Cook Like Mad

On our trip to North Carolina earlier this year, D and I learned many things about Southern food culture, some we expected, some we did not. I knew NC barbecue sauce was vinegary and it nearly always covered meat from a pig, but I was surprised-happily, of course- to see the number of ways Southerns cook cornmeal. D and I found between our teeth corn pone, cornbread, hush puppies both short and long, and cornmeal-coated everything. I had eaten hush puppies and cornbread up North, but not like this. I was used to dry, bland cornbread and hush puppies, made with instant mixes and the hush puppies fried so long they looked like lumps of coal. I needed this corn education in the South to show me how cornmeal could be made into tasty, craveable food.

My first lesson came at Speedy’s BBQ in Lexington, NC. D and I had heard that there was great barbecue to be had just south of Winston-Salem, so we made the 20 mile drive to Lexington to see what the fuss was about. Upon first glance we thought we’d be taken for fools- there was a gas station, a few hardware stores, and a surprisingly cute downtown area including a candy “shoppe” that looked straight out of the 1920s, but no Speedy’s. To be fair, we had passed another barbecue joint whose name I can’t recall, on the way into town, and it was pretty packed, but it wasn’t the place we had heard of online (thank god for the iPhone in times of barbecue need…), and we had our hearts set on finding our destination food stop. A few turns later and about to go back to the first barbecue place we happened upon, we found ourselves at Speedy’s, and the smell and sight of the smoker out back immediately assured us that we were in for a treat. Our waitress, totally emotionless and disinterested in our eagerness, at us down at a booth by the window and asked us for our drink order. D got a sweet tea, I got a coke, and what she brought to us were two pitchers of each. Ok, so even before the barbecue came out, I knew I liked this place- a pitcher meant, “even though we’re serving good food fast, if you want to linger, you’re more than welcome to.”

Soon our food came out, hush puppies, fries, and pork sandwiches- chopped and coarsely chopped, for D and me, respectively. The not-too-sweet, vinegary, thin sauce was light in color (demonstrating a lack of molasses) and heavy on flavor. The tang of the sauce went perfectly with the chopped pork, slightly fatty, mostly lean, and the soft bun could barely contain it. I asked for my sandwich with slaw on the side, and the odd, nearly pulverized cabbage mix that the waitress brought out was not was I expected, but delicious. I added it to my sandwich, and it rounded the flavors out nicely. (Side note: one of my favorite dishes is Choucroute Garnie, an Alsatian dish that involves braising various pork products in sauerkraut, so you can understand my enthusiasm for this American South flavor combination.) The hush puppies were wonderful as well- moist, deep golden brown (but not too brown!) and they had a slightly sweet n’ salty thing going on that I quite liked. Being too full to check out that old time candy shoppe in the middle of town, D and I bought Speedy’s BBQ t-shirts as souvenirs and hit the road.

My second lesson on cornmeal and its culinary applications in the south came at Mama Dips’ Kitchen in Chapel Hill, NC. God, this place made me wish I went to UNC, Chapel Hill… From the time we walked in the front door, we knew we’d set foot in an institution. The first thing you see when you walk in is the restaurant’s gift shop posing as a reservation desk. Here you can buy Mama Dip’s t-shirts, her signature barbecue sauce, her cookbooks (yes, she’s published more than one, and yes, I bought one), and numerous other goodies, all of which you will see as essential items to stock up on once you taste her food. Soon, we pass into the main dining room, unable to ignore the seemingly endless hallway of framed recognitions to our right.

Once we’re seated, our waitress quickly comes with the menus and takes our drink order- another sweet tea and another coke, please. We look at the menu and immediately panic as any good foodie does in a place you know you won’t be able to come back to for a while. There were too many choices. I mean way too many choices, like three panels of 9-point font, single-spaced lists of menu items. Needless to say, D and I took a deep breath and ordered. And with our order came the most incredible corn muffins and biscuits. Delicate, moist, and addictive, D and I dipped them in our gravy, our collard greens, and our squash casserole, savoring the harmony of flavors those dips created.

That that trip to North Carolina was a few months ago, but my interest in cooking with cornmeal is as strong as it was the day we came home. I suppose it’s taken me a few months to recover from the food of that trip (it was heavy, meat-centric, and pretty high in fat, to be honest) and to get up the courage to recreate my new favorite dishes at home. Would I be able to pull it off? D had started to crave those southern foods more than ever, partly due to another more recent trip to South Carolina and Georgia, and I wasn’t sure I could live up to both his and my expectations. So I researched a few dishes, and thought, how hard can it really be? I would make catfish and fried okra and hush puppies- all safe, tasty bets. In the end, the catfish and hush puppies were A-game dishes, but the okra (in my opinion, since D and our guests liked them) was sub-par. So below, find the recipes for hush puppies and fried catfish- two very Southern dishes, the former from North Carolina (but originally from New Orleans) and the latter from South Carolina. These recipes represent two out of the infinite number of preparations that are possible with a sack of cornmeal, and showcase the delicious flavor this ingredient adds to any dish. Enjoy! : )

Fried Catfish (adapted from Chitterlings.com)

Serves 4

4 catfish fillets, skinned.
1 cup Yellow Corn Meal
2 teaspoons Lawry’s Seasoned Salt (or just plain salt)
4 cups vegetable cooking oil (Enough to cover the catfish)

Method
1. Preheat oil to 325 degrees. Rinse the fillets thoroughly and then pat dry with a paper towel. Pat dry with a paper towel.

2. Roll the fresh, catfish fillets in a mixture of corn meal and Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. If you cannot find Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, then your favorite seasoned salt will have to do. It’s just that Lawry’s Seasoned Salt is a southern favorite. A quick way to coat the fish in the corn meal and season mixture is to place it in a plastic bag and just shake it.

3. Drop fillets two at a time into deep fryer. Fry until it turns golden brown, about 5 minutes. Drain on double layered paper towels and serve immediately while hot.

Hush Puppies (from Chitterlings.com)

Makes 6 servings

2 cups yellow corn meal
1 cup plain flour
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (you can also use plain milk in a pinch, but nothing compares to buttermilk)
3/4 teaspoon Lawry’s seasoned salt (or just plain salt)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 teaspoon baking soda (if using regular milk, substitute baking powder here)
1/8 cup bacon grease. (This is another big key to the flavor. You can use other types of cooking oil, but bacon is my favorite)
Vegetable oil for frying (peanut oil is great too, but make sure no one you’re cooking for is allergic to peanuts!!)

Method

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add your eggs, oil, and buttermilk. Stir it all up until the flavors are thoroughly blended.

2. Turn your cooker on medium-high heat. When it’s hot you can drop your hush puppies in using a table spoon. Allow them to brown on all sides. They should begin floating when done, but if they don’t, don’t overcook them.

You can also store this mixture in the refrigerator for a day prior to frying. Before cooking let the mixture reach near room temperature.

-M : )

Some people who know me for not liking nuts will probably be surprised to find me writing so enthusiastically about these mixed nuts, but the truth is, even though I’m not a nut-lover, these are my new favorite snack. They are at once salty, sweet, earthy and spicy, and there is just the right amount of coating on them- enough to create an intense flavor, but not so much that you feel like calling your dentist after munching through a handful. Now before devising my own recipe, I researched a bit, as I usually do, to find approximate proportions of ingredients to use for the size batch I wanted to make. What surprised me in my search was the predominant use of egg whites in this type of recipe. I guess I thought making mixed nuts with a glaze would just involve sugar, maybe butter, and some corn syrup, as if I was making a less-liquidy version of brittle. What I realized was that egg whites, along with sugar, were the key ingredient to getting that airy, less dense crunch to stick to the exterior of the nuts. I know I’ve written before about the different textural properties that eggs give to a variety of dishes, such as custard, angel food cake, and mayonnaise, but this was a totally new application to me.

So what does a curious cook do in this situation? She looks up why! Now the place to look was not on food websites or cookbooks (well, unless you consider Harold McGee’s books “cookbooks”..), but instead on science websites, or even food manufacturing websites. Why? Because the same properties of the egg whites that give these nuts their sheen, their resilient coating, and their ability to block moisture (therefore preventing them from spoilage longer) are the same properties that food scientists and manufacturers capitalize on to make the gelatin capsules that encase your daily vitamin e pill, the sausage casings that prevent their spoilage, and “candy shells” around loose pieces of gum. Edible protein films such as these protect fresh foods from flavor and nutrient losses, protect dried fruits from moisture loss, and even those that thinly coat apples help to lessen a producer or shipper’s dependency on nonrenewable food packaging materials by offering added protection to the produce. This is due to the protein film’s ability not only to provide a hydrophobic coating, thereby preventing changes in the food’s moisture content and subsequently reducing spoilage, but also its ability to evenly and thoroughly adhere to the given product. Do you see where I’m going with this now?

The use of egg whites in this recipe not only guarantees a crisp crunch and a shiny reflection (thanks in no small part to it’s partner in crime, sugar), but it ensures the sweet and spicy coating covers every nut, fills every crevice, and does so consistently and evenly. Additionally, I was thankful for the egg whites’ adhering abilities as I broke apart pieces of the mixed nuts that had stuck together in brittle fashion and didn’t lose any coating as I separated the clusters.

So make these mixed nuts for yourself, your friends, or for your next party and revel in their gleaming, hard-shelled goodness. They won’t get spice dust everywhere as some mixed nuts do, thanks to the candy-like coating, but I will warn you, they are addictive. Thankfully, nuts are good for you, so dig in

Note: one other thing I love (what am I up to, number 10, on the “let me count the ways I love these nuts” list??) is the fact that you can blitz them in the food processor and they make a delicious topping for ice cream, pudding, and trifles. Or, try mixing the blitzed bits into brownies, cookies, or pie crusts for added texture and flavor. Heck, I’m thinking of just mixing them in straight chocolate and making a dark mixed nut bark out of them….mmm…stay posted!

Sweet and Spicy Mixed Nuts

Makes 5 cups- you determine how many servings that is….

2 egg whites

1 tsp water

4 1/2 cups roasted mixed nuts, unsalted (or a single nut, your choice;- you can also buy salted roasted nuts, but then you should omit the salt from the recipe)

1 1/8 cup sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp allspice

1/2 to 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a large baking sheet (or two small ones) with a silpat (if you don’t own a silpat, first, let me recommend buying one for $10 online, and second, let me suggest using a very well greased sheet of parchment paper, instead). Whisk egg whites and water in a large bowl until frothy, about 1 minute, then add the nuts, and stir to coat evenly.

2. Mix together all the other ingredients, and pour the mixture into the bowl with the coated nuts. Mix well to coat and dump the nuts on the lined baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the nuts look a little dry and there is noticeably less moisture on the baking sheet. Take the nuts out of the oven, cool on the baking sheet, and once completely cool, peel them off the tray and break up any bunches that have formed. Store in an airtight container, or in sealed plastic bags, up to 1 month. Enjoy!

-M