A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [222]
3. Drop the dough from rounded ½ teaspoons onto baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 3 inches apart (they spread considerably as they bake).
4. Bake on the middle oven shelf for 10 to 12 minutes or until irresistible smelling and the color of caramel.
5. Remove the cookies from the oven, let stand on the baking sheets for about a minute, then transfer to wire racks to cool.
6. To store, layer the cookies between sheets of wax paper in airtight tins.
“Oh, my,” she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane. “It‘s fruitcake weather!”
—TRUMAN CAPOTE, A CHRISTMAS MEMORY
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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine
1993
The James Beard Foundation names Marcel Desaulniers, chef-proprietor of the Trellis restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia, Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic and Susan Spicer, chef-proprietor of Bayona in New Orleans, Best Chef in the Southeast.
The Atlanta Bread Company Bakery Café takes off in suburban Atlanta. Its artisanal breads—sourdough, focaccia, pumpernickel, and such—are baked fresh every day.
1994
Pillsbury buys Martha White, the 95-year-old Nashville miller known for its soft white flours—the Southerner’s preference.
The James Beard Foundation names Allen Susser, chef/proprietor of Chef Allen’s in Aventura, Florida, Best Chef in the Southeast.
The E. J. Brach Corporation buys Tennessee’s Brock Candy Company and phases out the production of hard candies at Brock’s Chattanooga plant to concentrate on fruit snacks.
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TENNESSEE WHISKEY BALLS
MAKES ABOUT 5 DOZEN
Bourbon balls are well known throughout the South and routinely show up at holiday open houses during Christmas and New Year’s. These whiskey balls, however, are mellower because they are made with Jack Daniel’s, a supremely smooth sour mash “sipping whiskey” that’s been made in the town of Lynchburg, Tennessee, for nearly 150 years. The Jack Daniel Distillery, the first to be registered in America, is a National Historic Site that can be toured. Note: To toast pecans, spread halves or large pieces on an ungreased baking sheet and set in a 325° F. oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool the nuts, then pulse in a food processor until as fine as cornmeal.
3½ cups fine vanilla wafer or graham cracker crumbs
2 cups finely ground lightly toasted pecans (see Note above)
2 cups unsifted confectioners’ (10 X) sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/3 cup light corn syrup
½ cup Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey
1 cup sifted confectioners’ (10 X) sugar (for dredging)
1. Knead the vanilla wafer crumbs, pecans, 2 cups unsifted confectioners’ sugar, the cocoa, nutmeg, corn syrup, and whiskey in a large mixing bowl until well blended.
2. Shape into 1-inch balls, then roll in the 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar until snowy.
3. Place the whiskey balls in airtight containers, separating the layers with wax paper. Cover and allow to season for about a week before serving.
PECAN PRALINES
MAKES ABOUT 20
I’ve spent a fair amount of time poking about the Cajun Country west of New Orleans and what fascinates me there, almost as much as the crawfish farms, are the pecan orchards and sugarcane fields. Small wonder pecan pralines are a Louisiana classic. There may be as many recipes for them as there are cooks. Some like to begin by boiling pure cane syrup down until it is as dark as molasses. Others prefer brown or granulated sugar. And still others favor buttermilk over sweet milk. I’ve tried many different praline recipes and keep returning to this one given to me nearly twenty-five years ago by a wonderful Cajun cook named Miss Tootie Guirard of St. Martin Parish. Tip: Choose a dry sunny day for making pralines. They won’t firm up in rainy or humid weather.
3 cups sugar
1½ cups milk
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans