Though cooking doyennes in their own right, Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart acknowledge the culinary influence of the late Julia Child in their latest and most extensive volume, “Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking” (Gibbs Smith).

The new 720-page book is designed for those who desire to understand Southern cooking’s whys and wherefores, both historic and modern. A handsome work, it draws on years of research, including the pair’s first collaboration in 1985 for the PBS television series, “New Southern Cooking.”

" A new generation has grown up needing to learn the techniques of how to make biscuits, chicken-fried steak and hoppin’ John, as well as cream corn and seed a hot pepper,” the authors write, adding that their goal is to try to capture the qualities of southern foods from crispy to flaky – and its sensational tastes that cover the gamut of sweet, sour and salty.