AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER

Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock

THE GIFT OF SOUTHERN COOKING

My copy of this classic cookbook is a little worse for the wear because of how many times I have leafed through it looking for the best recipe for a pile of ingredients I have collected on the kitchen counter. In this post we look at the book, the cooks and all things Southern when it comes to making you and your peeps happy with the food you put on the table.

I keep a Southern kitchen in that I usually have most the ingredients needed for a real variety of dishes. My mother and grandmothers were all good basic she-chefs with go-to recipes for things like cornbread, dressing, fried chicken and any kind of bean.

COOKING BEANS WITH A LITTLE HUMOR

I’m reminded of the first time I remember making someone laugh which was when I was quite young and always outspoken. My mother was trying to chide me into eating something I didn’t like. She said “You don’t know how lucky you are to have this to eat. A lot of kids are going hungry and all they have to eat is beans.”

🤔 She says I looked very thoughtful and then replied “What kind of beans Momma…I like beans!” 😆

And I do! In fact, I love beans. There aren’t many if any I can think of that I won’t eat. They are a staple of the Southern diet because all you need is a scrap of meat with a little fat to make them taste utterly delicious. Add a little heat, chopped onion and brown sugar with some chow chow on the side-even better!

As every good Southerner ought to know, a little pig goes a long way no matter what you are cooking. Our African American friends taught us that all parts are usable and good for the purposes of flavoring.

MASHAMA BAILEY, THE GREY & SAVANNAH, GA

What started me on this most recent foray back into the cookbook of Lewis and Peacock was discovering that Mashama Bailey was up for a James Beard award as best chef of the Southeast for 2019. She is well known and is considered a “disciple” of Edna Lewis.

When I read an article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution outlining why, it made me get up and scrounge through my books looking for the cookbook again. Enjoy a little peak behind the scenes of Mashama’s restaurant in this video below.

SCHNITZEL SOUTHERN STYLE

I knew I had some pork chops that were callin’ my name in the fridge. I had promised my husband to do them in his beloved European schnitzel style but I decided to do it with Southern flair by following Scott & Miss Edna’s recipe for fried chicken.

Cornstarch is their secret ingredient to make it crispy. So I made up my flour mixture and hammered the chops out and laid them in brine for the recommended soak.

I put them in for a buttermilk soak for that luscious punch of flavor it gives. I then set about thinly slicing a cucumber to follow their salad recipe which is very similar to the Czech style my husband adores and works so well with pork.

Cubed and boiled potatoes with a little butter and caraway seed finished the meal off. This is good eating at it’s best; fresh ingredients, simply done with balance of flavors and textures. Pretty quick to pull together and as my father used to say, “…any simple tool can follow a good recipe.”

Grab yourself a copy of this book The Gift of Southern Cooking. The recipes are easy to follow, the pictures are beautiful and the food is classic. It just doesn’t get any better than this folks.

A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP

Edna and Scott’s friendship goes back to the days after he left the hustle, bustle and loudness of the Horseradish Grill and went to the Governor’s mansion which is where they met.

An unlikely pair people said of the young white chef and the quiet observant African American with fifty years difference in age but with a love of Southern food in common.

While Scott wanted to study all things French and Italian in his food, it was Edna that brought him back to his roots with the simple words “…to study where you come from”.

After all, it was Edna and her work in the kitchens of New York, along with her first cookbooks trying to recapture the flavors she remembered from her youth, that started the swell of respect for true Southern cooking and recipes in other Chef’s kitchens.

WHY SOUTHERN

There are many reasons we needed Miss Edna and her disciples to reintroduce us to the food of the South. It had been pushed aside as being the food of the poor and the make do unlike those of French and Italian.

It was the food of simple fresh ingredients meaning that the reason it tasted so good was because you grew it yourself, picked it and brought it to the kitchen to use immediately.

This is what brought back farm to table food concepts and trying to source local ingredients by supporting smaller farmers.

“You can make a meal off cornbread…” my mother would say as she cut a slice, put it in a glass of buttermilk and ate it with a spoon. Deviled eggs are about as simple as it gets and in my family, the only reason we can abide funerals as they arrive in multiples from empathetic neighbors.

All meats can bring joy from being slow cooked for four hours or more whether it is pork ribs, beef oxtails or lamb shanks. A premise which works on the grill or in the oven.

Some folks have Sourdough starters that have been around as long as grandma. Recipes can vary but it makes some of the best bread around. Check out my post on making your own sourdough bread.

INGREDIENTS FOR COUNTRY CAPTAIN

So my next test was to assemble a large number of ingredients I happen to like and look for a recipe that would work with it. I love spice in condiments and I like to pair them with fruits and nuts.

That sweet sour salty thing, a standard in the South, works well for me and a Country Captain was the perfect choice. It is a low country dish that is popular throughout Savannah and Charleston.

The condiments you use with it tell a story as well. Mine are usually bacon (that pig thing again), chutney, crispy onion rings and nuts of any kind but cashews preferred while peanuts are more traditional.

I always blend fresh fruit with staples like honey crisp apples and oranges with more exotics like pineapple and banana. I also throw in some fresh coconut because I made coconut rice from the cookbook as well. Delicious and while it messed up practically every dish in the kitchen, it was well worth the mess!

A WORD ABOUT GRITS

Scott started serving grits with braised and roasted meats early in his career before it was cool to do a grit. Some were….errmmmm….uncertain and others were overjoyed. It started a kind of grit thang though…like pesto grits, lemon grass grits, sun-dried-tomato grits (think Bubba from Forest Gump here).

Edna’s quiet classic response to the phenomena still cracks me up and I wholeheartedly agree; “People should really leave grits alone.” I make one exception and that is to add cheese on occasion when warranted…cause….well….cheese is just how I roll.

We are all on the same page with a few grit facts: stone ground are the best but take up to an hour to cook. Milk is a must for the creamy aspect not water. And I don’t care what the directions say….a grit does not cook in 5 minutes…most will take a least 20 minutes or more with more milk added as necessary.

A FEW RECIPE NOTEs

Miss Lewis passed away in 2006 and I have read Scott’s comments about the particularly hard time she had the last three years and how it affected him being her caretaker. Nothing says love like being there for someone as they prepare for their home going.

I was reminded of my own father’s passing nearly three years ago and how it shaped my outlook on the future and the choices I make every day as well. Cooking is love on a plate and sharing a meal with someone is the highest compliment and a form of intimacy.

In researching for this blog, I came across an article in Garden and Gun about what Scott Peacock is up to these days. He has bought a true Southern mansion in Marion named Reverie in the Black Belt of his beloved Alabama. So named for the dark soil which is very different from the red clay of lower Alabama.

He is getting back to his roots and offering a culinary journey with a biscuit experience. Four ladies at a time have been showing up to get flour on their hands and lean into the full experience of learning to cook biscuits Scott & Edna’s way. My ears perked up! Visit Marion? Meet Scott? Cook biscuits? Eat lunch? Yes please!

I immediately clicked on the link and signed up. It’s crowded. I don’t know if I will get in. But I am going to keep trying until I do because I want to continue this great experience of cooking with Miss Edna and Scott Peacock. Until then, I hope you enjoy this video showing you Scott’s technique on cheddar cheese biscuits.

If you liked what you read, you might want to try reading some other blogs under Edible Fare. Hey, don’t be a stranger! Let me hear from you about cooking Southern and if you might be interested in the great biscuit experience as well. Look for my next blog on Costa Rica. Until then…

Cheers,

ArtsyChowRoamer

Follow me on You Tube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram & Twitter. Photo Credit for Scott Peacock: Jennifer Causey

TO MY READERS: This post was updated with more info, pics and upgraded content on 4/28/2020. Scott reached out to me after reading the blog post and said I could come and bake biscuits with him anytime. It may be one of the first places I visit as soon as this pandemic is over. I can’t wait!