A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [131]
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large, heavy skillet over high heat until ripples appear on the skillet bottom.
3. Drop the fritter batter from a tablespoon into the hot oil and brown 2 to 3 minutes on a side, adding the remaining oil, if necessary.
4. Drain the fritters quickly on paper toweling and serve as an accompaniment to baked ham, roast pork, or chicken. Good, too, with chicken, shrimp, or ham salad. 1 cup half-and-half
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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine
1925
Tom Huston of Columbus, Georgia, invents a mechanical peanut sheller, then a roasting process, all because farmers are paying for his mechanical help in peanuts, not dollars.
Idaho native W. M. Davis buys a small Miami grocery. From that humble beginning, his heirs launch the Winn-Dixie chain of southern supermarkets through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Today, with more than 1,000 stores, Winn-Dixie is one of America’s largest food retailers.
1926
Columbus, Georgia, inventor Tom Huston bags his shelled and roasted peanuts in cellophane tubes, then sells them as “Tom’s Toasted Peanuts.” And that is the start of Tom’s Foods, today a producer of more than 300 different snacks and munchies.
The Mount Olive Pickle Company is founded in Mount Olive, North Carolina, and its “dills,” “bread-and-butters,” and relishes are soon number one in the South. (See Mount Olive Pickles, Chapter 7.)
A hurricane wipes out Florida’s Key lime industry and they’re reduced to dooryard fruit.
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GRATIN OF VIDALIA ONIONS
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS
The sweet Vidalia onions of Georgia are immensely versatile. Here, for example, I’ve taken four pounds of them and prepared them as the French might prepare leeks. The Vidalias, I think, are even better. This side dish partners perfectly with roast pork or chicken, not to mention the Thanksgiving turkey. Forget the traditional creamed onions and serve this gratin instead.
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
4 large Vidalia onions, halved lengthwise, then each half sliced ¼ inch thick (about 4 pounds)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
¼ teaspoon crumbled leaf thyme
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup chicken broth
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Topping
1½ cups moderately coarse soft bread crumbs
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Lightly butter a 2-quart gratin dish or shallow casserole and set aside.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large, heavy skillet over moderately high heat, add the onions, and sauté for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring often, until soft. Transfer to the gratin dish.
3. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in the same skillet over moderate heat; blend in the flour, salt, pepper, thyme, and nutmeg and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute.
4. Combine the half-and-half and chicken broth, then slowly add to the skillet, whisking all the while. Continue whisking for 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened and smooth. Blend in the Parmesan, taste for salt and pepper, and adjust as needed. Pour the sauce over the onions, spreading to the edge.
5. Quickly make the topping by tossing all ingredients together. Scatter evenly on top of the sauce and onions.
6. Bake uncovered on the middle oven shelf for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbling and tipped with brown.
7. Serve at once.
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VIDALIA ONIONS
It was a freaky year for onions in Toombs County, Georgia, back in 1931. Farmer Mose Coleman’s crop had no bite; in fact his big ivory-skinned onions were so sweet they were a hard sell at $3.50 per fifty-pound bag.
Over time, Georgians developed a taste for Toombs County sweet onions and when a farmer’s market opened in the town of Vidalia in the ’40s, appetites increased.