Jackson Free Press

James Villas, along with Laurie Colwin, was an early icon of mine in the field of food writing. His Villas at Table (1998) was a long-time companion. As a matter of fact, his essay on sardines in that work inspired me to submit my first column to Donna Ladd. (As I remember, it was about oysters, but I'm certainly in a position to be corrected.)

Pig: King of the Southern Table is his latest work, and I do recommend it. Villas is not only a good writer, he is dedicated to his subject even though the text is overpowered by big, pretty glossy photos. I miss the pleasure of reading Villas' prose in gobbets, but his introduction is worthy of his best writing, and he makes a thorough exploration of his subject throughout the work.

Villas is from the Low Country, so he knows his way around a hog, and Pig is a pretty much definitive compendium of recipes from all around the South, where pork reigns. It includes a great section on barbecue, written in part with the help of Louis Osteen, but the recipes, from snout to tail, involve every aspect of pork cookery, and taken as a whole, they are interesting from a historical as well a culinary perspective.