Cooking the Delta

Tis the season for cooking and cookbooks.  I’ve had a pile of cookbooks on my kitchen table for a couple of weeks planning and dreaming of holiday meals, recipes to have on hand for friends and out-of-town family who drop by and gifts from the kitchen that most years never make it past good the realm of good intention.

One stack contains my tried and true “go-to” cookbooks – some worn and dog-eared.  Among them are my favorite community cookbooks with food-stained pages that escaped their worn or broken comb bindings, clipped together or rubber banded.  In a separate stack are my favorite books of 2011 – some I’m currently cooking through, and others that are still in the bedtime reading category.   Even with the proliferation of on-line recipes and electronic cookbooks, it was a big year for traditional cookbooks – the kind you thumb through on your kitchen table and splatter and stain by the hot stove.  I plan to share my favorites with you over the next few weeks.

Delta Magazine is always at the top of my reading list.  It’s one of the liveliest, sassiest, most compelling regional lifestyle magazines to be found on a newsstand.  The stories never fail to enlighten and entertain and the often quirky subject matter serves up a taste of the unique culture of the Mississippi Delta and the Deep South.

In the new Delta Magazine Cookbook, editor Melissa Townsend dishes out a compilation of recipes from the magazine’s archive.  Recipes run the gamut from everyday to celebratory including my favorite chapter titled “It’s 5 o’clock in the Delta” featuring a splash of cocktail concoctions served at legendary Delta house parties and the traditional salty snacks to go with them.  How many cookbooks offer three versions of the iconic Mint Julep?  And where can you find a recipe for the requisite Delta cocktail accompaniment, the cheese straw, next to recipes for Bloody Marys and Margaritas?

Since food and music are integral parts of the regional culture, a play list of blues, jazz and rock music is offered along with the recipes.  I plan to take Melissa’s suggestion and play “Catfish Blues” by James “Son Thomas” next time there’s a catfish in my skillet.

With beautiful photographs paying homage to the region and the food The Delta Magazine Cookbook is $35 and the perfect holiday gift for a Southern cook, wanna-be cook, or that special person we all know who is an avid cookbook reader and doesn’t cook a lick.  And l’ll bet, like many a subscription to Delta Magazine, the cookbook will end up in kitchens and coffee tables of homesick displaced Southerners all over the world.

Ask for The Delta Magazine Cookbook at your favorite independent bookstore…or order it online from MY favorite independent bookstore – Turnrow Books in Greenwood, Mississippi.   Proprietors Jamie and Kelly Kornegay will be happy to send it right out!  www.turnrowbooks.com

Praise the Lord, Pass the Corn Pudding

At 11:00 a.m. on the Friday before Thanksgiving, Janette Wallace took one last look over the Fellowship Hall and cheerfully called out “Time to open the doors.” Mid-afternoon when the doors were closed, 1200 guests and over 300 volunteers had been served at the Woodlawn Pentecostal Church’s Taste Fair.

Columbia, Mississippi, population 6,600, is two hours and a couple of two lane roads from my home in Jackson.  It’s a trip I happily make with family members every other year to take part in the Taste Fair, a church fundraiser that attracts lucky ticket holders from around the area – some groups arriving in buses. Woodlawn Pentecostal is an energetic church of 800 members with numerous missions in the community.  Like most Pentecostal churches, worship is praise-based filled with music, singing and multiple musical instruments that provide a spirited background for making “a joyful noise unto the Lord.”

The joyful noise today is provided by the chatter of 300 lively volunteers and a band featuring electric guitars, piano, and two drum sets.  Some of the lucky diners in the buffet line sway tap their feet or sing along with the band.  They’re happy because they’re getting ready experience a unique culinary celebration.

The church gymnasium/fellowship building has been transformed into a dining room decorated with tablecloths, runners, giant candelabra and large picture frames artfully hanging over each food station.  It’s hard to imagine that only a few days before, basketball players were running up and down the court. 

Two identical buffet lines laden with soups, salads, casseroles, relishes, and meat dishes line the perimeter.  At one end, the towering beverage station and a panorama of delectable desserts beckon diners.

Janette Wallace

The Taste Fair is the brainchild of Janette Wallace, president of Woodlawn's Women's Ministry and an accomplished cook, who begins working on recipes for the fair two years prior to the event.  Traveling with her contractor husband Tommy, she has plenty of opportunity to sample new dishes around the country and usually comes home from a trip with at least one new recipe in hand.  She makes the recipes at home and deems what is worthy and what is not to be included in the next Taste Fair. 

The 160 cooks who are the heart and soul of the event make multiple batches of each dish.  For casseroles, that means that 15 – 16 batches per recipe.  For desserts, there are 8 back-ups of each – one that is artfully presented for show and the rest made in sheet pans to provide the samples.  One of Janette’s most unique desserts for this fair is Carrot Cookies and 23 recipes were turned out by the volunteer bakers.

The women of the church, dressed in black with black aprons, are a precision team efficiently executing even the smallest task like an elite military unit. Each ticket holder is handed a large black styrofoam tray/plate and moves from station to station.  Dishes are served with long iced tea spoons -- after all, this is a tasting - and the smaller the portions, the more tastes can be experienced.

Trendy or tricky food is nowhere to be found on the buffet lines at Woodlawn.  There are no pork cheeks, pork bellies and not a hint of arugula anywhere.  This is the food of church suppers,  Sunday lunch at grandma's (if Grandma is a fabulous cook) and family holiday tables -- food that feeds body and soul.  It is food that is made with love and loving intent.

 There's a buzz up and down the serving lines as diners and volunteer servers pass the inside word to friends, family and perfect strangers about some of the dishes.  "The chicken enchiladas are delicious" or "Don't miss Velma's sweet corn pudding."

I certainly didn't miss Velma's sweet corn pudding...and I don't want you to miss it either.

Velma's Sweet Corn Pudding

2 large eggs
1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk
6 Tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2  packages (20 oz) frozen cream-style corn, thawed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease a 13 x 9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  In a large bowl, beat eggs.  Add evaporated milk, butter, sugar, salt, pepper, and vanilla, stirring to combine.  Stir in flour and corn.  Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.  Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Fried Chicken Dreams

 It had been a tough week at work and I was happy when Friday rolled around.  All this wining and dining can flat wear a girl out.  I took to heart the wise words of a friend who said when my wining and dining turned to whining and dining, it was time to put my fork down, take off my traveling shoes and take to the bed.  “Taking to the bed” is what Southern women of my grandmother’s generation did on a regular basis when life was too much with them.  For example, “A fox ate one of Mrs. Vickers’ chickens and she has taken to the bed” or “Sonny has been seeing that trashy girl down the street so Mae Ella has taken to the bed.”  The world would be a better place if we took to the bed more often to rest and recover from life’s bumps and bruises...or simply to rest.  Instead we absorb and anesthetize the bumps by running ourselves ragged with the business of modern life and perhaps down a pill or two so we don’t feel the bruises.  I say we should put the SUV in park, turn our cell phones to silent and take to the bed.  And while we’re in the bed, I propose we eat fried chicken. Think about it.  Fried chicken offers infinitely more comfort than Valium or Zoloft or the latest drug du jour.  Why is fried chicken considered the ultimate funeral food?  Why is it considered the ultimate soul food?  Because it comforts and soothes your soul, that’s why.

I’ve spent a fair share of my work week contemplating fried chicken – a worthy pursuit and one for which I am well qualified.  Having been asked by an editor to co-author a magazine piece on favorite fried chicken establishments, I have been deep into research and walking down chicken memory lane.  As I recalled fried chickens past, I thought about Collins Dream Kitchen on Terry Road in Jackson, Mississippi, my home town.  I hadn’t been there in a long time, but Mrs. Collins chicken still appears in my fried chicken dreams.  With both the noon hour and a deadline approaching, I decided it was time to visit the Dream Kitchen and see what was cooking.  But who in my text message contact list would drop everything to eat fried chicken?  Hmmm.  My father, Ben Puckett, of course.  When it comes to barbecue and soul food, he’s the go-to guy.  He knows who has the best fried pork chops and on which day of the week.  He can sniff out great barbecue like a hound dog on a hunt.  And he knows his fried chicken. His electronic response was immediate – “When and where?” 

We met at Collins Dream Kitchen in full research mode and were greeted with a hearty buffet with something for everyone – from spaghetti to chicken backs.  Mrs. Sylvester Collins presides over a soul food kitchen where the only way foods are made is from scratch.  My father chided me that I had insulted her when I asked if they made their creamed-corn.  A battle-worn veteran of buffet lines where institutional cans of vegetables are passed off as homemade, I am cynical.  But one bite of a Dream Kitchen vegetable restored my shaky faith.  The fried chicken was glorious – crisp, golden, moist with a little spice.  And although fried chicken was the job at hand, I rounded out the meal with perfectly cooked cabbage, creamed corn and a bite or two of my Dad’s sweet potatoes. Mrs. Collins’ cornbread is a reminder of crusty black skillet cornbread of yore….and the yeast rolls, well all I can say is that “heavenly” doesn’t do them justice. I also tried the killer banana pudding.  After all, this was research.  

After working so hard at the Dream Kitchen, there was only one thing to do – “take to the bed” – and that’s exactly what I did.  I woke from a lazy afternoon nap filled with fried chicken dreams ready to conquer the world and the next plate of fried chicken.  I’ll keep you posted.

Collins’ Dream Kitchen

1439 Terry Road

Jackson, MS 39204

601-353-3845

Pears Punctuate the Meal

It was a cool, crisp, beautiful day in the country -- one of those blue sky puffy cloud days that make the shimmering autumn leaves even more brilliant.  It was the perfect day to invite friends to share the magic of the changing season.

In the spirit of the day, we planned lunch to be casual and laid back.  It was also important that the menu be  "make-ahead" so the cook (that’s me) wouldn’t be kitchen-bound when there were woods to be walked, lakes to be fished and the beauty of nature beckoning.  A salad of roasted beets on autumn greens topped the menu followed by a piquant Crawfish Etouffee served over rice with French bread.  To serve as a counterpoint to the spicy etouffee, I wanted a dessert that was light, refreshing and seasonal.  A stroll through the produce aisle in my local market sealed the deal. I decided the mounds of pears blocking the aisle were a sign that a pear dessert was in my future.

I think of poached pears as an elegant dinner dessert, usually cooked in cream or red wine, but Alton Brown’s recipe caught my eye because the white wine, vanilla and chilled presentation are perfect for lunch or brunch.  The pears were a hit with our guests and the perfect palate cleanser after our spicy meal.  And they're just as easy as Alton claims...I promise!

Vanilla Poached Pears

Recipe by Alton Brown/The Food Network

Prep Time:

10 min

Inactive Prep Time:

1 hr 0 min

Cook Time:

55 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

4 servings

Ingredients

•   1 (750-ml) bottle white wine, Riesling or Viognier

•   1 cup water

•   5 ounces vanilla sugar, approximately 3/4 cup (Carols note: My market didn’t stock vanilla sugar so I slit a vanilla bean and placed it in a plastic storage bag filled with sugar.  It’s best to leave the bean in the sugar for a couple of weeks, but I only left it for 2 days and it was wonderful)

•   1 whole vanilla bean, split and scraped

•   4 firm Bartlett, Anjou or Bosc pears, peeled leaving the stem intact

Directions

Place the white wine, water, sugar and vanilla bean and pulp into a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

Core the pears from the bottom. Decrease the heat to medium low and place the pears into the liquid, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the pears are tender but not falling apart. Maintain a gentle simmer. Remove the pears to a serving dish, standing them upright, and place in the refrigerator.

Remove the vanilla bean from the saucepan, increase the heat to high and reduce the syrup to approximately 1 cup of liquid, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Do not allow the syrup to turn brown. Place the syrup in a heatproof container and place in the refrigerator until cool, approximately 1 hour.

Remove the pears from the refrigerator, spoon the sauce over the pears and serve.