Cotton country folks sure know how to cook

By Dale Short
There are cookbooks, and there are cookbooks.
I've got one of the latter variety. It's heavy duty.
Are you craving a good source for trendy, refreshing, heart-healthy recipes?
If so, you don't want to go anywhere near this volume. All this stuff was conceived
and collected long before such ugly words as cholesterol ever entered common
usage.
The book is called !otton !ountry !ooking, and it was published in "#$%
by the &ecatur 'unior (ervice )eague. It contains, by my rough estimate, *ust
upwards of a thousand (outhern recipes so authentic they could make the most
confirmed +ortherner say, This here is mighty good, y'all, after *ust a few bites.
And since the submitters of the recipes were invited to include a personal
note with each one, it's also a tantali-ing glimpse into the daily lives of the women
.nope, no males here/ who chose these best-of-the-bunch from the countless
heirloom recipes they no doubt possessed.
0or one thing, there's a surprising number of recipes containing fill-in-the-
blank intended especially for eaters who don't like fill-in-the-blank. .!hildren,
perhaps? 1icky husbands?/
(peaking of husbands, they were apparently mandatory in those days. +o
woman lists her title as 2s. or 2iss, only 2rs. with her husband's full name,
and nobody comments, This is one of my boyfriend's favorites.
(peaking of recipes said to be for picky eaters, 3eavenly !arrots is in a
class by itself. This one dish has converted more confirmed carrot-haters, its
personal note boasts, than any other we know. It must be made ahead, so carrots
can marinate4 it keeps practically forever4 and it's delicious with any meat or
sandwich.
If a carrot dish containing bell peppers, vinegar, and tomato soup sounds
5uestionable to you, thou needeth to suspend thy disbelief. It's a keeper, to say the
least. If you don't like the taste of it, I'll eat your portion.
(peaking of ingredients, it's almost mandatory for each recipe to contain
butter, heavy cream, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup,
or preferably all of the above.
A surprising number of the recipes have an international flavor .so to speak/.
There's 6riental 7reen 8eans, !hicken 9iev, !hantilly 1otatoes, 6ysters
8ienville, and )ayered (5uash 1apasan, to name but a few. 6ther recipe names
indicate the specific purpose for which they're intended, such as (unday (5uash,
!ompany 8eans, and !hicken Aloha.
As for specific dishes, the largest section is the one containing chicken
recipes, and I've put a considerable number of them to repeated use over the years.
In fact, my single favorite recipe in the book is of the chicken variety: !hicken
8reasts 8aked in !ream. Ingredients include onions, garlic, bacon, and
;orcestershire, and the boneless, skinless breasts--all slowly baked in cream.
If you don't hear a heavenly chorus when you bite into this one, you *ust
don't appreciate good food.
There's also a section on cooking wild game, which includes the most
intriguing personal note of the whole volume. It reads, Thick, luscious cream does
marvelous things to tender dove breasts, I'll take your word for that, ma'am.
I couldn't resist doing a 7oogle search for !otton !ountry !ooking, and
I'm not surprised to find that it's still in print. 2y dog-eared volume professes in
the liner notes to have sold <=,=== copies4 7oogle tells me that number has now
surpassed "==,===. The 'unior )eague is still around as well, though its name is
now 'unior )eague of 2organ !ounty.
The comments section is interesting too: Apparently it's mandatory for
every woman in +orth Alabama to own a copy of this,> one satisfied user notes,
and another adds, I doubt there's anybody in Alabama who didn't receive one as a
wedding gift.
That's how I got my copy. In fact the book was a point of contention in that
divorce, so rather than tearing the book in half .as 9ing (olomon would no doubt
have suggested/, I took the high road and settled for a photocopy of same, spiral-
bound at the edges. And though the faded, cardstock-bound version is a good bit
more unwieldy than the hardcover book, its pages are dog-eared and stained
.mostly with butter, cream, ;orcestershire, and cream of chicken soup/
nonetheless.
In fact, the photocopied copy is coming up on %= years old soon, which
means it's lasted longer than the marriage did.
And the book is multipurpose, as well. ?ven when you're not in the mood for
cooking, *ust browsing through the recipe titles and the personal notes is an
e@ercise in positive thinking.
As 2rs. ;illiam A. (ims writes, of 8ay +aylor's Artichoke !asserole with
3ollandaise (auce, 3ow could this dish be anything but marvelous with these
ingredients? Aren't you hungry already?
;ell, 2i-- (ims, actually I am. I think I'll cook it tonight. A'all.
B B B
(Dale Short is a native of Walker County. His columns, books, photos, and radio
features are available on his website, carrolldaleshort.com. His weekly radio
proram !"usic from Home! airs each Sunday at # pm on $ldies %&%.' and is
archived afterward on his website. (or your own copy of the !Heavenly Carrots!
recipe, drop him an e)mail at dale.short*mail.com+