• Winter Vegetable Chili
• Roast Beef, Blue Cheese, and Onion Jam Panini

• Watauga County Chicken Stew with Fluffy Dumplings
• Tomato Gravy

Edited by Sara Roahen and John T. Edge
University of Georgia Press, 2010

As a coauthor of the book, I tested and edited all of the recipes. The book has gotten some great reviews and shout-outs in a number of places, including Garden & Gun and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The SFA website has more information about the book. It's available through your favorite bookseller.

The SFA Community Cookbook won a Gourmand award as one of the world's best cookbooks for 2010. See the Gourmand International website for the complete list of winners. The book was also a finalist for the IACP 2011 Cookbook Awards.

• Barbecue Shrimp Over Rice
• Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes One by One
• Chicken Stew with Fluffy Dumplings

Edited by Ronni Lundy
University of North Carolina Press, 2005

This annual collection of the best of Southern food writing featured my essay "Cornbread Communion." This piece also won the Edible Communities scholarship to the Symposium for Professional Food Writers in 2007.

thekitchn.com published these articles I wrote:

• Honey-Glazed Pork Tenderloin The best thing about pork tenderloin is that it is very lean and cooks quickly. The trickiest thing about pork tenderloin is that it is very lean and cooks quickly.
• You've Got Rhubarb All Wrong Too many people regard rhubarb like a beloved, sassy elderly aunt. She comes to town each spring and wears a lot of hot pink and bright green. Everyone is thrilled to see her, but after sharing a couple of pies and a pot of coffee, what are they going to do with her the rest of the time?
• Fish Tacos With Rhubarb-Pineapple Salsa When paired with acidic ingredients, such as pineapple and lime, raw rhubarb holds it color and crunch in this fruity salsa. It's great in fish tacos, but it's equally good served with crisp corn or sweet potato chips.
• Rhubarb and Tomato Dumplings Even without the rhubarb, tomato dumplings are a mystery to those who didn't grow up eating them. They are an old-fashioned favorite of some grandmas and meat-and-three diners.
• Buttermilk: The Peerless Dairy Queen. Imagine a liquid that tastes indulgent, but is lean. A ready-to-use brine that renders proteins from fried chicken to grilled steak tender and juicy. An elixir that adds soft and tender crumbs to cornbread and chocolate cake, and makes perfect biscuits a possible dream. A tonic that adds tangy zip to salad dressings, milkshakes, and soups. Friends, that's no genie in that bottle - that's buttermilk.
• Appalachian Beans. When a Southerner Tells You How to Cook Green Beans, Shut Up and Listen. Give us our Half-Runners, our Greasy Cut Shorts, our Pink Tips, and Rattlesnake Pole - for we are masters of their ways. And ours.
• Sticky Buns & Baked Eggs: A Holiday Breakfast That's Easier Than It Looks, featuring recipes for Creamed Spinach with Baked Eggs and the life-changing Caramel-Pecan Sticky Buns.
• Savory Bread Pudding & Citrus Salad: A Citrus-Inspired Brunch for Any Time of Day, with recipes for Citrus Salad with Honey & Bitters Dressing, Inspired Toast with Sweet Citrus Butter, and Savory Bread Pudding with Spinach, Chèvre, Smoked Ham & Smoky Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.
• Lucky Is As Lucky Does: A Brunch Menu for New Year's Day, with lucky New Year's Day recipes for Hoppin' John Risotto with Collard Pesto and Fresh Grape Cake with Luscious Lemon Sauce.
• Smoky Creamed Kale You know what's even better than creamed spinach? Creamed kale..
• How long to cook vegetables Few aspects of Southern country cookery are more maligned and misunderstood than the issue of how long to cook vegetables, such as fresh snap beans.
• Pumpkin Slab Pie It's been said that whomever coined the phrase "easy as pie" had never made one from scratch. Perhaps, instead, they were talking about this pretty slab pie.
• Make-Ahead Mashed Potato Casserole Mashed potatoes are a requirement on most Thanksgiving tables, and we set a high bar. They must be lush and creamy with enough flavor to stand on their own, but not so assertive that they clash with the turkey gravy.
• Grilled Bread Dressing with Cranberries and Leeks Turkey gets the talk at Thanksgiving, but many of us are all about the dressing.

I have written or co-written several articles for Better Homes and Gardens:

• Tomato-Topped Corn and Feta Casserole. Loaded with corn, olives, and feta cheese, this summer casserole has layers of Mediterranean flavor. Finish with a dose of juicy sweetness from oven-roasted cherry tomatoes.
• Garlicky Zucchini Noodles. Transform garden zucchini into noodles right before your eyes. Then toss it with garlic, walnut oil, creamy goat cheese, and prosciutto in this company-worthy salad.
• Oven-Roasted Chile Butter Corn. It doesn't get much better than fresh sweet corn slathered with butter. We've taken it to the next level with a spicy double-chile butter and a crunchy cornflake topping.
• Green Beans and Pesto Pasta. This summery dinner starts with a fragrant green bean pesto that's packed with flavor. To serve, spoon it generously over pasta, fresh beans, and lettuce.
• Corn and Cantaloupe Chopped Salad. Highlight the season's sweetest produce with this light summer salad. A generous pinch of red chile renders the salad both spicy and sweet.
• Sweet-and-Sour Four-Bean Salad. First sweet, then sour, this Asian-inspired salad is packed with the flavors of ginger, fish sauce, and fresh lime. For even more flavor, sprinkle on fresh cilantro just before serving.
• Yellow Tomato Braised Beans. Simmered until fork-tender, these saucy green beans are buttery, rich, and the perfect summer comfort food.
• Blistered Green Beans. When roasted in a superhot oven, green beans become charred and smoky. Highlight the flavor with a scattering of pistachios, parsley, and orange zest.
• Lemony Squash and Provolone Dinner Toast. Keep the cooking easy with these melty toasts. In-season veggies like zucchini and summer squash are piled high with zesty lemon pepper and thyme on crisp toasted ciabatta.

I have written or co-written several articles for Gilt Taste:

• Strawberry Shortcake with Chocolate Gravy, featuring the wonderful Appalachian tradition of chocolate gravy
• Apple Core Values, an article about tasty things to do with apple cores and skins
• Hoppin' John: Pork, Peas, and Rice for New Year's Luck, featuring my recipe for Hoppin' John Risotto with Collard Pesto
• Reveal the Appeal of Potato Peels, featuring four techniques for making the most of potato skins
• Have a Fine Time with Watermelon Rind, how to make roasted, candied, pickled, and parmesan-crusted watermelon rind
• A Rind is a Terrible Thing to Waste contains my recipes for Vanilla-Ginger Watermelon Rind Preserves and Quick Watermelon Rind Refrigerator Pickles.

I have written or co-written several articles for Southern Living:

• Creamed Onion Tart. This recipe makes classic creamed onions seem inventive and stylish. A generous wedge is an appealing side dish, but it'll make a nice first course, if paired with a salad.
• Tomato-Goat Cheese Tart with Lemon-Basil Vinaigrette A family favorite, with us. Be sure to drain the ricotta before mixing with the goat cheese. Spread it gently into the delicate crust so it won't pull away from the pan.
• Pancetta Crisps With Goat Cheese and Pear Top Bartlett pear slices with baked pancetta, crumbled goat cheese, and a drizzle of honey for an easy, salty-sweet appetizer recipe that tastes delicious and looks gorgeous.
• Pancetta Crisps With Goat Cheese and Pear Top Bartlett pear slices with baked pancetta, crumbled goat cheese, and a drizzle of honey for an easy, salty-sweet appetizer recipe that tastes delicious and looks gorgeous.
• Sliced Sweet Potato Pie We love the layered look of this ever-so-sweet streusel-topped treat.
• Classic Sweet Tea We love this recipe because it's got strong tea flavor without being bitter, and it's sweet but not cloying.
• Rum-Glazed Sweet Potato Cakes This mini Bundt cake recipe features pureed sweet potatoes, raisins, rum, and toasted pecans along with cinnamon and nutmeg and is a perfect pick-up treat for a holiday dessert party.
• Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake Our Most Popular Chocolate Recipe... Ever
• Triple-Mini Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cakes Our Most Popular Chocolate Recipe... Just Smaller
• Buttermilk-Vegetable Curry
• Chocolate-Buttermilk Puddingy
• Mango-Buttermilk Shakes Frozen diced mango helps keep preparation to a minimum for this anytime smoothie. Blend with buttermilk, sugar and vanilla. Substitute other frozen fruits, like peaches, for fun variety.
• Herbed Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
• Avocado Ranch Dressing
• Lemony Ranch Dressing
• Spectacular Fresh Butter & Buttermilk We all love butter. But have you ever tasted homemade butter? It is creamy and sweet with a hint of tang that puts grocery store sticks to shame. This mostly hands-free technique yields the same results as an old-fashioned butter churn (minus a workout) and yields amazing butter plus its built-in bonus: fresh buttermilk.
• Classic Pimento Cheese

I have written or co-written several articles for The Local Palate:

• Cider Revival In the last decade or so we've seen a reawakening in the world of craft cider and we're making progress. Americans are rediscovering their taste for great soft and hard cider.
• In the Soup When the weather turns cold, our cravings turn toward the warm and comforting side of the menu. We want substantial and soul-soothing soup, and plenty of it. Big bubbling pots of homemade soup make a kitchen smell prosperous.
• A Field Guide to Field Peas Field peas have flourished in the South for over three hundred years and summertime Southern farmers' markets are brimming with them, and yet fresh seasonal field peas are all too rare on contemporary Southern tables and practically unheard of elsewhere. Folks might not know what they're missing.

• June 2016 - The Curb Appeal of Roadside Produce Stands Maters! Corn! Cukes! Follow the hand-painted signs to a whole meal's worth of fresh produce, right on the side of the road.
• June 2016 - Pop Goes The Cake: Soda-Infused Recipes North Carolina's favorite sodas add a sweet twist to three classic cakes. Load up your picnic table with these irresistible treats.
• June 2016 - Summer Tastes Better with Campfire Cooking The height of fine (outdoor) dining: threading an entire meal onto sticks and dangling it over the flames.
• May 2016 - Essay Recipe Boxes You don't need a treasure map to find the most valuable item in any home cook's kitchen. Just look for the family recipe box - a link to loved ones, and a peek into the past.
• April 2016 - The Taste of Right Here By showing us why these specific foods in these specific places are special, this delicious dozen reveals something wonderful about North Carolina foodways and proclivities.
• April 2016 - Grits They may serve as a culinary sidekick rather than the star of the show, but make no mistake: Grits are the canvas on which a good meal is painted.
• For the February 2014 issue of Our State I wrote the article "A Carolina Cake Tour," featuring cakes representing the various food traditions of North Carolina:
  • Cheerwine Pound Cake from the Piedmont
  • Appalachian Apple Stack Cake from the Blue Ridge Mountains
  • Black Walnut Pound Cake with Old-Fashioned Penuche Frosting from the mountains and foothills
  • Muscadine Cake from the Sandhills, Coastal Plain, and Outer Banks
  • Fig Preserves Cake with Buttermilk Glaze from the Outer Banks

• A Helping of Gravy: Soup Beans A Cake of Cornbread, a Jar of Chow-Chow, and Thou
• Thanks a Mint My hometown secret
• Pass the Gravy: Thanksgiving Edition, featuring Rich and Redeeming Turkey Gravy
• Tomato Pan Gravy, highlighting the alchemy that transforms leavings in the skillet into tomato pan gravy
• No Flour? No Problem, a discussion and a recipe for cornmeal gravy
• Pass the Chocolate Gravy, including a short history of chocolate gravy and a recipe
• Eyes Wide Open, the story of Red Eye Gravy plus a recipe

These blog entries were also featured in The Daily South.

• A feature article on The New Southern Garden Cookbook
• An article on Cookbooks with a Southern Twist featured my recipe for Miracle Drop Biscuits from The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook.

On July 22, 2011, an Epicurious.com article sang the praises of two Southern cookbooks: The New Southern Garden Cookbook and Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen. The article included three of my recipes from the book:

• Ozark Pudding
• Peach Iced Tea Sorbet
• Real Skillet Cornbread

Quoting author Esther Sung, "I appreciate Castle's ingredient-first philosophy, and as a lifelong Northeasterner, she helps breach the gap and makes Southern cooking approachable and even more universal."

The Seven Essential Southern Dishes The Bitter Southerner never shies away from grand pronouncements, but when we make one, we try hard to make sure it's based on substance. As the holidays - that special time of year when calories don't count - approached, we wanted to challenge a great (and when we say great, we mean great) Southern food writer to do the impossible: Define the most essential Southern dishes, the ones that speak most clearly about who we are. Today, North Carolina writer Sheri Castle - the only person alive who can legitimately claim to have read every recipe ever published in Southern Living magazine - takes the big leap.

Named one of the Best Stories of 2015

Watauga County Chicken Stew with Fluffy Dumplings This dish is so comforting that it feels restorative, says food writer Sheri Castle. It would be lovely for someone who is under the weather, but it's fantastic when you're well, too. This has some steps, but not one of them is difficult or finicky, and the results repay you for every moment and each effort. Such beautiful soup - bubbling up around the fluffy dumplings, perfuming your kitchen, evoking grins from everyone at your table.

Sweet Season I am delighted that one of my favorite magazines chose my story for their Christmas issue cover. This piece is full of hometown pride and homemade candy!

Thanks a Mint This story first appeared in issue #57 (fall 2015) of our Gravy quarterly. Hospitality Mints in my hometown of Boone, high in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, makes a prodigious number of mints.