Stand By Your Pan 100 Easy and Affordable Comfort Food Recipes So Good They'll Hurt People's Feelin’s (A Cookbook to Help You Enjoy Delicious Nostalgia with Some Modern Sass)

 

Stand By Your Pan is a cookbook full of nostalgic comfort food recipes and southern camp, curated by Hannah Dasher. Released 10th March 2026 by HarperCollins on their Harper Celebrate imprint, it's 272 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. 

For those of us who grew up in Appalachia, this food is in our DNA. There is something so deeply satisfying and tasty about the cuisine which is also tied up with family reunions, hospitality, multi-generational cooking and comfort.  The author has a very casual voice (sassy in a good way) and style of writing, but behind the folksy tone, she's competent and effictive. These are *good* recipes, some from her own family's repertoire and for fans of southern cooking, there's a lot to like here.

The book includes a good general pantry, ingredients, and equipment lists and an introduction with basic tips for preparation, entertaining, and other necessities. The recipes are arranged in chapters thematically: appetizers, soups & breads, salads & dressings, mains, sides, sauces, and desserts. Recipes include a description, yields and prep time. Ingredients are listed bullet style in a sidebar with measurements in imperial (American) units. Ingredients will be readily available in most well stocked grocery stores in North America. Nutritional information is not included. Alternative preparations and cooking tips are included in highlighted text bars in the recipes. Most of the recipes (but not all) are budget conscious and substitution friendly. 

The photography throughout the book is abundant, in color, and clear with a distinctly retro-vibe. Serving suggestions are attractive and appetizing. There's a lot of kitsch (those orange and harvest green tupperware serving bowls everyone's meemaw had in their pantries). Very 70s-80s southern American vibe - remember that harvest gold crockpot full of Swedish meatballs from holidays past? You will.  

Four stars. This would make a good selection for library acquisition, expat southerners hankering for food that feeds their souls, and home cooks looking for new cuisine to explore, as well as for fans of the author. It is unclear from a quick comparison if some of the recipes in this collection are also previously available from the author's TikTok content.  

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.