Scott Peacock

If you’ve ever looked at a jar of mayo and wondered, “So what is this stuff exactly?” this homemade mayonnaise recipe is for you.

Fresh grapefruit, lime, and lemon juices balance the sweetness of this bubbly punch.

Sour-milk cornbread is one of those quintessential foods of the South for which there are hundreds of recipes (and infinite variations). Although we'd never claim to have the "definitive version," Miss Lewis and I worked together on this recipe until we got just what we wanted: an all-cornmeal bread that's light, moist, and rich, full of corn flavor, with the tanginess of sour milk or buttermilk. Like all Southern cornbreads, it has no sugar—that's a Yankee thing. Traditionally, milk that had started to culture was used in cornbread and other baked goods, both for its pleasant sharp taste and for a leavening boost (its acids react with baking soda to generate carbon dioxide). Since modern pasteurized milk doesn't sour nicely—it just goes bad—we use commercial buttermilk here instead. This is a genuine all-purpose cornbread, delicious as a savory bread or even as a dessert, slathered with butter and honey. My mother and grandmother only made this kind of leavened cornbread (which they called "egg bread") for cornbread stuffing, and it does make superb stuffing. It's also delicious in a time-honored Southern snack: cornbread crumbled into a bowl with cold milk or buttermilk poured over. Many Southerners—especially of an older generation—would call that a perfect light supper on a hot summer day, after a big midday meal.

More nuts than filling and a seriously buttery crust make for a beguilingly sweet finish.

These muffins truly give the flavor of corn its due. They're not sweetened like corn bread (meaning like "Yankee" corn bread, says Peacock), and they have a very fine, almost custardy texture, from the extra-fine grind of the cornmeal (which makes them reminiscent of spoon bread). "Honey and soft butter play to the creamy, tangy flavor of the muffins particularly well," says Peacock.

The cliché, in this case, turns out to be true: Biscuits benefit from TLC. Peacock recommends White Lily flour, one of the lightest available, along with lard for a flaky texture so fluffy and airy that the biscuits almost float off the plate. One bite may well move you to tears—either with memories of your southern grandmother, or with regret for not having had a southern grandmother.

In keeping with the rest of the menu, this is no shy salad. The sweet and acidic vinaigrette unites with the salty bacon and, along with the lettuces, produces fireworks in the mouth.

One of the most popular items on Peacock's menu at his Watershed restaurant, in Decatur, Georgia, these tomatoes are concentrated and soft, and sugar plays up their sweetness, making for a homemade flavor riff on ketchup that you'll want to serve with everything. The tomatoes shrink quite a bit—but a little definitely goes a long way.

You'll return again and again to this recipe since it can be assembled in advance and delivers serious flavor. The scent of ham gently permeates the eggs, whose yolks can be broken into the rest of the dish.