Kiln to Kitchen

Jean Anderson’s new cookbook deliciously brings together two of her lifelong passions—great food and North Carolina pottery. Fans of both will celebrate. While always meant for one another, pottery and cooking are enjoying a new romance—many potters have introduced designs, glazes, and techniques that make pottery more versatile, while others continue making the traditional pie plates, casseroles, jugs, and mugs that made the state’s pottery famous. Potters now routinely tuck recipes into everything from stoneware angel-food cake pans to salt-glazed bean pots, and Anderson has selected a treasury of 76 favorite recipes contributed by the twenty-four gifted North Carolina potters featured in this book.

Following an introduction to the North Carolina pottery traditions and general instructions for cooking in clay, Anderson sets off on three tours, pinpointed on maps, that wind through the state’s prime pottery regions—the Greater Triangle, Seagrove-Asheboro, and the Catawba Valley/Mountains. She profiles the featured potters, sharing their captivating backstories and favorite, fully tested recipes. How about trying Ben Owen’s persimmon pudding, Mark Hewitt’s South African beef bobotie, or Siglinda Scarpa’s Italian fruit tart, to name just a few of the dishes that span the South and the globe. Beautiful photographs of recipes in their clay vessels will urge you to dig in.