Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2012 i Taste of the South

IN THE SOUTH, THE HOLIDAYS ARE ABOUT FAMILY, friends, food, and traditions. Traditions don’t have to be elaborate. They can be simple; you just have to make them yours. As an only child married to an only child, I’ve often thought we didn’t have many Christmas traditions, certainly not like the grand traditions I imagine big double-digit families have. For us, Christmas Day is about being together and eating good food. We don’t have the same menu every year, and we always operate on an open-house policy: If you don’t have anywhere to go, you eat with us. That’s the Southern way, right? But as the holidays grow closer this year, I realize we have a lot more traditions than I thought. The day before Christmas Eve is all about…

This time of year, our ovens never have time to cool down, and flour and confectioners’ sugar seem to decoratively dust every corner of the kitchen. From homemade baked treats to iced gingerbread masterpieces, our hands remain busy creating seasonal treasures for others to enjoy. Get the recipe for these German Chocolate Cookies on page 45. Made With Love In the South, there is no way we’d show up to a party empty-handed. We love to do our part and take something with us, especially an item that comes straight from our kitchens. What better way to delight your host than to make noteworthy cookies for an event or to give as a thoughtful gift. Use a fun glass container when packaging them—t he presentation will make your cookies look…

rosemary parmesan grits muffins Yield: 1 dozen muffins 1⁄4 cup butter, softened 2 tablespoons sugar 2 large eggs 1⁄2 cup sour cream 1⁄2 cup whole milk 1 cup all-purpose flour 2⁄3 cup quick-cooking grits 1⁄2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder 1⁄2 teaspoon salt 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda 1. Preheat oven to 400°. Spray 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream, and milk; whisk until combined. Stir in flour, grits, cheese, rosemary, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Mix just until combined. Spoon dough evenly into prepared pan. 3. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center of muffins comes out clean, approximately 15 minutes. Let cool…

NESTLED AMONG HILLS OVERLOOKING the Arkansas River, Little Rock is a collection of interesting neighborhoods. From its vibrant downtown and trendy Hillcrest to the bustling, suburban Chenal Valley, the city offers a different look and wealth of flavors over each hill. Historic Central High School and former President Bill Clinton loom large as the area has nearly 300 years of history to celebrate, not to mention its future. The city’s food scene is as widely varied as its geography and as dynamic as its story. Southern classics hearken back to its past. International cuisine, gourmet dishes, and well-done takes on popular trends match the city’s boundless energy. AS LOCAL AS LOCAL GETS It’s easy to pin down what makes The Root Café such a great place: Right on the wall…

AS MUCH AS I LOVE THANKSGIVING—THE FAMILY, the feast, the endless parade of intermingled savory and sweet—I’ve got a real culinary soft spot for the Friday following Turkey Day. It’s a time when most cooks have earned a well-deserved day of rest to recover from Thursday’s multi-course chaos. The fridge is packed with the remnants of the annual Pilgrim-inspired banquet, and after a flurry of full-contact cooking, the kitchen reverts to post-celebration “you’re on your own” rules. This is when I begin my favorite holiday ritual: cooking a batch of south Louisiana turkey-bone gumbo. After a full day of cooking the feast, cooks across Cajun Louisiana celebrate Thanksgiving’s afterglow with a bubbling pot of dark gumbo, thick with chunks of leftover bird and spiked with spicy hunks of smoked sausage.…

Every Issue at Your Fingertips I had promised myself that I have all of the magazine subscriptions I need. Wrong! Taste of the South is wonderful if you are a Southern cook like I am. It has some of the most awesome recipes in it. The only thing that I hate is that I just found it! —Debbie Pollack Pickard, Centerville, Tennessee, via Facebook We have a great treat for all of our readers who have recently found us. The first eight years of Taste of the South are now available on DVD. The cost is just $39.99 (for a limited time). The collection will make a great Christmas gift for all the Southern cooks in your life. See page 49 for more details. Kudos for Christy I tried the…

Stainless-Steel Pastry Scraper Retail: $9 Why we love it: Cuts and lifts dough easily and helps clean up the mess when you’re through Where to buy: williams-sonoma.com Stainless-Steel Pastry Blender Retail: $10 Why we love it: Sturdy, stainless steel tool that gets the job done Where to buy: williams-sonoma.com Rose’s Perfect Pie Plate Retail: $29.95 Why we love it: Ceramic pie plate distributes heat evenly for a crisper crust; decorative edge makes it easy to create a beautiful pie. Where to buy: chefscatalog.com Messermeister Pro-Touch Pastry Crimper and Sealer Retail: $12.50 Why we love it: Gives your pastries a professional crimped look Where to buy: bakeandcookco.com Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin Retail: $20 Why we love it: Removable discs adjust to ensure you roll out perfectly even dough. Where to buy: josephjoseph.com Ceramic Pie Weights…

WHEN TASTE OF THE SOUTH ASKED its readers earlier this year to send in recipes on Facebook, we never expected to hear from a fan in Great Britain. What’s even more remarkable is that Jennie Davies has never actually seen a copy of our magazine. “My flatmate’s friend, Lizzy, was visiting from New York,” she explains. “Whilst she was staying with us, she made these amazing Chocolate Peanut Squares. Of course, I had to get the recipe. That’s how I got to know Taste of the South.” She has been following us on Facebook and Twitter ever since. Jennie grew up in Devon, home of Britain’s legendary cream tea. “It’s a tea with sweet scones served with clotted cream and jam,” she explains. “That’s where my love of scones began.”…

* High in vitamin C, vitamin K, and folate, cauliflower also contains some fabulous cancerpreventing compounds. It’s best to steam, sauté, or roast cauliflower; boiling reduces its levels of these beneficial nutrients. * When buying cauliflower, choose heads surrounded by thick green leaves; they protect the cauliflower and keep it fresh. Look for compact, creamy white bud clusters, and avoid cauliflower with brown spots. * Store fresh cauliflower, stem side down, in a paper or plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to one week. * For a great holiday side, try our Roasted Cauliflower with Brown Butter and Almonds (page 31).…

Christy Jordan... Real Dinner Solutions THE HOLIDAYS ALWAYS transport me back to my childhood and memories of my family gathered around a dinner table We used to go to my grandmother’s for Thanksgiving, and the whole gang would congregate around my mother’s table on Christmas Day. The kitchens burst with folks as those who weren’t cooking found an excuse to mosey through and grab a “tasting” spoon while the matriarchs finished up the meal. Our houses were so hot with all that cooking, and we were even hotter if our mamas happened upon a deal on one of those pretty wool sweaters that were impractical in Alabama, regardless of the time of year. Chatter filled the air from sunup to sundown, when the last few folks drifted out onto the…

bourbon-spiced hot chocolate Yield: approximately 8 servings 6 ounces milk chocolate, chopped 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped 2 1⁄2 cups half-and-half 1 cup whole milk 1 1⁄2 cups confectioners’ sugar, divided 1⁄2 cup bourbon 1 1⁄2 cups heavy whipping cream 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract Garnish: marshmallows and natural unsweetened cocoa powder 1. In a large bowl, combine chocolates. Set aside. 2. In a medium saucepan, combine half-and-half, milk, 1 cup sugar, and bourbon. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture boils; remove from heat. 3. Pour mixture over chocolate; let stand for 3 minutes. Whisk chocolate mixture from the center out until smooth. Set aside. 4. In a large bowl, beat cream, vanilla, and remaining 1⁄2 cup sugar at medium-high speed with an electric…

EVERY WOMAN MIGHT WISH TO HAVE a husband as thoughtful as Stephanie Rensing’s. About a year before the Rockledge, Florida, couple married, Daniel Rensing noticed that his fiancée, who loves to bake, was having trouble converting recipes just right for the two of them into quantities that would feed a crowd for dinners with their extended family. So he designed an apron for her with common baking conversions printed on it— upside down—so Stephanie could read them while she was baking. “They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that’s kind of what happened with us,” Daniel recalls. The couple thought other people might like the apron, so they put it on a popular online marketplace, and The Smart Baker was born. The three years since have been a…

1. When you bite into a GooGoo Cluster, you’re biting into tradition— 100 years of it! This Nashville, Tennessee, treat is the original candy bar. Now you can share this Southern classic in a fun, vintage tin. $19.95, googoostore.com. Whe tion— 1 2. New Orleans’s Sucré might be known for their macaro ns, but they sure do know a thing about candied pecans, too. Great to give (and snack on), we love these tins of pure Southern goodness. $16, shopsucre.com. 3. This lovely grits and sauce combo from Luquire Family Foods’ Carolina Creole comes packaged as pretty as a picture in burlap and galvanized steel. Straight out of Georgetown, South Carolina, this family knows what we Southern folks like—heirloom family recipes and good down-home cookin’. $17, carolinacreole.com. 4. Made in Texas, the Goode…