Home-cooking sensation Brenda Gantt didn’t expect that her biscuit-making Facebook post would escalate to a million views in two weeks or result in a cookbook full of wit and wisdom. But the Alabama bed-and-breakfast owner is going along for the ride. Her premier cookbook sold out in no time, and now she’s back with a second one—Linger Around the Table Y’all, Recipes & Stories to Share with Family & Friends—which is available now for preorders!
“I really don’t know what happened,” says Brenda of the immense popularity of that first early-pandemic video in 2020. “It is incredible.” She followed it up with more posts laced with practical life advice, which show how to make all manner of creamy casseroles, desserts, and Southern basics like biscuits and dumplings. Cooking with Brenda Gantt now has nearly 3 million followers on Facebook.
Her first, sold-out cookbook—It’s Gonna Be Good Y’all, A Collection of Family Recipes & Stories—takes the videos a step further for those who have a need to actually measure ingredients. It’s filled with homespun recipes like the fried pies or cabbage casserole that she so ably demonstrates on social media from her home kitchen in Andalusia, Alabama.
Brenda isn’t fazed a bit by her demanding new vocation. “I’ve always worked,” she explains. For 25 years, she was a schoolteacher, and then she owned and ran an antiques shop and the Hickory Ridge Lodge, a popular reception spot for weddings and more where she prepared the food. Since 1996, she’s operated The Cottle House Bed & Breakfast, where she serves breakfast on the porch each morning to her guests, who come from across the country and often linger at the table.
Don’t miss your chance to preorder the anticipated second cookbook by home-cooking sensation Brenda Gantt today!
Photography by Jim Bathie
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