TO THE GODFATHER OF THIS BOOK,
WILLIAM LEA THOMPSON
NESTLED DEEP IN THE SOUTH is a tiny academy that teaches the most important classes in the world: our Academy of Domestic Pursuits. Students want to go to Harvard for academics, but when they need to know how to live at home, they send their applications to us.
Why? Because we hold the only PhDs in "Food and Its Many Uses" and "Managing a Household" ever awarded. To become the two most knowledgeable authorities in our respective fields, we each spent decades running our houses and logged thousands of miles spanning all the continents poking our noses into other cultures, all while raising six children between us. The stunningly good news for you is that we are overly generous, and we've distilled down and culled out the most important information so that you do not have to spend the majority of your life figuring out the best ways to live at home. This handbook is our gift to you.
We are Suzanne Pollak and Lee Manigault and we have been living for years in the most genteel city in the entire country. We founded the Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits because if we don't show you where to place your silver iced tea spoon on the table, who will? We know not only precisely where to seat everyone for a dinner party, but also exactly who stands where for cocktails. And we want you to understand that it is possible to remove a drunken reveler with grace and humor without clearing out the rest of your guests. We know all these secrets, and many more. We are, after all, the Deans of the Academy.
One day, Lee spied the ever-chic Suzanne across a crowded room and knew at once they would be fast friends. Immediately, Lee invited Suzanne to a dinner party at her house. Lee answered the door in a long evening dress and bare feet, her favorite go-to attire for at-home entertaining. Not surprisingly, it is also Suzanne's. In fact, everything about the evening reminded Suzanne of the way she likes to entertain. Could Lee be her long-lost soul mate? Just maybe.…
They went for coffee the next day, and before the first latte was finished, The Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits had been born. Dean Manigault found herself finishing Dean Pollak's sentences, and vice versa. Each Dean thought she knew all there was to know about gracious living, but upon finding her domestic twin, the Deans realized that there was an endless amount left to learn. Like Aristotle and Plato before them, the Deans debated for hours on end. Their pursuit of domesticity was the same, but there were crucial differences. Dean Manigault was astounded to hear that Dean Pollak insists on a wet brine for her chicken while Dean Manigault had been dry brining for years. Dean Pollak was floored when she discovered that Dean Manigault wouldn't consider drinking wine out of a stemless glass, because Dean Pollak had gone stemless at her first opportunity.
Once the union had been formed, the inevitability of the pairing was obvious to all. For, though leisurely entertainments were wildly abundant twenty years ago, it dawned on us that we were among the last two people still dragging out our dining tables under the live oak trees for candlelight suppers. If even people here, in this last bastion of civility, were not taking the trouble to live graciously, we shuddered to think what must be happening nationwide. We have munificently taken upon our shoulders the burden of relighting the way for all.
We realized soon after opening the Academy that, tragically, not everyone can attend our seminars in person, no matter how great their need. A textbook was mandatory so that our lessons could reach everyone. Enrobed in our Dean's gowns, we sat down to put to paper our mighty message—and the book wrote itself. After reading only a few pages, each reader will realize that the most crucial truths of pleasurable living are held within these pages. Happily, as essential as these truths are, learning them is well within everyone's grasp.
We are two experts who are not afraid to tell you what to do. We have been living in, and proudly running, our houses for twenty-five years. People ask our advice all the time because they can see that we enjoy living in our houses—and we make it look easy. This is because we have put so much thought and energy into how we do our jobs around the house. We celebrate everything. One of us gave an Emancipation Proclamation dinner dance on a moonlit barrier island when she got divorced, while the other hosted a Go Green dinner when her son mowed the lawn without being asked.
The Academy's main lecture hall is the kitchen, because in our houses, as well as yours, this room is the beating heart of the house. Every person, every day, asks this key life question: "What's for dinner?" The Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits Handbook answers the question in multiple ways. We are dismayed that so many people use their kitchens only as a place to store mail and to throw away takeout boxes. This book is a defibrillator for kitchens everywhere.
Let the Deans give you the best recipes for avoiding boredom. When your kitchen entices with good food and aromas, your family gathers, and a sense of calm and conviviality quickly follows. Soon, your family wants to share this fun with other people, and they bring their friends by to enjoy a meal. In no time your house is the place where people congregate to enjoy themselves. Voilà! You have become a competent host.
The Deans recoil when we hear that people are intimidated by cooking. We have taken it upon ourselves to eliminate any kitchen roadblocks—and we hold your hand to help you overcome your fears. Our first course covers everything from brining to blanching—plus every other kitchen skill you might need.
Once we have covered kitchen basics, we move right on to what's in season. Here in the Low Country we know that the four seasons are actually deer, dove, duck, and turkey. At the Academy, we will teach you how to roast a pig in your backyard, as well as how to preserve excess bounty from the garden. We suspect that Lilly Pulitzer must have had a conference with Mother Nature to design the bright-colored watermelon, which we love to pickle, and we salivate just thinking about the exotic chutneys from Rajasthan—not surprisingly, our Jam and Pickling classes are the first to sell out each spring. We transfer each class's enthusiasm right to the pages of this book, so that people as far away as Istanbul can feel like they've spent a weekend with us at the Academy.
Of course, we cannot be on call for our students twenty-four hours a day. We need time to unwind. Let us reteach you the custom of taking a half-hour cocktail break. In the Academy laboratory, we've created salubrious and restorative cocktails using rum, bourbon, vodka, tequila, and Champagne (just not all in the same drink, mind you).
Once you're refreshed, you can turn to the chapter on training staff—the ones you gave birth to, the ones you have hired, and the majordomo you married. A few chores done by all every night enhance communal living, not only for children but for spouses as well. After your staff has been fully brought up to speed, entertaining will be a snap.
Now you are ready to entertain. Take houseguests, for instance. We educate the guest and host alike, and in the Academy lab we've perfected formulas for everything from the correct length of stay to the perfect hostess gifts. We assert that the best part of having houseguests is the opportunity to cook a lavish breakfast. Some of the most fun we have ever had is cooking and eating breakfast with our overnight guests (even our relatives).
Etiquette is a topic with which people seem to have a love–hate relationship. People like to think that etiquette is not relevant, but the lightest scratching of the surface reveals that just about every student actually pines to know which fork to use, how long a cocktail hour should be, where to seat the loser husband of an old friend, and myriad other arcana. We have found that a solid grounding in manners frees people to find their comfort zone. If you know why or how things are supposed to be done, then you will feel more comfortable changing or ignoring what does not suit you. In this book we have compiled the questions and answers from our past classes. Our instructions will help ease the mind of polite, eager students everywhere.
Gracious living is for everyone. We hear the collective sigh of relief as readers realize how little extra effort is required to incorporate the Charleston Academy's ethos into everyday life. We can visualize thousands of friends and families relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Living life as an Academy grad will make your life twice as charming.
