The Firm Foundation: Tried-and-True Personal Pantry PreferencesFor some of the recipes in this book, we’re specific and particular about a few key ingredients. We’re pretty frugal and we don’t fuss about much, but there are certain brands and ingredients that make a real difference in food flavor, nuance, and dimension. These are areas where we don’t skimp because the difference in quality is distinct. Bargain ingredients make sense only when they’re a value; when you sacrifice flavor, it becomes waste. We also use local brands and ingredients to add local flavor and make things uniquely ours, and we encourage you to do the same.
Butter Real. Unsalted.
Cane syrup The complex flavor of cane syrup adds a special touch to cocktails and baked goods. Cane syrup is made from the juice that’s squeezed from sugarcane stalks and boiled to evaporate the liquid and stabilize the sugars. The result is a rich syrup that’s sweeter than molasses, with a deep caramel flavor. Once a standard for cooking, and especially baking, cane syrup was replaced by the less-expensive refined sugars and corn syrup that proliferated in the market as sugarcane growers realized they could make more money selling their cane to refineries rather than producing the cane syrup themselves. Even today, Steen’s, one of the most popular brands, sells their own crop and buys cane juice to make their famous syrup. We’re partial to Lavington Farms from South Carolina, and Poirier’s from Louisiana, as well as Steen’s, all available via mail order (see Resources).
King Arthur and White Lily flour All flour is not created equal; there are varying amounts of protein in each and that protein, when combined with moisture, is what creates gluten. Gluten provides structure to baked goods. Baking good bread requires a flour high in protein; less-dense baked goods, such as cakes and pastries, benefit from a flour with less protein. King Arthur has the highest amount of protein of the name-brand flours available, and White Lily, milled from soft winter wheat, has the least. King Arthur flour is unbleached, lending foods a fuller flavor. If not available at a grocery store in your area, both varieties are available for purchase on Amazon.
Honey We kept honeybees for years, and we used the honey from those hives in our famous baked beans recipe. We no longer keep bees, but we do collect honey from our local farmers’ market and roadside stands wherever we travel. The flavors are as distinct as the clover, buckwheat, apple blossoms, or whatever the bees are pollinating. Even honey harvested from the same hive will have a different taste and color depending on whether it’s removed in the spring, summer, or fall. Local honey from small producers will always have a more pronounced flavor than mass-produced honey.
Ketchup We use Hunt’s or Red Gold ketchup because they are made with pure cane sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. This makes an especially discernable difference in the flavor of sauces.
Lard and tallow We save pork and beef fat and render our own lard and tallow (for more on lard and tallow, see page 42).
Local soda Coca-Cola and Pepsi soft drinks, or soda, as we say in Southern Illinois, are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup instead of liquid cane sugar. The exception is Mexican Coke, bottled by Coca-Cola in Mexico using liquid cane sugar. It’s a cult favorite and can be found in Texas and select places nationwide. There’s a distinct flavor difference; cane sugar soda tastes sweeter and cleaner, with no chemical aftertaste. At 17th Street, we sell a line of cherry, grapefruit, lemon-lime, and blueberry sodas made by Excel Bottling Company in Breese, Illinois, and root beer, ginger beer, and cream soda from Fitz’s Bottling Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Big Muddy Brewing, a microbrewery located in Murphysboro, is making a delicious root beer, too. Cheerwine is the popular local choice in North Carolina; Cannonborough Beverage Company is South Carolina’s local go-to, and in the Northeast, it’s Boylan. Izze brand sodas are sweetened only with natural fruit and they’re available nationwide. These refreshing fizzy drinks taste great with a pulled pork sandwich. We also use these sodas in barbecue sauces and glazes, to both add flavor and thin the sauce without watering it down.
Pepper One of our rubs calls for a specific mesh size (a unit of measurement) or grind of pepper that can’t be purchased at the grocery store but is available online. Using the specified grind is important. If the grind is too large, you’ll feel like you’re eating gravel; if it’s too fine for certain recipes, it’ll become pasty. You can grind peppercorns in a spice mill or coffee grinder, or put them a skillet and then crush them with a heavy saucepan. Other recipes call for coarsely ground black pepper, and for that you can use a pepper mill or buy coarsely ground black pepper in the spice section of the grocery store. See Resources for online suppliers. We also specify ground white pepper in a number of recipes. You can buy this in a bottle, already ground, or you can buy white peppercorns and grind them yourself. White pepper has less heat than black pepper, and is more earthy and complex.
Pickle juice Always save the juice from any jar of pickles, whether store-bought or homemade. This seasoned vinegar adds zip to deviled eggs, chili, and all sorts of recipes.
Salt Use kosher salt unless otherwise specified.
Spices We’re very particular about our spices, as they’re the foundation of flavor. There’s a distinct difference in the quality and consistency of spices you buy in grocery and big-box stores. You never quite know how long those bottles and tins have been sitting on the shelves, and even if the turnover is high, the spices at discount stores are less expensive because they’re not top quality and not always consistent in flavor. We buy our spices exclusively from Townsend Spice in Melbourne, Arkansas. At home, we keep fairly small amounts of spices, storing them in a cool, dark cabinet and replacing them at least once a year, or whenever the color fades or they don’t smell fresh and pungent.
Sugar Read the label and make sure it says “pure cane sugar.” Sugar that is very inexpensive may be beet sugar instead of pure cane sugar. It’s not the same substance and there will be a difference in texture and flavor in the finished recipe. Cane sugar is a superior product.