Faith Ford - Cooking with Faith : 125 classic and healthy southern recipes

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Text and family photographs copyright 2004 by Faith Ford

Food photographs copyright 2004 by Mark Thomas Studio, Inc.

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Designed by Kyoko Watanabe

Text set in Esprit

Manufactured in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2004045285

ISBN 0-7432-5165-2
eISBN: 978-1-451-60394-1

This book is dedicated to the amazing women in my family who are no
longer with us: my two fearless grandmothers, Bernice Ford and Cora
Walker, and my sweet aunt Katherine Ryan. They were three wonderful
women, and three wonderful cooks, and I was blessed to have learned
from all of them.

This book would not have been possible if not for my mother, Patricia Walker Ford, who is chiefly responsible for keeping the spirit of our family recipes alive, and inspiring me to do the same. My advice to anyone with children is to encourage them to cook the way my mom encouraged me: whenever I asked her to make something I loved, she told me, Well, go in there and start Ill talk you through it. A schoolteacher for twenty years, she always said that theres no such thing as a mistake, theres only a lesson learned for the next timeespecially when it comes to cooking. Thanks for everything, Mom!

During the writing and recipe testing process, I felt so lucky to have the help and support of my family and friends, including everyone who gave me recipes and ideas for this book. This includes my sister and mentor Devon ODay, my aunt Brenda Johnston, who keeps us on track with the facts on the family, my cousin Sue Walker, my daddy, Charles, who keeps me laughing, and of course my husband and constant companion, Campion Murphy.

I also want to thank my coauthor Melissa Clark, whose attention to detail has been amazing, and without whom this dream could not have been fulfilled.

Many thanks are due to the tireless recipe testing and editing of Karen Rush, Zoe Singer, and Sara Epstein. Im also lucky to be able to thank my fantastic editors at Scribner, Beth Wareham and Rica Allannic, who had enough faith in the proposal to turn it into a book.

Last, but not at all least, I must send a huge heartfelt thanks to one of the biggest crusaders behind this book, and possibly the most encouraging fan of my cooking all along, Candice Bergen. She encouraged me to write this book in the first place. So anyone who enjoys a recipe from this collection really has her to thank.

CONTENTS

Foreword

When Faith and I started working on Murphy Brown in 1988, she was very young but she knew how to do two things: She knew how to act and she knew how to cook. As I am a die-hard eater, it was her cooking that really got my attention.

It started with her bringing home-baked, still steaming fluffy biscuits to the set or fresh peach cobbler or corn muffins. Coconut cake, blondiesthings shed made just that morning, still hot and bubbling. The smell would slither around the set and soon you couldnt get near the long crafts table (the snack zone for the crew) because it was packed with people in line for Faiths food. And not just baked goods, but black-eyed peas, jambalaya, gumbo, po boys. Foods Id only read about in travel magazines. Sumptuous-looking, delicious-smelling, mouthwatering, my-mama-taught-me meals.

In the mornings, on the set for breakfast, Faith would scoop out the insides of a split bagel and fill it with egg-white saladhard-boiled egg whites mixed with Dijon mustard, dill, capers, and mayonnaisewhich shed whip up while the bagel was toasting. I would drool in my car on the way to the studio just thinking about Faiths stuffed bagel (Bagel Farci, as I called it) and hope shed have time to make me one or two.

Of course, if she really wanted to get me, her secret weapon was mini pecan pies that melted in your mouth. I swearthe crust was so light and buttery and they were bite-sized so you could eat about forty and not even feel fulljust fat.

One rainy night, Faith and I met on a hilltop halfway between our two houses so she could hand me a crock of gumbo hot off the stove for my husband, who craved it. Shed packed it in a willow basket, lined with blue and white gingham.

Faiths food is always presented wonderfully: colors of containers coordinate with the napkins theyre nestled in, Mason jars are tied with French ribbon. When she serves food, she always does it beautifullythe table looking as festive as the meal. Her kitchen is comfy and cozy with overstuffed sofas, a collection of ceramic roosters, bowls heaping with tomatoes from her garden. Attention is given to every detail.

Of course, Faith is a fast learner and in the early Murphy years, besides comedy and cuisine, she developed expertise in how to dress and how to decorate a house, talents she already possessed but now had the means to express.

During our ten years on Murphy Brown, I came to depend upon Faiths advice for virtually everything: Faithy, what should I have for lunch? Fa-ayth. Do I look too fat in this dress? Fa-ayyth, do I put a lamp here or a mirror? Faithy, what do you think of the color of this wall? How do you keep the birds off your tomatoes? Who can I get to cut my hair? Should I cut my hair? How come Im not getting a laugh with this line?

Everything Faith does, she does well. I think its a combination of natural ability, Southern pride, and a mama who taught her how to plant and pot and pickle and pluck, and a daddy who taught her how to shoot whatever moves in that swamp where they had their huntin camp.

In fact, Cooking with Faith is just the beginning of what I think should be a series: Decorating with Faith, Gardening with Faith, Dressing with Faith, Exercising with Faith, Dieting with Faith, and, my personal favorite, Eating with Faithwhich I hope to do more of now that shes been considerate enough to move to New York to star in a series. Well start with the mini pecan pies.

Candice Bergen

COOKING WITH FAITH

Introduction