The glory of Southern cooking : recipes for the best beer-battered fried chicken, cracklin' biscuits, Carolina pulled pork, fried okra, Kentucky cheese pudding, hummingbird cake, and 375 other delectible [sic] dishes

482 Pages·2007·10.85 MB·English

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t h e g l or y o f
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OTHER BOOKS BY JAMES VILLAS
American Taste, 1982
The Town & Country Cookbook, 1985
James Villas’ Country Cooking, 1988
Villas at Table, 1988
The French Country Kitchen, 1992
My Mother’s Southern Kitchen, 1994
Stews, Bogs, and Burgoos, 1997
My Mother’s Southern Desserts, 1998
My Mother’s Southern Entertaining, 2000
Between Bites, 2002
Crazy for Casseroles, 2003
Biscuit Bliss, 2004
Stalking the Green Fairy, 2004
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t h e g l o r y o f
Recipes for the Best Beer-Battered Fried Chicken,
Cracklin’ Biscuits, Carolina Pulled Pork, Fried Okra,
Kentucky Cheese Pudding, Hummingbird Cake,
and 375 Other Delectible Dishes
j a m e s v i l l a s
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2007 by James Villas. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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DESIGNED BY JOEL AVIROM AND JASON SNYDER
DESIGN ASSISTANT: MEGHAN DAY HEALEY
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Villas, James.
The glory of Southern cooking / James Villas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-38358-2 (pbk), ISBN 978-1-118-06505-1 (ebk),
ISBN 978-1-118-06508-2 (ebk), ISBN 978-1-118-06509-9 (ebk)
1. Cookery, American--Southern style. I. Title.
TX715.2.S68V547 2007
641.5975--dc22
2006001109
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To
Gail Killian Kennedy
We Were Never Too Young
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c o n t e n t s
preface viii
introduction
Equipment xiii Ingredients xvi Special Cooking Techniques xxv A Southern Glossary xxix
Cocktail and Tea Foods 1
Appetizers 25
Eggs and Salads 51
Soups, Chowders, and Gumbos 81
Stews and Casseroles 107
Meats 133
Poultry and Game 161
Seafood 189
Barbecue 215
Vegetables 239
Rice and Grits 271
Cornbread, Biscuits, Hush Puppies, and Other Breads 299
Desserts 335
Pickles, Relishes, and Preserves 381
Beverages 403
acknowledgments 421
index 422
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p r e f a c e
It’s appropriate to say that the basic foundation of this bog, Arkansas dirty rice, Maryland crabmeat Dewey,
cookbook can be traced back over a decade to a much West Virginia deviled oxtails, New Orleans calas, and
more limited book I wrote on my mother’s Southern Lord knows how many other unusual dishes drawn
kitchen. It’s also only fair to reveal that this cookbook from all over Dixie. She waited, succumbed to the
was not really my idea but that of one of my editors— temptation of still another biscuit, then, hurling a
a Yankee, no less. Things came to a head a couple of hand in the air, declared bluntly, “Okay, that’s the
years back when, having devoted an entire chapter of book you need to do. The whole shebang. Make your
a book of collected food essays to such topics as case. Everything you know about Southern cooking
Southern pig, grits, okra, and Brunswick stew, I ex- and why it’s so special.”
claimed one day, in my typically florid and shameless No doubt the proposition was a little daunting,
way, “I’ve come to the definite conclusion that South- but the challenge was just too compelling to turn
viii ern cooking is not only the one legitimate cuisine in down. Born and bred in North Carolina, I haven’t ac-
this country but that what I’ve written about so far is tually lived in the South since finishing college, due
just the tip of the iceberg.” And to reinforce my stern to the demands of my profession. Ask anyone who
conviction, I had to add, “As far as I’m concerned, knows me, my rebellious spirit, and my drawl, howev-
Southern cookery is right there on the same level with er, and they’ll most likely insist that I’ve never really
French cuisine bourgeoise and Italian cucina caserec- left home. My entire family still resides in the South;
cia—the sacred traditions, the incredible variety of I return routinely to visit relatives and friends and to
regional dishes, the prevalence of fresh local ingredi- venerate my roots; for over two decades I roamed the
ents, the distinctive cooking techniques, everything.” major cities and small towns and back roads from
For a moment, my stunned editor simply glared Maryland to Kentucky to Louisiana in order to report
at me as if I were indulging in more than a bit of prej- on food traditions and restaurants for Town & Coun-
udicial hyperbole or were slightly mad. Then, popping try and other magazines; and just the thought of
into her mouth another small pecan-cheese biscuit going more than a few months without nourishing my
I’d brought to the office, she calmly asked me to talk belly and soul with genuine pork barbecue, bowls of
beyond fried chicken and congealed salad and corn- she-crab soup and gumbo, fried okra and catfish, and
bread and pecan pie. Perhaps for an hour, I went on baskets of hush puppies is still enough to provoke
about Kentucky beer cheese, Charleston hobotee, panic. At home, my kitchen is never without at least
Cajun maque choux, Pamlico muddle, Lowcountry five pounds of Southern whole-hog sausage, slabs of