Chris Holaday - Southern Breads: Recipes, Stories and Traditions

Published by American Palate

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2016 by Chris Holaday and Marilyn Markel

All rights reserved

Photos by Chris Holaday unless otherwise credited.

p. 50: Recipe copyright 2011 by Sheri Castle, from The New Southern Garden Cookbook: Enjoying the Best From Homegrown Gardens, Farmers Markets, Roadside Stands, and CSA Farm Boxes. Used by express written permission from the author; p. 47: Recipe copyright 1993 by Nathalie Dupree, from Nathalie Duprees Southern Memories. Used by express written permission from the author; p. 28: Recipe copyright 2012 by Nathalie Dupree, from Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubert. Used by express written permission from the author; pp. 54 and 78: Recipe copyrights Darryl Williams, from his blog From the Family Table (fromthefamilytable.com). Used by express written permission from the author; p. 76: Recipe copyright Ricky Moore. Used by express written permission from the author.

First published 2016

e-book edition 2016

ISBN 978.1.439.65.890.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016948309

print edition ISBN 978.1.46713.744.7

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in

critical articles and reviews.

The authors sweep away many mythologies about Southern food and bread with an authoritative pen, making what follows a clear guide to mastering the mystical. Sit down and read it first, or at least the first few pages, to learn all the basics before proceeding. From there, imagine master instructor Marilyn is by your side, holding your hand, and move on fearlessly to baking your favorite bread. With her many years of teaching, she is able to anticipate missteps and lead the way to perfection. There are some wonderful toppings, as well, that are treasures to keep on hand or give away.

Nathalie Dupree

CONTENTS

Traditional Southern cornbread, cooked in a well-seasoned, Tennessee-made Lodge cast-iron skillet.

FOREWORD

I was raised by a lot of good cooks. That was very useful to me in my career, though I didnt realize at the time what I was learning because I didnt cook with them; I just watched. But I suspect it was probably the most important thing to my profession, better than any training. Cooking, especially cooking bread, is such a part of everyday life.

The first cooking job I had was at the Carolina Coffee Shop in Chapel Hill in 1969, and I was the guy who made the rolls. We made yeast rolls from scratch in those days, and I loved doing that. The restaurant was famous for its rolls, giant and puffythey were huge. And with the scraps we made cinnamon rolls, which they served for breakfast. Those were very famous, and they were ridiculousas big as a dinner plate. We just saved all the scraps and rolled them out and added butter and nutmeg and sugar and so on and rolled them up. That was my first real cooking experience, and I hadnt thought about it again until just now, at least not in the context of the importance of bread.

There is huge fight that goes on constantly about sugar or no sugar in cornbread, depending on where you are from. Its an ongoing saga. People dont seem to be as combative about biscuits. There are many acceptable styles, and some are for breakfast and some go on top of cobblers; some are little and some are huge. I think people are more accepting of variations in biscuits than they are with variations in cornbread. The cornbread we make at Crooks has sugar and flour, which are bones of contention, but I do like other kinds, I have to say. We had a friend of mine in the restaurant from Louisiana as a guest, and he made skillet cornbread. It had no butter but oil instead. He actually flipped it like pancakes, and it was delicious. Id never seen that done before.

Some barbecue places make whats called hot-water cornbread. Its hot water and lard and cornmeal, period. You start it on top of the stove and finish it in the oven.

Its very thin and chewy and common in eastern North Carolina and elsewhere. Theres a poet named Patricia Smith who wrote a wonderful poem about hot-water cornbread called When the Burning Begins. Its one of my favorite poems.

So breads, with all their many variations and traditions and memories, will always be a deeply important part of the culture of the South.

BILL SMITH

For more than two decades, Bill Smith has been the chef at Chapel Hill, North Carolinas iconic Crooks Corner, an establishment honored as a James Beard Americas Classic Restaurant in 2011. Smith is also the author of two cookbooks and twice has been a finalist for the Best Chef: Southeast award from the James Beard Foundation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For their help, the authors would like to thank Nellie Dee Wims (Grannie Wims), who made this book possible; Nathalie Dupree; Sheri Castle; Ricky Moore; William and Dianne Brinkley; Bill Smith; Susan Frankenberg; Bartow Culp; Wes Flanary; Darryl Williams; Willard Doxey; Dennis Hermanson; Tricia Collis; Cindy Dunlow; Alice Seelye; Betty Jane Holaday; Louise Henegar; Larry Flanary; Craig Gilbert; Glenda Flanary; Margaret Dodson; Tori Reid; and Jimmy Holcomb. We especially thank our respective spouses, Jim Markel and Sue Holaday, for putting up with us as we worked on this book. Last, but certainly not least, we thank Banks Smither at The History Press for his guidance and support of this project and his colleague Julia Turner for her amazing attention to detail.

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

When people are asked what defines the South, their answers will vary from differences in history, geography, climate and even accent. Perhaps the most important difference, however, is food. The South has many famous foods, but the most culturally pervasive and important is bread. The story of Southern breads is an extremely interesting one that helps us define who we are as a regional people.

Many regions of the world have their distinctive bread cultures: France has the croissant and baguette; Italy, the ciabatta and focaccia; the Middle East, pita; India, naan; and so on. In the South, we have cornbread, hushpuppies and biscuits. To a Southerner, these three breads are not just a side dish; they are essential to the meals they are served with. In fact, they are often the star of the meal: biscuits for breakfast (filled with jams, ham and cheese or just butter), hushpuppies as the required companion to barbecue pork and fried fish and cornbread at any time of the day. And it doesnt stop there; there are also numerous derivatives, such as spoon bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread and more, all uniquely flavored by the harvests of the South.