“A roast that fights the fork is not tough. It is not done yet.”
Caroline Whitfield · ebook · 30 chapters
Thirty Sunday Dinners That Come Out Right the First Time
I'm Caroline Whitfield, and I cook in my own kitchen in Franklin, Tennessee. I learned on a step stool in my grandmother's kitchen in Cookeville, and I have made Sunday dinners and church potluck casseroles for thirty years. I take every recipe one calm step at a time.
✓Pot roast with the vegetables in the pan, and the fork test that tells you it is done✓Chicken and dressing with the giblet gravy, and the fix for a dry dressing✓Fried chicken in the iron skillet, with the oil's heat and how to read it
From the Caroline's Southern Table channel you watch on YouTube
30chaptersthe whole method
181pagesa PDF for any screen
40recipeswith their amounts
5fillable worksheetsprint and use
Everything inside, spelled out
✓Pot roast with the vegetables in the pan, and the fork test that tells you it is done
✓Chicken and dressing with the giblet gravy, and the fix for a dry dressing
✓Fried chicken in the iron skillet, with the oil's heat and how to read it
✓Casseroles that come home empty: poppyseed chicken, broccoli and rice, hashbrown, squash, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato
✓Green beans cooked long, mashed potatoes, pinto beans with ham, turnip greens, fried okra, skillet corn and deviled eggs
✓Buttermilk biscuits with the sausage gravy, skillet cornbread, banana pudding, peach cobbler, dump cake and chess pie
✓US cups and spoons with the weight beside every amount that decides the result
✓A closing chapter on what went wrong at the stove, arranged by what you see in the pan
See everything in the book, by name (99)
The Step Stool in Cookeville
What I carried out of that kitchen
Franklin, and the first thirty years
The dishes that came home empty
Why I am writing it down now
What this book is
What this book is not
How to use what comes next
How Sunday Dinner Happens in This House
Saturday evening
Sunday morning, before church
What waits well, and what cannot
The one-oven order
The table and who sits where
Monday
What you will need to begin
How to Read a Recipe Here, and the Pans and the Pantry
The six parts of every recipe
The test overrules the clock
The thermometer, and the oven that lies
Cups and spoons, and the weights that matter
The pans
The pantry, shelf by shelf
The swaps that work
The swaps that do not
Pot Roast with the Vegetables in the Pan
Pot Roast with the Vegetables in the Pan
Chicken and Dressing, and the Giblet Gravy
Chicken and Dressing
Giblet Gravy
Fried Chicken in the Iron Skillet
Fried Chicken in the Iron Skillet
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and Dumplings
Meatloaf
Meatloaf
Country-Fried Steak with Gravy
Country-Fried Steak with Gravy
Pork Chops and Gravy, and Hamburger Steak with Onion Gravy
Smothered Pork Chops and Gravy
Hamburger Steak with Onion Gravy
Salmon Patties
Salmon Patties
The night I turned them too soon
The things I do not change
A note on the cornmeal and the crackers
What to serve beside them
A word on the can
A rhythm for the Part
Poppyseed Chicken, and the Broccoli and Rice Casserole
Poppyseed Chicken
Broccoli and Rice Casserole
The two rules of a potluck dish
What Beth does
How a hot dish travels
A word about the soup
Hashbrown Casserole and Squash Casserole
Hashbrown Casserole
Squash Casserole
Why the potatoes must thaw in the refrigerator
The cheese, the onion and the pan
Dale and the hashbrown casserole
Two dishes in one oven
Sour cream or mayonnaise
What I do with the first squash of summer
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Why the evaporated milk
The cheese, by weight
The dish on the warming table
The noodle, the water and the draining
Making it a day ahead
What the oven tells you
Doubling it, and halving it
The topping some cooks add
What Beth does
The lesson of the choir lady
Sweet Potato Casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole
Choosing the potatoes
Why the eggs and the pecans
What the baked potato gives you
Doing it a day ahead
The skins, and what to do with them
Thanksgiving, with one oven
Pecans, if you have none
The marshmallow question
The Easter table
A last word on this Part
Green Beans Cooked Long, and Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans Cooked Long
Mashed Potatoes
Pinto Beans with Ham, and Turnip Greens
Pinto Beans with Ham
Turnip Greens
Fried Okra, Skillet Corn and Deviled Eggs
Fried Okra
Skillet Corn
Deviled Eggs
Buttermilk Biscuits and the Sausage Gravy
Buttermilk Biscuits
Sausage Gravy
Skillet Cornbread
Skillet Cornbread
Banana Pudding
Banana Pudding
Peach Cobbler and the Dump Cake
Peach Cobbler
Dump Cake
Chess Pie
Chess Pie
The Gravy, the Pies, the Rolls and the Cranberry Sauce
The gravy
Pie crust
The pies
The rolls
The cranberry sauce
A Month of Sunday Dinners, Planned and Shopped
The first Sunday: pot roast
The second Sunday: fried chicken
The third Sunday: chicken and dressing
The fourth Sunday: the potluck
The weeknights between
The card by the stove
+ 22 pages made for your printer: 13 recipes again at the end of the book, in plain black type with no pictures.
+ A free 1-page Quick-Start Checklist — the whole system at a glance, ready to print.
Real pages, exactly as you’ll get them
▸ flipping through the real book
Printable PDF · made to be worked through, not skimmed
Read the opening pages
The Step Stool in Cookeville
When I was a girl, my grandmother kept a wooden step stool by the kitchen counter in Cookeville, and it was mine. It had two steps, a split in the top one, and a coat of white paint that wore off where my feet went. I stood on it every Saturday and every Sunday morning, at the height of the board where the flour went.
I could see everything from up there. I saw the bowl, the biscuit cutter, the pot on the back burner and the oven door. I saw her hands more than anything. My grandmother measured with her hands. A scoop of flour was whatever her palm held. A pinch of salt was three fingers. When I asked how much, she said, "Until it looks right," and went on working.
The beans went on low before the sun was well up. They cooked all morning with a piece of ham, and the whole house smelled of them by the time we dressed for church. The roast went in before church, in a covered pot, in an oven she never opened. When we came home it was waiting, and the potatoes with it. She put nothing on a card. Nothing in that kitchen was written down.
I did not know I was learning. I thought I was only standing where I was allowed to stand. She let me press the biscuit cutter straight down without twisting it. She let me hold the spoon while she poured. She let me taste the gravy and tell her if it needed salt, and she waited for my answer as if it mattered. When she nodded, I felt about ten feet tall.
What I carried out of that kitchen
I carried a great deal, and I carried it in my hands and my eyes, not on paper. I knew what a biscuit dough felt like when it was ready to stop. I knew the sound of fat that was hot enough. I knew a pot of beans was close when the kitchen smelled sweet and not only salty.
What I did not carry was a number. When I married and moved to Franklin, Tennessee, and stood in my own kitchen for the first time with a roast and a pot, I found out how much I had never been told. How long? What heat? How do you know? I called her, and she said, "You'll know." I did not know. Not yet.
Ready when you are — it lands in your email the minute you order.
I’m Caroline, and I cook in my own kitchen in Franklin, Tennessee. I grew up in Cookeville in my grandmother’s kitchen and have made Sunday dinners and church potluck casseroles for years.
I share the biscuits, skillet suppers, and dump cakes I really make at home. My husband Dale tastes everything, and I take each recipe one calm step at a time.
— Caroline Whitfield
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Straight answers, before you buy
Do I need special equipment?
Nothing special beyond a kitchen scale and an instant-read thermometer. The book cooks from a cast-iron skillet, a heavy pot with a lid and a 9 by 13 dish.
Are the recipes in US cups and spoons?
Yes. Every amount is in US cups and spoons, with the weight beside each amount that decides the result.
Do I read it on a screen or print it?
Either. It is a full-length printable ebook, so you can print it, splatter it and leave it open on the counter.
Does it plan the whole Sunday?
Yes. One chapter shows how dinner is planned in this house, and the closing chapter plans four Sundays with the shopping lists and the timing for one oven.
What if a dish still goes wrong?
Every recipe lists what goes wrong and the fix, and the closing chapter is arranged by what you see in the pan, so you find the fix fast.
Is there a refund?
Yes. If the book is not what you wanted, ask within 30 days and you get your money back.
Is a paper book coming in the mail?
No. Caroline's Southern Table Cookbook is a digital book (a PDF). The moment you pay, it lands in your email, and you can read it on your phone, tablet, or computer, or print it at home.
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