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One 3½-to 4-pound broiler-fryer, cut up for frying (if the breasts are overly large as so many are these days, halve each crosswise)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 large garlic clove, thinly slivered

1½ cups finely ground pecans (see Note and Tip at left)

1 cup fine dry bread crumbs (unflavored)

¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (see Note above)

1 teaspoon crumbled dried leaf thyme

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Wash the chicken parts in cool water, pat dry on paper toweling, and set aside.

2. Place the butter and slivered garlic in a small, heavy saucepan and set over low heat until the butter melts. Tip: I often melt the butter in a 2-quart ovenproof glass measure in the microwave oven: 6 to 8 minutes on DEFROST should do it. Then I add the garlic.

3. Combine the ground pecans, bread crumbs, grated Parmesan, thyme, salt, and pepper in a shallow roasting pan (not too large). Dip each piece of chicken into the melted garlic butter, then coat thickly with the pecan mixture and arrange in a large shallow roasting pan so that the pieces do not touch one another. Drizzle any remaining garlic butter over the chicken.

4. Slide uncovered onto the middle oven rack and oven-fry for 1 to 1¼ hours or until richly browned and no traces of pink remain in the chicken. As the chicken cooks, baste occasionally with the pan drippings.

5. Serve hot or at room temperature. I even like this chicken straight out of the refrigerator. Accompany with a tossed salad of crisp greens or, to be authentically southern, with Sweet Slaw.

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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine

1867

Mardi Gras revelry resumes after the Civil War. The Krewe of Comus celebrates with an Epicurus Parade. Krewe members wear papier-mâché costumes depicting such delicacies as oysters on the half shell, a leg of lamb, and a bottle of sherry.

1869

The first batch of Tabasco sauce is shipped from Avery Island, Louisiana. The sauce is patented a year later and over time, it becomes a kitchen staple (see box, Chapter 2).

1870s

Russians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and Poles emigrate to English-Irish-German-African Baltimore, settle into “ethnic” neighborhoods, and stir the local melting pot culturally and culinarily.

Caribbean-bound Clipper ships leave Baltimore harbor laden with Western Maryland coal and return with coffee, bananas, and pineapple, all now much in demand.

1872

Georgia socialite Annabella P. Hill publishes a cookbook. Called Mrs. Hill’s Southern Practical Cookery and Receipt Book, it is based on her New Cook Book (1867) and helps those new to housekeeping. (A facsimile edition with observations and explanations by Savannah-based food historian and cookbook author Damon Lee Fowler is now available.)

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JTF’S CHICKEN AND ARTICHOKE CASSEROLE

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

For years the fiction editor of The Ladies’ Home Journal, my best friend, Jean Todd Freeman, like so many southern women of a certain age and social standing, insisted that she couldn’t cook. Not true. JTF, as we called her because that’s the way she signed her memos, was in fact an excellent cook and this particular recipe was her dinner-party staple. We lived around the corner from one another in New York’s West Village; traveled about Europe together; then after Jean returned home to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, shunpiked through the Deep South. Jean was the perfect traveling companion—witty, easygoing, deeply knowledgeable about her corner of the South, and eager to share bits of gossip, legend, and lore (always the storyteller). She introduced me to New Orleans years ago in addition to points north and west; and later to Jackson, Vicksburg, Natchez, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as well as to the Mississippi and Alabama gulf coasts, and the Florida Panhandle. Jean was the insider, I the tourist, and she made each jaunt memorable. Note: If the chicken breasts are unduly large, halve them crosswise so that all pieces of chicken will be done at the same time.