Norma Branham, left, shows off her Blue Cheese Pull-a-Parts – a recipe that will appear in the new “Cooks of Fairfield County” cookbook. Sampling some of the other cookbook goodies that will be available during a dessert reception at Honeysuckle Acres on Aug. 25 are Terry Vickers and Denise Jones who serve as president and chairman of the board, respectively, of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce which is sponsoring the cookbook project.
You’ve watched as they gathered the recipes, maybe even contributed one or two yourself; you’ve filled out the pre-order forms. Now it’s time for the unveiling. Hot off the press, “The Cooks of Fairfield County” cookbook is now ready for the grand unveiling at a special dessert event to be held on Sunday, August 25 from 3-5 p.m. at Honeysuckle Acres, 70 Honeysuckle Lane in Winnsboro. The event will introduce “The Cooks of Fairfield County” to the public. Cooks who submitted dessert recipes are invited to prepare their recipes to share at the event.
“The unveiling will be a fun social event — a soiree,” project coordinator Denise Jones said. “The cookbook started as a fundraiser for the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce.”
To gather the recipes, the cookbook creators engaged the community through the newspaper, word of mouth, email and social media like Facebook.
“The idea behind compiling a cookbook was to bring people in the community together,” Jones said. Anyone who lives in Fairfield County or has ties to the county was invited to submit recipes.
“I don’t think there is anything that brings us together more than food,” she added.
The cookbook editors received 635 recipes, including some they gleaned by pouring over about 30 old cookbooks going all the way back to 1945.
“We included all the recipes,” said Jones. The chamber used an online cookbook publisher to create the cookbook.
“We had a group of people along with me who entered the recipes and proofed them,” said Jones. “We tried initially to limit the recipes to two per person, but we had some that have submitted more than that.”
There were lots of pecan pie recipes and lots and lots of chicken casserole recipes. This is a cookbook for someone with a real sweet tooth, because by far, the largest section is Desserts.
This cookbook is unique, Jones believes, and stands out in the cookbook crowd.
“These are recipes that came out of Fairfield County, dishes that people around here have probably eaten at church events and have always wanted to know how to make,” said Jones. “Now they will have that opportunity.”
A favorite feature of the cookbook is the 100 or so vintage recipes from the days when we didn’t worry about things like fats or the effects of butter, sugar and salt.
“This is the first Fairfield County cookbook that we know of,” said Jones.
Chamber president Terry Vickers expressed appreciation to Jones and the new chamber board members who initiated the cookbook project.
“We hope everybody in Fairfield County will buy at least three cookbooks; keep one and give the others as gifts,” Vickers said. “Christmas will be here soon and it’s a great gift to stock up on before the holidays. Send them to friends and relatives out of state so other people will know what great cooks we have in Fairfield County.”
If you plan to bring a dessert to the unveiling, or need more details about the event and the cookbook, contact the chamber at 803-635-4242.
Don’t know about you, but I’ve got my fork and napkin ready!