A Love Affair with Southern Cooking (6 page)

6 hard-cooked extra-large eggs (see Note above)

¼ cup mayonnaise-relish sandwich spread

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons finely grated yellow onion

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Paprika (optional)

• 1.
  Peel the eggs, halve lengthwise, then “pop” the yolks into a small bowl and mash well with a fork. Add the sandwich spread, mustard, onion, and pepper and whisk until blended.
  
• 2.
  Stuff the egg whites with the yolk mixture, mounding it up nicely. Cover the eggs loosely with plastic food wrap and chill for several hours.
  
• 3.
  When ready to serve, arrange the deviled eggs on a colorful round platter and, if you like, blush the top of each with a little paprika.
  

It was a good meal they had together on that night…fried chicken…mashed rootabeggars, collard greens, and hot, pale golden sweet potatoes. Miss Amelia ate slowly and with the relish of a farm hand.

—
CARSON M
C
CULLERS
,
THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFÉ

WATERCRESS-STUFFED EGGS

MAKES
4
TO
6
SERVINGS

These colorful hors d’oeuvre often show up on southern tea tables and buffets. They’re also passed with cocktails.

6 hard-cooked extra-large eggs

²
/
₃
cup finely minced tender young watercress leaves

3 medium scallions, trimmed and finely chopped (include some green tops)

3 tablespoons mayonnaise (use “light,” if you like)

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

¹
/
₈
teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or to taste

• 1.
  Peel the eggs, halve lengthwise, then “pop” the yolks into a small bowl and mash well with a fork. Add all remaining ingredients and beat with a fork until blended. Taste for salt, black pepper, and hot pepper sauce and adjust as needed.
  
• 2.
  Stuff the egg whites with the watercress mixture, mounding it up nicely. Cover the eggs loosely with plastic food wrap and chill for several hours.
  
• 3.
  When ready to serve, arrange the stuffed eggs on a colorful round platter.
  

CHEESE DAISIES

MAKES
4
TO
4½
DOZEN

During my growing-up years, cheese daisies appeared front and center on nearly every Raleigh buffet table, and my mother made them to perfection. Back then, faculty wives were constantly swapping recipes and this one came from a Southerner whose name, I’m sorry to say, I’ve forgotten. I still have Mother’s smudged file card on which the recipe is recorded in the straight-up-and-down script I know so well. On the flip side, Mother noted that if the dough is too cold, “it will be too crumbly to put through a cookie press.” To which I’d add, it needs to be malleable—about the consistency of Play-Doh. Note:
For best results, grate the cheese yourself. I use a food processor fitted with the fine shredding disk and the job is done in seconds.

1½ cups unsifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon paprika

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

¾ cup (1½ sticks) cold butter

2 cups loosely packed, finely grated sharp Cheddar cheese (about 5 ounces)

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 350° F. Sift the flour, salt, paprika, and cayenne together onto a piece of wax paper and set aside.
  
• 2.
  Cream the butter and cheese in an electric mixer at moderate speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until light. By hand, stir in the sifted dry ingredients, mixing just until the ingredients come together forming a dough about the consistency of pie pastry. Don’t overmix.
  
• 3.
  Press the dough through a cookie gun fitted with the “daisy” or “flower” disk onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing the daisies about 2 inches apart.
  
• 4.
  Bake on the middle oven shelf for 10 to 12 minutes or just until the daisies feel firm. They should not brown.
  
• 5.
  Transfer at once to wire racks to cool. Layer the daisies between sheets of wax paper in an airtight tin, cover, and store in a cool spot until ready to serve. Or, if you prefer, label, date, and store in the freezer (the cheese daisies will remain “fresh” for 3 to 4 months).
  

Variation

Cheese Straws:
Prepare the dough as directed, then, using a cookie gun fitted with the star tip, pipe the dough onto ungreased baking sheets in strips about 2½ inches long. Bake, cool, and store as directed. Makes 4 to 4½ dozen.

We eat our supper (cold biscuits, bacon, blackberry jam) and discuss tomorrow.

—
TRUMAN CAPOTE
,
A CHRISTMAS MEMORY

BENNE BISCUITS

MAKES ABOUT
4½
DOZEN

To the Africans who brought them to the South Carolina Lowcountry, sesame seeds, or
benne
,
as they’re called, are a symbol of good luck. Today, few Lowcountry parties are complete without a plate of benne biscuits either split and buttered while warm or cooled, halved, and sandwiched together with shavings of Smithfield ham. This particular recipe is adapted from one given to me many years ago by Mary Sheppard, the gifted plantation cook at Middleton Place near Charleston. Note:
To toast sesame seeds, spread in an ungreased pie pan, then set on the middle shelf of a preheated 275° F. oven for 8 to 10 minutes or just until the color of pale amber. Stir the benne frequently as they toast so that they brown evenly; cool before using.

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)

¹
/
₃
cup firmly packed lard or vegetable shortening

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup lightly toasted benne or sesame seeds (see Note above)

¾ cup buttermilk

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 425° F.
  
• 2.
  Combine the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and cayenne in a large mixing bowl, then, using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the lard and butter until the texture of coarse meal. Add the benne, toss well, then make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.
  
• 3.
  Pour in the buttermilk and fork briskly just until the mixture comes together, forming a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, knead lightly 8 to 10 times, then, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll to a thickness of about ½ inch.
  
• 4.
  Cut into 1-inch rounds using a floured small biscuit cutter (or even a bottle cap), and space about 1½ inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
  
• 5.
  Bake in the lower third of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
  
• 6.
  Split, butter while hot, and serve warm. Or, if you prefer, cool to room temperature, split, and fill with the thinnest slivers of Smithfield ham. Pass with cocktails or set out on a party buffet.
  

SHIRT TAIL PIES

MAKES
6

Not very sweet, these Appalachian apple turnovers are more snack than dessert and because they travel well, they’ve been a lunch-pail staple for years. In parts of the Blue Ridge and Smokies they’re called “fried pies,” but I prefer “Shirt Tail” it’s a perfect description of how the crimped edges ripple in the hot fat. Many country people still grow and dry their own apples; the rest of us can find dried apples at the nearest supermarket.

Filling

2 cups dried apples

2 cups water

¹
/
₃
cup sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¹
/
₈
teaspoon ground ginger

¹
/
₈
teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Pastry

2¼ cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¹
/
₃
cup firmly packed lard or vegetable shortening

½ cup ice water (about)

For Deep-Fat Frying

2 quarts vegetable oil (about)

• 1.
  For the filling: Bring the apples and water to a boil in a large, heavy nonreactive saucepan over moderate heat. Adjust the heat so the water barely ripples, cover, and simmer for about 1 hour or until the apples are soft. Uncover, reduce the heat to its lowest point, and simmer until all water has evaporated. Mix in the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and cool to room temperature.
  
• 2.
  Meanwhile, prepare the pastry: Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, then,
  using a pastry blender, cut in the lard until the texture of coarse meal. Add the ice water slowly, forking all the while, just until the pastry holds together.
  
• 3.
  Roll the pastry slightly thinner than pie crust on a lightly floured surface, then cut into rounds using a 6-inch saucer as a template. Gather and reroll the scraps; you should have six pastry rounds.
  
• 4.
  Scoop about
  ¹
  /
  ₃
  cup of the apple mixture into the center of each round, moisten the edges all around with water, then fold over. Pinch the edges to seal, crimp with the tines of a fork, then prick one side of each pie several times to allow steam to escape.
  
• 5.
  Pour the oil to a depth of 1½ to 2 inches in a deep-fat fryer or large, deep skillet; insert a deep-fat thermometer and set over moderately high heat.
  
• 6.
  When the fat reaches 375° F., ease in one pie and fry for 4 to 5 minutes, turning as needed so that both sides brown evenly. Lift to paper toweling to drain. Fry and drain the remaining pies the same way.
  
• 7.
  Serve warm or at room temperature. They’re delicious either way.