by Pat Conroy
3. Line a baking pan with paper towels. Fry the crab cakes in two batches to ensure a crisp crust. Using a small (8-inch) heavy skillet that conducts heat well, melt half the butter and oil together until the mixture is foamy and begins to brown. Carefully place the crab cakes in the hot fat and fry until a crust forms, turning only once, about 2 minutes per side. (The fat should be sizzling hot, enabling a crisp crust to form before the crab absorbs the cooking fat. This is the Southern secret to perfect crab cakes.) A small pastry spatula (with a thin tongue) will make lifting and turning the delicate crab cakes a lot easier. Remove the crab cakes and drain in the prepared pan. Cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm while you make the second batch.
4. Carefully pour off the cooking fat from the first batch, wipe out the pan, and return it to the heat. Prepare the second batch of crab cakes using the remaining butter and oil.
5. Serve hot with lemon wedges.
SHRIMP SALAD
• SERVES 4 AS A FIRST COURSE OR SANDWICH FILLING, 2 AS A LIGHT LUNCH
1 pound large (21-25 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon tarragon vinegar
¼ cup finely diced celery
¼ cup finely minced scallions
1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1. In a medium stockpot over high heat, bring 4 quarts abundantly salted water to a rolling boil. Add the shrimp and cook until just pink, about 3 minutes. Immediately transfer to a colander and run under cool water to stop the shrimp from cooking any further (only takes several seconds; shrimp should still be slightly warm when dressed). Shake the colander to drain any excess water.
2. In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, and tarragon. Set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, toss the warm shrimp with the lemon juice and vinegar. Stir in the celery and scallions. Add the mayonnaise mixture, salt, and pepper and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Taste to correct seasoning.
SWEET POTATO ROLLS • MAKES 24
1 package (¼ ounce) dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup milk
1½ cups mashed cooked sweet potato
4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour (depends on moisture of sweet potato) Cornmeal
1. Place yeast, warm water, and sugar in the work bowl of a standing mixer and let the combination stand until it becomes foamy, about 5 minutes. Using the paddle attachment, add salt and then beat in the eggs, melted butter, milk, and mashed sweet potato until thoroughly combined.
2. Begin adding the flour, 1 cup at a time, up to 4 cups, reserving the remaining cup. (The rolls will taste better if the dough remains slightly sticky, pulling away from the sides of the bowl without becoming too dry.) Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Alternatively, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.)
3. Lightly flour a clean, dry work surface and transfer the dough to it by inverting the bowl. (This will deflate the dough as well.) Using an under-and-over kneading motion, punch down the dough, continuing to knead until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too sticky to knead.
4. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
5. Sprinkle cornmeal on several baking sheets and set aside.
6. Using a serrated knife, separate the dough into halves, then quarters, and then eighths. Cut each eighth into three pieces. Press each piece of dough with the heel of your hand in a circular motion, forming a ball. Transfer the rolls to the prepared pans, cover with a dish towel, and let rise until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours, or cover with plastic wrap and let rise in refrigerator overnight. Bake for about 20 minutes. To test for doneness, tap the bottom of a roll. It should sound hollow.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR HAND MIXING
1. Place the yeast, warm water, and sugar in a large stainless steel bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add salt to yeast mixture along with the eggs, melted butter, milk, and mashed sweet potato. Using a large wooden spoon, beat until thoroughly combined.
2. Beat in flour, 1 cup at a time. Each additional cup makes the dough harder to beat, so this will take concentration and elbow grease. When the dough begins to form a ball, transfer it from the bowl to the work surface and start kneading, adding flour as needed, until the dough forms a smooth ball but is still sticky to the touch.
3. Let rise and bake as above.
CHEDDAR CHEESE AND SAUSAGE BISCUITS
• MAKES 18
3 cups self-rising flour (preferably White Lily)
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon coarse or kosher salt
7 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1¼ cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons finely chopped andouille sausage, sautéed until crisp, and drained
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place rack in middle of oven.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a large bowl. Stir in the grated cheese (reserve 2 tablespoons for the topping) and black pepper. Add the butter pieces to the flour and cut it into the flour with two knives (or with your fingers), moving quickly before the butter gets soft. When butter is the size of peas, pour in the buttermilk, add the sausage, and stir with a wooden spoon just until the dough is in one piece. If the dough is overworked, the biscuits will be tough. (That’s why making biscuits by hand is the secret to light, fluffy, melt-in-your mouth biscuits. Overhandling, especially by using a processor or standing mixer, creates tough biscuits.)
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured, dry work surface. With a wooden rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle at least ½inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter (or the open end of a glass) to cut rounds of dough. Gently push the dough out of the biscuit cutter and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. The scraps of dough can be gathered and rolled again one more time. (If not baking biscuits immediately, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.)
4. Sprinkle the biscuits with the reserved grated cheese and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the biscuits have risen and the tops are lightly browned. Serve hot.
SUMMER CHOWDER
• SERVES 4 AS A MAIN COURSE OR 8 AS A FIRST COURSE
6 slices smoky bacon, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup minced red onion
¼ cup finely diced celery
3 cups fresh corn kernels (about 5 ears)
3 cups whole milk
½ pound new red potatoes, washed but not peeled and cut into
¼-inch cubes
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
1 pound sea scallops, rinsed and patted dry
Coarse or kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper
1. In a medium stockpot over moderate heat, cook the bacon until the fat is rendered and bacon is almost crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and reserve. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat, reserving the extra in a small bowl for later use.
2. Reduce the heat to low, add the onion and celery to stockpot, and cook in the bacon drippings, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, 12 to 15 minutes. As the vegetables begin to exude their moisture, use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits clinging to the bottom of the stockpot.
4. Stir in the reserved bacon, heavy cream, Tabasco, and chives and simmer until chowder thickens, another 3 to 5 minutes.
5. While the chowder is thickening, place the reserved bacon fat in a small heavy skillet over high heat. When the fat is hot, sear the scallops until golden brown on each side but still slightly opaque in the center, about 2 minutes on the first side and 1 minute on the other.
6. Season the chowder with coarse salt and ground white pepper to taste. Ladle into deep bowls and float scallops in the center. Serve immediately.
BREAKFAST SHRIMP AND GRITS During the summer before my father died, his friends and family gathered in Beaufort and Fripp Island to say goodbye to him. After the Marine Corps, my father’s life became rich in friendship; his personality bloomed when he did not have to face the world as a professional tough guy. I grew up not hearing Don Conroy say a single funny thing, and it startled me to find out that he could be hilarious. He is the only father in the history of American letters who considered it his just due to sign copies of his oldest son’s latest book. Starting with The Great Santini, he signed with me at his side in at least six American cities. When other writers asked me why I allowed this incursion, I explained that my father and I had to search for ways to say we loved each other without saying the words.
When the visitors swarmed out to Fripp that last summer, my job was to feed everybody lunch and dinner. I own a huge dining room table that was once used as a library table at Cambridge University, and I have fed up to thirty people on it. That summer I averaged twenty diners a shift. My father would always ask, “What’s the chow tonight, son?”
“What would you like, Dad?”
“Everybody loves your shrimp and grits. Everybody loves your shrimp salad. They like that Spanish soup you make. Gashippo.”
“Gazpacho, Dad.”
“Yeah, that stuff.”
“Dad, isn’t it odd for a Chicago boy to be asking for grits?” I asked.
“I’ve always had an ability to grow, son,” he answered. “To enlarge my boundaries. You always missed that about me.”
“Sure did.”
“Colonel Pinkston and his bride are coming tonight. So shrimp and grits is the order of the day.”
As I spent that summer at the stove, I became proficient enough to make shrimp and grits and shrimp salad blindfolded. Cooking is most sublime when it is creative and playful. I sometimes put a little flour in the leftover bacon grease, made a dark roux (being careful not to burn it), and then poured in a cup of water to make a thin but luscious gravy. I substituted red onions, Vidalia onions, scallions, and even garlic when I didn’t have shallots. But I do that with every recipe I have in my possession. A recipe is a suggestion, a field guide and a road map; it is not totalitarian in nature—except when you are baking. My overwrought, disorganized nature does not serve me well when I am baking a pie or cake. Baking is a high branch of chemistry and woe to the home cook who does not follow the homemaker’s recipe with absolute precision. But recipes like shrimp and grits and shrimp salad invite experimentation. That following winter, I prepared oysters and grits for Dad, and he claimed to like them better than he did the shrimp.
Toward the end of the summer, my father asked me to bring him the phone, and I did. He was trying to get some friends of his from the Marine Corps to come down for Labor Day weekend. He surprised me by saying, “Pat’ll feed you like a king. That’s a promise. My kid’s fed everybody this summer. Man, it’s been a loaves and fishes scene down here.”
My childhood was brutal, unforgivable, and long. But I watched my father change after he discovered how much I loathed that childhood. I could tell he loved that I fed his family and friends and him. By the end of his life, my father had become proficient at telling his children he loved us, and he never once had to say the words. • SERVES 4
1 cup coarse white grits
2 thick slices country bacon, cut into matchsticks (about ½ cup)
1 small shallot, finely minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon strained fresh lemon juice
Coarse or kosher salt
2 to 3 drops Tabasco sauce
1. Slow-cook the grits according to the package directions. (This will take about 60 minutes.) Set aside.
2. Place a medium, heavy skillet over moderate heat. When the pan is hot, add the bacon and cook until the fat is rendered and bacon is crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and reserve in a small bowl, keeping the pan as is, fat and all. (This can be done in advance. Do not cook the shrimp until the grits are ready and resting.)
3. In a low oven, warm four heatproof serving plates.
4. Return the skillet with the bacon fat to moderate heat. Add the shallot and cook until soft but not colored. Add butter and when it’s melted, add shrimp, cooking until just pink, about 3 minutes. Add lemon juice and a pinch of salt and toss to coat.
5. Spoon about ½ cup steaming grits into the middle of each warm plate. Using a slotted spoon, place shrimp on top of the grits. Add reserved bacon and Tabasco to the pan juices, swirling the skillet for a few seconds to create a thin sauce. Pour over the shrimp and grits.
GUMBO A gumbo is another handy dish to know when you are required to feed the multitudes at family reunions, Super Bowl parties, and tailgating at football games. I made a variation of this recipe for three straight Super Bowls and two New Year’s Day parties when I lived on Maddox Drive in Ansley Park, the prettiest place in Atlanta. I made it once for the crowd that swarmed my house during my father’s last summer. At the end of the cooking time, I also added oysters with the shrimp and crabmeat and crawdads, when I could get them, and I served it in large bowls over rice. The payoff for this recipe is the moans of pure pleasure from your guests as they take in the aromas and begin eating this dish. There is no great beast of an appetite out there that this recipe cannot sate.
This recipe came to me from Julia Anderson, a local artist, and we didn’t change it a lick. It was perfect. • SERVES 8
⅓ cup vegetable oil
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
1 whole chicken
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
1 cup diced celery, plus leafy tops of 1 bunch celery
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons coarse or kosher salt
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup diced green bell pepper
1 cup diced red onion
1 teaspoon red peppe flakes, or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
¾ teaspoon gumbo filé
¾ teaspoon dried thyme, or 1½ tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
6 garlic cloves, finely minced
½ pound bacon, coarsely chopped
1 pound smoked andouille sausage, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
One 16-ounce can tomato purée
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound picked crabmeat (optional)
The first step to making gumbo is to get all the ingredients ready. Once you are set up to cook, this dish goes together quickly.
1. Place oil and flour in a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture turns a dark caramel color and begins to smell like toasted almonds. This is called a roux and it will take about 15 minutes to produce a smooth paste that will not only thicken your gumbo but lend a deep, rich color. Transfer the roux to a small bowl and let cool to room temperature. When the roux is cooled, drain the excess oil. (This can be done in advance and refrigerated for no more than 24 hours.)
3. Wipe out the stockpot and return it to medium-high heat. Warm the olive oil and add the green pepper, diced celery, and red onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften and color lightly on the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Combine the red, white, and black pepper, the filé, and thyme together in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the vegetable mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the vegetables are well coated, about 8 minutes. When the spices are cooked, mix in the garlic, cooking for another 3 minutes.
