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Cooking isn't merely a contact sport at the Trocheck home in Avondale Estates. It's much more deviously delicious than that.

"When we cook, we bicker," says author Kathy Hogan Trocheck, referring to her husband, Tom. "He likes very spicy food, so when I'm not watching, he'll dump half a bottle of Texas Pete in my soup. And then, you know, I might 'accidentally' turn the oven with his grouper in it to 'broil' instead of 'bake.'"

Deborah Feingold/Special (ENLARGE)

'I love to cook, so all the books have always had a lot of food in them,' Kathy Hogan Trocheck says.

(ENLARGE)

ABOUT THE BOOK "Deep Dish" by Mary Kay Andrews (HarperCollins $24.95). Andrews is a pseudonym for Kathy Hogan Trocheck. • More Food & Drink news • In a hurry to get dinner on the table? Here's help

Where some couples might consider this grounds for a trial separation of the Calphalon, their good-natured culinary rivalry adds spice to the Trochecks' 31-year marriage. It also provides the basic ingredient for "Deep Dish," Kathy Trocheck's new novel about dueling TV chefs who get each other's competitive juices going (and their romantic pulses pounding) as they vie for a single programming slot on the mega-successful Cooking Channel.

"What I thought about was what happens when a man and a woman want the same thing and they compete for it professionally," said Trocheck, 53, who switched in 2000 to writing funny Southern women's fiction under the pseudonym Mary Kay Andrews after successfully churning out murder mysteries under her own name for a decade. "And then what happens when life gets really complicated, when they find there's an attraction there?"

If food be the food of love ... something like that.

To find out exactly what happens between Trocheck's creations — one-time Atlanta Journal-Constitution food editor-turned-public TV chef Regina "Gina" Foxton and Tate Moody, host of the Southern Outdoor Network's "Vittles" — you'll have to read "Deep Dish," which hit store shelves Tuesday.

But Trocheck, herself a former AJC reporter, shares a few of their recipes here — and discusses the one constant character in her work.

"I love to cook, so all the books have always had a lot of food in them," said Trocheck.

Her Mary Bliss McGowan faked her husband's death after he'd abandoned her in "Little Bitty Lies" (2003), then served "Beyond the Grave Chicken Salad" at his (faked) memorial. The recipe appeared in the book.

In "Hissy Fit" (2004), Trocheck tried to think of "the most repulsive kind of old-fashioned" meal for one scene, and arrived at salmon loaf. But she must have made it too delectable: "I got an e-mail from a reader," she recounted, pitching her voice high like someone having, well, a hissy fit. "'What about the recipe for the salmon loaf?! I promise you I'll make it if you give it to me!' "

While the tomato soup chocolate cake recipe in "Deep Dish" comes from a fictitious cookbook, Trocheck has seen and loved many real-life church and community cookbooks — "the spiral-bound kind that have eleventy-hundred recipes for desserts."

That recipe is an amalgamation of many she's seen. The Brunswick stew recipe, though, is her own creation, made with barbecue sauce because a "girlfriend's mama makes her own."

Reggie's Simply Sinful Tomato Soup Chocolate Cake
12 servings

Hands on: 20 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes, plus cooling time

Bake this cake for the novelty of using tomato soup in a dessert. Tasters won't be able to quite put their finger on the mysterious "extra" ingredient.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered cocoa
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1/4 cup warm tap water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, and beat until fluffy. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda. In a separate bowl or mixing cup, mix together the tomato soup and water. Add the dry and wet ingredients alternately to the butter-sugar mixture, beating just to combine between additions. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

-- From "Deep Dish" by Mary Kay Andrews (HarperCollins, $24.95)

Per serving (with Cream Cheese Frosting): 559 calories (percent of calories from fat, 37), 6 grams protein, 84 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 24 grams fat (14 grams saturated), 98 milligrams cholesterol, 594 milligrams sodium.

Cream Cheese Frosting
12 servings

Hands on: 10 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (or more) milk or cream

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese, then beat in the confectioners' sugar. Add the vanilla. Thin the frosting with the milk or cream until the frosting is a spreadable consistency.

-- From "Deep Dish" by Mary Kay Andrews (HarperCollins, $24.95)

Tate and Gina's Brunswick Stew
8 servings

Hands on: 1 hour
Total time: 3 hours

Because Tate Moody hunts birds, he might also throw in some quail or dove breasts, or some venison. Perfect for a crisp fall day or a chilly football Sunday.

1 whole chicken, cut up
1 pound pork, such as stew meat or boneless, country-style ribs
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
2 cups frozen or fresh corn, cut off cob
1 pound unpeeled small red potatoes, cubed
1 (12-ounce) bag baby peeled carrots
1 pound fresh or frozen green beans
2 (10-ounce) cans Rotel original recipe tomatoes
1 cup barbecue sauce

In a large pot, combine chicken, pork, onion, celery, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Add enough water to cover. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the chicken meat is falling off the bones, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken and pork pieces and let cool, reserving the liquid and cooked onion and celery. (Optional: Place the cooking liquid in the refrigerator until the fat rises to the top. Skim the fat and return the liquid to the pot.) To the cooking liquid, add the corn, potatoes, carrots, green beans and canned tomatoes. When the pork is cool enough to handle, shred it and add it to the pot. Cook until the meat is very tender, 1 to 2 hours. Meanwhile, remove the chicken meat from the bones (discarding the skin and bones) and add it to stew, along with the barbecue sauce and some water, if necessary, to make a soupier consistency. Serve with corn bread and tangy coleslaw.

-- From "Deep Dish" by Mary Kay Andrews (HarperCollins, $24.95)

Per serving: 350 calories (percent of calories from fat, 33), 29 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 13 grams fat (4 grams saturated), 75 milligrams cholesterol, 711 milligrams sodium.