The Fresh Market Magazine – September 2021: Vivian Howard Interview Questions

Q: Your books, restaurants and overall food philosophy center around the rural South and its agriculture. What are your favorite Southern ingredients to cook with? Do you have a favorite dish or recipe that’s uniquely Southern?

In the early fall, I really start to think about greens. We have gone the whole summer with really nothing green except for okra. I love the variety of greens that we cook in the South: turnip, collards, mustard and beet greens. I love that we mix them up to get the precise type of flavor we want in the pot. Greens stewed with air-dried sausage over rice is one of my favorite dishes for that time of year.

Q: There are a lot of stereotypes about Southern food. What is something you’d like to set straight for people?

The idea that Southern food is a heart-clogging cuisine is totally inaccurate. Southern food was historically based on fruits, vegetables and grains. Meat was more of a condiment or a special occasion thing.

Q: Who has been the biggest influence on your career?

Edna Lewis made me feel like the food that I grew up with was worth talking about and celebrating. Her book, The Taste of Country Cooking—the style of it, the stories and the food— directly influenced my first cookbook, Deep Run Roots. Every chapter of The Taste of Country Cooking is about a season or a celebration. She has two chapters for hunting season: “Fall Breakfast before a Day of Hunting” and “Hunting Season Dinner.” She tells you what it feels like and the foods they would eat. It's so beautiful.

Q: Your latest cookbook, This Will Make It Taste Good, is full of easy recipes that challenge people to change the way they think about what’s in their fridge. What are some tips or shortcuts you swear by that easily “make it taste good”?

Don't shy away from using the condiments in your fridge or pantry as flavor heroes. Think about cooking with them instead of just putting them on top of something. And know that making your own flavor heroes can be both really easy and incredibly rewarding.

Q. This book is full of “flavor heroes” —recipes for multipurpose sauces and condiments that elevate dishes. Which ones do you always keep on hand, and how do you like to use them?

I'm on the way to Charleston right now and I brought a jar of Red Weapons (spicy tomatoes) and a jar of Little Green Dress. They are great to have around. I use Red Weapons on avocado toast, on scrambled eggs with a little cheese, in an omelet, on a hardboiled egg, even stirred into mayo and put on a chicken sandwich.

Q: Tailgating season is right around the corner. Are there any recipes in your cookbook that you would make for a tailgate?

So many. V’s Nuts. Deviled Eggs made with Red Weapons. Gas Station Biscuits. And Inspiration Strikes Party Rolls, which is my version of those ham and cheese sandwiches made with a tray of Hawaiian rolls. Mine are made with bologna, provolone, pineapple and sprinkled with my take on Japanese furikake.

Q: We’ve heard that your Little Green Dress recipe, aka LGD, is the one thing you’d grab if your house was burning down. What makes it so special?

Little Green Dress brings acid, that flavor factor and salt all at once. It makes cooking so much more streamlined. It improves just about everything, from a piece of fish to baked potato, or eggs prepared any way. It’s like that versatile little black dress in your closet.

Q: Your new restaurant Lenoir recently opened in Charleston, SC. What was your vision for Lenoir, and how does it differ from your others?

Lenoir is named after the county I live in in North Carolina. If I were opening Chef and the Farmer today, this is what it would be like. It represents the way I like to eat—lots of bright, fresh flavors, exciting interpretations of vegetables, all held up by the ingredients of the rural South.

Q: What was it like opening a restaurant during the pandemic, and how did you have to pivot?

I have pivoted so many times that I'm like an ice skater. Obviously, it presented a lot of new challenges, but I was happy and relieved to have something positive to focus on during the shutdown. Beyond Lenoir and Handy & Hot, the adjacent coffee shop and bakery, I started a mail order business, also named Handy & Hot. Throughout the pandemic, we shipped flavor hero condiments from my cookbook, including Little Green Dress and Red Weapons, as well as small-batch baked goods for the holidays.

Q: Halloween is in a few months. With 2 kids of your own and things beginning to look a little more normal, what will your family be doing (or making) for fun?

Growing up in a rural place, we always went to church on Halloween and they made a big pot of eastern North Carolina fish stew. That's the thing I've always associated with Halloween. So maybe we'll do that this year since my kids have sort of aged out of Halloween.

Q: Meal planning and cooking during a busy week can be daunting. You have two children, multiple books, restaurants, TV shows and so much more. Do you have a go-to, easy weeknight dinner?

My go-to easy weeknight dinner is always a roasted chicken on top of something. In This Will Make It Taste Good, there's chicken toast. This is one of my favorite things that I've ever done. It's basically a whole chicken or chicken quarters roasted on top of slices of substantial, chewy bread. I'm often using a loaf of day-old bread or a leftover heel of bread. You place the raw chicken on top of bread and put it in the oven. It roasts and renders all of the chicken's flavor and fat onto the bread. It's chewy in places, crunchy in places. Then you pull the chicken off the bone and toss it with Little Green Dress, which makes it briny and fresh. You lay that on top of the bread and crown it all with arugula for that bite. I'm getting hungry just talking about it!

Q: How has your cooking style evolved in recent years, and what are some techniques or processes you prioritize or value now that you didn’t previously?

I used to cook food that I thought would impress other chefs or would show I was an educated, creative chef. I thought that everything I learned should come from the kitchens of renowned chefs. Now I cook food that I want to eat. I think I've figured out what it takes to make something tasty. I realize that there are multiple ways to get there, and home cooks have a lot of tips, tricks and techniques that get them to the finish line faster. Pickles, relishes and condiments are some of those things. I have certainly taken that wisdom into my professional and home kitchens.