A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [239]
The James Beard Foundation names Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison of Bacchanalia in Atlanta Best Chefs in the Southeast.
2004
A mysterious blight threatens Georgia’s multimillion-dollar Vidalia onion crop.
North Carolina tobacco farmers begin growing black Périgord truffles under the direction of Franklin Garland, who’d mastered the technique on his farm near Hillsborough.
The James Beard Foundation names Louis Osteen, chef-proprietor of Louis’s at Pawley’s on Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, Best Chef in the Southeast.
Category-four hurricane Charley decimates one third of Florida’s citrus groves.
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SPICY PEACH BUTTER
MAKES 6 TO 8 HALF-PINTS
Among some southern mountain folk, peach butter is more popular than peach jam, maybe because it seems less fussy. It’s not as sweet as peach jam but is a good bit spicier, yet it’s equally tasty on hot biscuits, hoecakes, and corn pones. As with peach jam, freestone Georgia Belles and Elbertas are the peach varieties to use.
6 pounds medium firm-ripe peaches, washed and drained (see headnote)
1 cup cold water
Sugar (½ cup for each 1 cup of cooked peaches)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1. Blanch the peaches in batches in boiling water, allowing 30 seconds for each. Transfer at once to ice water, then slip off the skins. Drain the peaches well, pit, and coarsely chop.
2. Transfer the peaches to a large nonreactive kettle, add the 1 cup cold water, and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Adjust the heat so that the peaches simmer gently and cook uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes or until they are very soft. Measure the cooked peaches carefully and make a note of the total amount.
3. Return the peaches to the kettle, then for every 1 cup of peaches, add ½ cup sugar. Also add the lemon juice, orange zest, and three spices. Insert a candy thermometer.
4. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches the jelling point (218° to 220° F.).
5. Meanwhile, wash and rinse 8 half-pint preserving jars and their closures and submerge in a large kettle of boiling water.
6. Ladle the boiling peach butter into the hot jars, filling each to within ¼ inch of the top. Tip: To avoid spills, use a wide-mouth canning funnel. Wipe the jar rims with a damp cloth and screw on the closures.
7. Process the jars for 10 minutes in a hot water bath (185° F.). Lift from the water bath; complete the seals, if necessary, by tightening the lids, then cool to room temperature.
8. Date and label each jar, then store on a cool, dark shelf for about a month before serving.
Her hand was as light with her pastry as with her husband, and the results as happy.
—ANONYMOUS
DAMSON PRESERVES
MAKES 4 TO 5 HALF-PINTS
The damson plum (Prunus insititia) is believed to have been introduced into Greece by Alexander the Great, who found it growing near Damascus; into Western Europe by Crusaders returning from Jerusalem; and into the New World by the English colonists. According to Sturtevant’s Notes on Edible Plants, the damson still grows wild throughout Europe and Asia as well as over much of the United States. Sturtevant describes the damson thus: “The fruit is globular, black or white, of an acid taste but not unpleasant, especially when mellowed by frost; it makes a good conserve.” Quite so. The tiny, tart, black-skinned, golden-fleshed damsons are what Southerners prize for preserves. Note: It’s important that the plums not be fully ripe, for if they are, they will not contain enough natural pectin to thicken the preserves.
3 pounds firm-ripe damson plums, halved and pitted but not peeled (you’ll need 5 cups of prepared damsons)
1 cup water
4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons finely