Hot Pepper Relish

A quantity of various hot peppers, seeded and roughly chopped. Sprinkle liberally with salt and let it sit for about a half hour, stirring occasionally. Pour over boiling water to cover, and let sit until the water is room temperature. Drain the pepper bits and place in a saucepan with enough white vinegar to cover and salt to taste. I use a teaspoon per pint of vinegar. Simmer till the peppers are quite soft. Let cool, drain excess liquid (save it-it's an excellent hot sauce for greens), and store in the refrigerator.

Dr. Sephronius Potsdam's Wondrous Gravy Strengthener

"Dr." Sephronius Potsdam (presumably a pseudonym) was a medicine show pitchman, peddler, and general charlatan, operating in the Deep South around the turn of the last century. The following recipe reproduces one of his more successful products, a condiment guaranteed to add flavor and zip to soups, stews, and any gravy. An examination of the ingredients suggests time spent in Louisville, Ky and eastern North Carolina. It makes an excellent barbecue sauce or general condiment.

A pint or so of tomato ketchup (rather than walnut or mushroom) blended with a pint of spirit vinegar, three gills of worcester sauce, the same quantity of chili sauce, a bottle of chop sauce (HP is recommended) and a bottle of tobasco sauce. Mix well together and bottle.

Chicken Stew

A quantity of boneless chicken breasts, cubed. Heat a couple of spoons of oil in a stew pot. Add chicken pieces. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over two or three large spoons of flour. Stir together to coat the chicken. Drop a cold stick of butter cut into tablespoons over the surface of the cooking chicken. When butter melts, stir chicken. Continue to cook until chicken is cooked and the flour begins to brown. Add a pint or so each of broth and milk. Let simmer over a low flame for an hour or so till thick and creamy. Flavor with hot sauce or hot pepper relish. Serve with bread for sopping.

Biscuits and related matters

Since my last post had no recipes, I'll include three today.

Biscuits. A staple of southern cookery. Truly glorious if prepared well, and utterly abysmal if done badly. The two recipes that follow are the best I've come across. Good luck.

Biscuits

4 handfuls of self rising flour-White Lily please
1 fistful of lard-shortening will do, but lard has a better texture and flavor
"enough" buttermilk or clabber or blue john or pet milk or, well, there are a lot of options.

By handful, I mean as much flour as you can scoop up with a slightly cupped hand. By fistful, I mean about a half a handful. As to "enough", it depends on the liquid used and the looseness of dough you prefer. I like a loose dough, so I generally push mty fist into the well of flour and fill up the hole. It works perfectly. You will want to experiment.

Work the lard into the flour, add your liquid, and bring together into a dough. Use a butterknife, it does the job better than a fork. I tend to break off pieces of dough and roll them in my hands, but if you want to roll them out, feel free.

Bake at 485 for 13-16 minutes till just done.

Biscuits 2

1 sifter full of self rising flour
5 spoons of lard (a tablespoon, like an actual serving spoon, not the measuring spoon, heaping)
enough liquid (see above)

Prepare as above.

If these instructions are useless to you, try White Lily's website.

Two fun recipes with biscuits:

Butter Roll Pie

1 making of biscuit dough, rolled out into a big rectangle. Spread with softened butter (real butter), sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up and cut into rounds like cinnamon rolls. Place cut side up in a baking dish, and pour over a custard mixture (1 qt. milk, 1 c. sugar, and four eggs with a dash of vanilla. This is a loose suggestion as to quantity, you may need to make more custard. It always takes more than you think you'll need.) and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 350 till done. 45 minutes or so. Serve chilled.

Biscuit pudding

A mess of biscuits. (I like to use fried biscuits for this. Just panfry the biscuits rather than baking them.) Break into small pieces and soak in the custard mixture above for a few minutes. Pour into a baking dish (a little cinnamon wiouldn't hurt.) and bake at 300 for 45 minutes to an hour till set. Serve with ice cream.

Mater's Restaurant and Catering Jackson, Alabama-A Review

Small towns in south Alabama are not expected to be centers of gastronomic glory past the basic repertoire of meat and three vegetables, nonetheless, it is disappointing to leave a restaurant with grave concern that the kitchen staff would likely screw that up as well. Mater's, for all its pretensions, is simply the most mediocre dining establishment in Jackson.

Perhaps I expect too much, but when I am faced with a menu littered with spelling and grammar errors, misuse of culinary terms (braised in olive oil and steamed in wine, really?), and dish descriptions that make me wonder whether the "chef" has ever tasted piccata before attempting to cook it, I really have to ask if it's worth the 17.99 price tag. For half that I can buy frozen dinners that will at least taste like the dishes I associate with the names "chicken marsala" and "seafood alfredo." t

I must concede that the "italian" food they are serving is an improvement over their hamburgers (which seem beyond the abilities of the "chef") and french fries (soggy and brown). Though the "chef" should be ashamed of himself for leaving his diners with the impression that his food is what any of those dishes are actually supposed to taste like. The service, at least, is slightly better than it used to be.

I wouldn't be so upset if there were not several small changes that would so dramatically improve the food. A little decoration (the tables look like a cafeteria), frozen french fries (hand cut should be better than the ones at Burger King, not vastly inferior), someone who knows what the word "medium" means, a basic italian cookbook, a proof reader, and completely new staff, and Mater's would become the nice establishment it's pretending to be.

Cinnamon Cookies

A perfect recipe for those, like my dear Grandmother, who like "just a little something sweet to have with coffee."


Cinnamon Cookies


1 stick butter, softened 1 cup each white and brown sugar (turbinado or demerara is lovely)
1 tsp. each salt and soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbs. cinnamon
2 eggs
3 cups flour
4 tbs. water


Cream butter and sugars. Stir in salt, soda, flavor, cinnamon, and eggs. Stir in flour and add as much water as you need to make a workable dough. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 (always preheat) for 9-10 minutes till just brown at the edges. Let cool on the pan.


For a special treat, add a little nutmeg and/or mace, perhaps a half teaspoon all told, and a cup or so of raisins.

Chicken Croquettes

There are some foods which I believe we as a culture do not eat enough of. Croquettes are one of those. Anything breaded and fried is going to be near and dear to a Southerner's heart, and something that is tasty, inexpensive, and easily prepared even more so.

In European cuisine, a croquette is a paste of finely chopped food with some sort of binding agent that has been coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried. The typical binding agent is a thick white sauce. These croquettes are more in keeping with those I grew up with, minced whatever held together with egg and breadcrumbs (much like meatloaf actually) and pan fried.

These chicken croquettes are a delicious dainty for lunch, an excellent snack, and just plain good eating. Enjoy.

Begin with a quantity of chicken breast meat and run it through a food processor till very finely minced. Add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs for every pound of chicken paste. Season to taste. Form into flat patties 1/4 inch thick, dredge in breadcrumbs and pan-fry till brown on both sides.

That's really all there is to it. You can sauce them any way you like, tying it in with the seasoning. Curry powder in the croquettes with a nice makhani gravy is delightful. Italian breadcrumbs with a pomodoro sauce is excellent.