A self-described “Southerner by birth and temperament and appetite,” James Villas has given the people of his native North Carolina many reasons to be proud over the years. His latest cookbook, Pig: King of the Southern Table, is perhaps the most significant reason yet. Tarheels and tarheels at heart will be wowed by Pig’s wide-ranging collection of recipes, which describe how to cook every part of the pig one could ever imagine wanting to eat (and then some).
Long before penning his culinary ode to North Carolina’s favorite animal, Villas received his PhD in Romance Languages and Comparative Literature and served a stint as a university professor. Soon he left academia to follow his heart/stomach (they are one and the same after all) into the world of food writing. Villas spent the next 27 years of his life as Food and Wine Editor of Town & Country magazine. In addition, he has written for Esquire, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Life, and The New York Times, and published a baker’s dozen of cookbooks, two novels, and a memoir. Mr. Pig himself was kind enough to chat with us about biscuits, barbecue and his heart-wrenching (for us readers) decision to never write another cookbook focused on swine. Enjoy…
Follow this link to read the interview with James Villas.
Filed under: BBQ & A, Cooking | Tagged: Interview, Words of wisdom |
BBQ Jew 
As a guy who grew up in Wilmington eating at Flip’s as well as Big Oak BBQ, he is right on about Flip’s sauce.