Granny died fifteen years ago this past March. She was just a few weeks shy of her 99th birthday. Brother and I thought that she’d live forever, and she just about did. (I wrote about what I think her secret was to longevity here.) She’d always been the same our whole lives. White hair, twinkly … Continue reading Chicken and Dumplings
Category: Recipes
Seven-minute Frosting
I recently wrote about my Great Aunt Lois and how, along with making a mean hush puppy, she was a master at Seven-minute Frosting. For the next few days I reminisced about Aunt Lois and what a good cook she was. I mean, she could make one of the trickiest frosting recipes without even batting … Continue reading Seven-minute Frosting
Homemade Butter Mints
Butter mints are a staple at Southern showers, teas, and receptions. Sweetly pastel, they sit proudly between the mixed nuts and petit fours on our party tables. Butter mints are no wallflower though. Their pale colors belie their assertive flavor. A few Christmases ago, Husband and I went to visit his parents. We hadn’t been … Continue reading Homemade Butter Mints
Crabmeat Casserole
Crabmeat. It’s my absolute favorite seafood. More than oysters, more than shrimp, I love me some crabmeat. Not crab legs, mind you. Blue crab. I’d eat a cat turd if it was served with lump crabmeat on the top. One of my favorite ways to eat crabmeat is in Crabmeat Casserole. This dish is another … Continue reading Crabmeat Casserole
Aspic, Southern Style
Aspic. What in the cat hair is it? The dictionary defines it as “a savoury jelly based on meat or fish stock, used as a relish or as a mould for meat, vegetables, etc.” Blech. I have a real problem with meat jellies. Something about the idea of it just gives me the heebie-jeebies as … Continue reading Aspic, Southern Style
The Dookie Cake
Dump Cake. That's the official, albeit unflattering, name of one of my favorite recipes. It's not as bad, however, as what Brother calls it — Dookie Cake. Ain’t that a little brother for you? But let me tell you what, his teasing doesn’t stop him from gobbling up a big ole bowl of it! Despite … Continue reading The Dookie Cake
Watermelon Rind Pickles
Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857-1915) was a pioneer in food science, nutrition, and uniform measurement in cooking. She was principal of the Boston Cooking School and published her first cookbook The Fannie Merritt Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook in 1896. In this book, which became a Bible of domesticity, the idea of using standard measurement and … Continue reading Watermelon Rind Pickles
Relish the Relish Tray
No holiday meal on Granny’s table was complete without a relish tray. Picture a divided crystal dish full of bite-sized, savory treats that compliment the main meal. It was usually filled with things we didn’t get very often. After all, there was no fancy-shmancy olive bar at Citronelle’s Piggly Wiggly. That’s why I always thought … Continue reading Relish the Relish Tray
Skillet Cornbread – or – How Not to Get Your Southerner Card Revoked
“The North thinks it knows how to make cornbread, but this is a gross superstition. Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as good as Southern cornbread, and perhaps no bread in the world is quite as bad as the Northern imitation of it.” — Mark Twain Cornbread is one of those things that … Continue reading Skillet Cornbread – or – How Not to Get Your Southerner Card Revoked
Squash Relish — The Pinto Bean’s Spicy Mate
Everyone knows that opposites attract. That's why Squash Relish is the perfect complement to Pinto Beans. Serve it right along side the beans so you can get a little of each on your fork. Let the juices mix with the gravy just a little around the edges. I think about this marriage of flavors like … Continue reading Squash Relish — The Pinto Bean’s Spicy Mate