The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor

2011 IACP Cookbook of the Year

From two South Carolina-bred brothers comes the ground-breaking cookbook for new Southern cooking: The Lee Bros. Simple, Fresh, Southern.

Matt and Ted Lee were raised on long-simmered greens, slow-smoked meats, and deep-fried everything. But after years of traveling as journalists and with farm-fresh foods more available than ever, Matt and Ted have combined the old with the new, infusing family recipes with bright flavors. Using crisp produce, lighter cooking methods, and surprising combinations, these are recipes to make any night of the week.

"The Lee brothers' second cookbook builds on the success of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by applying the principles of the current fashion for simplicity and speed in the kitchen to the revered down-home flavors of the South, which normally require far more extended cooking times and special ingredients. Readers who are nostalgic for the food of the South or have acquired a taste for it, but lack the time to recreate old-fashioned dishes, will be eager to try the brothers' new takes on old classics like chicken and dumplings, shrimp cocktail and ambrosia, which cut down on some of the usual preparation time without sacrificing flavor. They manage this partly through their judicious use of less traditional ingredients, such as curry powder in potato salad or chorizo in collard greens and partly through their emphasis on using top-notch fresh, in-season ingredients. Though the brothers got their start with a catalogue selling Southern pantry staples that are unusual elsewhere, these recipes rarely call for items that are not available in any well-stocked supermarket. The recipes are easy to follow and engagingly written, dotted with amusing anecdotes and historical asides that make the book a breezy read. Detailed shopping, preparation and garnishing notes throughout help ensure cooks' success following the Lee brothers in bringing Southern cooking into the 21st century." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"The Lee Bros. are truly the best at interpreting the last remaining great regional American cuisine — that of our southern states — for the rest of us. The magnificent collection of simple deliciousness makes me want to jump in the kitchen and get jiggy with a cold watermelon margarita." Mario Batali

"With Simple Fresh Southern, the Lee Bros. give us a southern cuisine fit for the 21st century. Matt and Ted offer the home cook recipes that are lighter, more flavorful, and simpler to execute, while still holding tight to their southern soul." Tom Colicchio

"These two boys are not only great cooks, I consider them the modern-day Lewis and Clark of southern cuisine." Paula Deen

"The charming Lee Bros. cook delicious, real food that's alive with flavor. How wonderful to be invited into their Southern kitchen!" Alice Waters

"To hell with hidebound and hardshell definitions of southern cookery. These recipes — collard greens with chorizo, clams with sweet potatoes — are honest, smart, and, yes, modern." John T. Edge

"The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern has me eying stalwarts of the southern kitchen like field peas and sweet potatoes with renewed enthusiasm. The brothers' combine their ingenuity and quirky charm with clever techniques and a modern aesthetic to create an inspiring fresh take on southern cuisine." Martha Hall Foose

"Can the words fresh and southern be in the same sentence when talking about food? You bet. This Lee Bros. book is good enough to eat." Amy Sedaris

"The southern savants of cooking, Matt and Ted Lee, have updated and simplified all of my favoirite recipes. Their peach tea juleps have found a permanent place on my cocktail party menu." Katie Lee Joel

The Lee brothers revolutionize Southern cooking with this collection of 110 fresh and quick-to-prepare recipes that have all the soul of traditional, slow-cooked dishes that are short on prep time but long on down-home flavor.

Matt Lee and Ted Lee grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, and in 1994 founded The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail-order source for Southern pantry staples. Their first cookbook, The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, received the James Beard Award for Cookbook of the Year in 2007. They are contributing editors for Travel and Leisure magazine and the wine columnists for Martha Stewart Living. Log on to www.simplefreshsouthern.com for technique videos, bonus recipes, and a schedule of where you can catch the Lee Bros. in person.