What is charcuterie? “Charcuterie is a French term that refers to prepared meats, such as sausage, ham, bacon, and pâté. So-called charcuterie boards have become popular as appetizers or party snacks in the United States in recent years. Strictly speaking, these should contain only French meat products, but the term has broadened to include, in addition to assorted meats, a variety of cheeses, nuts, fruits, vegetables, breads, crackers, and even sauces.” Charcuterie derives from the French phrase chair cuit, meaning “cooked meat.” It was originally confined to pork, for medieval guild regulati ..read more

Photos and styling by Brooke Echols Cook of the Month: Wanda Monk, Cullman EC Wanda Monk estimates she’s had her winning recipe for Vanilla Wafer Cake at least 40 years. She remembers making it and taking when her family would gather for meals at the home of her mother-in-law in Falkville. The recipe, which likely came from another family member, uses two sticks of butter, which gives it that extra-moist texture. Vanilla Wafer Cake 2 sticks butter, softened 6 eggs 1 11-ounce box vanilla wafers 1½ cups sugar 1½ cups pecans 1 can flaked coconut Crush vanilla wafers thoroughly. Beat butte ..read more

Playoff and bowl games are the perfect setting to serve up some tasty homemade wings or ribs, or both! Photos and Styling by Brooke Echols Cook of the Month: Ed White, Covington EC Ed White is a self-described “wing nut.” He loves to eat wings and he loves to cook them, especially for his wife who is partial to extra crispy ones. So he set out on a quest to perfect a recipe that would result in wings that were not only tasty, but crispy. He tried one he called “Spicy Peanut Butter and Jelly Wings,” in honor of relatives who were coming to visit and who had helped make hundreds of PB ..read more

Food styling and photos: Brooke Echols Yes, it was a tough job, but our cookie judges were up to the task! Out of more than a dozen top recipes baked by our staff, three of our readers’ cookie recipes took the top prizes of $100, $75 and $50. Each winner will also receive a copy of our new book, The Best of Hardy Jackson’s Alabama. Enjoy making these winning cookies, and if there are any left, put some out for Santa this Christmas Eve! First Place Sara Jean Brooklere, Baldwin EMC Sara Jean Brooklere makes her famous White Chocolate Cookies/Candy every year, with good reason. It’s so popular s ..read more

These tasty slow cooker recipes are nothing to sweat over. Just set it (to low) and forget it! Cook of the Month: Paula Blass, Arab EC Paula Blass loves to entertain family and friends at her lake home and is always looking for recipes she can prepare ahead of time so she can enjoy being with her guests. She found a recipe for white chicken chili “and it called for some things I’ve never really tried,” she recalls. The first go-round, she made it on her stove, but since it took a while to cook she thought the next time she’d try making it in the crockpot. When the recipe did not turn out ..read more

Whether as part of a main dish, in a dessert, or as a snack, the abundance of pumpkins this time of year is one of the many reasons October is a favorite month for many of us. Cook of the Month: Ruby Christian, Franklin EC Ruby Christian likes to experiment a lot with different recipes, and even though she doesn’t care for pumpkin all that much, she used a bit of pumpkin puree to flavor her winning “Sausage Pumpkin Pinwheels” recipe.  By the time she’d perfected the bite-size pastries, “I forgot it was pumpkin,” she said, laughing.  The biscuit-like treats are great for breakfast or ..read more

Food styling and photos: Brooke Echols Cook of the Month: John Sunyog, Cullman EC As a child growing up in the Detroit, Michigan, area, John Sunyog was used to having easy access to a variety of foods from different cultural backgrounds. “Up there you had Greek, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Polish, Jewish,” he says. So if his mother wasn’t in a baking mood he could find his favorite krusciki, or Polish twists, at a local bakery. “As a kid I loved eating those things.”  But another kind of love brought him south to Alabama when he moved with his fiancé to the Cullman area in 2005. Not f ..read more

Food styling an photos: Brooke Echols Cook of the Month, Peggy Key, North Alabama EC One of our long-time contributors to the recipe pages, Peggy Key of Grant, Alabama, says she’s been making her winning recipe for Fresh Pear Cobbler for more than 20 years. The original recipe came from a newspaper, but it’s so old that by now it’s yellowed with age.  Picking her own pears was easy years ago when her family had pear trees, but now she, like many of us, is able to get Bosc pears year-round in the grocery store. The cobbler makes its own crust as it spreads out while baking, and is especia ..read more

Food styling and photos: Brooke Echols Cook of the Month: Kathy Ledford Gledhill, Sand Mountain EC Kathy Gledhill likes to describe her “Tomato Jam” as “a scaled-down version of tomato relish.” She was trying to think of a way to make the relish without cooking a large quantity, and she came up with this month’s winning recipe.  With July being a peak month for eating in-season fresh tomatoes, her jam is a different way to use the favorite summertime food. “I like to use fresh tomatoes and I prefer Roma tomatoes, but it doesn’t matter,” she says. The Roma variety have less seeds and thei ..read more

Our Cook of the Month winning recipe, HP Burger, combines the tastes of sweet pineapple, crunchy bacon, cheese and barbecue sauce to top off an exceptional burger. Food styling and photos: Brooke Echols Cook of the Month: Hannah Pugh, Black Warrior EMC Hannah Pugh invented her winning recipe “HP Burger” while working at her family’s restaurant, Mike’s Country Kitchen in Pine Hill in Wilcox County, where she’s been co-owner the past five years. The combination of sweet pineapple, crunchy bacon, and American cheese, topped with barbecue sauce (she prefers Sweet Baby Ray’s brand) has p ..read more