Welcome to Cooking with Virginia!
Here you will find delicious and doable, seasonal, chef-driven recipes for home cooks along with tips, techniques, and stories. And, given Virginia’s health journey and 65# weight loss, the recipes are not only good — they are good for you, too!
Each post features mouth-watering food photography, easy-to-follow instructions, and helpful hints for well-tested recipes from Southern chef, Food Network Kitchen Instructor, and James Beard award-winning cookbook author Virginia Willis.
You’ll also find Virginia’s signature stories chronicling formational childhood experiences gained baking in her grandmother’s and mother’s kitchen, her extensive professional experience from working in patisserie in a Michelin-starred restaurant, to the hot lights of food television, and her culinary centric far-flung travels. The recipes build on this practical knowledge and are written so that the reader feels that Virginia is by their side in the kitchen, as she walks the reader through surefire recipes that work every time. The recipes are rigorously tested and are essential, foolproof dishes you actually want to make and eat!
Bon Appétit, Y’all!
Virginia Willis
How to Make Biscuits: Baking Secrets and Five Recipes
What’s The Secret to a Perfect Biscuit? I’m asked quite often about biscuits. Folks pull me aside at book-signings. As I am spending the summer
Setting Things Straight
A friend of mine recently sent me a note that said that Anna and Kristina’s Grocery Bag, a show on Oprah’s OWN (the Oprah Winfrey
Southern Saturdays with Virginia: Vidalia Onion Quiche
Spring may mean lamb to some, asparagus to others, and perhaps for a lucky few, spring means morel mushrooms. Not for me. Spring for me
Bon Appétit, Y’all in Paris! Fried Chicken, Grits & Greens, and Biscuits
I’m in Paris at the Paris Cookbook Fair — and, that would be Paris, France, not Paris, Texas! It’s been crazy. I’ve been interviewed by
New Year’s Day Luck and Money: Peas & Greens
The peas are simmering on the stove top fogging up the windows with ham-scented steam. It’s cold out and rather than face the snow, I’m
Make Ahead: Make it Easy for the Holidays
I’m smiling here, teaching at Stonewall Kitchen. What’s not to smile about? Really, nice people, an incredible kitchen, and I adore Maine. It’s a
My Day in NYC on 9/11
This picture of my sister was taken a in August, just a few weeks before the tragedy. I’ve never written a word about 9-11, a
My Feisty Sister, Green Beans, and The Best Birthday, Ever.
It’s my younger sister’s birthday this weekend and I am going home to see her and mama. Some of y’all may remember about mama moving
Spicy Pork Shoulder: Recipe Testing for Basic to Brilliant, Y’all
My next cookbook, Basic to Brilliant, Y’all: Recipes and Recollections of a Southern Culinary Journey is the lead book for Ten Speed for Fall 2011.
Happy Mother’s Day: Mama’s Poundcake
Anyone that speaks to me more than a couple of paragraphs essentially knows I love my Mama. I am a Mama’s girl through and through.