A Love Affair with Southern Cooking (4 page)

One 1-pound loaf thin-sliced, firm-textured white bread, crusts removed (see Note on Chapter 1)

1 pound fresh lump crabmeat, bits of shell and cartilage removed

2 cups finely diced celery (about 3 large ribs)

2 large hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

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

1 tablespoon finely snipped fresh dill or moderately finely chopped fresh tarragon (optional)

½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

Paprika (optional garnish)

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 300° F.
  
• 2.
  Using a 1
  ⁷
  /
  ₈
  -to 2-inch round cutter, cut 2 rounds from each slice of bread. Press the bread rounds gently into ungreased mini muffin pan cups measuring no more than 2 inches across the top. The bread will only half-fill the muffin cups, but shape it as best you can into shallow cups. Don’t worry about ragged edges; the filling will hide them.
  Note:
  Buzz the trimmings to crumbs in a blender or food processor, place in a large plastic zipper bag, and store in the freezer to use later for meat loaves and casserole toppings.
  
• 3.
  Toast the bread cups on the middle oven shelf for about 20 minutes or until crisp and golden. Cool to room temperature, then remove from the muffin pans.
  
• 4.
  For the filling, lightly fork together the crabmeat, celery, hard-cooked eggs, onion, mayonnaise, dill (if desired), salt, and pepper. Taste for seasoning and adjust the salt and pepper as needed. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. Fork again just before using.
  
• 5.
  To fill the toast cups, scoop the crab mixture up by generous teaspoonfuls.
  Note:
  I use a small spring-loaded ice cream scoop that measures 1
  ¹
  /
  ₈
  inches across the top—a time-saver because each scoop is exactly the right amount of filling for each toast cup.
  
• 6.
  Blush the tops of the crab cups with paprika, if you like; arrange on a colorful platter and serve as an accompaniment to cocktails.
  

CATFISH CAKES

MAKES
16
BITE-SIZE CAKES

This recipe comes from my good friend and colleague Joanne Lamb Hayes, who grew up in Maryland. She says these are a snap, especially if you buzz everything up in a food processor. Shaped into bite-size “burgers,” these are perfect cocktail fare. Note:
Check the ingredient list of
your seafood seasoning; if it contains no salt, add about
¼
teaspoon salt to the fish mixture.

1 pound skinned catfish fillets, cut into 1-inch pieces

4 medium scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (include some green tops)

½ teaspoon seafood seasoning

¼ teaspoon salt, if needed (see Note above)

1½ tablespoons vegetable oil

Tartar sauce (optional)

• 1.
  Place the catfish, scallions, seasoning, and salt, if needed, in a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade. Pulse 8 to 10 times or until coarsely chopped.
  
• 2.
  Remove the catfish mixture from the food processor and shape into 16 small cakes of equal size.
  
• 3.
  Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over moderately high heat for about 1 minute or until ripples appear in the oil on the skillet bottom. Ease in the catfish cakes and cook for about 5 minutes or until well browned on one side. Turn and brown the flip sides for 3 to 5 minutes or until cooked through.
  
• 4.
  Serve hot, accompanied, if you like, with your favorite tartar sauce for dipping.
  

When prepared by an honest craftsman, catfish becomes a noble dish…

—
A.J.
M
C
C
LANE
,
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FISH COOKERY

BARBECUED MEATBALLS

MAKES
4
TO
4½
DOZEN

As long as I can remember, barbecued meatballs have been a cocktail specialty among the southern hostesses I know. Properly made, they’re peppery (but not too peppery), sweet (but not too sweet), and sour (not too sour). Just like good barbecue. Recipes vary significantly from cook to cook but this one, my own, has just the right balance of flavors, I think. Apart from shaping the meat mixture into small balls, this recipe couldn’t be easier. The best part is that you can make the meatballs well ahead of time and freeze them—either cooked or raw.
Or you can make them—start to finish—a day in advance and refrigerate until ready to serve. I reheat them by microwave; 15 minutes at 50-percent power is about right unless you have one of the new high-wattage microwaves. If so, reheat the meatballs in their sauce in 5-minute increments at 50-percent power until steaming. Note:
Some hostesses serve barbecued meatballs in silver or tin-lined copper chafing dishes. I just mound them in an attractive bowl—no matter if they cool to room temperature.

Meatballs

1 pound ground beef chuck

½ pound bulk sausage meat

1 cup moderately fine soft white bread crumbs (2 slices firm-textured white bread)

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

2 tablespoons tomato ketchup

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 large egg, well beaten

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (for cooking the meatballs)

Sauce

Two 8-ounce cans tomato sauce

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1½ tablespoons cider vinegar, or to taste

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ to ½ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce (depending on how “hot” you like things)

• 1.
  For the meatballs: Place all but the vegetable oil in a large bowl and, using your hands, mix thoroughly. Shape into 1-to 1¼-inch balls, arrange on a foil-lined large, rimmed baking sheet, and set uncovered in the refrigerator. Chill for 3 to 4 hours. This is to firm up the meatballs so they’re easier to cook.
  
• 2.
  When ready to proceed, heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy skillet over moderately high heat for 2 minutes or until ripples appear in the oil on the skillet bottom. Add half the meatballs and cook, shaking the skillet often, for 3 to 5 minutes or until uniformly brown. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the browned meatballs to a large, shallow pan and reserve. Brown the remaining meatballs the same way and add to the first batch.
  
• 3.
  For the sauce: Drain all drippings from the skillet, add all sauce ingredients, and whisk to combine. Set over moderate heat and bring to a boil, whisking often. Taste the sauce for vinegar and salt and adjust as needed.
  
• 4.
  Return the browned meatballs to the skillet, pushing them down into the sauce. Adjust the heat so the sauce bubbles gently, cover, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, or just until the meatballs are cooked through.
  
• 5.
  Transfer all to a large chafing dish or attractive heatproof bowl and serve with cocktails. Put out a container of party toothpicks and colorful cocktail napkins.
  

NATCHITOCHES MEAT PIES

MAKES ABOUT
22
APPETIZERS

Natchitoches (pronounced NACK-uh-tish) in northwestern Louisiana is famous for two things:
Steel Magnolias,
which wa
s
filmed there in 1988, and spicy meat pies that predate the Civil War. The latter are what drew me to Nachitoches while on assignment for
Gourmet,
but the former was the talk of this nearly-300-year-old town. To orient myself, I hopped a tour bus only to learn that sites of historic significance mattered less than the various movie venues, less even than the homes rented to accommodate the stars during the shoot. So what I heard was “In the movie, this was Shelby’s home (the Julia Roberts character).”…“This is the church where Shelby’s wedding was filmed.”…“This is where Julia Roberts lived while making the movie.”…“This is where Dolly Parton stayed…Sally Field…Shirley MacLaine…” (Since my visit nearly ten years ago, I trust that Natchitoches’s long and colorful history has regained pride of place.) To taste the town’s famous meat pies, I headed straight to Lasyone’s Meat Pie Kitchen on Second Street (yes, some of the movie folk did stop by). Here I learned that fried meat pies were originally out-the-backdoor or street food sold by the few who knew how to make them. I won’t pretend they’re easy. The local recipes I picked up were vague and faulty: too much flour in the filling, too much lard in the pastry. Even with major adjustments the pastry was so short the pies fell apart when fried in deep fat. What to do? Abandon tradition and bake the pies instead. They are equally delicious and a tad less caloric.

Pastry

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup firmly packed lard or vegetable shortening

3 tablespoons cold milk beaten with 1 large egg

Filling

¼ pound ground beef chuck

¼ pound ground pork

2 medium scallions, trimmed and coarsely chopped (include some green tops)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¹
/
₈
to ¼ teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)

¹
/
₈
teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

¼ cup water

• 1.
  For the pastry: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add the lard and using a pastry blender, cut in until the texture of coarse meal. Quickly fork in the milk-egg mixture and as soon as the pastry holds together, shape into a ball. Place on a large sheet of plastic food wrap, flatten, then wrap and refrigerate until ready to proceed.
  
• 2.
  For the filling: Cook the beef, pork, scallions, salt, black and red pepper, and allspice in a medium-size heavy skillet over moderate heat, breaking up the clumps of meat, for about 5 minutes or until no traces of pink remain. Sprinkle in the flour, then, stirring all the while, add the water. Cook, stirring now and then, for about 5 minutes or until lightly thickened and no raw floury taste remains. Cool to room temperature.
  
• 3.
  Preheat the oven to 375° F. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and roll as thin as pie crust on a lightly floured pastry cloth. Cut into rounds with a 2¾-to 3-inch biscuit cutter, then drop 1½ to 2 teaspoons of the filling onto the lower half of each round, leaving a margin of at least ¼ inch. Reroll the scraps and cut additional circles. Moisten the edges of the pastry circles all around, fold in half to enclose the filling, and crimp the edges firmly with the tines of a fork to seal. Also prick the top of each round with the fork to allow steam to escape.
  
• 4.
  Arrange the rounds about 2 inches apart on an ungreased large baking sheet, slide onto the middle oven shelf, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are brown.
  
• 5.
  Serve hot with cocktails.