About Virginia Willis

Virginia Willis

Virginia Willis is a chef, author, and Southern food maven. She studied at L’Academie de Cuisine and Ecole de Cuisine LaVarenne and had her first professional culinary job working on Nathalie Dupree’s PBS show. She’s been featured by Country Living, House Beautiful, USA Today, Food52, and CNN.com. Her cookbooks include Bon Appétit, Y’All and Basic to Brilliant, Y’All and her blog can be found at virginiawillis.com.@virginiawillis

A vanilla pound cake, cut, on a marble slab

Vanilla Pound Cake

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Flecked with vanilla seeds, this classic cake is ridiculously rich and oh so satisfying with its tender crumb and its knee-wobbingly crisp outer edges. Pound cake perfection.

  • Quick Glance
  • 20 M
  • 1 H, 20 M
  • 5
Plate of oven-baked barbecue ribs slathered in sauce with more sauce on the side

Oven-Baked Barbecue Ribs

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We’re all familiar with the glory of ribs slowly smoked in the backyard. But sometimes Mother Nature doesn’t agree with our barbecue plans. Thankfully there’s this recipe.

  • (1)
  • 30 M
  • 2 H, 30 M
  • 2
White dish of a sugar-dusted individual peach souffle; in the bottom are peach slices

Individual Peach Soufflés

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Properly airy and messily delicious, these peach souffles are an elegant (yet easy) ending to any summer supper. Or heck, perhaps just have these for supper.

  • (2)
  • 20 M
  • 30 M
  • 6
Two stacks of cornmeal griddle cakes on a patterned plate.

Cornmeal Griddle Cakes

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Shirttail cousins to corn bread, these savory cakes wooed and wowed us with their crisped edges, ethereally airy interior, and pantry-friendly frugality.

  • (16)
  • 20 M
  • 20 M
  • 63
A loaf of Burgundian honey spice bread on a sheet of parchment with two slices cut off.

Burgundian Honey Spice Bread

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More nuanced than gingerbread and not at all like fruit cake, this French pain d’épices is unforgettably fragrant with spice and nostalgically rich with tradition.

  • (2)
  • 15 M
  • 1 H
  • 6
Blue casserole of spicy macaroni and cheese with breadcrumbs on top and sliced of jalapeno peppers

Spicy Macaroni and Cheese

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All the comfort of classic mac and cheese plus a little kick. Actually, a lot of kick. Although we’ve heard not complaints.

  • (1)
  • 30 M
  • 1 H
  • 2
Cutting board with char siu pork--a pork tenderloin slathered with char siu sauce--and more sauce and the side

Char Siu Pork

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A modern riff on a Cantonese classic. This leaner version relies on pork tenderloin rather than more indulgent cuts but tastes every bit as authentic as the real deal and is redolent of five spice powder, garlic, and ginger.

  • (1)
  • 20 M
  • 1 H, 30 M
  • 4
A white baking dish filled with slices of cooked sweet potato

Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

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One way to down your sweet potatoes? Drown them in butter, sugar, bourbon, and maple syrup. It’s The Southern Way. And we can’t say we have a problem with this.

  • (9)
  • 10 M
  • 1 H
  • 37
Okra Cornmeal Cakes

Okra Cornmeal Cakes

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These quick, easy, gritty-in-a-good-way little corn cakes come from a doyenne of Southern cooking. Put simply, they don’t disappoint.

  • (7)
  • 30 M
  • 30 M
  • 28