[announcer] Smyth County, Virginia, located in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, offering outdoor adventures and small-town charm.

Details online at visitsmythcountyva.com.

[uplifting music] [Chef Missy] Growing up in the South is kind of like growing up on another planet.

And my memories are scattered emotions related to a tireless list of dos and don'ts, manners, isms, and a whole lot of unspoken rules.

Regardless of your personal convictions on handwritten thank-you notes, there is one thing most of us agree on-- Southern flavor.

Flavor is that universal DNA that binds all Southerners.

Fatty, starchy, salty, and sometimes hot-saucy.

Flavors that sing of comfort and leave an indelible mark of familiar colors, textures, and flavors that speak of a youth or culture.

[uplifting music] The smallmouth bass lives in freshwater lakes and rivers with sandy, gravelly bottoms.

They eat mostly crawfish and sometimes frogs.

And because they don't come from the briny ocean, adding flavor is necessary.

Fat, acid, salt, fresh herbs, subtle sweet heat or punch-you-in-the-face jalapeno hot.

Whether flavor is deep-rooted and inherent or applied, trust your instincts and break all the rules.

And when you do, a Southerner will invite you back again and again.

And heck, you may even get a thank-you note.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Hi, I'm Chef Missy, and I'm the French Magnolia, a true-blue southern gal with French ancestry running through my veins.

My husband, Thomas, is a wine expert and hospitality veteran.

Throughout our careers, we've worked for some incredible restaurants and hotels, from Atlanta to New York City to Charleston, South Carolina, to the edge of a mountain at a five-star Relais & Chateau.

But pretty soon, the French Magnolia, a luxury movable feast company, was born.

We pour into your home and set an elaborate stage for a multi-course culinary and wine experience.

We settled in Bristol, Virginia, a good place to live.

And when we're not working, we love connecting with local farms and Appalachian culture.

From farm, field, garden, and stream, to Chef and Somm, to the table, all in one day, this is the French Magnolia Cooks.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Today, we find ourselves in Glasgow, Virginia, near the mouth of the historic James River, which begins here in the Appalachia Mountains and runs the whole length of Virginia, ending in the Chesapeake Bay.

My cousin Henry Terrell is here from Charleston, South Carolina, and staying with us for the summer.

We're catching up with master fishing guide Sam Scott of Blue Ridge Musky to learn how to fish like a pro.

Come rain or come shine, we're looking to hook us some freshwater smallmouth bass.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Tell me the name of your business.

-So Blue Ridge Musky is the guide service that I run.

And then we also have a tackle company in Eagle Rock called James River Outfitter.

[Chef Missy] Nice.

And what do you get calls mostly for?

-So mostly I'm doing guided muskie trips, both with fly tackle and conventional casting tackle.

But we also do a lot of smallmouth fishing in the summer.

-So you've probably been fishing since you were a little boy.

-I grew up on this river.

I've been floating this river since I was about ten years old.

And really fell in love with it, and decided I wanted to make a living out here.

-What was the big aha moment for you, whether you were a child or an adult, that just spoke to your heart about loving fishing?

-The aha moment came when I was working hard, long hours in the office, just dreaming about being out here.

And I thought to myself, well, I could probably make a living doing that.

And just took the jump and did it.

And here we are, six, seven years later, and I'm full time and loving life.

-You're really gonna have to start at the very beginning for me.

-That's no problem.

-Okay.

-That's no problem.

To make your cast, guys, you're gonna start with about this much line out.

And we're gonna flip this open right here.

This is called the bale, okay, that just holds the line there.

-The bale.

-That's called the bale.

So we're gonna flip the bale open and now we're holding the line with our pointer finger.

Just like that, okay?

Back over the head, forward, you're gonna let go of the line.

Bait's gonna hit the water, you'll close that bale again, okay?

And now we're just gonna reel and pop.

See, I'm reeling and popping the rod at the same time.

Okay, just little jerks, that's why they call it a jerk bait.

You're gonna be working that bait, and you might feel a little tug tug on the end of your line.

Just make sure you tug back.

-Right.

-And then the fight's on.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [chatter] [♪♪♪♪♪] [Chef Missy] Whoo!

[Sam Scott] Good job, Missy.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -I was reading that this particular area of the James River is the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

-Right, so the Chesapeake Bay Watershed includes all the tributaries that feed into the Chesapeake Bay, right?

And this is part of that watershed.

So there's a lot of conservation and upkeep that goes into this river to try to keep it clean for our neighbors down in the Chesapeake.

-Where all the oysters are.

-Right.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -Okay, we are back here at the French Magnolia Culinary Center, and we have had quite the amazing day of fishing.

We got up at 4.30 this morning and met up with Sam Scott of Blue Ridge Musky, an amazing fishing guide and teacher.

And we've come home with some beautiful smallmouth bass.

What do you think, Henry?

-I had a great time out on the river.

It was super cold in the rain, but it added just some exhilarating feel to it.

And Sam was a great teacher.

I mean, we caught so many fish.

-I was so surprised.

-Yeah.

-[laughs] I was very worried that we were gonna catch nothing.

-I didn't think the rainy weather would help at all, but I mean, it may have.

-Yeah, right.

Like Sam was saying, they love it.

They're wet anyway.

-Right.

-Catching fish is actually fun, you know.

Sitting there for hours and hours and not catching fish, not so much fun.

But if you have a great guide and who takes you to the right places, tells you exactly what to use, you're gonna catch some fish.

And that's what we did.

-Sam's gonna be here in a minute to help us clean fish.

Will you do me a favor and go to the other refrigerator and get the fish for us?

-Absolutely, I'll be right back.

-Okay.

Hey, there they are.

-Good to see you, Missy.

-You made it.

-Did you guys make it home and did you get dried off?

-Yes, it was a wet ride.

-It was a long, wet drive.

-Hi, Maggie, nice to see you.

-[Margaret] Hi.

-This is my wife, Margaret.

-Hi, Margaret, Thomas, hey, good to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Welcome, welcome.

-We are so excited for dinner.

-I know.

Well, me too.

-Worked an appetite up there on the river.

-I know.

We really did.

It was wet and cold, but you made it so fun.

-Yeah, it was fun.

I enjoyed having the both of y'all out and teaching y'all how to catch some fish.

-Great.

Well, we've got them on ice and ready to go, but you guys showed up just in time.

-So what we have here is a Piquepoul, commonly known as Piquepoul.

These are some of the oldest grapes ever grown in southern France.

It's one thing to sit around and drink wine.

It's another thing to enjoy wine, right?

And so-- -So I have a question already.

-Do you now?

-Yes.

-All right.

-Okay, you said this is Piquepoul.

-Yes.

-But what is the grape?

-Piquepoul.

-Piquepoul is the grape.

-Piquepoul is the grape, one of them.

The other grape is Torrette.

Piquepoul is a word that comes from an ancient language called Occitan, right?

Occitan is a language and a culture that was around the Middle Ages.

Think of those troubadours in France, usually the singing minstrels, that was the language they spoke, right?

So Occitan actually means "lip stinger," right?

Which is-- -[Chef Missy laughs] -Which is a reference to the acidity and the brightness of the wine.

-Okay, that makes sense.

[Thomas] Actually, the Greeks were there first, back to about 600 BC.

They were colonizing the area, growing grapes, and viniculture was being introduced into the area.

And then the Romans came in and continued that on.

The language of the Occitans, what they called Langue d'oc, became the wine region Languedoc.

Inside of Languedoc is a little area called Côtes de Thau, okay?

-Côtes de Thau.

-There's a Thau Lagoon inside Languedoc on the coast, obviously on the water, because it's a lagoon.

In there, there's a lot of mussel farming and oysters, and a lot of shellfish in this area.

So, what grows together goes together, on the plate and in the glass.

To me, this just says summer picnic, picnic in a bottle.

-Picnic in a bottle, I love that.

Picnic in a bottle!

Cheers.

Here's to picnic in a bottle.

[laughs] [Henry] Hey, y'all, I'm back.

-Hey.

-And I found the fish.

-Nice.

-Wow, that looks amazing.

-Beautiful!

Good job, yeah.

Look what we did.

-Kind of hard to imagine those were swimming just a couple hours ago.

-I know.

It's so fun to see it all the way through the plate.

-Absolutely.

-Right?

But I have made a beautiful French salsa verde, a green salsa with some acid, some tarragon, jalapeno, shallots, olive oil, red wine vinegar.

-I think that's gonna be great.

-Right, and I think it's gonna be beautiful with this fish.

Step one, I'm guessing, is we're gonna descale the fish.

Right?

-Right.

-Typically, just holding the tail and working down like this?

-[Sam Scott] Exactly.

Exactly.

-[Chef Missy] Okay.

So I'm gonna give it a go.

-[Sam Scott] Go ahead.

[Chef Missy] And tell me if I'm doing it wrong.

[Sam Scott] They're really slick, so hang on tight.

[Chef Missy] Yeah.

-Well, let's start chopping heads off.

-Okay.

[laughs] [Sam Scott] So you've got a lot of extra meat here in the upper back, and you've got a lot of meat here in the belly.

And if you just cut a straight line down the middle, you're gonna miss a lot of that great meat.

So it's pretty simple to remove a head from a fish.

We're gonna make a cut here, we're gonna make a cut here, and we're gonna break through the spine.

So remember, our first cut's gonna be at the top of the head.

And so, you can kinda use this gill plate to guide your first two cuts.

Turn it around, same thing on this side.

All right, so there's the head.

We're just gonna toss that over here.

-Okay, I know where that's going, in my compost bucket.

-That's a good spot for it.

-Yeah.

[Sam Scott] So all that's left now is we're gonna make an incision right here on the belly and just get all the guts out.

So we're always gonna cut away from ourselves.

We'll go in right here in the abdominal cavity.

We're just gonna cut down the belly just like this.

Easy enough, we'll just put this over in the bowl.

Just use our hands and grab 'em all out.

And they come out pretty easily.

[Chef Missy] Beautiful.

-So we're gonna cut the fins off?

-Yes.

-All right, easy enough.

That's called your dorsal fin, okay, and these are your pec fins.

[Chef Missy] Very pretty.

Do you have a preference on leaving the tail on or off?

[Sam Scott] Let's go ahead and take it off.

[Chef Missy] Yeah.

-[Sam Scott] There we go.

-[Chef Missy] Beautiful.

[Sam Scott] And that's one smallmouth bass ready to go.

[Chef Missy] So where are you starting?

[Henry] Right here along the gill line.

-[Sam Scott] Nice.

-[Chef Missy] Nice.

[Henry] All right, that's coming along good, isn't it?

[Chef Missy] Yeah.

[Sam Scott] There you go, there you go.

That's one decapitated fish.

Here, you're almost there, another inch.

-[Henry] I got it.

-[Chef Missy] Keep going.

[Sam Scott] Perfect.

All right.

Now we're gonna pull all the guts out.

Just cut those as tight to the fish as you can get.

Perfect.

-Beautiful.

Now clean up your workstation.

-Yes, Chef.

-That's right, you just keep saying that.

I've preheated the oven to 400.

We're going to roast these for about 25 minutes at 400, perfect.

It's important to score the skin because we want the skin to get crispy in the oven.

Right?

-[Henry] Yeah.

[Chef Missy] But we also want the fish to cook on the inside, and this will just create an environment where the skin will get crispy, and the fish will cook evenly.

Great, those are beautiful cuts.

Okay, Henry, after washing your hands, what is the very first thing that Chef Missy does in the kitchen?

- Mise en place .

-Very good, very good.

You're allowed to stay and eat your meal.

-[both laugh] -And that means everything in its place.

-Very good!

See, blood relative.

Oh, I love that, organization.

Okay, olive oil.

-Yes, Chef.

[Chef Missy] What's the number one rule about salting?

[Henry] Always salt up high so you don't oversalt.

[Chef Missy] And fish really does need salt.

Hold the fish open... Salt the inside, and you can pepper pretty liberally.

You'll be happy about that pepper.

The oven has preheated to 400, and these fish are going to bake for 25 minutes at 400, nice and crispy, right?

And while they're in the oven, we can pull all our side dishes out.

-I'll get on that.

-Okay.

My homemade French Magnolia fresh herb salsa verde is the perfect side sauce to brighten up any fish, seafood, or meat.

So, call in your favorite sous chef and pour a glass of chilled Piquepoul.

Because really, it's about prep and assembly.

First, mise en place, everything in its place.

Three cups of extra virgin olive oil, and let's use the good stuff.

One cup of red wine vinegar, the juice of five lemons, six shallots.

Three jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and julienned.

Thirty garlic cloves, smashed, mashed, and minced.

Roughly six packages of de-stemmed tarragon, and two bunches of de-stemmed flat leaf parsley.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Let's get started.

Begin with your fat, three cups of good quality extra virgin olive oil.

Add one cup of red wine vinegar, then the juice of five lemons.

And whisk together.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Smash, mash, and mince 30 cloves of garlic.

Slice the jalapeno lengthwise, and de-seed the inside using your chef's knife.

Then, julienne the jalapenos, and cut them into tiny cubes.

Cut your shallots lengthwise, and peel off the outside, and shave down thinly.

Add your shallots, then your garlic, and your jalapenos, and give it a good whisk.

This will break up the shallots.

Salt your mixture with two generous pinches.

One and two, and give it another stir.

Hopefully your sous chef has been de-stemming the tarragon and parsley properly.

No stems for this sauce!

Give your herbs a light chop.

Remember, don't bang your knife down on the herbs, because it will bruise them and turn them brown.

Rather, grab one end of your knife, and rock it back and forth along your herbs.

When all of your herbs are chopped, add them to your liquid goodie, and generously toss.

Pour your French Magnolia fresh herb salsa verde in a table-ready vessel.

Wrap and chill for at least one hour.

Bon Appétit!

[♪♪♪♪♪] Henry and I have been hard at work.

We pre-blanched these beautiful organic new potatoes, and I finished them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, Herbes de Provence , right?

And I'm going to put these in the oven in a skillet alongside the fish to get crispy, golden brown, and crunchy.

We have our gorgeous green salsa verde.

Love, it's chilled, ready to go.

We have our beautiful organic cantaloupe, melon and prosciutto.

Melon and prosciutto, it needs no explanations, right?

-You've got to trust it, it is delicious.

[Chef Missy] Garbanzo bean, red onion, Heirloom tomato, cucumber, and feta salad, chilled with a little Dijon vinaigrette.

Fabulous, so easy, and a great make-ahead dish.

And then, salted watermelon.

Let's get this party started.

-Let's do it.

-Okay, let's do it.

One of my bestie girlfriends, Rebecca Wessinger, joined us for dinner, along with our dear friend, John Gurley.

It's a packed table tonight of family and friends for smallmouth bass.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [Henry] Dear Lord, please make us thankful for this food we are about to receive.

Please let us remember the gift You have given us.

The river, nourish these relationships with these people.

Lord, in Your name.

Amen.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -Tom, the Piquepoul is absolutely delightful.

I love it.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -Wow.

-And the fish was nice and salty.

It had flavor to it, which, you know, fish done wrong, doesn't have a lot of flavor to it, so you know this is done right.

-I'll take that compliment, thank you.

-And the chickpea salad is amazing.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -It was very clean.

Those waters are special.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -Out of all the fish I've had, freshwater fish, that's one of the best.

[Chef Missy] Whoo!

-Perfectly cooked.

The meat's nice and flaky, nice and light.

Just the right amount of seasoning on it, and the salsa verde is awesome.

Great job.

-[Chef Missy] Cheers.

-Cheers.

-[Chef Missy laughs] Yea God.

-[Thomas] Yea God.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -[glasses clink] -[Missy] Southwest Virginia.

[♪♪♪♪♪] When you're young, you can't wait to leave home.

There's a big, exciting world out there, far away from your southern past.

It's carpe diem and all that good stuff.

Adding flavor to everything you do, and learning maybe when you've added more than you need.

But no matter where you go, or how far life takes you from home, it only takes one summer river rain, or the taste of smallmouth bass, to flood your heart with flavors of a time, a place, a person, and an age gone by.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪♪] [announcer] Smyth County, Virginia, offering a business friendly environment, with partnerships like Smyth Strong, fostering entrepreneurship and growth.

Details at smythcounty economicdevelopment.com.