Basic to Brilliant, Y'all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company [A Cookbook]

There is a local restaurant my spouse and I frequent which features the best local foods cooked by chefs with French technique. With V.W.'s new book, I can now proudly whip up and eat similar (and in many cases, better) food any night of the week.The basic premise of the book is to take standard Southern food and present it in a basic recipe. Willis incorporates her French culinary training to give the dish a little lift. Then the brilliant portion of the title comes into play and Willis tells you how to dress it up to be good enough for company. If your company is fortunate enough to be eating the basic version of the recipe, believe me, they are very lucky and won't think they're missing anything. However, the beauty of the book is that if you choose to go the extra mile and do the more advanced version, you will find that it is quite easy to do so!The book is divided into 12 major chapters: fundamental recipes; starters and nibbles; salads and slaws; eggs and dairy; fish and shellfish; gospel birds and game birds; beef, pork, and lamb; rice, grits, and potatoes; vegetables; soups and stews; daily bread; and desserts. Willis has an easy-going and friendly prose. She seamlessly glides between relating treasured family anecdotes and relating technique. She makes you believe you can achieve any recipe in her book--and you can. You won't have a photograph for each recipe, which I don't find to be a flaw in cookbooks, but the photography in this book is lovely. It really showcases the rich Southern ingredients she is cooking.I cooked the okra cornmeal cakes this week and my whole family was wild for them. Want magic? Layer them with tomatoes and crab for a decadent napoleon you won't forget. We can't wait to try her sweet potato grits and sweet potato spoonbread--every time we visit the lowcountry, we load up on the best locally made grits we can find so these dishes ought to be exceptional.In short, Virginia Willis is a representative of the South, my South. She is intelligent but without pretention. She embraces quality but isn't fussy. Her cookbook exemplifies all these traits. As I read through her well-written recommendations that introduce the readers to each chapter, I feel as though she wrote her cookbook with me in mind specifically. This book will occupy a prominent place in my kitchen for many years to come.

Virginia combines southern cooking with French techniques. And she is just as brilliant as the cookbook title, itself. She takes classic southern cuisine, gives us fancy & simple ways to prepare each dish. Each recipe has a basic version & a brilliant fancier option. So you can make one version for your family & then take the same recipe & fancy it up for a dinner party, for example. This book really is brilliant & the techniques she describes in detail will surely appeal to a wide variety of folks. And will be cherished for years to come. This book, is especially one that foodies will not be able to put down because there's so much to learn. And the icing on the cake, her stories about Julia Child & Paula Deen. Don't miss what happened behind the scenes, at the Paula Deen show tapping. So, whether you are looking to learn some French techniques or create dishes that will quickly become family traditions, I guarantee you this book will make you smile, laugh & love food, like never before.The first recipe that caught my eye was her Sweet Potato Grits, it's the perfect fusion of 2 southern dishes that no one will be able to resist. She impresses upon us the importance of using real stone-ground grits and why "quick-grits" just won't do. So, I went out and purchased real grits from a local Mississippi company & can't wait to make this!!The recipe we decided to make, was her Tarragon Egg Salad & it was the BEST Egg Salad I have ever put in my mouth. She explains exactly how to soft boil an egg & the end product, produces this creamy yoke that for 6 eggs, only requires 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, WOW!! Simply knowing how to avoid overcooking the egg, actually allows us to essencially cut calories because the yokes are so creamy, not as much mayonnaise is needed to help it come together, brilliant!![...]

In "Bon Appetit, Y'all", chef and writer Virginia Willis introduced readers to her unique blend of Southern down home cooking and French haute cuisine, accompanied by love-filled stories of Meme & Dede (her maternal grandparents), her own growing-up years and training in France and America. In "Basic to Brilliant", Willis takes that same extraordinary approach toward food, family, and hospitality by presenting 150 sets of "basic" recipes (suitable for an ordinary weeknight dinner) accompanied by "brilliant" flourishes/add-ons when time and whimsy permit.My own copy of B2BY lies before me as I write, open to "Southern Ratatouille" which I'm preparing for a potluck gathering this weekend. I will wait to make the brilliant "Crispy Cornmeal Cups" on another occasion and serve the ratatouille in them for guests at home. Willis makes the techniques of even complicated dishes accessible, and introduces each recipe with a brief vignette or reminiscence about the origins of the dish.I have recommended this book (as well as its predecessor) to everyone I know who loves to cook, and several who just love to eat! Two thumbs up for sure--and look out for Volume 3 ("Lighten Up, Y'all!" coming in 2015!