A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen

The best food that comes out of a hot oven is homemade bread. Well maybe not the best, rather a tie between all my oven favorites. Choosing a favorite would be just too hard as I like bread period-they all have their place in the kitchen and at the table. I grew up eating only homemade bread. My friends thougt I was so lucky and they were amazed that my mom made it all the time. Though I never took it for granted, it was commonplace in my home. I didn’t know any different.

The bread I make has created a following, a fan club of sorts. It’s as close as I am ever going to get to having a fan club. Scout is the president of my fan club. Today he had a little initiation in my honor, complete with fanfare and lots of action. Today he did the unthinkable. I wish I could say he jumped up and ate a loaf of bread while cheering me on. As hard as this would be, it is certainly better than what he did do. No, my beloved Scout decided to have little fun rather than going for a snack. He jumped up on the counter and dragged off a 5 pound bag of flour ripping it to shreds as he headed to the living room. His nose was covered in white dust and he was proud of himself. He was grinning from ear to ear, and yes my dog grins!

I on the other hand was horrified and not too happy with him. For one he knows better. My dog is about to loose some tasting privledges. I have sisal carpets and hardwood flours floors. Needless to say I had a mess and gosh darnit, the maid I Just cleaned. In case you think I may be fibbing just a little bit, I did an emergency photo upload of the disaster area!

After I cleaned up after the taster, I went about my bread making. For the most part, I don’t cheat when I bake. Part of this has to do with the fact that when I learned to make bread, appliances to assist you weren’t around. By cheat (which it is okay to cheat) I make my bread by hand leaving my beloved Kitchen Aid tucked away from the entire process.

What I love about bread beside the taste, is that it is so forgiving. By that I mean; it doesn’t have to be perfect or even close to perfection to be enjoyed. I have experienced utter defeat only one time in my bread baking career. My defeat was caused by a hazardous cooking error; I wasn’t paying attention and totally killed the yeast with the addition of very hot water. I continued on my stubborn path with the lifeless yeast determined to make bread. It was a foolish move as it didn’t rise and the bread was a useless blob of flour. Now if the yeast isn’t right, I start over.

In addition to wanting to develop the art of baking Southern bread I also would like to develop a few muscles that seem to have disappeared. Frankly, I was plum tuckered out between the kneading and whisking of the mayonnaise. I wish I were joking but I am not. This is clearly a sad state of affairs and a double chance encounter arranged by God has sort of got me thinking just a tad.

Driving by a young man pulling of all things, a huge giant chain has happened more than once this past week. The chain looks to me as if it would hold an anchor for one of the big ships that dock in our port. At first I thought how odd this man pulling this on the side of the street, as it is a bizarre site. What on earth is he going to do with this, I thought? The second day I saw him, he had the chain and was pulling it at the very location going in the same direction. Clearly he must be mad. Then it dawned on me. Of course, he is training by dragging this huge piece of metal on the street. One look at his muscles and it is clear he is on the right course.

In honor of my baking and determined to be on the right course, I am going to pull a fifty pound sack of flour, as I walk the streets. There is no way I could pull a chain from a ship but a sack of flour, this I could do. I can’t wait to see the muscles that I develop. I just have to make sure the husband doesn’t catch wind of this, he might come to believe I have gone over the edge.

Though I am kidding about dragging the flour, I did load a back pack one summer with 50 pounds of flour and canned goods and walked the hills of Atlanta training for a 10 day Outward Bound backpacking trip. As stupid as I looked hiking the streets with this thing on my back, I was one of the smart ones. I wasn’t left in the dust or at the bottom of the hill panting trying to keep up with the others while backpacking with 65 pounds in the mountains of Montanna. Oh, how I want those muscles once again.

Bread unlike my muscles is slavagable. Even if the bread isn’t quite right; such as the addition of too much flour or too little flour or an occasional forgotten ingredient such as sugar or salt it usually can be salvaged. This is where the toaster comes in most handy, as it seems to hide a multitude of flaws and mishaps. Follow the toasting with a little butter and jam and the flaws have all but disappeared. Homemade bread crumbs, croutons, bread pudding and so on and the mishap in the kitchen is all but a faint memory. That is unless you are slightly neurotic and replay your cooking goof over and over in your head.

This batch was far from perfect. A little too much flour, I should have let it rest longer between steps, and even though I followed the baking time, it got burnt in places. But not wanting to be labeled neurotic, I am moving on from what wasn’t right about this batch to what a perfect batch of bread would be like. Because when the bread comes out of the oven just perfect, well that is a different story in itself. It is something you just now as well. Sort of like when you hit a golf ball and you know it is going to go in the hole, everything felt right. Bread baking hooks you like golf or bowling for that matter.

That knowing is a hook. A hook brings you back to the kitchen time and time again to give your hand at baking bread with the hope of recreating the experience of kitchen bliss. A perfect loaf is defined by the smell, the feel, the color and the tapping on the bottom which delivers the perfect melody. I am absolutely and totally tone-deaf and useless when it comes to music; yet I know the sound of a good loaf of bread.

Knowing that this earthy simple food was created with my hands using just a few simple ingredients is amazing to me. I am never bored with the process.

Summertime for me is a good sandwich. I know this must sound backwards, as for most summertime is a good salad. Don’t get me wrong I love salads in the summer, especially for dinner. But in the summer I want a sandwich for lunch. Sandwiches are a Southern staple. This is perhaps the only inate Southern quality I seem to have been born with.

Along with the bread I gave my hand at making homemade mayonnaise for the first time. I know that sounds odd for someone that cooks so much to be making mayonnaise so late in life, but I am funny about eggs. Not funny haha, but funny squemish and have put this off for as long as I could. I am so sorry for the delay, as there is nothing eggy about the mayonnaise I made. Quite the contrary, it is simply divine, and store bought has now taken second place. Splitting my mayonnaise in half, I kept one portion as is and the other I made an arugula herb mayonnaise.

The first really GOOD Southern sandwich is a shredded chicken salad, made with the herb mayonnaise and a little fig ginger chutney spread on the bread. The chicken was also baked with the chutney spread on top for the last ten minutes of baking. Once cool enough to handle I shredded the chicken pulling with the knife. A little red onion was added. The sandwich is topped with arugula and bacon.

One of my favorite is a soft shell crab sandwich. Typically I dredge my crabs in a little flour, just enough to coat being mindful to shake off the excess. This time though I had some leftover fresh breadcrumbs so I mixed them with the flour before dredging. I heat up some butter with a touch of oil in a pan and saute my crabs for about 4 minutes each side. At the very end I squeeze some fresh lemon juice on them and around the pan a touch of salt and pepper and we are done.

Having a crab cake or two leftover from the previous dinner is always put to good use in a sandwich. Again topped with arugula served on slightly toasted bread this time.

Last but not least I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the favorite standby of all times, the pimento cheese sandwich. White bread was made for pimento cheese I am certain of this.

White Loaf Bread

Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis, The Gift of Southern Cooking

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

2 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon butter or lard

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

5 1/2 to 6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
• Warm the milk with the butter or lard to dissolve.
• Pour the mixture in a large mixing bowl and add the sugar.
• Stir well, and cool to lukewarm.
• Stir in the yeast into the cooled milk mixture, then add 2 cups of flour and beat well.
• Blend in the salt, and stir in by cupfuls enough of the flour to make a moderately soft dough.
• Better to be sticky than a stiff dough.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and satiny and springs back to the touch.
• Shape into a ball, and put into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel.
• Set in a warm place to rise until double in size about 1-1 1/2 hours.
• Turn dough out, and gently deflate.
• Divide the dough in half, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Using a rolling pin to roll each half into a 7 by 13 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface.
• Beginning at the narrow end roll dough while tucking in ends at each roll, gently sealing.
• Press down with the side of your hand to seal both ends of the loaves, and tuck underneath the loaf.
• Put the formed loaves in a buttered loaf pan, cover them lightly, and let rise until a little more than doubled in size and almost even with the top.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Bake the loaves in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
• To test for doneness, carefully turn the loaves onto a clean surface and tap the bottoms with your fingers.
• Fully baked loaves should sound hollow.
• Be careful of the loaves browning to quickly, check at around 20 minutes or so, and cover with foil if need be.
• Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Homemade Mayonnaise

Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis, The Gift of Southern Cooking

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups light olive oil or vegetable or a combination

1 tablespoon hot water

• Put the vinegar, lemon juice, salt and mustard into a bowl and whisk until the salt and mustard are dissovevled.
• Add the egg yolks and beat until smooth
• Add the oil a drop at a time at first, and then add the remainder in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly until all of the oil has been incorporated and you have a very thick emulsion.
• Stir in the hot water until smooth.
• Refrigerated, homemade mayonnaise will keep up to 1 week.
• For making an herb mayonnaise, finely chop any combination of herbs or greens such as arugula or watercress and fold in.

My question to you was, What’s your favorite sandwich in the summertime? But I think a more appropriate question would be, What has your favorite dog eaten or gotten into in the kitchen?