ON SIMPLE SOUTHERN FOODS AND A PERFECT SOUTHERN SUPPER
This is a story about our early Air Force years. In retrospect it’s pretty amusing - especially our New Years Day mandatory Commanders Call at which we arrived half hung over from a New Year’s Eve party to face the Wing Commander, his wife and a decorated hogs head, in that order - but maybe that’s just because I lived it. If you’re a fan of the all important trivia of a military lifestyle read on. If your interest first and foremost is a terrific recipe or two scroll down. You’ll find some that you’ll love - delicious yesterday, just as delicious today and wallet friendly. That really is what this web site is all about.
Early in our marriage, courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, we moved to Charleston, South Carolina. We arrived there from Ramstein AFB, Germany in May. The azaleas had exploded in masses of bright pinks, reds, blues and dazzling whites - spectacular! The gardens both public and private were beautifully manicured and unbelievably inviting and the Charlestonians warm and welcoming. What a great first - and lasting - impression. It was our family’s introduction to a southern lifestyle. It was my indoctrination into Southern cooking.
We were learning southern-eze, the etiquette of the deep south and how to eat foods that were new to us. Foods with strange names like Hoppin' John and Hush Puppies - and corn pone, grits, roasted oysters and collard greens were additions to our culinary vocabulary, as well.
As we settled in to our new home we began - one more time - to explore unfamiliar places. The beaches around Charleston and surrounding islands were just wonderful, offering a wide variety of adventures from swimming and boating, to shell gathering, to catching those tasty little crabs with blue claws. On one of our first beach outings we discovered Andre’s, a funky little roadside oyster bar in near by Folly Beach. Their specialty - roasted oysters. They were heavenly. The oyster beds were right out side the back door of the restaurant. When supply got low the owner simply walked out the back door and gathered more. He shoveled them in to a red hot open oven that sat right inside the restaurant. They couldn’t have been fresher. Delicious beyond imagination.
They were roasted just long enough for their shells to open, then brought, steaming hot, to the table in large dish pans. To eat them, one held the oyster in a gloved hand (the glove, a cotton carpenters glove, was supplied by the restaurant). If further prying, to open the oyster, was necessary you were supplied with a railroad crossing spike that had been flattened on the end, resembling a crude screwdriver blade. Empty water buckets were placed on the floor beside each chair, where you deposited the empty shells. The oysters had a salty, tangy succulence that no taste bud could resist.
Served with the oysters were side dishes of Hush Puppies (a deep fried seasoned corn meal fritter) and cole slaw. That was the menu, plain and simple. Take it or leave it. With these we drank lots and lots of ice cold beer and sodas. We laughed, told stories and enjoyed all of that warm, relaxed southern hospitality.
Oh, yes - let’s not forget another Southern experience, collard greens. I’m in total agreement with food writer Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking and More Home Cooking, who said that, “Only southern men and southern children like collard greens.” Collard greens were to me (a northern woman) a decidedly nasty tasting green vegetable that was cooked and cooked until it lacked any resemblance to a vegetable at all. It was simply a limp dark green blob slumped sadly on my plate. The first remark to come to mind when it was served to me was, “What is this!” I said nothing, lest I reveal my lack of southern charm.
A close southern friend promised me she could cook collards that I would like. She tried. She couldn’t. I didn’t.
We continued on through that first adventurous summer and fall----settling in, making new friends, sightseeing, trying new restaurants, entertaining at home and learning new foods and Southern lingo for familiar foods.
What in the world was Hoppin’ John? and was it catching? Hoppin' John, we quickly learned, was seasoned black eyed peas served over rice. As eating it was considered good luck it was a necessary part of welcoming in the New Year. It was a menu-must for the New Years Day mandatory Commanders Call at Charleston Air Force Base which traditionally began between 9 A.M. and 10 A.M. Featured on the buffet table was the symbolic, good luck, hog’s head----no luck for the hog, of course. The apple enhanced, leafy green fringed hogs head occupied the platter of honor on a seasonally decorated table, followed by a larger platter of small pieces of sliced Roast Pork and a chafing dish piled high with Hoppin' John.
It’s hard to imagine a more disturbing experience, after all that late night New Years Eve revelry, than standing in line, wearing white gloves and a silly little hat, at a formal reception - with bleary eyes and an unstable stomach - first to face the Wing Commander and his wife, then once through the receiving line to come eye to eye with a smiling hog’s head. And all I really wanted was a big tall glass of ice water and a nice soft chair.
I’m not including my favorite recipe for Hoppin' John with this story although I could. And I won’t be including a recipe for collard greens. I simply wouldn’t. If you’re personally curious consult The Joy of Cooking by Rombauer but take my word for it, collard greens are no joy!
In spite of the dubious pleasures of tasting collard greens for the first time or gazing at a festively decorated hog’s head, I found Charleston to be a charming city full of remarkable historic sights, exceptional restaurants and warm hospitable people. Charleston likes to think of its self as the epitome of elegant, polite society and indeed it is. During our seven years there I learned many things----except, of course, how to look a hogs head squarely in the eye and how to appreciate collard greens.
A Perfect Southern Supper
Years later when we moved south again, this time to San Antonio, Texas I was reintroduced to southern cooking, and that all time favorite throughout the south, Corn Meal Encrusted Fried Cat Fish. It became, along with Maque Choux (mock shoe) and Honey Lemon Cole Slaw, a perfect southern supper.
Maque Choux was a new experience for me when we moved to San Antonio and it was love at first bite. As nearly as I can figure out, it was a creation of the deeper south, the Louisiana Bayou country that migrated in to Texas. The perfect time for Maque Choux is in summer when fresh, juicy, sweet corn and luscious red, ripe tomatoes are plentiful and full of flavor. But any time of year is just fine with me.
Fried Cat Fish, Maque Choux, and Honey Lemon Cole Slaw are, in my opinion, a perfect southern meal. If you’d like bread, Baking Powder Biscuits (I use Bisquick) or Corn Bread (I use a low sugar, less cake-like mix) is the perfect southern answer. The recipes that follow are simple to prepare and wonderful to eat. Choose one of the two excellent Maque Choux recipes. One recipe uses bacon for the flavoring; the other oil and butter. I prefer using the more flavorful bacon recipe and use Apple wood Smoked Bacon.
Finish the meal with a bowl of creamy Banana Puddin’. What could be more southern and what could be more wonderful comfort food. Pour the coffee and serve the puddin’!
THE MENU
- Fried Cat Fish
- Maque Choux (mock shoe)
- Honey Lemon Cole Slaw
- Biscuits or Corn Bread
- A Large Banana Puddin’ and
- Coffee or Iced Tea
THE RECIPES
Fried Cat Fish
Serves 4
- 1 lb. cat fish fillets
- Lemon pepper and garlic powder
- Buttermilk
- Fine ground corn meal and salt to taste
- Canola oil
Arrange cat fish fillets in a flat pan or dish and sprinkle them with lemon pepper and garlic powder. Pour in enough buttermilk to cover fillets.
Marinate fish for at least one hour or longer.
When ready to cook dredge them with fine ground corn meal and fry them in very hot canola oil until they are nice and brown and crusty. Serves 4
Serve with lemon wedges and your favorite Tartar Sauce with a little Cajun seasoning such as Zatarain’s.
By the way, I’m happy to report that the cat fish in San Antonio was much tastier than the cat fish of my youth in northern Ohio where it always tasted a little like the muddy river bottom where it had been caught. Good news! Cat fish is now farm raised, not mud flavored and darned good eating.
Cajun Maque Choux
Serves 4 to 6
- 2 strips of thick sliced smoked bacon
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 small green pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 cups fresh sweet corn kernels
- 2 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
In a medium skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat. Remove bacon when it is crispy, drain on a paper towel and crumble. Keep 2 Tbs. drippings in the pan. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Add the corn, tomatoes and sugar, and season to taste. Cook, covered, over low heat about 5 minutes or until vegetables are heated through. Add bacon and serve.
Vegetarian Maque Choux
Serves 6 to 8
- 6 ears of sweet corn
- 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
- 1 Tbs. butter
- 1 large tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 tsp. hot sauce
Cut corn kernels off the cob and into a bowl. Using a knife, scrape milk and remaining pulp from corn cob in to a bowl. Set aside.
Combine oil and butter in a large skillet; heat until butter melts. Add corn, tomato, and remaining ingredients; cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring often. Yields 4 cups.
The vegetarian recipe source suggests that you place the Fried Cat Fish on toasted French bread in an individual pasta bowl; top it with Maque Choux and serve it immediately as a one dish meal. That’s a good idea but I’ll probably just stick to the old fashioned way - a piece of golden Fried Cat Fish with a dollop of Tartar Sauce and a serving of Maque Choux side by side on a dinner plate.
Honey-Lemon Slaw
Serves 8
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbs. honey
- 1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
- 2 Tbs. lemon juice
- Grated fresh ginger root, to taste or 1/4 tsp. dry ginger
- 4 cups shredded cabbage
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
Stir together first 5 ingredients. Add cabbage and raisins; toss. Cover and chill.
Makes 8 (about half cup) servings.
As for that big bowl of southern comfort “A Large Banana Puddin”, all you really need is a large box of Cook and Serve Vanilla Pudding mix and a banana or two. I add 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and a tablespoon of real butter.
Enjoy these classic recipes from the “deep south”. They’re simple to make and delicious to eat.
And from an unknown source on my E-Mail came these words of wisdom.
Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up “a mess”.
AND - Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who’s got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor’s trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin’.
Enjoy!
Martha