Chapter XV: Part I: Distinctively Southern Dishes

[Sidenote: The Cornmeal.]

[Sidenote: The Hoe.]

The dishes in which the South excel, and which may be called distinctive to that section, are those made of cornmeal, of gumbo or okra, and those seasoned with sassafras powder or twigs. The cornmeal used in the South is white and coarse-grained (it is called there water-ground), and gives quite a different result from that which is finer in grain and yellow in color, which is usually sold at the North. The hoe used for baking corn-cakes is an article made for the purpose, and not the garden implement usually associated with the name.

=PONE=

Sift a quart of white cornmeal, add a teaspoonful of salt; pour on enough cold water to make a mixture which will squeeze easily through the fingers. Work it to a soft dough. Mold it into oblong cakes an inch thick at the ends, and a little thicker in the center. Slap them down on the pan, and press them a little. These cakes, they say, must show the marks of the fingers. The pan must be hot, and sprinkled with the bran sifted from the meal. Bake in a hot oven for about twenty minutes.

=HOE-CAKE No. 1=

Make the same mixture as for pone. Spread it on the greased hoe, or a griddle, making a round cake one quarter inch thick. Bake it on the top of the range, turning and baking it brown on both sides.

=HOE-CAKE No. 2=

Use for these cakes, if possible, coarse water-ground white meal. Add to a quart of meal a teaspoonful of salt; pour over it enough boiling water to make it a soft dough; add also a little milk to make it brown better. Let it stand an hour or longer, then work it together with the hand. Form it into little cakes an inch thick, and bake on a greased griddle till browned on both sides. Serve very hot. They are split and spread with butter when eaten.

=KENTUCKY CORN DODGERS=

Mix a teaspoonful of salt with a cupful of white cornmeal. Scald it with just enough boiling water to dampen it; then add enough cold milk to enable you to mold it. Stir it well together, and form it into cakes three quarters of an inch thick in the middle and oblong in shape. Use a tablespoonful of dough for each cake. Bake them on a greased pan in a hot oven for twenty-five minutes.

=MARYLAND BEATEN BISCUIT=

Add a teaspoonful of salt and tablespoonful of butter to a quart of flour. Rub them together, then add a cupful of milk, and, if necessary, a little water, making a stiff dough. Place the dough on a firm table or block, and beat it with a mallet or rolling-pin for fully half an hour, or until it becomes brittle. Spread it half an inch thick; cut it into small circles, and prick each one with a fork. Bake them in a hot oven about twenty minutes.

=SOFT CORN-BREAD=

Mix a tablespoonful of butter with two cupfuls of hot boiled hominy or of rice; add two or three well-beaten eggs, and then add slowly two cupfuls of milk, and lastly a cupful of white cornmeal and a dash of salt. Turn the mixture, which should be of the consistency of pancake batter, into a deep dish, and bake about an hour. Serve it with a spoon from the same dish in which it is baked.

=SOUTHERN WAY OF COOKING RICE=

Wash the rice thoroughly through several waters, using the hand. Put it into a saucepan with a pint of water and a half teaspoonful of salt to each cupful of rice. Let it boil covered until the water has boiled away; then draw it to the side of the range, open the cover a little, and let it steam until thoroughly dry. Do not touch the rice while it is cooking. This receipt is furnished by a Southern negro cook.

=GUMBO FILE=

(A NEW ORLEANS DISH)

50 oysters.
1 fowl cut into pieces.
1/2 pound of veal cut into pieces.
1/2 pound of ham cut into pieces.
3 tablespoonfuls of tomato.
1 tablespoonful of drippings.
2 onions.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
1/4 teaspoonful of pepper.
1/4 teaspoonful of powdered thyme.
1/4 teaspoonful of marjoram.
Dash of cayenne.
2 tablespoonfuls of sassafras powder.

Wash well the outside of a fowl (see page 180), and cut it into pieces. Cut the veal and the ham into small pieces, and dredge all of them well with flour.

Put the onions, sliced, into a pot or large saucepan with one tablespoonful of fat or drippings, and fry until brown; then add the pieces of chicken, veal, and ham. Turn them often, so all will brown evenly; this will take about twenty minutes. When the meat is browned, add two quarts of hot water; cover the pot, and let simmer for two hours. After the first hour add the salt, pepper, thyme, marjoram, and tomatoes. At the end of two hours, if the meat is tender, add the oysters and the oyster juice, and let remain on the fire only long enough to ruffle the gills of the oysters. Take from the fire, and add two tablespoonfuls of sassafras powder, and stir until a little thickened (do not add the sassafras until the pot is removed from the fire).

Serve in a meat-dish with a border of boiled rice. This is a dish much used in the South. It may be served as a chowder, with the meat and liquor together, or may be served separately, using the liquor as a soup.

Powdered sassafras leaves may be obtained at the grocer's.

=CHICKEN GUMBO=

Cut a chicken into pieces; roll the pieces in flour; put them into a pot with a few slices of salt pork and one sliced onion. Saute them a light brown; then add four quarts of hot water, and simmer it until the chicken is nearly cooked; then add two slices of boiled ham, two quarts of sliced okra, one half can of tomatoes, and one pod of red pepper. Continue to cook until everything is tender. Season with salt and pepper, and just before serving stir in one teaspoonful of sassafras powder. If sassafras twigs can be had they are better than the powder, and should be added with the vegetables.

This is a favorite Southern dish. It resembles a chowder, and is so hearty as to almost constitute a dinner in itself.