A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [155]
5. Bake the bread in the lower third of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until it pulls away from the sides of the pan and feels springy when touched.
6. Transfer the bread to a wire rack but do not remove from the pan. Pour the glaze evenly over the loaf, then cool to room temperature.
7. To serve, loosen the tea bread around the edge using a thin-blade spatula, turn out on the rack, then cut into slices about 3/8 inch thick. Note: This tea bread freezes well. Wrap snugly in plastic food wrap, overwrap with aluminum foil, date, label, and store in a 0° F. freezer. Serve within 3 months.
“HOT’NS”
MAKES ABOUT 1 DOZEN
Every Southerner knows what a “hot’n” is: a biscuit straight from the oven. The name, it’s said, dates back to World War Two when southern hostesses liked to invite soldiers stationed at nearby military bases over for home-cooked Sunday dinners. One hostess, passing a basket of buttermilk biscuits, said to the Yankee lieutenant on her left, “Have a hot’n.” And he, thinking that that was the name of the bread, inquired a little later, “May I have another hot’n?” The name stuck. There are dozens of biscuit recipes but this one is fairly classic. The preferred flour is soft and self-rising—White Lily, for example (see box, Chapter 5). And the shortening of choice is lard—hog lard with sometimes a bit of butter added—because it makes for extra-flaky biscuits and also adds subtle meaty flavor. Note: If self-rising flour is unavailable (it was the whole time I lived in New York), substitute all-purpose flour and add 1½ teaspoons baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt.
2 cups unsifted self-rising flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup firmly packed lard or vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon butter
¾ cup buttermilk
1. Preheat the oven to 425° F.
2. Place the flour and baking soda in a large mixing bowl, add the lard and butter, then, using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the fat into the dry ingredients until the texture of uncooked oatmeal.
3. Drizzle in the buttermilk, forking briskly, then continue forking just until a soft dough forms.
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly 5 to 6 times. With a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out until about ¾ inch thick. Cut into rounds using a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter and space about 1½ inches apart on a large ungreased baking sheet. Gather scraps, reroll, and cut as before.
5. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned.
6. Serve at once—and no stinting on butter (or gravy).
Sally went into the cupboard and took out a pottery crock of blackberry preserves, the mouth sealed with beeswax. She gave it to Ada and said, “This’ll be good on your leftover biscuits.”
—CHARLES FRAZIER, COLD MOUNTAIN
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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine
1937
The first Krispy Kreme doughnuts are deep-fried and honey-glazed in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (See Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Chapter 6.)
Two popular southern grocery chains—Atlanta-based Rogers and Norfolk-based Pender—merge with a combined total of more than 500 stores. Two brand new Pender-Rogers supermarkets open as “Big Stars,” one in Greensboro, North Carolina, and one in Griffin, Georgia. They are the first of many.
1938
To raise funds, the Girl Scouts, founded 26 years earlier in Savannah, Georgia, begin selling cookies made by Interbake Foods of Richmond, Virginia. Earlier, they’d baked their own.
Herman Lay buys the Atlanta firm whose potato chips he’d been selling out of the trunk of his car and renames it H. W. Lay & Company. Soon Lay’s Potato Chips are the South’s favorite.
Lance introduces Toastchee®, two square Cheddar crackers sandwiched together with peanut butter. They’re best sellers to this day.
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WHITE LILY FLOUR
If it weren’t for White