peaches, okra, pecans and collards. You’ll find the basics and how-to’s of simple Southern traditions like canning preserves and cooking with dried field peas. Cornpone, hoecakes and fried cornbread. A breakdown of grits, the different types and cooking methods. But you will also find elevated and far more elegant uses for mundane ingredients as Vivian has mastered the culinary version of High/Low culture. Our beloved Tomato Sandwich gets a fancy glow-up. Fried chicken livers are paired with Balsamic-Marinated Figs. Summer corn becomes Sweet Corn Vanilla Soufflé with Blackberries. I’m not big on root vegetables, but how about a Turnip Gremolata with grated garlic, parsley, mint and honey? Under “Casseroles,” you’ll find Duck, Date and Rutabaga Potpie with a Duck-Fat Biscuit Crust. I really can’t think of a better High/Low than Duck Fat Biscuits.
If you’re not from around here, Deep Run Roots will give you a long, hard look into the Southern soul. Watermelon-Rind Pickles. Apple Pie Moonshine. Hoppin’ John. Lots of pork. Boiled Peanuts. Ham hocks, Canned Peaches and Deviled Eggs, though no one, not even the great Vivian Howard, will ever top my Mom’s famous Deviled Eggs.
I encourage you to pick up your own copy in print or digital and plan to read it the way you would a normal book. Her recipes are conversational and feel as if you’re standing in the kitchen with a friend. Hear the stories of what North Carolina means to her, and in turn, a lot of what it also means to me. And for the love of God, find out what a Tom Thumb actually is.
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