Garden & Gun August/September 2020

EDITOR’S LETTER Photo Foraging THE TRUE STORY OF AN EARLY-MORNING POKEWEED HUNT DAVID DIBENEDETTO Senior Vice President & Editor in Chief Top: PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHNNY AUTRY When it comes to photographing food, few do it as well as Johnny and Charlotte Autry. The pair (he’s behind the camera; she prepares and styles the food) has been responsible for some of the most mouthwatering images to run in Garden & Gun, from the heroic tomato sandwich that appeared on the cover (August/September 2015) to our award-winning wild game feature (October/November 2019) to the dishes in this issue’s “Southern Recipe Revival” story, including the stunning caramel cake on the cover. But not every shoot is a proverbial cakewalk. There was one slight problem with photographing the poke sallet dish in the feature.…

Gripping Read The latest from North Carolina author David Joy Center: Latria Graham; bottom: Jan Balster One upside of the COVID quarantine has been the amount of reading I’ve been able to do. A favorite book I’ve finished recently is When These Mountains Burn by G&G contributor David Joy. The novel is Appalachian noir at its finest. A father’s love is tested by the inescapable pull of drugs on his son and the lengths he must go to save him. Joy’s storytelling is top-notch (and not for the faint of heart), and you’ll find yourself turning pages deep into the night. But it’s his knack for capturing a sense of place that really brings the hammer down.…

CONTRIBUTORS “There’s a kinship when you meet someone from the South, especially in a city as big as L.A.” —John Meroney, on interviewing the actor Walton Goggins, p. 25 Jessica B. Harris WRITER “My mother was alive when we were re-creating the recipe for watermelon rind pickles,” says Jessica B. Harris of the childhood dish she wrote about for “Southern Recipe Revival” (p. 72). “She was the amazing type of person who could taste something and know the ingredients. She was a much better cook than I will ever be.” A culinary historian, writer, teacher, and editor, Harris has spent the last four decades between her homes in Brooklyn, Martha’s Vineyard, and New Orleans exploring the foodways of the African diaspora. This year, the James Beard Foundation honored Harris…

LETTERS “I trying have been to introduce doggedly in okra Spain ’s cultivation . No success always yet, but hope there ” ’s SUMMER SOLACE What a great article about Leo McGee’s hydrangeas (In the Garden, June/July 2020). The deer and I down here in Georgia are gazing longingly at the beautiful blooms. Bob Henkel Lexington, Georgia Thanks to David DiBenedetto for letting me see his backyard chickadee eggs (Editor’s Letter, June/July 2020). The young in my family have already fledged! Flight training day was nerve-racking for the parents and for their human. Theresa Clark Kensington, Maryland I love okra in all its forms (Anatomy of a Classic, June/July 2020). I have been doggedly trying to introduce its cultivation in Spain. No success yet, but there’s always hope. Jenny Pugh…

Social Chatter GARDENANDGUN.COM AND BEYOND WE ASKED... What’s the most underrated Southern food? On Facebook and Twitter, readers told us their favorite undervalued bites. A few slices of fatback, or as Mama called it, streak of lean, fried crispy with cornbread. Carol Wilson Chocolate gravy and cathead biscuits. Tia Greene Ramps. Underrated, delicious, and a stinky staple in Appalachian culture. A sure sign of spring. Bradi Osborn Newsome Stewed okra and tomatoes. @Rosarian4 Cracklin’ bread. My mother served it warm in a bowl with milk poured over it. Debby Saunders Kreimer Mayonnaise cake. Geoffrey Jones Fried okra is totally underrated. It’s better than french fries if done right. Mandie Harwell MoonPies. With or without the RC Cola. @nekkidmusic Purple hull peas and hog maw. Kevin Smithers Kentucky burgoo. Dawn Anderson…

TALK OF THE SOUTH YOUR GUIDE TO SOUTHERN CULTURE Walton Goggins Drinks It In THE GEORGIA-RAISED ACTOR ON GOOD COCKTAILS, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, AND PLAYING SOUTHERN RIGHT By John Meroney PHOTOGRAPHS BY AMY DICKERSON It’s a child’s game. Turn yourself over to an imaginary set of circumstances. Everything you need to know is in the script. Read it three hundred times. Walton Goggins says those are the simple keys to acting, wisdom he gleaned from studying with the acting coach Harry Mastrogeorge for a decade. Such lessons have paid off. Goggins has appeared in some of TV’s best, from the gritty dramas The Shield and Justified to the indelible HBO comedies Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones, which will return for a second season. On the big screen, he’s…