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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine

1916

Philip Lance’s wife and daughter begin sandwiching Lance crackers together with peanut butter and the “sandwich cracker” soon joins the Lance snack food line.

1917

Earl Mitchell, Sr., a salesman traveling about the South for the Chattanooga Bakery, has the idea for the MoonPie. It was the sort of cheap, rib-sticking snack folks craved. (See MoonPie, Chapter 6.)

Using her own homemade mayonnaise, Eugenia Duke of Greenville, South Carolina, makes sandwiches for GIs at nearby Fort Sevier. Her mayo is so good a local grocer takes a few jars, demand grows, and before long Duke’s mayonnaise is number one throughout the South. (See Eugenia Duke, Chapter 4.)

H. C. Newsom sells a few of his aged country hams at his store in Princeton, Kentucky—hams smoke-cured according to a 121-year-old family recipe. Today those hams, the highly prized Col. Bill Newsom’s Aged Kentucky Country Hams, are produced the age-old way by H. C. Newsom’s granddaughter, Nancy Newsom Mahaffey, aka “The Ham Lady.”

George E. Hutchens of High Point, North Carolina, opens the first of 52 Food Worlds, a popular North Carolina–Virginia grocery chain. In 1984, Food World is acquired by NC’s upscale Harris Teeter supermarkets.

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McCORMICK’S SPICES

Most of us just find old high school annuals in our cellars. But Willoughby M. McCormick found a spice empire. It all began in Baltimore in 1889 when twenty-five-year-old McCormick began mixing root beer, flavorings, and syrups in his basement and selling them door to door under the Bee Brand and Silver Medal labels. He had a staff of three at the time—two girls and a boy—and an optimistic motto: “Make the Best—Someone Will Buy It.” Just in case the “best” someone needed wasn’t flavorings, McCormick also made Iron Glue (“Sticks to Everything but the Buyer”) and Uncle Sam’s Nerve and Bone Liniment (“For Man or Beast”). In 1896, McCormick bought the F. G. Emmett Spice Company of Philadelphia and moved its equipment to Baltimore. He added mustard and tea to his line, and in 1910 he became one of the first to package tea in gauze pouches, making “southern nectar” faster and easier to brew. McCormick’s grew with the world of food. It went bicoastal in 1947 by acquiring Schilling & Company of San Francisco (a coffee, spice, and extract house), and formed McCormick de Mexico, S.A. Over time, it established itself in Asia, Canada, France, and Germany, and also developed spice blends to meet growing interest in Asian and Southwestern cuisines. Today Old Bay Seasoning, TV Time popcorn, Zatarain’s foods, and Golden Dipt seafood products, among others, all belong to McCormick’s, the global giant that began in a Baltimore basement.

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BARBECUED BEANS

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

You might call these the southern “Boston-Baked.” Many barbecue joints offer them as a side for pulled pork or ribs. But I like them as a main course with hefty helpings of sweet slaw. Note: An old-fashioned bean pot is best for baking the beans, but if you have none, choose a deep casserole with a snugly fitting lid. Like many casseroles, these beans will be more flavorful if baked one day and served the next. Take them from the fridge and let stand at room temperature for half an hour, then reheat by setting in a 350° F. oven for about 30 minutes.

1 pound dried navy or pea beans, washed and sorted

2 large yellow onions, moderately finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons bacon, ham, or pork drippings

¾ cup tomato ketchup

½ cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons prepared spicy brown mustard

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)

5 cups boiling water (about)

1. Place the beans in a large, heavy kettle, add just enough cold water to cover them by 1 inch, and soak overnight.

2. When ready to proceed, preheat the oven to 350° F. Drain