Charlie Dickens’ Favorite Grilled Cheese Sandwich
The Vidalia onion is a sweet variety of onion that was first grown—by accident—in Toombs County, Georgia, in the early 1930s. The fact that they are unusually sweet is due to the low sulfur content of the soil in which the onions are grown. (Sulfur makes onions pungent.) The Piggly Wiggly food chain, headquartered in nearby Vidalia, Georgia, put the onions in their produce bins, and it wasn’t long before visitors were taking these oddly sweet onions back home to their friends. The Vidalia onion is now the official state vegetable of Georgia. This recipe makes one substantial sandwich.
3 strips bacon
2 tablespoons softened butter mixed with ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
2 thick slices bread of your choice
2 slices Swiss cheese
2 thin slices tomatoes
Italian seasoning, salt, pepper
2 medium-thick Vidalia onion slices
Fry bacon until crisp in a skillet over medium heat. Remove bacon and drain drippings, saving drippings for another use. Generously spread one side of a slice of bread with butter-garlic mixture. Place bread butter-side-down in skillet and top with 1 slice of cheese. Top with tomato slices and sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Top tomatoes with onion slices, bacon strips, and second slice of cheese. Butter the second slice of bread on one side and place butter-side-up on top of sandwich. Grill until lightly browned and flip; continue grilling until both slices of cheese are melted. (Cover the skillet to help the cheese melt.)
Fannie’s Tomato Soup
2 yellow onions, diced
½ teaspoon minced garlic
5 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon dried savory
¼ teaspoon marjoram
4 cups water
1 cup half-and-half
4 basil leaves, julienne cut
In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté the onions and garlic in butter until softened. Add sugar, salt, and pepper. Cook until the sugar is dissolved, stirring. Add the tomatoes and herbs and cook for 5 minutes. Add water. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Set the soup aside to cool. When cooled, puree the soup in a blender. Return the soup to the stove, simmer 5 minutes, and then add the half-and-half. When heated through, sprinkle the basil leaves for garnish.
Lucy Murphy’s Jefferson Davis Pie
This pie, named in honor of the president of the Confederacy, is a fruit-filled, spiced version of the chess pie (above). Lucy’s recipe includes granulated sugar and adds a meringue; other Jeff Davis recipes use brown sugar and omit the meringue. Perhaps it is better not to worry about the “historicity” of these recipes. Anne Carter Zimmer, in her commentary in The Robert E. Lee Family Cooking and Housekeeping Book (p. 131), remarks, “I began to realize that receipts [recipes] are a kind of folklore. Like folktales, they are recreated each time they are made or told, and each time they can be—and often are—changed by the taste and times of the maker.”
½ cup softened butter
1½ cups sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 cup whipping cream
½ cup chopped dates
½ cup raisins
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans
Unbaked 9-inch pie shell
MERINGUE
4 egg whites
½ cup sugar
Preheat oven to 300ºF. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, then add the flour and spices and mix until combined. Add the cream, dates, raisins, and pecans, mix well, and pour into the pie shell. Bake until set but still slightly soft in the middle, about 40 minutes.
To add the meringue: Remove the pie and increase the oven heat to 350ºF. Beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until the meringue forms firm peaks. Spread over the baked pie, sealing it to the crimped edges of the shell. Bake until golden brown. Serve at room temperature.
The Dahlias’ Household Magic
A Baker’s Dozen Ways to Do It Easier, Faster, Better
To keep cake moist, always put a good sound apple in the cake box or tin. And lemons can be kept almost indefinitely if you put them in a glass canning jar with a tight lid.
A teaspoon of borax in the last rinse will whiten clothes surprisingly.
Keep ants out of the pantry by placing fresh sage leaves on the shelves.
Potatoes will bake faster if you put them in hot water for about 15 minutes before they go in the oven.
When you buy celery, wash the leaves and dry them until they can be rubbed to a powder. Use to add a nice celery flavor to stews, soups, meat loaf, etc.
If you have a worn-out tablecloth that you can’t darn any longer, cut it into squares, hem, and—voilà!—you have napkins.
To make your cook stove shine more easily, add a little turpentine to your stove polish.
To clean copper-bottom pans, rub with a mixture of salt, fine sand, flour, and vinegar.
If the electricity hasn’t got to your house yet and you’re still using kerosene lamps, soak your lamp wicks in vinegar and let them dry before using. They will be less likely to smoke.
To trap the flies that invade your kitchen, you’ll need a canning jar, a funnel, some bait (fruit, bit of leftover), and 2–3 small blocks of wood. Put the bait in the jar, insert the funnel, and turn the jar and funnel upside down on the wood blocks. The flies will crawl in through the opening beneath the jar and the funnel and be easily trapped.
If you’re grinding aromatic or strongly flavored spices, run a half cup of rice through the grinder afterward, to remove the flavor and scent.
For a nice substitute for crackers, croutons, and breadsticks, roll out a pie crust, slice the pastry into narrow strips, sprinkle with salt, and bake.
When you’re picking parsley from the garden, pick from the center. Those are flavorful leaves, and you’ll help keep the plant from bolting.
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The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady Page 28
