Southern dishes frame a regional Thanksgiving

A new cookbook sings the praises of America's most recognizable and varied cuisine.

By Janet Keeler, Times Food and Travel Editor
Published November 18, 2007

Jean Anderson's fondness for Southern cooking and the storytelling that accompanies it did not fade despite spending most of her adult life in New York.

Her North Carolina roots stayed firmly in place over four decades in the big city, but moving home 10 years ago pushed them deeper. The result is A Love Affair With Southern Cooking (William Morrow; $32.50), a collection of more than 200 recipes from all over the Southland.

"It was better that I was here to write the book," the veteran cookbook author (The Doubleday Cookbook and The American Century Cookbook) and food writer said by phone from Chapel Hill. "It was better from the standpoint of testing recipes. You can't get hog lard in New York, you can't get grits, you can't get self-rising flour, you can't get stone-ground meal."

Nearly all of the book's 200 recipes are accompanied by a story, either historical or personal. Anderson's first job after college in the 1950s was as an assistant home agent with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Iredell County.

"When I went to work there, the country people could not get over the fact I grew up in Raleigh. To them, that was as exotic as Paris," she said.

From rural field work she landed in New York and eventually became an editor at Ladies' Home Journal and Women's Day. Her freelance work has appeared in Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines.

Oddly, Southern Cooking is her first book about the cuisine she grew up on.

"Southern cooking is the most creative of all the regional cuisines in America," she said. "You'd be hard-pressed to find as much variety anywhere as in the South and that's because of the many, many ethnic groups there."

Florida cuisine has Spanish, Caribbean and Latin American roots. The Cajuns and French influenced the cooking of Louisiana, as did American Indians. Germans brought low-country specialties to the Piedmont region, and likewise the British influenced Virginia. African slaves contributed black-eyed peas, okra, rice and sesame seeds and their way of cooking.

At Thanksgiving, many of the South's hallmark ingredients come to the table, including pecans, corn bread, sweet potatoes and citrus. From the cookbook, Anderson offers these recipes for a Southern-centric holiday.

---

SALAD
Ambrosia
4 medium navel oranges, peeled, halved lengthwise, and each half cut crosswise into thin slices
1 1/4 cups unsweetened grated coconut (preferably freshly grated)
2 cups freshly cut pineapple fans (optional)
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
3 large mint sprigs (garnish)

- Layer the orange slices, grated coconut and, if you like, the pineapple fans in a medium-sized glass bowl, sprinkling each layer with the sugar. Pour the orange juice evenly over all, cover and refrigerate for several hours.

- Remove from the refrigerator and allow to stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Garnish with mint and serve. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Source: "A Love Affair With Southern Cooking," by Jean Anderson (William Morrow, 2007; $32.50)

---

DIP OR SAUCE
White Barbecue Sauce
1 cup mayonnaise (use "light," if you like)
2 1/2 tablespoons cider or white wine vinegar (purists insist upon distilled white vinegar, but I find that too harsh)
1 tablespoon water
1 medium garlic clove, finely minced
2 teaspoons Creole or Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

- Combine all ingredients in a small nonreactive bowl, whisking until smooth. Taste for salt and pepper, and adjust as needed. Also, if you prefer a thinner sauce, whisk in an extra tablespoon or two of water.

- Transfer the sauce to a 1-pint jar, screw the lid on tight and store in the refrigerator. Stored thus, white barbecue sauce will keep for five to seven days.

- Serve as a dip for crisp raw vegetables, as a cocktail sauce for cold shrimp or other shellfish, or as a sauce for grilled or fried chicken or fish.

Source: "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking," by Jean Anderson (William Morrow, 2007; $32.50)

---

SIDE DISH
Corn Bread Dressing With Pecans and Bacon
12 cups (3 quarts) 3/4- to1-inch chunks stale, dry corn bread
6 slices stale, dry, firm-textured white bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups coarsely chopped toasted pecans
1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley
1 pound hickory-smoked bacon, each slice cut crosswise into strips 1/2 inch wide
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted, or 1 cup bacon drippings or vegetable oil
2 very large yellow onions, coarsely chopped
4 large celery ribs, trimmed and coarsely chopped (include a few leaves)
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
1 1/2 teaspoons dried leaf thyme, crumbled
6 cups chicken broth or stock
3 extra-large eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spritz a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

- Place the two breads, pecans and parsley in a very large mixing bowl and set aside.

- Brown the bacon in a large, heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring often, for 12 to 14 minutes until all the drippings render out. Drain the bacon on paper towels, and if you intend to use the drippings in the dressing, pour them into a measuring cup. You should have about 1 cup; if not, round out the measure with melted butter or vegetable oil.

- Heat 1/2 cup of the melted butter or bacon drippings in the same skillet for about 1 minute over moderately high heat. Add the onions and celery and cook, stirring often, for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned. Add the sage and thyme, and cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes more.

Scoop the skillet mixture into the mixing bowl along with the reserved bacon and remaining melted butter or bacon drippings; toss well. Add 3 cups of the chicken broth, the eggs, salt and pepper, and toss well again.

- Transfer the dressing to the baking pan, spreading to the edges, then drizzle the remaining 3 cups chicken broth evenly on top. Cover snugly with heavy-duty foil and bake on the middle oven shelf for 25 minutes. Stir the dressing well, cover again with foil and bake 20 minutes more or until steaming.

- Serve hot with roast turkey, chicken or pork, and top with lots of gravy.

Makes 12 to 14 servings, enough to stuff a 12- to 15-pound turkey

Source: "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking," by Jean Anderson (William Morrow, 2007; $32.50)

---

SIDE DISH
Sweet Potato Biscuits
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup firmly packed lard or vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed unseasoned mashed sweet potato (about 1 large potato)
3/4 cup milk

- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl; then, using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the lard until the texture of coarse meal. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture.

- Combine the mashed sweet potato and milk in a small bowl, whisking until smooth; pour into the well in the flour mixture and mix briskly until the dough holds together.

- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, sprinkle a little flour over the top and, with well-floured hands, pat the dough out until 3/4 inch thick (it is too soft and sticky to roll). Using a well-floured 2 3/4-inch biscuit cutter, cut the dough into rounds and arrange on ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. Gather the scraps of dough, pat out and cut as before.

- Bake the biscuits in the lower third of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until nicely browned. Serve hot with plenty of butter.

Source: ''A Love Affair with Southern Cooking,'' by Jean Anderson (William Morrow, 2007; $32.50)

[Last modified November 15, 2007, 10:49:59]