Back To The Source: A Simply Southern Dinner

Ben Runkle has always gone back to the source. As the Chef/Owner of Austin’s Salt & Time, he has built his career on cultivating relationships with local producers to create and serve the purest ingredients. And his recent stint aboard the first-ever Luck Showboat was no exception. Ben joined The Mountain Valley Spring Water and Luck Reunion on Nashville’s General Jackson riverboat to produce an unforgettable dinner for 50 lucky guests, all while sailing the Cumberland River.

“When I was asked to come to Nashville to prepare a meal for the Luck Showboat, I jumped at the chance,” Runkle says. “Whenever I’m putting a menu together I start with the ingredients I want to showcase. For this menu I drew inspiration from Nashville’s role as a hub of Southern cuisine, and featured some of the most unique and delicious ingredients produced in the Southern US.”

Runkle’s menu for The Mountain Valley dinner aboard the Luck Showboat fully embodied his vision, featuring pimento cheese; gulf oysters; and a meat-and-three course. Attention to detail and, most importantly, the origin of the ingredients, contributed to a multi-course meal that brought Showboat guests to the heart of the south. 

photos by Brooke Hamilton

Runkle tapped a unique variety of regional purveyors: Topping the list was an impressive two-years aged ham sourced from the famous Rice’s Country Ham located in Juliet, TN; Murder Point Oysters gave guests a taste of a  “different breed” of gulf oysters; Bourbon Barrel Foods brought their bourbon ponzu and soy sauce to the table; and Duke’s Mayonnaise was the perfect touch for Runkle’s real-deal pimento cheese. The meal culminated with a show-stopping dessert utilizing flours from Anson Mills and Steen’s Cane Syrup.

“It’s exciting and interesting to work with these artisan producers. Cooking for guests on a boat was something I found really fun,” Runkle says. “One of the inspirations, besides being in Nashville on a showboat, was partnering with The Mountain Valley: a really great example of world-class natural spring water coming out of the Ouachita Mountains. That really set the tone for the ingredients we chose for the recipes.”

“Natural American goodness means to me: Really fresh and clean flavors...doing it in a natural way. And that’s how you produce a really great product.”

Sources: Mavis Staples at Luck Reunion 2019

“What comes from the heart, reaches the heart.” - Mavis Staples

With the help of our friends and longtime sponsor, Mountain Valley Spring Water, we were able to dedicate a day’s worth of music to the legendary Mavis Staples this year at Luck Reunion. Mavis headlined our Sources Stage, closing out the night after a stacked lineup of powerhouse acts. Each artist on the Sources Stage played one of Mavis’s own solo songs or a Staples Singers classic during their own set in honor of the iconic singer’s upcoming 80th birthday. Arguably the culmination of the entire day came at the end of Mavis’s set when Courtney Marie Andrews, Yola, Mountain Man, Sunny War, Angie McMahon, Nicole Atkins, Jade Jackson, Haley Heynderickx, and Brandy Zdan joined Mavis on stage to sing “The Weight”, capping off the evening with a moment of community, admiration, and unbridled joy. Join us in discovering what some of these acts had to say about Mavis’s influence in their careers and her own advice for the next generation. Watch above for more.

Sources: Potluck 2019 Benefitting Farm Aid Hosted by the Austin Food and Wine Alliance

Our annual Potluck Dinner makes for an incredible kick-off to Luck Reunion each year with lush, locally-sourced food from Texas-based chefs and intimate performances from some of our most treasured Luck Family Artists. The Potluck Dinner Hosted by the Austin Food and Wine Alliance Benefitting Farm Aid upped the ante this year with a roster of six female chefs from the Austin and surrounding areas. Anita Jaisinghani of Pondicheri (Houston, New York), Bonnie Wright of Olamaie (Austin), Misti Norris of Petra and the Beast (Dallas), Jessica Sanders of drink.well (Austin), Kristen Kish of Arlo Grey (Austin), and Anne Ng of Bakery Lorraine (Austin, San Antonio) joined PotLuck host chef and longtime Luck collaborator Ben Runkle, of Austin's Salt and Time, to collaborate on an innovative multi-course menu. We were honored to host not only these acclaimed chefs, but also local farmers from the community like Carol Ann Sayle of Boggy Creek Farms, to an evening of food, drink, and music by Ben Dickey and the Godfather of Luck himself, Willie Nelson. Follow along as we travel back to the source with the help of our longtime sponsor Mountain Valley Water to get an inside look at this year’s Potluck Dinner. Watch above for more.

Sources: Caleb Caudle & Hanging Rock State Park

As a part of our Sources series with Mountain Valley Spring Water, Caleb Caudle went back to a continuous source of inspiration for his life and music in his home state of North Carolina. Read Caudle’s own words on Hanging Rock State Park below.

Caleb Caudle at Hanging Rock State Park

There are certain roads you go down throughout your life that don't change much. Maybe a stoplight is added, or a restaurant changes hands and it’s just not the same as it once was, or a gas station closes down with their sign left untouched only to remind you of how cheap things used to be.

The road I'm thinking of leads to Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury, NC. Since I was a teen, it has been a place I go to seek inspiration. I’m calmed by its endless beauty. The mountains stand proud and tall, comforting me as the rest of the world seems to go swiftly by. I feel so small amongst them. They remind me not to get caught up in myself, and to look around, to stay grateful. I go live my life, travel the world, meet new people, eat new foods, and then return home with a newfound appreciation of what once seemed like a given. The road hasn’t changed. I have.

Hanging Rock State Park means something different to me now than it did 15 years ago, and if I'm lucky, it will mean something different to me in 15 years from now. The wind blows, the water flows yet the mountains remain. The storms of life shape me, but the mountains stay true. A constant reminder of stability. - Caleb Caudle

For more from Caleb visit his website here, and check out the #LuckList he put together for us below.