Fishing for Chickens

JIM CASADA is a son of the Smokies. Born in Bryson City, he spent more than twenty years in the history department at Winthrop University. He is the author or editor of more than three dozen books. His most recent book, A Smoky Mountain Boyhood, won a bronze IPPY in the best regional non-fiction category. Casada is past president of the South Carolina Outdoor Press Association, the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association, and the Outdoor Writers Association of America. He is also a member of the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians Hall of Fame, the Athletic Hall of Fame of Swain County High School (basketball), and the Athletic Hall of Fame of Winthrop University (soccer). Casada lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Don’t think for one second that Fishing for Chickens: A Smokies Food Memoiris just another printed collection of questionable recipes, far from it. In this fun to read book, Jim Casada uses his award-winning descriptive writing skills to invite the reader to sit at the Casada table in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains of the 1940s and '50s. Here you will meet wonderful characters such as Grandma Minnie, Grandpa Joe, Momma Casada, Aunt Mag, Beulah and Jim’s beloved wife Ann. As you turn the pages of this book you will get to know these mountain folk and learn how they raised, gathered, and preserved downhome food and turned it into mouthwatering table fare. From yard chickens to mountain trout, from apples to ramps, Jim shares four generations of food preparation lore. Each chapter is sprinkled with scrumptious recipes that will cause the reader to turn down the corner of the page and search for grandma’s cast iron skillet and some lard. This book records Great Smoky Mountains culinary traditions at their best, and Casada has made it not only an informative but an entertaining read as well.