Contributor: Dianne Roberson Hendrix ("Granny D" to her grandchildren), a freelance artist, writer and photographer who works from her studio in Palmer, Alaska, and online with her brother, photographer Tom Roberson (www.artworldplus.com). Her depictions of Alaskan wildlife and icy landscapes are a sharp contrast to the childhood she so fondly remembers.

The story: "I was born and raised in Atlanta. I learned to cook from my mother and her sisters when I was old enough to reach the stove with a step stool. Old family receipts handed down through the generations were never written down, and with each new child, ingredients were added or changed.

Family photo (ENLARGE)
'Granny D' makes sure her family, including grandchildren Shane (left) and Shelby Carson, get Southern-style cooking.
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"I took all my family's receipts in my mind along with the wonderful memories of our family dinners with me when I left to work in the North.

"Through the years, my mother mailed me stone ground white cornmeal, sage, grits and other Southern products that had brought puzzled looks when I tried to purchase them in Yankee states and foreign countries. A visit to Atlanta means stocking up on dry ingredients and fresh vegetables to carry back even today, since ingredients in Alaska seem to be frozen or hard to find.

"My children learned to cook our Southern family receipts when they were young. I made sure all our gatherings were celebrated with the best of Georgia cooking wherever we lived. My brother, Tom Roberson, stills lives in Atlanta. He kept my family connected with many happy phone calls between my wandering family, my aunts, cousins and my mother. Sometimes we were even enjoying a meal at the same time, and they were all concerned that my family had enough Southern-style cooking.

"Today, that generation is becoming a memory, and I am now called 'Granny D.' On my trip to visit my daughter, Angelean, in Texas, I saw notes in her kitchen written by her daughter. The small cook had written 'Granny D's muffins' on the paper lying on her play stove."

Original recipe: Some version of these muffins has been passed around Hendrix's family for years. She is very health-conscious and doesn't use salt or oil when she bakes them. The results are hearty golden muffins perfect for sopping in a bowl of old-fashioned vegetable soup or to go with a steaming plate of greens served with the vitamin-rich potlikker.

Chef's interpretation: Linton Hopkins marries his version of Granny D's muffins with pan-seared foie gras, garnished with toasted Georgia pecans and drizzled with earthy sweet sorghum. To him, this combination makes perfect sense — because ducks eat corn. "What goes with meat, the meat eats," Hopkins says. "I like to play with pairing something that we consider so country with something so noble."

Linton Hopkins' Pan-Seared Foie Gras With Granny D's Corn Muffins, Toasted Pecans and Georgia Sorghum