10 Cooking Tips to Remember

1. Line the cake stand or plate with strips of waxed paper before placing the bottom cake layer on the stand. Once the cake is iced, carefully pull out strips one-at-a-time for a completely clean cake stand. I learned this trick years ago from Nathalie Dupree.

2. Place a wet paper towel under cutting boards to keep them from slipping and sliding. 

3. Keep your knives sharp. Cuts heal faster when made with a sharp knife. 

4. Instead of crumbling bacon when it's crispy, chop it before you cook it. A lot more can cook at one time and cook faster than in strips.

5. Store skillets with paper plates in between the pans to prevent scratches.

6. Spray measuring spoons or cups with nonstick cooking spray before measuring sticky ingredients, like honey or sorghum. Instead of sticking in the spoon, it will pour right out. 

7. Mince garlic cloves while loosely wrapped in plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet to pound them to a mince and the back of knife to scrape into the pan.

8. Make all brownies the same size squares. Cut down the center of the pan first, creating two equal squares on either end. Then cut squares in half. Keep halving until all bars are cut.

9. Slice rolled cookie dough with unflavored dental floss to prevent one side of the cookie log from squishing flat. 

10. Buy nuts in bulk and store in the freezer. It's much less expensive and prevents last minute grocery trips for just one cup of pecans.

Friends Around the Table

Nancie McDermott's Lemon-Filled Coconut Cake

I’ve made a lot of friends around the table in my life, but one very special group to me is made up of other Southern cookbook authors. They all live hours and hours away, yet we manage to stay in touch, support each other, offer advice, and share the love for each others' books and work. No matter the profession, having friends that deeply understand the path you’re on is priceless. These women are the ones that offer their homes to me when I’m on the road, attend events when they’re already over-booked, and shout praises of a new book from the rooftops. They take me to dinner with their family when I’m homesick for my own peeps. We also share notes on what works and what doesn’t on the journey from the kitchen counter to the printer. They've also taken me under their wings before really even knowing me.

I’m filling my table with their recipes this Christmas season. It’s the next best thing to having them stop by for a visit. Sandra Gutierrez, Nathalie Dupree, Cynthia Graubart, Jean Anderson, Virginia Willis, and Nancie McDermott are all experts on Southern cooking, but all in slightly different ways. They create the perfect collection of knowledge of the hows and whys of cooking in the South. Make room on your cookbook shelf and fire up the stove for the holidays. Collect all of these books (and Around the Southern Table too, of course), and you’re simply set for 2013 to be as sweet and savory as possible. 

Sandra Gutierrez’s Pickled Mushrooms

These meaty, juicy mushrooms offer a little bit of sweetness and a touch of vinegar in every bite. Pickled vegetables are a common feature in Latin and Southern repasts. The pickling technique,  used here, in which a vinaigrette is cooked along with the vegetables, pickling them as they cool, is known as escabeche. The beauty of this method is that it doesn't require a long period of time. Arab cooking techniques such as this one were introduced into Spain during the Ottoman Empire. Many of them made their way into Latin cuisine as a result of the European conquista. Modern Latin features myriad examples of this cultural amalgamation. Serve the mushrooms at room temperature with plenty of crusty bread to sop up the caldillo (juices).

½ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup thinly sliced yellow onion

1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced thinly into strips ¼ -inch thick

8 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)

1 bay leaf

6 whole black peppercorns

1 ½ pounds whole white button mushrooms

4 large garlic cloves, sliced paper-thin

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a medium bowl, combine the vinegar, water, and sugar; set aside. In a medium stainless steel or enamel coated saucepan with high sides, combine the oil, onions, bell pepper, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns; cook over medium heat, stirring gently for 4-5 minutes (being careful not to brown the onions).  Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the mushrooms; cook for 3-4 minutes stirring often. Add garlic and cook for 30-40 seconds. Add the vinegar mixture and increase the heat to medium. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the mushrooms to a nonreactive bowl; cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. Bring them back to room temperature when ready to serve. These keep, if properly chilled and covered, for up to 1 week. Serves 6-8.

From The New Southern-Latino Table: Recipes that Bring Together the Bold and Beloved Flavors of Latin America and the American South. Copyright © 2011 by Sandra A. Gutierrez. Used by permission of the University of North Carolina Press.www.uncpress.unc.edu

Nathalie Dupree’s and Cynthia Graubart’s Creamed English Peas and Potatoes

Serves 4 to 6

“Creamers” is the name for just-picked small potatoes. Combined with English peas and a cream sauce, they add a splendid touch to holiday or company meals, hence, “creamed ” creamers and English peas. Use a large pot to prevent the potatoes from boiling over.

12 small creamers or fingerling potatoes

8 tablespoons butter, divided

1 medium onion, sliced


2 cups shelled fresh English peas

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup heavy cream


Salt
 & Freshly ground black pepper

Peel a band around the potatoes with a swivel peeler or knife. Cut up any large potatoes so that none are larger than 1 1 ⁄ 2 inches in diameter. Rinse and add to a pot of boiling water to cover. Return to the boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, 20 to 30 minutes, depending on size.

Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan. Add the onion and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.

Melt the remaining 5 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Add heavy cream to the roux, stirring continuously to make a white sauce. Bring to the boil. Pour the sauce into the undrained potatoes and peas. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Reprinted with permission from Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart, copyright © 2012. Published by Gibbs Smith.

Jean Anderson’s Marmalade Tea Cake

Makes a 9 x 5 x 3-Inch Loaf

I found this recipe in Coastal Cookery, a slim spiral-bound volume first published in 1937 by the Cassina Garden Club of St. Simon’s Island, Georgia.  It has now gone through at least eight editions, the last printed in 1972 and the one I have.  This is my updated version of that long-ago recipe.  Unlike many Southern cakes, this was is not very sweet – perfect, I think, for an afternoon tea or open house.  In fact, it’s more tea bread than tea cake.

2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder  
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt  
1 cup orange marmalade  
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened 
1 large egg  
3/4 cup fresh orange juice  
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans, black walnuts, or English walnuts          

Glaze:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325° F.  Line 9 x 5 x 3-inch pan with baking parchment or aluminum

foil, then spritz with non-stick oil-and-flour baking spray.  Set pan aside. 

Whisk flour with baking powder, soda, and salt in medium-size mixing bowl and set aside. 

Beat marmalade and butter at high electric mixer speed about 1 minute to combine.  Scrape sides of bowl, add egg, and beat 2 minutes until light. 

At low mixer speed, add combined dry ingredients alternately with orange juice, beginning and ending with dry and mixing after each addition only enough to combine.   By hand, fold in nuts.  Scoop batter into pan, spreading to corners. 

Slide onto middle oven shelf and bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours until nicely browned, loaf begins to pull from sides of pan, and cake tester inserted in middle comes out clean.

Transfer loaf to wire rack, placing right side up.

 Glaze: Combine lemon juice and sugar in small non-reactive saucepan, set over moderate heat, and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute until sugar dissolves.  Pierce cake 10 to 12 times with toothpick, spoon hot glaze slowly over cake, letting it soak in and dribble down sides.   Let stand 15 minutes in upright pan on wire rack.

Grasping edges of parchment, gently lift cake from pan to wire rack and cool to room temperature before removing parchment.

To serve, cut tea cake into slices about 3/8 inch using your sharpest serrated knife and a gentle see-saw motion..   Note: Some Southern hostesses halve or quarter each slice – easier to eat while balancing a cup of tea or coffee.

Reprinted with permission from From a Southern Oven: The Savories, The Sweets by Jean Anderson, copyright © 2012. Published by John Wiley & Sons. 

 
Virginia Willis’ Garlic-Stuffed Prime Rib Roast with Crispy Potatoes

Serves 8

1 (8- to 9-pound) prime rib or standing rib roast (4 ribs)

4 to 5 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced and seasoned with salt and pepper

1 tablespoon canola oil

12 ounces fingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

 
Remove the roast from the refrigerator. Using a paring knife, make 1/2 inch deep slits every 2 inches on all of the meaty sides of the roast. Insert a sliver of garlic into each slit. Set aside and let the roast stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Season the meat all over with salt and pepper. Heat a large roasting pan over medium-high heat. Add the canola oil and heat until shimmering. Add the prepared prime rib, fat side down. Cook until dark brown and crusted on all sides, about 5 minutes per side. Finish with the roast meat side up and rib side down.

Roast for 15 minutes, then decrease the heat to 350°F and roast the meat for 18 to 20 minutes per pound, adding the potatoes and tossing them to coat in the pan drippings about 1 hour before the roast is expected to be done. The roast is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into a fleshy section registers 115°F to 120°F for blue, 120°F to 130°F for rare, or 130°F to 140°F for medium-rare.

Remove the roast to a meat carving board and cover it loosely with foil. Let it rest for at least 15 and up to 30 minutes. (The temperature will increase another 5°F to 10°F.) Return the potatoes to the pan to continue cooking while the roast rests.

To carve, lay the roast on its side. Using a chef’s knife, remove the meat in one piece from the bone. Set aside the bones. Remove the potatoes from the oven. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. Transfer to a warmed serving platter. Slice the meat against the grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Serve immediately.

Reprinted with permission from Basic to Brilliant, Y’all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company by Virginia Willis, copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc. 
 

Nancie McDermott’s Lemon-Filled Coconut Cake

Coconut cake is always very sweet, and luscious lemon curd provides a sunburst of tangy flavor that I adore. You can buy it at specialty food shops, but lemon curd is also simple to make. Once you know how, you can share small jars as gifts for your most precious friends, or enjoy it on breakfast biscuits or tea time scones. If you make the lemon curd yourself, but skip the frosting, you can cover the cake layers with whipped cream and shower the cake with coconut flakes.

Cake

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened, or 1/2 cup shortening

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Fluffy White Frosting

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

2 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

About 3 cups freshly grated coconut, or shredded sweetened coconut

1 recipe Lemon Curd, or 1 cup (10 ounces) store bought lemon curd

To make the cake:

Heat the oven to 350 F, and grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl, and mix with a fork to combine them well. Stir the vanilla into the milk.

Add the shortening, eggs, and 1/4 cup of the milk to the flour mixture. Blend well with a mixer at medium speed, stopping now and then to scrape down the bowl, until you have a thick, fairly smooth batter, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining 3/4 cup milk, and beat only until the batter is smooth and well combined.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350 F for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly at the center, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pans.

Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks or folded kitchen towels for 10 minutes. Carefully turn them out onto the wire racks or onto plates, turn the cakes so they are top side up, and cool completely, topside up down.

To make the frosting:

Bring about 3 inches of water to a boil in a medium saucepan or in the bottom of a double boiler. Meanwhile, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a large, heatproof bowl which will fit snugly over the saucepan, or in the top of the double boiler. Beat for 1 minute with a mixer at low speed, until the egg white mixture is pale yellow, foamy and well combined.

Place the mixing bowl or the double boiler top over the pan of boiling water, and adjust the heat to maintain a gentle boil. Using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the sugar-egg white mixture at high speed for 7 to 14 minutes, or until it triples in volume, swelling into a voluptuous cloud of frosting that holds firm curly peaks when the beaters are lifted. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the bowl once or twice.

To assemble the cake, place one layer, top side down, on a cake stand or serving plate. Cover it generously with the lemon curd, spreading it almost to the edge of the cake. Place the other layer, top side up, on top of the lemon curd. Cover the cake generously with the frosting, and then place it on a cookie sheet or tray to catch any coconut that doesnít stick to the cake. Sprinkle coconut generously all over the iced layers, and then carefully pat coconut on any bare spots.

Lemon Curd

3 eggs


3/4 cup sugar


1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice


1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest


6 tablespoons cold butter

Bring about 3 inches of water to a lively simmer in the bottom of a double boiler, or saucepan that will accommodate a medium heat-proof mixing bowl so that it sits snugly above the water.

Meanwhile, combine the eggs, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in the top of the double boiler or the heat-proof bowl. Whisk or stir with a fork to mix them together very well. Cut the butter into small chunks.

Cook the egg-and-lemon mixture over the simmering water, whisking and stirring often and well, for 8 to 10 minutes, until it thickens to a luxurious, bright yellow sauce, like lightly whipped cream. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, a few chunks at a time, whisking to melt the chunks into the lemon curd before adding the next little batch.

Cool to room temperature, and then transfer the lemon curd to a glass jar. Store it covered, in the refrigerator up to 1 week


Makes about 1 1/2 cups

From "Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations". Copyright: Nancie McDermott, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2012 Rebecca Lang Cooks, LLC. All rights reserved.

Southern Biscuits and a Slew of Cookbooks

On a recent trip to Charleston, Nathalie Dupree, my mentor and close friend, met my husband for the first time. We have been married nearly 10 years, but the two of them had never laid eyes on each other. For years, I’ve tried to describe her vivaciousness, tell-it-like-it-is, incredibly welcoming in any situation, and incomparable personality. He liked her immediately.

It was in 1998 that I started working for Nathalie as an apprentice. I cooked on most days at Nathalie’s house, but the looming cookbook library always drew me into the hall in between recipes. It was this enormous collection of cookbooks that desperately needed to be catalogued and put in order.

Being the well mannered, eager to please Southern girl I am, I volunteered before thinking it through. Nathalie’s cookbook collection was almost endless and seemed to me to be the largest in the world. The books lined the main hall that was nearly the length of the house and were displayed on towering dark mahogany stained bookshelves. It didn’t take but a few seconds in the house to recognize the intriguing vague scent of ink, paper, and binding.

To get started on my new assignment, I met with a UGA librarian and was convinced the Dewey decimal system was the way to go. I now know I would have been more qualified to analyze chemical compounds. It wasn’t long before I realized I was in way over my 21-year-old head. Thank goodness, we then decided to make general sections, number each book in each section, and then catalogue each book digitally.

I came in an extra day each week to work on the library. I often sat in the floor and fell into the books I was deployed to organize. Nathalie didn’t mind and even encouraged me to “check-out” books to read. It was during one of these days that I was folded up on the floor engrossed in Damon Lee Fowler’s Classical Southern Cooking. It almost sounds unbelievable, but at that very instant, Damon walked in the side door. He had come through town to pick up Nathalie for an event that I don’t recall.

When Damon walked by and Nathalie introduced him, I was practically in awe. It seemed her house was the home base for all things Southern. It is this library that I aspire to recreate and still think about often. It’s quite a luxury to be surrounded by books, glorious books. My own cookbook library now takes up a wall in my office. I have an entire shelf devoted to only Nathalie’s books. Most authors only dream of publishing as many books as Nathalie has written. My “Nathalie shelf” just got more crowded.

Her brand new Southern Biscuits, written with Cynthia Graubart, is hot off the press and is a tome of the puffed and golden delicacy. It’s a real book – heavy enough to need two hands to hold and large enough to take up an entire lap when reading. I have made biscuits with Nathalie on several occasions and I can testify that she makes a dang good biscuit.

Most cooks have one or two biscuit recipes they revisit regularly, but this book has opened the door to a new world of this Southern specialty. It, of course, includes Basic Southern Biscuits, but the glass ceiling has been lightly sprinkled with flour and shattered into pieces. Between the Pimento Cheese Biscuits and Senator Hollings’ Flaky Appetizer Cream Cheese Biscuits and Gullah Biscuits, I couldn’t preheat my oven fast enough.

With lessons on flours, fats, and leavening, literally everything anyone will need to succeed at making the perfect batch of biscuits can be found in these pages. Readers learn how to slide a baking pan on the oven shelf under baking biscuits to slow browning. Twist the cutter and the biscuit will be lopsided. Even included is the fact that biscuits made from dough scraps are tougher in texture.

Practically anyone can turn out successful batch after batch of biscuits with the help of Southern Biscuits. It’s a worthy addition to any cookbook library, large or small.

Southern Biscuits by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart, $21.99

Allison’s Easy Sour Cream Biscuits

Makes 12 to 14 (2 1⁄ 2-inch) biscuits

Sour cream biscuits are among the easiest of

all the biscuits to make. Using a homemade

or commercial self-rising flour makes it easier

again, as then only two ingredients are needed.

The acid in the milk products tenderizes the

biscuits as well as activates the baking powder

already incorporated in the flour. This recipe is

enormously easy and makes exceedingly tender,

moist, and fluffy biscuits with a tang. They have

a great rise, to about three times their height.

2 1/4 cups commercial or home made self-rising flour, divided

1 1/4 cups sour cream, divided

Softened butter, for brushing.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Select the baking pan by determining if a soft or crisp exterior

is desired. For a soft exterior, use an 8- or 9-inch cake pan,

pizza pan, or oven-proof skillet where the biscuits will nestle

together snugly, creating the soft exterior while baking. For

a crisp exterior, select a baking sheet or other baking pan

where the biscuits can be placed wider apart, allowing air to

circulate and creating a crisper exterior, and brush the pan

with butter.

Fork-sift or whisk 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl,

preferably wider than it is deep, and set aside the remaining

1⁄4 cup.

Make a deep hollow in the center of the flour with the back

of your hand. Pour 1 cup of sour cream into the hollow,

reserving the remaining 1⁄4 cup, and stir with a rubber

spatula or large metal spoon, using broad circular strokes to

quickly pull the flour into the sour cream. Mix just until the

dry ingredients are moistened and the sticky dough begins

to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Use the reserved

sour cream as needed to incorporate the remaining flour into

the shaggy wettish dough. If the dough is too wet, use more

flour when shaping.

Lightly sprinkle a board or other clean surface using some

of the reserved flour. Turn the dough out onto the board and

sprinkle the top of the dough lightly with flour. With floured

hands, fold the dough in half, and pat dough out into a

1⁄3- to 1⁄2-inch-thick round, using a little additional flour only

if needed. Flour again if necessary, and fold the dough

in half a second time. If the dough is still clumpy, pat

and fold a third time. Pat dough out into a 1⁄2-inch thick

round for a normal biscuit, 3⁄4-inch-thick for a tall

biscuit, and 1-inch-thick for a giant biscuit. Brush off

any visible flour from the top. For each biscuit, dip a

2 1⁄2-inch biscuit cutter into the reserved flour and cut

out the biscuits, starting at the outside edge and cutting

very close together, being careful not to twist the cutter.

The scraps may be combined to make additional biscuits,

although these scraps make tougher biscuits.

Using a metal spatula if necessary, move the biscuits to

the pan or baking sheet. Bake the biscuits on the top

rack of the oven for a total of 8 to 10 minutes until light

golden brown. After 4 minutes, rotate the pan in the

oven so that the front of the pan is now turned to the

back, and check to see if the bottoms are browning too

quickly. If so, slide another baking pan underneath to

add insulation and retard browning. Continue baking

another 4 to 6 minutes until the biscuits are light golden

brown. When the biscuits are done, remove from the

oven and lightly brush the tops with softened or melted

butter. Turn the biscuits out upside down on a plate to

cool slightly. Serve hot, right side up. 

* If the sour cream is too thick, add a little milk

T i p: If the sour cream is too thick, add a little milk.

Normally, however, adding milk to thin is not necessary.

Excerpted from Southern Biscuits ©2011Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart. Photos by Rick McKee.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. 

Copyright © 2011 Rebecca Lang Cooks, LLC. All rights reserved. 

www.rebeccalangcooks.com