Looking for the bacon, or the chops or --seriously -- do you want to know what to do with a whole hog, country ham or pork butt (really pork shoulder)? The new book by James Villas, "Pig, King of the Southern Table," will send you right into pig heaven, providing delicious recipes for every part, from snout to curly tail. Served with down-home, Southern-style flair.

There are so many dishes I want to try. The names draw you in. Listen: Pot Likker Soup; Kentucky Potato, Country Ham and Sour Grass Soup; Wilted Sallet with Hot Bacon Dressing; Pork Cracklin', Black-Eyed Pea and Shrimp Salad; Carolina Pork and Sweet Potato Pie with Biscuit Batter Crust; Maw Maw's Mustard Pork Chops and Dumplings in Cider; and Eula Mae's Sausage, Shrimp and Okra Gumbo. (Eula Mae Dore was the long-time cook for the McIlhenny family, the makers of Tabasco.)

Along with the recipes there are charming head notes that teach you about food and history, pigs and "pickin's," the South and Mr. Villas' North Carolinian mother. It's a wonderful read.

You learn the peculiar fact that "mountain folks of Tennessee refer to any pig and pea soup as snert." You learn that a mess of fish on the Outer Banks is called a muddle. Mr. Villas explains a "community sinker," a phrase used in the impoverished South after the Civil War. It refers to "a ham bone or large piece of pork fatback that was tied on a string and passed from house to house, hanging for a while in each family's pot of beans or cabbage."

You will also be instructed in the proper way to "smother" a pork chop, as they do in Mississippi -- "in a black cast-iron skillet, ingredients covered with a weighted plate." Always served with gravy and onions that are "soft and golden." Mr. Villas also offers simple substitutions for items Northerners might not be able to find.

Included are recipes for making your own sausage, so you can control what goes into the mix. One in particular I want to try is Blue Ridge Pork and Bacon Sausage, made in a food processor, the flavor bumped up with fennel, scallions and parsley.

Since it's barbecue season, you'll want to check out his barbecue rubs, sauces and recipes. This one in particular: Gentleman Jack Barbecued Country-Style Ribs. I think that says it all.

Marinated Pork Roast with Bourbon-Lemon Glaze

PG tested

After roasting the pork, while it rested, I cooked down the pan juices to serve as a sauce. Mr. Villas says that this roast doesn't need gravy. It didn't, but it didn't hurt. It was one fabulous meal.

• 4-pound boneless pork loin, tied at several intervals with white kitchen string
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced into slivers
• 2 teaspoons dried
• rosemary, crumbled
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup dry vermouth
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1/2 cup sugar

With sharp paring knife, make deep slits all over loin; insert slivers of garlic into slits. Season meat all over with rosemary, salt and pepper. Place in large, shallow baking dish, pour vermouth around edges, cover and marinate in refrigerator about 2 hours, turning several times.

Preheat oven to 450. Remove loin from marinade, pat dry with paper towels. Discard marinade. Position on rack in large roasting pan. Roast 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 325; continue roasting about 45 minutes, basting with pan juices. Meanwhile, in small bowl, stir lemon juice, bourbon and sugar until sugar dissolves.

Remove pork from oven, carefully spoon off fat (I had little fat). Spoon bourbon mixture over pork and roast about 45 minutes longer, basting frequently, until roast is glossy brown.

Transfer roast to serving platter, remove strings and let stand about 10 minutes before carving into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

Makes 6 or 8 servings.

-- Adapted from "Pig, King of the Southern Table," by James Villas (Wiley, 2010, $34.95).

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