When in Virginia, do as the Virginians do, right? When it comes to food, that means taking home a Virginia cookbook so you can replicate some of the best recipes at home, wherever that may be.
Our choice was Dishing Up® Virginia: 145 Recipes That Celebrate Colonial Traditions and Contemporary Flavors by Patrick Evans-Hylton (Author), Edwin Remsberg (Photographer).
One of the things we liked about this cookbook was its knowledge of Virginia’s history. It divides the food by regions, so you get some of the Shenandoah Valley area that we have focused on in a series off stories, and you also get the Chesapeake Bay, Wine Country, and more.
You get not only the author’s recipes, but a compilation of some of the recipes from noted Virrginia restaurants, such as the Willliamsburg Lodge, which offers its Fried Green Tomato Salad. You also get a taste of Thomas Jefferson’s love of food, with dishes such as Monticello Apple Cake.
The book offers sample menus, unusual seafood recipes, a maple syrup-inspired Chicken Wings recipe perfect for this time of year, and, well, a whole state’s worth of delectable appetizers, entrees and desserts.
Check it out, whether you are in Virginia or not, both for its recipes and for its travel hints and places to see when you go East.
About The Virginia Series
The Shenandoah Valley is nestled between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains in historic and scenic west-central Virginia. It has the transportation infrastructure and connection to markets in every direction. One of their major areas of focus is the food processing taking place in the region. The Food Channel recently had the opportunity to work with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) to tour some of the up and coming places, and to talk with entrepreneurs as well as established business people eager to tell the Virginia story.