Recipes
Several of these recipes list buttermilk as an ingredient. You can substitute milk (low-fat is fine) mixed with 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice per cup of liquid.
Euphoria’s Saturday Night Special: Southern Fried Catfish and Hush Puppies
Southern Fried Catfish
Fish has long been a mainstay of Southern cooking, and every cook has her own special recipe. Traditionally, Southerners preferred white cornmeal, but you can substitute yellow. The paprika helps to brown the fish. Euphoria says to tell you that a cast-iron skillet is not absolutely required, but she certainly recommends it. (You might need two, actually. One for the catfish and the other for the hush puppies.)
8 catfish fillets (about 2 pounds)
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 cups white or yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon paprika
Lard or corn or peanut oil for frying
Place fish in flat dish. Combine buttermilk, salt, and pepper, and pour over fish. Refrigerate at least four hours. Combine cornmeal, flour, garlic powder, and paprika in a pie plate or other similar dish. Remove fish from buttermilk mixture and dredge in the cornmeal mixture, one at a time, coating completely. (Really pat it on-and don’t worry if the cornmeal mixture gets lumpy. If you need to, add more flour.) Melt lard or pour oil to depth of 2-3 inches in a cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°F. Fry fillets, a few at a time, about 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.
Yield: 8 servings.
Hush Puppies
Hush puppies are thumb-sized deep-fried dumplings of cornmeal, traditionally served with fried catfish. Most of the explanations for the origin of the name have to do with keeping the dogs quiet. The most picturesque version involves Confederate soldiers preparing their meals over a campfire. If Yankee soldiers approached, the Rebs would silence the camp dogs by tossing them some of their cornmeal cakes with “Hush, puppies!” If you have a dog, you can experiment.
2 cups white or yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup water
2 tablespoons melted bacon grease or other oil
Lard or oil for frying
In a large mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, then stir in buttermilk, water, and bacon grease. (You can use another oil if you have to, although Euphoria says that would be a shame.) Make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour in the liquid ingredients and mix until batter is smooth and free of any lumps. It ought to be stiff. If it’s too dry, add milk or water; too thin, add cornmeal. Experience is a great teacher.
In a cast-iron skillet (yes!) or a large, heavy fry pan over medium-high heat, heat lard or oil to 350° F or until a small amount of batter dropped into the hot oil sizzles and floats. (If the oil gets too hot, your hushpuppies will be doughy in the center.) Using two spoons, push a thumb-sized dollop of batter into the hot oil. Fry in small batches of 4 to 6 for approximately 5 minutes or until golden brown, turning to brown all sides. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. You can keep these in a warm oven for about 30 minutes, until you’ve finished frying your catfish. Serve hot.
Makes 2 dozen hush puppies.
Aunt Hetty Little’s Southern Comfort Cookies
1¼ cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ cup pecan pieces
¾ cup golden raisins
½ cup sugar
¼ cup butter
2 eggs
¼ cup Southern Comfort whiskey
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nuts, and raisins. In a separate bowl cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. To the egg mixture, alternately add whiskey and the flour mixture. Chill the batter at least 1 hour and then roll it into 1¼-inch-diameter logs. Wrap in wax paper and chill 4 hours. Slice ½-inch thick and place 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes in a preheated 350ºF oven. Cool and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.
Makes about 3 dozen.
Aunt Hetty’s Homemade Southern Comforter
Southern Comfort was first produced by Irish bartender Martin Wilkes Heron sometime in the 1880s in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Heron moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1889, patented his booze, and began selling it in sealed bottles (to keep it from being adulterated or diluted) with the labels “None Genuine But Mine” and “Two per customer. No Gentleman would ask for more.” According to Master Distiller Chris Morris, the original recipe for Southern Comfort began with bourbon and included vanilla bean, lemon, cinnamon, cloves, cherries, oranges, and honey. Aunt Hetty learned how to make her “Southern Comforter” from her father, who claimed to have misspent a portion of his youth in the French Quarter.
1½ pounds fresh peaches
1 cup sugar
4 strips fresh lemon peel, about 2 inches long (don’t include
the bitter white pith)
4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick, about 2 inches long
2 cups bourbon or brandy
Peel, pit, and slice peaches. Place in a saucepan, add sugar, and stir well. Warm over low heat until sugar is dissolved and peaches are juicy. Place mixture into a large jar, add lemon peel, cloves, cinnamon stick, and alcohol. Stir to combine. Cover and keep in a cool, dark place for 1 week, stirring occasionally. Strain and filter, pressing out the liquid from the peaches. Strain again. Homemade Southern Comforter is ready for cooking after a week, for drinking after a month.
Elizabeth Lacy’s Peach Pie
Every Southern cook has a recipe for peach pie. Sally-Lou taught Lizzy how to make this one. The almond-flavored whipping cream topping is a perfect complement.
Dough for 9-inch 2-crust pie
5 generous cups sliced peaches (5 to 7 large peaches)
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon almond flavoring
⅔ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter, cut into bits
Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate and line with half the pastry. Reserve remainder for top crust. Preheat oven to 425°F. (If you’re using a glass pie pan, reduce heat by 25 degrees.) Peel peaches and slice into large bowl. Add lemon juice and almond flavoring and toss gently. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add to peaches and mix well. Spoon into pastry and dot with butter. Roll out remaining dough. Moisten rim of bottom crust with water and put top crust in place. Trim overhanging pastry within 1 inch of edge, and fold top edge under bottom edge, pressing together to seal. Cut a few slits in top crust to allow steam to escape. Bake 45 to 50 minutes. Serve warm.
Almond Whipped Cream Topping
1 pint heavy whipping cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
¼ cup powdered sugar
Stir all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl, then whip the mixture with an egg beater until raised peaks form and hold their shape. (Modern cooks will want to use an electric beater.) Aunt Hetty says if you want to add a spoonful of her Southern Comforter to this, that would be fine.
Myra May’s Mother’s Sweet Potato Cake
Native Americans were already growing sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) when Columbus arrived in 1492. Because they grow readily in warm regions, sweet potatoes became a staple food for Southern colonists and supplemented diets from late summer until spring. Most large plantations had a fenced sweet potato lot where low mounds of potatoes were grown, then dug and covered
with straw and soil to protect them from the cold and frost of winter. During the War Between the States, when there were many shortages, the sweet potato-thinly sliced, dried, parched, ground, and brewed-became a substitute for coffee.
This recipe for sweet potato cake, perhaps descended from the many traditional recipes for sweet potato pudding, was handed down in Myra May’s family for several generations. It is now a favorite at the Darling Diner.
½ cup butter or shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup cooked, peeled, and mashed sweet potatoes
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ cup milk
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon maple or vanilla flavoring
Grease and flour 3 8-inch-round cake pans. Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and sweet potatoes. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to sweet potato mixture. (If batter seems too stiff, add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of milk.) Fold in nuts and flavoring. Spoon batter into cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn out on racks. Cool and frost with brown sugar icing.
Icing
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
½ cup whipping cream
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Sift confectioners’ sugar into medium bowl. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stir brown sugar, whipping cream, and butter until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Boil 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour brown sugar mixture over confectioners’ sugar, whisking. Whisk until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Cool icing until lukewarm and icing falls in heavy ribbon from spoon, whisking often, about 15 minutes. Stack layers, thinly icing between. Spoon icing thickly over top, allowing it to drip down sides of cake. Serve after icing is firm, at least 1 hour.
Bessie Bloodworth’s Lemon Chess Squares
Chess pies and pastries are a traditional Southern dessert made with a filling of eggs, sugar, and butter, cooked in (or on) a pastry crust, with some sort of topping-basically, a cheeseless cheesecake. Some recipes include cornmeal, others are made with vinegar, and flavorings (vanilla, lemon juice, chocolate) are sometimes added. Some food historians believe that the word chess is derived from the word cheese. Others believe that it is a dialect form of the word chest, referring to a pie safe or chest, where pies were often kept. And then there is the tale of the cook who, when asked the name of her pie, replied, “Oh, it’s jes’ pie.” Whatever the derivation and whatever its form, chess pastries are a treat.
2 cups flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or shortening
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons white or yellow cornmeal
½ cup melted butter
4 tablespoons lemon juice
confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350°F. To make the crust, sift together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter, using two knives or a pastry blender. Mix well and pat into a 10- x 15-inch cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.
Beat remaining ingredients and pour over baked crust. Return to oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar when done. Cut into squares when cool.
Reading List
Here are a few of the many documents I found useful as background reading for this book in the Darling Dahlias series and a very brief explanation of the reasons for their inclusion.
Books
Daily Life in the United States 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, by David E. Kyvig. Helpful period background.
Dry Goods, Butler Brothers 1934 general merchandise catalog. What people were wearing and using during the early thirties.
Everyday Fashions of the Thirties as Pictured in Sears Catalogs, edited by Stella Blum. Helpful period descriptions of clothing styles, fabrics, materials.
Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America’s Most Famous Gangster, by Jonathan Eig. The real story of how the Feds nabbed Al Capone. Detailed, highly evocative of the life and times of gangland Chicago.
Happenings in Old Monroeville, Vol. 2, by George Thomas Jones. Monroeville local history from the thirties.
Mae West: It Ain’t No Sin, by Simon Louvish. Life as a vaudeville burlesque queen (before becoming a movie star) wasn’t easy, even for Mae West.
Month-by-Month Gardening in Alabama, by Bob Polomski. What Alabama gardeners might be doing at different seasons of the year. The Ponder Heart, by Eudora Welty. Wonderful Southern voice.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Harper Lee grew up in Monroeville (the source for her descriptions of Maycomb, where TKM is set). Monroeville is only fifteen miles from Darling.
Websites
Ziegfeld 101, Biography Part III, by John Kenrick: http://www.musicals101.com/ziegbio3.htm. Last accessed 6.27.2010. The story of Ziegfeld’s Frolics (yes, the overhead glass walkway is real!).
Historical Documents Relating to Al Capone: http://www.irs.gov/foia/article/0,,id=179352,00.html. Background documents (letters, reports) written by the investigators who dug up the dirt on Al Capone, released and published online by the IRS in 2008.
Newspaper Archives: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/. A subscription website that allows you to search, read, clip, and save newspapers from the United States and around the world.
Susan Wittig Albert
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The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies Page 27
