Serves: 5

William Faulkner (1897–1962) was the author of The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Absalom, Absalom! and Light in August. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. (The following recipe was submitted by his niece, Dean Faulkner Wells.) When grownups in the Faulkner family were sick, Pappy had an instant cure— his ever-popular Hot Toddy. It was guaranteed to cure or ease anything from the aches and pains of a bad spill from a horse to a bad cold, from a broken leg to a broken heart. Pappy alone decided when a Hot Toddy was needed, and he administered it to his patient with the best bedside manner of a country doctor. He prepared it in the kitchen in the following way:

Take one heavy glass tumbler. Fill approximately half full with Heaven Hill bourbon (the Jack Daniel’s was reserved for Pappy’s aliments). Add one tablespoon of sugar. Squeeze 1?2 lemon and drop into glass. Stir until sugar dissolves. Fill glass with boiling water. Serve with potholder to protect patient’s hands from the hot glass. Pappy always made a small ceremony out of serving his Hot Toddy, bringing it upstairs on a silver tray, and admonishing his patient to drink it quickly before it cooled off.


William Faulkner, born in New Albany, Mississippi, is considered one of America’s greatest writers. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature, two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award. In his home, “Rowan Oak,” (above) in Oxford, visitors may view Faulkner’s study where an outline for A Fable is written on the wall in the author’s own handwriting.

More Recipes from the Best of the Best from the Deep South Cookbook Cookbook:
Café Brûlot
Southern Tea
Coffee Rum Punch
Amaretto Punch
Southern Champagne Punch
Mardi Gras Madness
Swamp Water
Pappy's Hot Toddy
Bacon Tomato Dip
Corn Dip
Mississippi State Sin
Black-Eyed Pea Dip
Montgomery Caviar
Jane's Broccoli Dip
Crockpot Crab Dip
Delicious Crawfish Dip
Shrimp Dip
Shrimp Balls
Creole Shrimp
Shrimp Mold
Shrimp Mousse
Seafood Mousse
Creole Marinated Crab Claws
Margaret's Tangy Meatballs
Sweet and Sour Sausage
Pink Party Pinwheels
Marie's Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball
Garlic Cheese Ball
Dunleith Cheese Ring
Jezebel Sauce
Homemade Boursin
Spinach Cheese Pastries
Pepper Jelly Puffs
French Fried Pickles