America I AM Pass It Down Cookbook (19 page)

BOOK: America I AM Pass It Down Cookbook

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The song and imagery in this advertisement touches, although perhaps unintentionally, on an important progression in American history: the advent of food production technology casting aside the important heritage of manual laborers, who were very often African American and whose methods usually created lower environmental impacts on the land and water—methods that are being re-examined and re-implemented today to try and save overused resources before it is too late.

New Orleans Style Friday Fish Fry

Los Angeles, California

SERVES 4 TO 6

“New Orleans Style ‘Friday Fish Fry’ was my granddaddy’s way to bring family together every Friday night,” says Chef Jeff. “Grandaddy was an amazing cook who prepared all the family meals. Though Granddaddy never wrote down recipes, he had no problem letting folks come in the kitchen to see what was going down. He used the same seasonings and cornmeal for all three seafoods. I love my granddaddy Charles and grandmother Ethel Mae—this recipe is a special tribute to them. They taught all of us a little something about Southern cooking and life in their own way. May God bless their souls.”

4 cups canola oil
14 large Louisiana oysters, shucked
14 jumbo shrimp, peeled, split, and cleaned
4 pieces of red snapper skinless filet, 4 to 6 ounces each
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 large eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 cup ground cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
10 tablespoons onion powder
5 large russet potatoes, peeled, washed, and thinly sliced

Pass It Down TIP

The Friday Fish Fry is best served right out of the grease with garden salad, coleslaw, potato salad, or fresh corn on the cob.

In a deep-fryer or a large cast iron skillet, heat the oil to about 350° F. Test the heat of the oil with a piece of shrimp. If it begins to fry without the oil bubbling and popping, the oil is hot and ready.

On a plate lined with paper towels or a brown paper bag, season all the seafood lightly with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Add the eggs and buttermilk to a large bowl and whisk thoroughly together. Season each with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add all the seasoned seafood to the egg mixture and coat well.

Mix the cornmeal, flour, and all the spices together in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk-marinated seafood to the cornmeal mixture in batches. Coat well.

Using a pair of tongs, drop the cornmeal-breaded seafood into the oil in small batches. Deep-fry until cooked thoroughly and crispy, about 8–10 minutes. Remove and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

Marinate the thinly sliced potatoes wedges in the buttermilk mixture, then in the cornmeal mixture. Fry until golden brown, about 12–15 minutes. Remove and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

Four State Oyster Dressing

Beverly Hills, California

SERVES 6 TO 8

Public relations and marketing consultant Sherrie Darnise Burrell shares this oyster dressing that she created from two family recipes—one from her parents, Thelma and Columbus Burrell, and another from her godmother, Patricia A. Lynch. “It is one of our family’s main holiday dishes and can be found in my memoir,
My Mother’s Cookbook,
” says Burrell.

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, minced
1 large green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped small
3 ribs celery, washed well, white parts removed, and chopped small
4 cups of buttermilk cornbread (recipe
page 42
)
5 slices of white or wheat bread or crouton cubes for stuffing
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup chicken gizzards
3 large eggs
¼ cup of half and half
2 teaspoons celery salt
2 teaspoons seasoning salt
1 tablespoon dried sage
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
2 cups chicken or turkey stock, or more as needed, (see recipe
page 13
)
1 cup shucked oysters, with their liquid
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

Cook the gizzards in chicken stock until tender. Allow to cool. Drain and reserve the gizzards and chicken stock separately.

Heat the butter in a large fry pan and add the onions, bell peppers, and celery. Fry until onions and celery are softened. Remove from heat. Place in a large bowl.

Add the cornbread, plain bread or croutons, cream of chicken soup, gizzards, egg, and half and half. Mix well.

Add the celery salt, seasoning salt, sage, and poultry seasoning, and mix well. Add the chicken or turkey stock as needed for the dressing to be well moistened.

Add the oysters. Mix well and pour the mixture in to a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Bake for about 30–45 minutes until dressing is firm.

Pass It Down TIP

Sherrie Burrell suggests mixing the dressing the night before and refrigerating before baking—that the way the flavors have a chance to meld. Allow all of the ingredients to cool before mixing the dressing.

Who Are the Gullah/Geechee?

Queen Quet, Chief tess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and Dayclean,
the African Spirit, lead an ancestral tribute ceremony at the Gullah/
Geechee Reunion on Sullivan’s Island, South

In 2004, the National Trust of Historic Preservation named the Gullah/Geechee coast as one of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Sites in America, fearing that encroachment on these communities will result in the extinction of the culture, its language, and customs.

F
ollow the eastern coast of the United States
to the South, where the water washes around the crags of the sea islands from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida, and you will find the group of black Americans who are more directly connected to Mother Africa than perhaps any in the nation who descended from chattel slavery. They are the Gullah/Geechee people, whose ancestors were brought in chains to work the swampy and fetid rice, Sea Island cotton, and indigo plantations of the southeastern coastal region.

In addition to enduring the inhumanness of slavery, they also had to combat diseases like malaria and yellow fever, which were rampant in the rice fields they were forced to tend. Many of the enslaved Africans born on Africa’s Rice Coast, which stretches primarily from what is now Senegal to Sierra Leone and Liberia on the continent’s west coast, were immune to these illnesses. However, the white plantation owners were not, and they fled their profitable plantation lands, choosing instead to live on the mainland. The result was that many sea-island plantations were self-contained communities where the African people were autonomous, even as their knowledge was exploited to bring forth many of the cash crops and to build the buildings within the area.

On these plantations, with minimal interaction with their European masters, these enslaved Africans strengthened themselves and their African-combined African traditions. They mixed the ways of various ethic groups from their homelands and created a uniquely pan–African American culture with its own language, Gullah/ Geechee, which is a type of Creole that is somewhat similar to the patois spoken in Jamaica, Barbados, Suriname, and Sierra Leone.

Due to a lack of true knowledge of these communities, for many years “Gullah” or “Geechee” were terms used separately by outsiders to describe what they considered to be different groups living in the region. However, Gullah/Geechees came together on July 2, 2000 to stand for their human right to self-determination, and began a movement of reconnection and recognition as one unique minority group. The Gullah/ Geechee still practice African traditions for major life events, such as weddings, funerals, and births. They continue to make clay pots and sewn baskets in the African traditions, and their diet is still heavily based on rice and the seafood harvested from local waters. Purely African musical instruments, like the shegureh and various skin drums are still in use. Many celebrations are held throughout the year in the Gullah/ Geechee Nation to celebrate their culture.

For more information on the Gullah/Geechee, visit
www.officialgullahgeechee.info
.