Mashama Bailey Shares a Christmas Menu Inspired by Her Grandmother

I’m sitting across from Mashama Bailey at her restaurant, The Grey, in Savannah, Georgia, in front of what used to be the ticket window of a segregated Greyhound bus station. I can’t help but imagine the people who used this space before — and that is intentional. Bailey, with her partner and The Grey co-owner John O. Morisano, restored the 1938 Art Deco building to pay homage to its place in American Civil Rights history and to celebrate the foodways of the region. That was 10 years ago this December. In the past decade, Bailey has taken home two James Beard Awards, and the duo has cowritten a book chronicling their story and started the process of opening another location of The Grey in Paris. The milestone has Bailey musing about how the past informs the present, from the evolution of that ticket window (which she plans to use for raw-bar service) to her own journey as a chef, which began decades ago at her paternal grandmother’s table.

“Both of my grandmothers were great cooks, but she did all the holidays,” says Bailey, speaking of her paternal grandmother, Margaret Bailey, and her way of sharing her love of food and cooking. “She had the china, she had napkins, she had silverware, the guest list — she would draw us in with that. And she always made sure she cooked a lot of food so people would come over and eat.” The intention behind the splendor and pomp, behind the sparkling crystal and fine china, was a wish to share food with friends and family. Bailey evokes this warm and generous hospitality in her own approach to cooking and serving others.

This same graciousness also guided Bailey’s path toward a life in food. When she was first starting out as a professional cook, Bailey moved in with her grandmother, who lived in Queens and was free with her feedback and advice on her granddaughter’s cooking. “She would talk to me about how things turned out, and she really just became a person that I trusted,” Bailey says. Through those conversations and meals, Bailey grew in confidence. She saw how her cooking was not only delicious, but also a means to connect with people. “I would put down a plate of food, and then all of a sudden, I’m in the conversations. And I think that was the important part to me. It was kind of the backbone — the wind that pushed me and got me out there.”

To mark the 10th anniversary of The Grey, Bailey created a holiday menu for Food & Wine readers that honors her grandmother while drawing on her own evolution as a chef. “I don’t use a lot of seasoning. I try to use really good ingredients. And I think that is the way I show love,” she says. The green beans cook slowly in a quality pork stock, emerging from the pot tender and full-flavored. While her grandmother approached her beans this way, too, Bailey, in a nod to her time spent as an apprentice at La Varenne cooking school in France, finishes them with fresh herbs. Her short ribs are a nod to her grandmother’s pot roast, but bathed in a peanut braising sauce that enriches the main dish. For dessert, Bailey’s red velvet cake is flavored with coconut, frosted with cream cheese icing, and then adorned with gorgeous flakes of toasted coconut.

“I really appreciate that I have the ability to feel empowered by cooking the food that I grew up with and use ingredients that grow locally in Savannah to do so,” Bailey says, looking back at the road from her grandmother’s holiday table to The Grey.

As she looks at what’s next for The Grey, Bailey talks about nurturing through food as her grandmother did. She imagines a kitchen that is part incubator, part confidence-builder and career-maker, and that focuses on the things that excite her most as a chef: the ingredients and terroir of Georgia’s “golden coast,” the 100-mile stretch of shoreline and islands from Savannah to Florida. “I want to look at Southern food in a very serious way and create an environment that allows us to explore it down to the very last compound,” she says. “Even when I am in Paris, I want the food to relate to [the place].”

And for this meal, that place is her own holiday table.

Entertaining tips from Mashama Bailey

1. Make a main that can easily be doubled

An unfussy main course like a big pot of short ribs is simple enough to scale up — just make it in a bigger pot, or get two pots going on two burners. To facilitate serving a crowd, divide the main between two serving dishes that you can put at either end of a table for easier access.

2. Create versatile, all-purpose condiments

A flexible condiment like Blueberry Mostarda can go on a relish tray, be served with a main course, or come out for a final course with cheese and a celebratory glass of something bubbly. Try matching it with artisan cheddar, goat cheese, or a French Brie for a welcome flavor pairing.

3. Serve drinks that welcome everyone

Omit the alcohol, but build enough complexity in a punch so those who choose not to imbibe will feel like they are drinking something beyond juice. (Cranberry Punch with Sumac is just the ticket.) And for those who do partake, let them spike the punch with the liquor of their choice.