183: Dale Hawkins, Fish Hawk Acres (Buckhannon, WV)

It seems the idea of American home cooking is back. For some of us, it never really left, but irregardless, I’d suggest that one of the most satisfying home cooked meals is a roasted chicken. I hate to brag, but it’s my specialty, and although I’ve tried many recipes for them, my favorite to date has been the Buttermilk Herb-Roasted Chicken published in The Local Palate in 2014. The buttermilk tenderizes the meat, and any combination of soft herbs you have, with some sea salt (and in my case some chopped garlic) make magic. If you cook a lot, then you know that cooking someone’s recipe connects you to them, and so I’m using that connection to check on this recipe’s author -- Dale Hawkins of Fish Hawk Acres in Buckhannon, WVa. He’s been a popular caterer and restaurateur in the state for years, and as you can guess, he and his partner Teresa Lipps have had to re-imagine their business on the fly. But that hasn’t stopped his love for seasonality, as his recent baking of 100 strawberry rhubarb pies attests.