The Times and Democrat is running the Best of What’s Cooking? from columnist Teres a Hatchell. This column originally ran on July 4, 2018. Teresa Hatchell For so very many years, meal time in every Southern household called for some type of fried meat, a starch such as rice, grits or potatoes, a vegetable or two, and homemade biscuits, cornbread or a piece of “light” (white) bread.
Of course you had to have a bit of something sweet to top off the meal – which brings back a fond memory. When I was growing up, if we didn’t have a cookie or piece of pound cake on hand for dessert, my Granddaddy Jay Mizzell turned his fork upside-down, propped it under the edge of his dinner plate, and poured some Oh, Boy! cane syrup on the plate. Precise placement of the fork caused the syrup to gather in a nice little pool on the plate.
Then, granddaddy dipped “light” bread in the syrup and ate it as a dessert ...
the Southerner’s version of the Greek syrupy dessert, baklava. As far back as I remember, all great cooks used nice cast iron skillets to prepare their fried pork chops, fried chicken, country-fried steak, salmon croquettes, fried beef liver or chicken livers, etc. Too, I recall that every piece of meat, fish or poultry was either dipped in milk or in a milk and egg batter and then coated well with flour that had been seasoned with salt and pepper before it was fried.
The people under 30 years old reading this week’s column probably don’t know what I am talking abo.
