A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [149]
3. Scoop the softened gelatin into the hot tomato juice and whisk until dissolved. Mix in the remaining 1 cup tomato juice, the grated onion, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and cayenne. Set uncovered in the refrigerator for 1 to 1½ hours or until the consistency of unbeaten egg white.
4. Fold in the shrimp, bell pepper, and celery and ladle into the mold. Set uncovered in the refrigerator and chill for several hours or overnight until firm.
5. When ready to serve, divide the lettuce cups among six salad plates. Unmold the aspic by dipping quickly into hot water, then inverting on a large plate. Tip: If the platter is wet, you’ll find the unmolded salad easier to center.
6. Cut the aspic into six wedges and bed on the lettuce. Pass a small bowl of mayonnaise.
Variations
Shrimp Aspic with Fresh Tarragon: Prepare Shrimp Aspic as directed, but fold in 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh tarragon (or dill) along with the shrimp, bell pepper, and celery.
Crab Aspic with Fresh Herbs: Prepare Shrimp Aspic with Fresh Tarragon as directed, but substitute ½ pound lump crabmeat for the shrimp, carefully removing bits of cartilage and shell.
Basic Tomato Aspic: Prepare Step 1 of Shrimp Aspic as directed. In Step 2, increase the amount of tomato juice to 2¼ cups and the grated onion to 2 tablespoons; also add 1 tablespoon each ketchup and fresh lime (or lemon) juice, and ¼ teaspoon celery salt. Omit Step 3. Pour the aspic into a 4-cup mold that has been lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray and proceed as the recipe directs. Makes 4 servings.
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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine
1934
Pepsi-Cola, now available in 12-ounce bottles, still costs just a nickel—the same as six-ounce bottles of competing colas. As a result, Pepsi sales soar despite the Depression.
1935
To counter pest damage to southern pecans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture establishes two pecan research stations, one at Thomasville, Georgia, and one at Monticello, Florida.
1936
Georgia entrepreneur William Stuckey sets up a roadside stand on the New York–Miami route to sell homegrown pecans and homemade candies.
Duncan Hines, a traveling salesman from Bowling Green, Kentucky, publishes a pocket guide to the restaurants he’s enjoyed on the road. He calls it Adventures in Good Eating and soon every motorist has to have one. (See Duncan Hines, Chapter 2.)
With a $1,500 loan, W. T. Harris opens his first grocery in Charlotte, North Carolina. It later morphs into the giant Harris Teeter supermarket chain, one of the South’s finest.
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MRS. B’S APRICOT CHIFFON SALAD
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS
Mrs. B was Mrs. Pegram Bryant, my first landlady. After college, I worked for a spell in Iredell County, North Carolina, as an assistant home demonstration agent, headquartering in the county seat of Statesville. Like many small southern towns, it was a social place; family mattered. So I was lucky to land in the garage apartment of the socially prominent Bryants. Mr. B owned a local newspaper and Mrs. B descended from a distinguished Statesville family. Although Mrs. B rarely cooked, she spent hours in the kitchen supervising her maid, Dorothy. I was often asked to join the Bryants for midday Sunday dinner (the only time I drank sweet tea from silver goblets) and that’s where I first tasted this apricot salad. I complimented Mrs. B on it and asked for the recipe, and she obliged. I use a large decorative ring mold instead of the little individual molds Mrs. B fancied; I turn it out on a large round platter and wreathe it with finely cut lettuce. Mrs. B never served mayonnaise with her apricot salad and neither do I. Note: I’ve added a teaspoon of unflavored gelatin to Mrs. B’s original recipe for two reasons: First, there’s an enzyme in pineapple (bromelin) that weakens gelatin and second, can sizes have changed since Mrs. B gave me