A Love Affair with Southern Cooking (26 page)

One 4-ounce jar diced pimientos, well drained

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

½ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

1½ cups moderately fine soft bread crumbs tossed with 1½ tablespoons butter, melted

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spritz a shallow 2-quart casserole with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
  
• 2.
  Heat the drippings in a large, heavy skillet over moderately high heat for 1 minute, add the onion, celery, and garlic, and cook, stirring often, for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Blend in the flour and cook and stir for about 1 minute.
  
• 3.
  Add the evaporated milk and broth and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes or until the mixture boils and thickens. Set off the heat and mix in the sandwich spread, then the chicken, parsley, pimientos, salt, and pepper.
  
• 4.
  Scoop into the casserole, spreading to the edge, then scatter the buttered crumbs evenly over all.
  
• 5.
  Slide onto the middle oven shelf and bake uncovered for about 30 minutes or until bubbling and tipped with brown.
  
• 6.
  Serve at once as the main course of a casual lunch or supper. Or do as that Watauga County farm woman did and make it your contribution to a potluck supper.
  

Miss Sadie sniffed. “Fried chicken in the daytime is too heavy if you’ve got work to do. Why not chicken salad?”

—
JAN KARON
,
A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW

PRESSED CHICKEN

MAKES
6
SERVINGS

Early on, I had the good fortune to work with Ruth Current, the charismatic state leader of the North Carolina Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs. “Miz Ruth,” as I called her, grew up on a farm in Rowan County, and even though she traveled the world, she was at heart a southern country cook. Miz Ruth and I often traveled together, she to speak at conventions, I to cover them for the local media. On those long road trips, Miz Ruth talked about the colorful characters she’d met in her early years as an extension worker. That was back in the 1930s when the Agricultural Extension Service, still in its infancy, aimed to help the family at the end of the road climb out of poverty. Sometimes, Miz Ruth told me, she’d drive to the end of the road only to be met by a farmer with a mule. She’d climb aboard for a last-lap canter to a log cabin “so far back in them hills you had to keep wipin’ at the shadows.” Two of my favorite southern recipes are Miz Ruth’s—this Pressed Chicken and the Chicken Mayonnaise that follows. I once asked Miz Ruth why the recipe was called Pressed Chicken. She thought that it dated back to the days when women made their own gelatin. These were not altogether reliable, so gelatin mixtures were often weighted or pressed into molds so that they were less apt to disintegrate when unmolded. Note:
Miz Ruth’s Pressed Chicken calls for two packets of gelatin but preferring a softer gel, I use half that amount. For slightly stiffer Pressed Chicken, use one envelope plus one teaspoon.
Tip:
I heat the chicken broth in a 2-quart ovenproof glass measuring cup by microwaving 5 to 8 minutes on
HIGH
. I then scoop in the gelatin, and when it dissolves, I mix in the seasonings and chill until syrupy. Still using the same measuring cup, I fold in the chicken, eggs, and celery. Saves on dishwashing.

1 envelope unflavored gelatin (see Note at left)

¼ cup cold water

2 cups boiling chicken broth or rich stock (see Tip above)

2 tablespoons finely grated yellow onion

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne), or to taste

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

3 cups finely chopped cooked chicken 4 large hard-cooked eggs, shelled and finely chopped

2 medium celery ribs, trimmed and finely diced

6 large lettuce leaves

Mayonnaise

• 1.
  Lightly coat an 8 × 8 × 2-inch baking dish or nonreactive pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
  
• 2.
  Soften the gelatin in the cold water for 5 minutes. Pour the boiling chicken broth into a large heatproof bowl (see Tip above), and
  add the gelatin. When it dissolves, mix in the onion, lemon juice, salt, cayenne, and mustard. Taste for salt and cayenne and adjust.
  
• 3.
  Set uncovered in the refrigerator for about an hour or until syrupy. Fold in the chicken, eggs, and celery, then pour into the baking dish, spreading to the corners.
  
• 4.
  Set uncovered in the refrigerator and chill overnight or until firm enough to cut.
  
• 5.
  To serve, cut the Pressed Chicken into squares and bed each on a lettuce leaf on a dinner plate. Top each portion with a generous dollop of mayonnaise. Good accompaniments: Crisp-tender asparagus spears or green beans and thickly sliced red-ripe tomatoes.
  

Until a child was grown he saw only the wings, back, and Pope’s noses of chicken while he watched the grown folks eat the breasts, legs, and such.

—
CARSON M
C
CULLERS
,
ON HER GEORGIA CHILDHOOD

The Turkey is certainly one of the most delightful presents which the New World has made to the Old.

—
ANTHELME BRILLAT
-
SAVARIN

CHICKEN MAYONNAISE

MAKES
6
SERVINGS

The recipe for this cool molded chicken salad, like the Pressed Chicken that precedes, came from Ruth Current, with whom I worked shortly after graduating from college. It, too, calls for two envelopes of gelatin and once again I’ve halved the amount. For slightly stiffer Chicken Mayonnaise, use one envelope plus one teaspoon of gelatin. I’ve changed Miz Ruth’s recipe in another way, too: I’ve toasted the almonds because I like them better than raw almonds. My method of making Chicken Mayonnaise, however, is the same as for Pressed Chicken because I’m forever seeking ways to minimize kitchen time and clutter. See the Note and Tip on Chapter 3.

1 envelope unflavored gelatin (see headnote)

¼ cup cold water

2 cups boiling chicken broth or rich stock

2 tablespoons finely grated yellow onion

1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup firmly packed mayonnaise (use “light,” if you like)

½ cup firmly packed mayonnaise-relish sandwich spread

2½ cups finely diced cooked chicken

½ cup coarsely chopped, lightly toasted slivered almonds (8 to 10 minutes in a 350° F. oven)

2 large hard-cooked eggs, peeled and finely diced

2 medium celery ribs, trimmed and finely diced

1 cup solidly frozen tiny green peas

6 lettuce leaves or 1 head radicchio, cored and sliced about ½ inch thick

• 1.
  Lightly coat an 8 × 8 × 2-inch baking dish or nonreactive pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
  
• 2.
  Soften the gelatin in the cold water for 5 minutes. Pour the boiling chicken broth into a large heatproof bowl (see Note and Tip, Chapter 3), and add the gelatin. As soon as it dissolves, mix in the onion, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
  
• 3.
  Set uncovered in the refrigerator for about an hour or until syrupy. Blend in the mayonnaise and sandwich spread, whisking until smooth. Fold in the chicken, almonds, eggs, celery, and frozen peas, then pour into the baking dish and spread to the corners.
  
• 4.
  Set uncovered in the refrigerator and chill overnight or until firm enough to cut.
  
• 5.
  To serve, cut the Chicken Mayonnaise into squares and bed each on a lettuce leaf or nest in the sliced radicchio. The perfect accompaniment: thickly sliced red-ripe tomatoes.
  

Variations

Turkey Mayonnaise:
Prepare the recipe as directed, substituting cooked turkey for chicken.
Ham Mayonnaise:
Prepare Steps 1 and 2 of Chicken Mayonnaise, increasing the amount of gelatin to 4 teaspoons. In Step 3, increase the mayonnaise to
²
/
₃
cup and substitute 3 table
spoons each dill pickle relish and sweet pickle relish for the sandwich spread. Also add 1 tablespoon each Dijon mustard, well-drained small capers, and freshly snipped dill. Finally, use 3 cups finely diced fully cooked ham instead of the 2½ cups chicken and omit the almonds. Finish Step 3, folding in the hard-cooked eggs, celery, and frozen peas, then proceed as the recipe directs. Good with grilled yellow squash and bell peppers.

TRUSTEES’ HOUSE TURKEY HASH ON INDIAN GRIDDLE CAKES

MAKES
6
SERVINGS

Here’s my adaptation of a delicious hash that I’ve enjoyed at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. With thirty-four painstakingly restored buildings, this come-to-life nineteenth-century Shaker community in the Kentucky Bluegrass is to my mind one of America’s most interesting museum villages. Certainly it’s one of the few where you can spend the night. Or sit down to a groaning board of old Shaker recipes. Many of those served in the Trustees’ Office Dining Room appear in two paperback cookbooks by Elizabeth C. Kremer, who for years managed the dining room. I have both books:
We Make You Kindly Welcome
(1970) and
Welcome Back to Pleasant Hill: More Recipes from the Trustees’ House
(1977). A chicken version of this hash appears in the first. But because we’re all confronted with turkey leftovers at least once a year, I think that a turkey hash makes sense.

Turkey Hash

3 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow onion, moderately coarsely chopped

1 small celery rib, trimmed and finely diced

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¹
/
₈
teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)

¹
/
₈
teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 cups turkey or chicken broth

3½ cups diced cooked turkey

Griddle Cakes

1 cup unsifted stone-ground cornmeal (white or yellow)

½ cup sifted all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons raw or granulated sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¹
/
₈
teaspoon black pepper

1 cup buttermilk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, melted butter, or lard