A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [199]
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon stone-ground cornmeal
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
One 9-inch unbaked pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)
1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
2. Combine the two sugars, the cornmeal, and salt in a medium-size mixing bowl, pressing out all lumps. Beat the eggs in, one by one, then blend in the cream, vinegar, and vanilla. Add the melted butter in a slow, steady stream, beating all the while.
3. Pour the filling into the pie shell, slide the pie onto a baking sheet, and bake on the middle oven shelf for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325° F. and continue baking for 45 minutes or until puffed and the filling jiggles only slightly when you nudge the pan.
4. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before cutting. Note: The filling will fall somewhat as it cools, but this is the nature of chess pies.
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MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE
One of the advertising world’s best-known slogans, “Good to the last drop!” wasn’t created by an astute account executive. It was uttered by a United States president.
While visiting Nashville, Tennessee, back in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt sipped a cup of the Maxwell House coffee, smiled, and said, “Good to the last drop!”
The Maxwell House Hotel had been serving its signature coffee since 1892 when an entrepreneur named Joel Cheek showed up with one of his prize blends, hoping to make a sale. He succeeded and soon Cheek’s prize blend was so popular the hotel gave it its name.
Cheek, a farmer’s son, started his career with the single silver dollar his father had given him when he turned twenty-one. “Freedom dollar,” his father called it, meaning he was free to go out on his own.
By 1900, Cheek was producing the Maxwell House blend for home use. And though he didn’t create its famous slogan, he believed in advertising and put plenty of money into it.
The company that eventually became General Foods bought Maxwell House in 1928. Since then, there’s been no need to tell the company to wake up and smell the coffee; it not only has kept abreast of coffee trends but also has created a few.
In 1976 Maxwell House developed a special grind for automatic drip pots—a first. And today it offers flavored coffees and prepacked pods for the new single-cup brewers.
But no matter how the method of brewing coffee changes, Maxwell House remains “Good to the last drop!”
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NANNIE HALL DAVIS’S “FRENCH” PUDDING PIE
MAKES 8 TO 10 SERVINGS
Like many Virginians, my friend Maria Harrison Reuge was raised on damson plum preserves. This particular recipe, given to me by her parents when I visited them at their James River farm, is a chess-type pie flavored with damson preserves (see Sources, backmatter). The recipe belonged to Maria’s great-grandmother and when I asked if it was French, Maria’s father said, “No. In those days, whenever you thought something extra good, you’d call it French.”
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup damson plum preserves (see headnote)
One 10-inch unbaked pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)
Brown Sugar Sauce (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large electric mixer bowl at moderately high speed for 1 to 2 minutes until light. Beat the egg yolks in one by one, then beat in the preserves, 1/3 cup at a time. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the preserves mixture. Pour the filling into the pie shell.
3. Slide the pie onto a baking sheet and bake in the lower third of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until lightly browned and the filling