Rice-and-Shrimp Croquettes with Tomato Chili Sauce
Chilled Oysters with Buttermilk, Apple, and Caviar
Grilled Oysters with Green Garlic Butter
Clams with Sausage, Braised Peppers, and Grilled Bread
Crispy Pig’s Ears with Pimento Ranch
Grilled Chicken Wings with West African BBQ Sauce
Sea Island Red Pea Spread with Cucumber-Tomato Salad
Fried Bologna with Pickled Peach Mustard
Makes 4 cups
2½ pounds green peanuts (see Resources)
One 2-ounce piece slab bacon, preferably Benton’s (see Resources)
2½ Charleston Hots or cayenne peppers, seeded and sliced into thin rounds
¼ cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons chili powder
2¼ teaspoons light brown sugar
2¼ teaspoons onion powder
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¾ teaspoon Bourbon Barrel Bourbon Smoked Paprika (see Resources)
¾ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
⅛ teaspoon mustard powder
Equipment
Slow cooker
Boiled peanuts are one of the first things that come to mind when I think about the South. I didn’t eat them growing up in Appalachia, but I fell in love with them when I went to Charleston for culinary school. Boiled peanut stands dot the roadsides, and everyone has his or her favorite. The most important thing about this recipe is the peanuts. You have to use green peanuts in the shell—fresh peanuts that have not been cooked or dried. The recipe won’t work any other way.
Notes: The peanuts must be refrigerated in the brine overnight before serving. You can save the “potlikker” and use it to cook a pot of collard greens.
In the slow cooker, combine the peanuts, bacon, chili peppers, salt, chili powder, brown sugar, onion powder, cumin, oregano, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne, and mustard powder and add water to cover. Cook for about 8 hours on high, replenishing the water as needed to keep the ingredients covered; the peanuts will float to the top when they are done and should be very tender on the inside.
Pour the peanuts and brine into a heatproof container and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
Remove the bacon from the peanuts, shred it, and return it to the peanuts. Cover the peanuts and brine and refrigerate overnight. (Tightly covered, the peanuts will keep in the brine for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.)
Reheat the peanuts in the brine in a medium saucepan over low heat. Remove them from the brine with a strainer or slotted spoon and serve warm.
Makes 12 deviled eggs
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon mayonnaise, preferably Duke’s (see Resources)
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2½ tablespoons small dice Bread-and-Butter Pickles, plus 1½ teaspoons of their brine
2½ tablespoons small dice Pickled Ramps
Hot Sauce or Red Clay Original Hot Sauce (see Resources)
Bourbon Barrel Bourbon Smoked Paprika (see Resources)
Equipment
Pastry bag fitted with a star tip (optional)
Deviled eggs are my go-to snack when I’m having friends over or need to take something to a potluck. They’re portable and pretty darn resilient, and I don’t know too many people who won’t line up to try one. Every cook in the South has his or her own way of making them, from complex and exotic to simple and classic. Mine fall somewhere in between.
A long time ago, my friend Tyler Brown, chef of Southall Farms in Franklin, Tennessee, taught me his secret: seasoning the yolks with pickle brine. I have made deviled eggs the same way ever since.
Using a sewing needle or pushpin, pierce a hole in the shell at the wide end of each egg. Put the eggs in a large saucepan and cover them with room-temperature water. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat and boil the eggs for 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the stove, cover it, and let the eggs remain in the water for 10 minutes.
Carefully drain the eggs in a colander in the sink, then peel them under cold running water.
Cut the eggs lengthwise in half. Remove the yolks and put them in a bowl; set the whites aside. Add the mayonnaise and mustard to the bowl and mash the yolks well. Add the bread-and-butter pickles, their brine, and the pickled ramps and stir to combine. Add hot sauce to taste. Transfer the mixture to the pastry bag or to a zip-top plastic bag (seal the bag and snip off one bottom corner).
Cut a small slice off the bottom of each egg white so they will stand upright, and arrange them on a serving dish.
Pipe the yolk mixture into the whites. Garnish with a sprinkling of paprika and serve.
Note: The deviled eggs can be made up to a day ahead: After you remove the yolks from the whites, place the whites upside down on a tray lined with paper towels, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. Make the filling, cover, and refrigerate. Thirty minutes before you are ready to serve, pipe the filling into the egg whites and let the deviled eggs come to room temperature. Garnish with paprika just before serving.
Rice-and-Shrimp Croquettes with Tomato Chili Sauce
Serves 6 as a snack
Tomato Chili Sauce
½ cup diced sweet onion
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 cayenne pepper, chopped (with seeds)
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 cup Tomato Jam
2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion greens
1 tablespoon minced tarragon
Rice
1 cup Anson Mills Carolina Gold Rice (see Resources)
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1½ cups water
Croquettes
Canola oil for deep-frying
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup small dice sweet onion
½ cup small dice celery
¼ cup small dice green bell pepper
1 pound 21–25-count shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon Espelette pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Chef BJ Dennis has dedicated his life to preserving the Gullah Geechee cuisine of his ancestors. I first made these croquettes with him. You simply drop spoonfuls of the rice batter into hot oil; no need to bread the croquettes, as you would in Italian cuisine. Dicing the shrimp into small but not too small pieces is the key to the croquettes. The bits of shrimp cook through as they fry but still retain some of their texture.
The tomato chili sauce was inspired by my first trip to West Africa, where I tasted black-eyed-pea fritters with a dipping sauce made from a fragrant, flavorful Senegalese tomato paste, a recurring note in that cuisine. This version is based on a tomato jam I’ve been cooking for years.
For the sauce: Combine the onion, garlic, cayenne, and salt in a mortar and crush with the pestle until the mixture becomes a wet paste.
Heat the peanut oil in a small saucepan over high heat until it shimmers. Add the onion mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomato jam, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 5 minutes to develop the flavors. Transfer the sauce to a blender and blend on high until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to a heatproof container and cool to room temperature.
Stir the scallion greens and tarragon into the sauce, cover, and refrigerate. (Tightly covered, the sauce will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.)
For the rice: Combine the rice, olive oil, and salt in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir to coat the rice with the oil. Add the water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and all the water has been absorbed, about 12 minutes. Remove from the stove and let stand, covered, for 3 minutes.
Fluff the rice gently with a fork, then spread it out on a rimmed baking sheet and cool to room temperature. Transfer the rice to a large bowl and set aside.
For the croquettes: Fill a deep fryer with canola oil according to the manufacturer’s directions and heat the oil to 325°F. Alternatively, fill a deep heavy pot half full with canola oil and heat the oil over medium heat to 325°F. Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line one rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and another with paper towels.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are translucent, about 5 minutes. Spread the vegetables out on a plate and cool to room temperature.
Add the cooled vegetables, shrimp, salt, Espelette pepper, and white pepper to the rice and stir to combine. The mixture will be very tacky to the touch and should hold together when rolled into a ball. Form the croquette mixture into balls about 1 inch in diameter and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Working in batches and taking care not to overcrowd the fryer, fry the croquettes until deep golden brown and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer the croquettes to the paper towel–lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you fry the remaining croquettes.
To serve: Pile the croquettes on a platter and offer the tomato chili sauce alongside.
Chilled Oysters with Buttermilk, Apple, and Caviar
Makes 12 oysters
¼ cup full-fat buttermilk (see Note)
½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
12 fresh oysters
1 tablespoon very finely diced apple, preferably Granny Smith
1 ounce caviar, preferably Kelley’s Katch Paddlefish Caviar (see Resources)
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
2 cups crushed ice
Briny, pearlescent black caviar usually conjures up images of classic French cuisine, but Tennessee paddlefish brings it to the South. I discovered Kelley’s Katch Tennessee paddlefish caviar in 2003 when I was the executive chef at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. Here I use the caviar for a Southern spin on the classic pairing of oysters, crème fraîche, and caviar. Instead of crème fraîche, I use buttermilk (I like the one from Cruze Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee, cultured from the milk of their pastured Jersey cows). The diced apple gives the oysters a pop of texture and sweetness that rounds the dish out nicely.
Note: The resulting taste makes it worth the effort to seek out a cultured, full-fat buttermilk, but any buttermilk will work in this recipe.
Combine the buttermilk and lemon juice in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate while you shuck the oysters.
Lay a dish towel on a cutting board and put an oyster, flat side up, on one edge of the towel. Fold the towel over the oyster, covering the curved lip of the shell and leaving the tapered hinge end exposed. Carefully pry the shell open by inserting an oyster knife into the hinge and twisting the knife to pop the shell. Run the blade of the knife flat against the top shell, releasing the oyster from the shell, and discard the top shell. Carefully release the oyster from the bottom shell by gently running the oyster knife under it, leaving the oyster and its liquor in the shell. Remove any shell debris or sand from the oyster, then transfer it to a shallow baking dish lined with a kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining oysters. (The shucked oysters can be refrigerated for up to an hour.)
Spoon some buttermilk onto each oyster. Sprinkle the oysters with the apple, divide the caviar among them, and sprinkle with the chives. Line a platter with crushed ice and transfer the oysters to the platter.
Grilled Oysters with Green Garlic Butter
Makes 24 oysters
Green Garlic Butter
4 whole green garlic stalks (about 6 ounces)
Kosher salt
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup dry white wine
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper (see Resources)
oysters
24 fresh oysters
3 cups ice cream salt
1 tablespoon grated Crab Roe Bottarga (casing removed, grated with a Microplane)
2 teaspoons very finely diced Preserved Lemons peel
2 teaspoons very thinly sliced lovage leaves
Equipment
Round 15-inch open-top fine-mesh wire grill basket
As an extension of my waste-not-want-not philosophy, I use the embers from my fireplace to cook these oysters. They are quickly warmed in the hot embers and pick up a hint of that wood-fire magic. But you don’t need to light a fireplace to enjoy them at home. Oysters are just as good cooked on the grill. Be sure to use hardwood lump charcoal, which will impart its own subtle smokiness.
The green garlic butter adds richness to the dish, and the lovage gives it that fresh celery pop. Look for green garlic in the springtime at your local farmers’ market. It’s often one of the first crops of the season. I like to use my crab roe bottarga for a burst of briny ocean flavor, but you could substitute a good mullet bottarga (see Resources).
For the green garlic butter: Separate the white and green parts of the garlic. Wash and dry them both. Thinly slice the whites and chop the greens, keeping them separate.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Make an ice bath with equal parts ice and water in a large bowl. Put the chopped green garlic parts in a fine-mesh sieve and submerge them in the boiling water until tender and a vibrant green color, 1 to 2 minutes. Leaving them in the sieve, transfer to the ice bath and submerge until cold.
Remove the blanched garlic greens from the ice bath and transfer to a blender. Add ¼ cup of the ice water and blend on high until very smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides as necessary. Transfer the puree to a bowl and set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until foamy. Add the white parts of the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 2 minutes. Remove the mixture from the stove and cool to room temperature.
Stir the remaining 8 tablespoons butter into the green garlic puree, then add the cooked garlic whites, the lemon zest, lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt, and the Aleppo pepper and stir to mix well. Set aside at room temperature. (The garlic butter can be made ahead. Tightly covered, it will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before using.)
For the oysters: Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill (see Grilling), removing the grill rack and distributing the hot coals in an even layer in the bottom of the grill.
While the charcoal is heating, shuck the oysters: Lay a dish towel on a cutting board and put an oyster, flat side up, on one edge of the towel. Fold the towel over the oyster, covering the curved lip of the shell and leaving the tapered hinge end exposed. Carefully pry the oyster shell open by inserting an oyster knife into the hinge and twisting the knife to pop the shell. Run the blade of the knife flat against the top shell, releasing the oyster from the top shell; discard the top shell. Carefully release the oyster from the bottom shell by gently running the oyster knife under it, leaving the oyster and its liquor in the shell. Remove any shell debris or sand from the oyster and transfer it to a shallow baking dish lined with a kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining oysters. (The shucked oysters can be refrigerated for up to an hour.)
Spread 2 cups of the ice cream salt out on a platter. Put the remaining cup of ice cream salt in the grill basket and spread it out in an even layer. Arrange half the shucked oysters in the grill basket and top each with 2 teaspoons of the green garlic butter. Place the grill basket directly on the coals and cover it with a pizza pan or cookie sheet. Grill the oysters for 1 minute, or until the butter has completely melted and the oysters are bubbling. Transfer the oysters to the prepared platter and cover lightly with foil to keep warm while you grill the remaining oysters.
Sprinkle the oysters with the bottarga, preserved lemon peel, and lovage leaves.
Wood-fire cookery is absolutely central to my cooking style and philosophy. The aromas of the burning hardwood and the food cooking are intoxicating. My first real, professional foray into cooking this way began in Charleston, when I developed some recipes to use with a wood-fired oven. As I became more and more comfortable with it, that oven became an indispensable part of my restaurant’s kitchen. It changed the way I thought about food and cooking and led to my viewing almost every ingredient with an eye toward the fire. When I moved to Nashville, I incorporated a hearth in one of my restaurants for the first time and continued to refine my approach.
That said, all the grilling recipes in this book were developed and tested keeping in mind that most home cooks will be using a simple kettle-style charcoal grill. For the enthusiast or anyone lucky enough to have the space for a more involved outdoor cooking setup, or the adventurous reader ready to start cooking in his or her fireplace, the techniques described below provide an overview of the ever-changing ways of and tools for using fire to cook Southern cuisine.
•Cooking Directly on the Coals. Some ingredients do really well placed right on top of the hot coals. You can use this technique with everything from red peppers, winter squash, beets, and leeks to giant rib-eye steaks—in short, any ingredient where a nice, deep char is desired. And the intense heat helps lock in and concentrate the flavorful juices.
•Cooking in a Mesh Grill Basket on the Embers. Imagine that the basket is your sauté pan and the bed of embers is your stovetop burner, but one that adds an incredible depth of flavor, with just the right amount of smoke and char. Using this technique, you can introduce the flavor of the hearth to almost any ingredient you can think of: squid, mushrooms, even fresh peas.
•Braising in a Dutch Oven Hung over the Fire. I remember making a blackberry cobbler in a Dutch oven at Boy Scout camp and being fascinated that you could put the pot right into the fire. To open the lid and see that perfection, the high-heat cooking transformation that occurs when you surround something completely with hot coals, was just amazing. This is a great way to cook large cuts of meat and to braise tougher ones. By experimenting and moving the Dutch oven closer to or farther from the fire, you can find the sweet spot for everything from cooking beans and grains to keeping things warm.
•Covered Cowboy Grill. You can use this piece of equipment to emulate how barbecue pitmasters capture the smoke of the embers: The meat is suspended over glowing embers in a large pit and covered, leaving enough space to allow the light ember smoke to circulate. You can do the same thing on a smaller scale in your hearth. A cowboy grill is basically a square four-legged grill that has a box-shaped lid. With one, you are essentially mimicking cooking in a covered kettle grill but with the versatility and more controlled heat of the hearth. You can also infuse foods with an ephemeral wisp of smoke by sprinkling the coals with a little bit of hardwood sawdust. That light smoke quickly enshrouds the food and adds a layer of flavor right before it hits the plate.
•Four-Legged Grill. With this simple contraption, the food is elevated over the embers, and more embers can easily be added to maintain an even cooking temperature. One version has a coiled metal handle that makes it super easy to move the grill to the different heat zones of the hearth.
•Cast-Iron Spider. A traditional piece of equipment, a cast-iron spider sits over the fire on three feet. Like a Dutch oven, it has a tightly fitting lid, and like a chicken fryer, it has one long, sturdy handle. Because it is shallower than a typical Dutch oven, it’s the perfect choice for making cornbread in the hearth. You can scoop some coals right on top of the lid, surrounding the cornbread with radiant heat and yielding an exceedingly crispy exterior and moist interior.
•Cooking on Racks Suspended Above the Hearth. Metal resting racks that sit a few feet above the coals are one of the most important features of my hearth. Depending on the heat of the fire, this zone of the hearth can be used for everything from tempering meats and fish before cooking to imparting a subtle hot smoke to resting meats and vegetables after they’ve spent time in the intense heat of a grill. The temperature variance the racks allow is extremely important when cooking a big piece of meat like a rib-eye or a rack of pork. Carefully alternating periods of searing high heat and relaxing ambient heat is the key to achieving the perfect balance of crispy, savory crust and even, melting doneness inside.
•Hearth Drying. You can use the ambient heat of a wood-fired hearth to dehydrate everything from shiitake mushrooms and lemon slices to beef jerky and oysters. The subtle, clean smokiness of the wood fire slowly lends its flavor in the dehydrating process, yielding incredibly delicious results. It’s also the best place to make leather britches, the Appalachian staple of pole beans strung up and dried for the winter.
•Japanese Handled Grill Grates. On a trip to Japan, I came across some small circular grill grates with handles. These are generally placed directly on the coals or set over a very thin layer of embers. I like to put a tender piece of braised meat or a delicate fish fillet on one of these grates and snug it up next to the fire, but not directly over the coals. It’s a great way to gently warm food or to imbue it with the scent of the embers while avoiding intense direct heat. The handle and the grate’s small size make it easy to move the grate around the hearth in search of that “just right” temperature zone.
•Poaching and Confiting. Poaching and confiting in butter or another tasty fat are simple but luxurious ways to infuse flavor into ingredients that require delicate cooking. Think tender scallops or plump lobster tails. Put your ingredient and butter or oil in a sturdy pot, like a cast-iron Dutch oven, cover, and set the pot near the fire. The radiant heat of the coals makes it possible to do a really gentle poach. I also like to rest a nice piece of grilled meat in some of its own fat this way. The steak or chop comes off the hot direct heat of the coals into the warm fat, where it can rest to doneness.
•Slow-Roasting. The hearth is also the place to mimic the open-pit asador cooking typical of South America. You can hang everything from a lamb shoulder to aged duck or quail above the coals and slowly cook it, glazing and basting it with a flavorful vinaigrette, until it is done to perfection.
•Hearth-Dried Seafood. On my first trip to Senegal, I saw a preservation technique that I’ve since applied to tons of different ingredients. Senegalese cooks salt shellfish or fish and cook it over a fire just long enough to ensure that the outside isn’t raw. Then the seafood is slowly dried over the fire until it is shrunken and shriveled and ready to be stored. This process concentrates the natural glutamic acid (one of the primary umami elements in foods) in the seafood and ferments it very slightly. The dried seafood is used to flavor soups, stews, and broths, just as we would use a smoky ham hock or turkey neck in the South.
•Metal Skewers. Long, thin metal skewers are fantastic for cooking anything from whole fish to vegetables. They’re razor sharp and pierce the ingredient cleanly without tearing, which is important when you’re dealing with something as delicate as fish. And because metal transfers heat so well, the ingredient cooks gently from the inside as the outside sears over the hot coals.
•Whole Fish Basket. Essentially a metal cage with a long handle that locks it closed, a fish basket makes it possible to move what would otherwise be an unwieldy whole fish around the hearth with ease.
•Foil Packets. I’ve carried one of my favorite wood-fire cooking techniques with me since childhood. My father and I would wrap some new potatoes and onions tightly in foil packets and throw them right into the morning’s fire before heading out to (hopefully) catch a fish or two. When we got back to camp, the vegetables would be cooked, so we only needed to quickly clean and grill our catch. The moist, smoky environment of the foil packet makes it a natural choice for cooking anything from root vegetables to poultry or seafood.
•Ash Salt Dough. I first read about ash cookery in a book on Appalachian cuisine. The original recipe instructed you to bury sweet potatoes in the ashes and cinders of the evening’s fire so that come morning, the residual heat had cooked them and you’d have something hearty all ready to eat for breakfast. In a restaurant setting, because I couldn’t consistently rely on the results, I developed an ash-infused salt-dough crust that imparts that subtle ash flavor while ensuring even cooking every time. I’ve found it to be a particularly good way to cook celery root and whole fish.
•Cooking Adjacent to the Coals. Sometimes you’ll want to use the intense, searing heat of the fire without necessarily picking up its smoky flavors. Putting whatever you’re cooking right up against the side of the fire, not over it, allows the food to get some char and color from the radiant heat.
•Ember Burner. For a makeshift burner, build a little fort out of fire bricks, fill it with glowing embers, and top it with a cast-iron skillet. This is a great way to sear a fillet of fish or pan-roast a chicken breast. As you cook and baste it in the skillet, your food picks up all the wonderful flavors and aromas of the hearth.
•Cast-Iron Griddle. Set level on a bed of hot embers, a cast-iron griddle becomes an amazing cooking surface, with the added bonus of that smoky ember flavor. Pancakes cooked this way are the best.
•Infusing with Embers. What happens when you throw a glowing-hot ember into some freshly rendered lard? It goes nuts, sizzling, hissing, and smoking like crazy. As the action subsides and the lard cools, the fat takes on all those delicious smoky flavors. You can try this with different cooking fats: olive oil, chicken fat—you name it. My initial experiments eventually resulted in Hickory-Smoked Ice Cream.
•Salt-and-Ember Crust. Roasting vegetables in a salt-and-egg-white crust is nothing new. To adapt this technique to the hearth, though, spread a layer of the crust mixture (sometimes adding a little bit of ash) in the bottom of a big cast-iron skillet, add your ingredient (my favorite is first-crop baby potatoes), and cover with another layer of the crust mixture. Set the skillet on the hot embers and then cover the top with embers, placing them right on the salt crust. The crust creates a very even, moist, and flavorful cooking environment.
Serves 4 as a snack
Cornbread Crumble
¼ recipe Basic Cornbread, made a day ahead
½ ounce Asiago cheese, preferably Kenny’s Farmhouse Dry Fork Reserve (see Resources), grated
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Rendered Bacon Fat, melted
2 tablespoons Pork Stock, at room temperature
Clams
32 littleneck clams, scrubbed under cold running water (see Note)
2 ounces Tuscan kale
1 recipe Tomato Gravy (see here)
¼ cup small dice sweet onion
½ teaspoon canola oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup ice cream salt
1 tablespoon Hot Sauce or Red Clay Original Hot Sauce (see Resources)
Equipment
Large pot with a steamer insert
Round 15-inch open-top fine-mesh wire grill basket
Clams Casino—broiled clams topped with bacon and bread crumbs—was a mainstay appetizer in the 1970s and ’80s. My recipe starts with beautiful clams (I’m partial to the ones harvested by Dave Belanger in Charleston, but ask your local fishmonger for his freshest littlenecks), which are topped with a tomato gravy and disks of cornbread crumble. The combination of cornbread crumbs, bacon fat, and preserved tomatoes turns this version of the classic decidedly Southern.
Note: The hard clams commonly found, grown, and harvested along the Eastern shore of the United States go by many names: round clam, hard-shell clam, or quahog depending on where you’re eating them. They all refer to the same species, Mercenaria mercenaria. There are different size grades, with littleneck being the smallest commonly harvested, usually about 1½ inches across, and the most tender.
For the cornbread crumble: Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Crumble the cornbread into a large bowl. Add the cheese, salt, and pepper and drizzle in the bacon fat, then slowly stir in the pork stock just until the mixture will stick to your fingers and hold its shape when pressed together; you may not need all the stock. Divide the cornbread mixture into 4 equal parts, then divide each one into 8 pieces and shape each piece into a small ball. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Pat each chilled ball out into a thin disk the size of a clamshell, return to the baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
For the clams: Bring 3 cups water to a gentle boil in the large pot with a steamer insert. Put the clams in the steamer insert in a single layer (work in batches if necessary). Carefully set the insert in the pot, cover, and steam the clams until they just open, about 6 minutes. Transfer the clams to a rimmed baking sheet and cool to room temperature.
Pry open each clamshell with your fingers and twist to separate the two halves. Discard the top shells. Release the clams from the bottom shells by gently running an oyster knife or small spoon under each one and transfer the clams to a small bowl. Rinse the bottom shells under cool running water and arrange them on the same baking sheet. Place a clam in each shell, cover, and refrigerate.
Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill (see Grilling), removing the grill rack and distributing the hot coals in an even layer in the bottom of the grill.
Meanwhile, remove the stems and ribs from the kale leaves. Make stacks of the leaves, roll them lengthwise into cylinders, and cut into very thin ribbons. Wash the kale in a large bowl of cold water, changing the water several times, to remove any sand. Drain and dry with paper towels.
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Warm the tomato gravy in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
Combine the kale, onion, and canola oil in a bowl, season lightly with kosher salt and pepper, and toss. Transfer the mixture to the grill basket and place the basket directly on the coals. Grill the kale and onion, stirring with long-handled tongs so they cook evenly, until the kale is wilted and the onion is lightly charred, about 1 minute. Add the kale and onion to the saucepan of tomato gravy and stir to combine.
Cover the grill to maintain the heat for cooking the clams; add a few more pieces of charcoal if necessary.
Spoon some tomato gravy onto each clam, making sure it doesn’t spill over the edges. Lay the cornbread disks on the clams and lightly press them down.
Place the grill rack as close to the coals as possible. Put the ice cream salt in the grill basket and spread it out in an even layer. Lay half the clams out in a single layer in the basket and set the basket on the grill rack. Cover the grill and grill the clams until the cornbread disks are lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the clams to a rimmed baking sheet and keep them warm in the oven while you grill the remaining clams.
Place the clams on a platter and drizzle each with a few drops of hot sauce.
Clams with Sausage, Braised Peppers, and Grilled Bread
Serves 4 as a snack
Braised Peppers
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced paper-thin
½ cup thinly sliced sweet onion
3 red bell peppers (about 6 ounces each), cored and thinly sliced
3 yellow bell peppers (about 6 ounces each), cored and thinly sliced
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 cup Chicken Stock
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Grilled Bread
One 12-inch piece of baguette
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Clams
8 ounces smoked breakfast sausage, preferably Jakes Brothers (see Resources)
1 cup Preserved Tomatoes or canned whole tomatoes, roughly chopped, with their juices
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup dry white wine
1 fresh bay leaf
32 littleneck clams, scrubbed under cold running water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoonHot Sauce or Red Clay Original Hot Sauce (see Resources)
1 tablespoon Fines Herbes
When I make this dish, I use my backyard wood-burning oven (see Fireplace Cookery) to cook the clams and impart an incredible smoky flavor to the sauce. You can easily re-create it at home on a grill. The combination of sausage and braised peppers is delicious, and when the clams open and give up their juices, it goes to the next level. Serve the clams with grilled bread to sop up all that sauce, because—trust me—you aren’t going to want to leave a drop behind.
For the braised peppers: Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent and softened, about 3 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and brown sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vinegar has almost completely evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock and cook, stirring occasionally, until the stock has reduced to about ¼ cup and the peppers are very soft, about 30 minutes. Season with the salt and black pepper, remove from the stove, and set aside. (The peppers can be made ahead. Tightly covered, they will keep for up to 2 days in the refrigerator. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before using.)
For the grilled bread: Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill (see Grilling), removing the grill rack and distributing the hot coals in an even layer in the bottom of the grill. Place the grill rack at its normal height.
Cut the baguette crosswise in half. Cut each piece lengthwise in half and then lengthwise in half again, producing eight 6-inch-long pieces of bread. Lightly brush the wedges of bread with the olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Grill the bread cut side down until lightly charred and toasted, about 4 minutes. Remove from the grill and set aside.
For the clams: Cook the sausage in a large cast-iron skillet set on top of the grill rack, stirring frequently, until browned and broken up into small pieces. Add the tomatoes, braised peppers, cream, wine, and bay leaf and cook until the mixture has slightly reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes. Add the clams, put the lid on the grill, and cook until the clams have opened, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf.
To serve: Divide the clams, peppers, and sausage among four warm rimmed soup plates. Drizzle each portion with the lemon juice and hot sauce, sprinkle with the fines herbes, and place 2 pieces of grilled bread on the rim of each soup plate.
Serves 4 to 6 as an appetizer
2 cups water
3 teaspoons kosher salt
⅜ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 fresh bay leaf
¼ cup Anson Mills Carolina Gold Rice (see Resources)
1¼ cups panko bread crumbs
1 large egg
½ cup ketchup, preferably Heinz
½ cup mayonnaise, preferably Duke’s (see Resources)
1 tablespoon Hot Sauce or Red Clay Original Hot Sauce (see Resources)
1 tablespoon Hominy Miso
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
½ cup small dice celery
½ cup small dice green bell pepper
3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion greens
1 tablespoon minced seeded jalapeño pepper
1 tablespoon Fines Herbes
1 pound fresh lump blue crab meat, carefully picked over for shells and cartilage
2 teaspoons Bourbon Barrel Bourbon Smoked Paprika (seeResources)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
Equipment
12 crab tins (see Resources) or 4-ounce ramekins
Deviled crab is one of the great traditions of the Lowcountry. Unfortunately, due to the many more-bread-crumb-than-crab, freezer-burned versions out there, most people turn their noses up when they think of it. I can’t really blame them. Bad deviled crab is really bad. But man, truly good deviled crab is damn tasty. To make vibrant, fresh, moist deviled crab, use delicious Carolina Gold rice to help bind the filling. I like to serve deviled crab in little silver crab tins for a cool retro presentation, but if you’re getting fresh whole blue crabs, by all means, use the shells themselves.
Combine the water, 1 teaspoon of the salt, ⅛ teaspoon of the white pepper, and the bay leaf in a small saucepan, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and stir to be sure the salt has dissolved completely. Reduce the heat to medium, add the rice, stir once, and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the rice is just al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain the rice, spread on a rimmed baking sheet, discarding the bay leaf, and cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put the panko in a food processor and process until finely ground. You need 1 cup; discard any excess.
Put the egg in a large bowl and beat it lightly. Add the ketchup, mayonnaise, hot sauce, miso, lemon juice, mustard, remaining 2 teaspoons salt, remaining ¼ teaspoon white pepper, and ½ teaspoon of the cayenne and mix well. Stir in the cooked rice, the celery, bell pepper, scallions, jalapeño, and fines herbes and combine thoroughly. Fold in the ground panko, then gently fold in the crab.
Divide the crab mixture among the crab tins or ramekins, patting the tops lightly to smooth. Combine the paprika and the remaining teaspoon of cayenne in a small bowl. Divide the softened butter among the prepared crab and sprinkle with the paprika mixture.
Place the crab tins or ramekins on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until hot throughout. Turn on the broiler and broil the crab mixture for about 1 minute, until golden brown on top. Transfer to a platter and serve.
Crispy Pig’s Ears with Pimento Ranch
Serves 6 as a snack
7 fresh pig’s ears
3 cups Pork Stock or Chicken Stock
Canola oil for deep-frying
1 cup rice flour
Kosher salt
About 2 cups Pimento Ranch (recipe follows)
Equipment
Electric pressure cooker (see Note)
Somehow I’ve become known as the crispy-pig-ear guy; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stopped in airports to talk pig’s ears. I was scared to put pig’s ears on the menu at Husk when we first opened in Charleston. They were simply not an ingredient a lot of diners had tasted or felt comfortable with. Nowadays I don’t think I could have a restaurant without offering pig’s ears. I’m always trying to come up with new ways to serve them, from the lettuce wraps I started with to this gem. You can dip the fried strips of ears in the pimento ranch like you would French fries, or just douse them in the sauce for a Southern version of poutine.
Note: I like electric pressure cookers much more than the traditional stovetop ones. They are very easy to set, allowing you to cook your ingredients at a specific pressure for a precise amount of time, with no worries of overpressurization or an explosion from an unattended cooker on the stove. All the recipes in this book that call for pressure cookers were tested using an electric cooker.
Combine the ears and pork stock in the pressure cooker, lock on the lid, bring the cooker up to high pressure, and cook for 90 minutes.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Carefully release the steam from the pressure cooker. The ears will be very soft; you should be able to pierce one easily with no resistance. Using a slotted spatula, carefully remove the ears and place them in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate until cold. Strain the stock and freeze for another use, if desired.
When the ears are cold, cut them into ¼-inch-wide strips. (The ears can be prepared to this point up to 1 day ahead. Put the strips in a container, cover, and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before frying.)
Fill a deep fryer with canola oil according to the manufacturer’s directions and heat the oil to 350°F. Alternatively, fill a deep heavy pot half full with canola oil and heat the oil over medium heat to 350°F. The oil will splatter when the strips hit it, so have a splatter guard or a lid at hand. Line two wire racks with paper towels.
Put the rice flour in a shallow bowl. Working in batches, dredge the ears in the flour, shaking off the excess, and fry until golden brown and crisp, 1½ to 2 minutes. Transfer the strips to wire racks to drain, season liberally with salt, and let stand for 1 minute.
Pile the pig’s ears on a platter and serve with the pimento ranch alongside.
Pimento Ranch
Makes about 3½ cups
1 cup Pimento Cheese, at room temperature
1½ cups full-fat buttermilk (see here)
⅔ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon minced Pickled Ramps, plus 8 teaspoons of their pickling liquid
2 tablespoons minced jarred pimento peppers
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
2 teaspoons Hot Sauce or Red Clay Original Hot Sauce (see Resources)
2 teaspoons orange cheddar powder (see Resources)
2 teaspoons white cheddar powder (see Resources)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon Espelette pepper
⅛ teaspoon Bourbon Barrel Bourbon Smoked Paprika (see Resources)
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Leftover ranch makes an excellent dressing for iceberg wedge salads, with a little bacon.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Transfer to a container, cover, and refrigerate. Tightly covered, the pimento ranch will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
Serves 6 as a snack
Smoked Trout
4 cups water
½ cup loose black tea, or 8 regular black tea bags, preferably Bigelow’s Charleston Tea Plantation American Classic Tea (see Resources)
¼ cup kosher salt
¼ cup sugar
12 ounces skin-on fresh trout fillets (about 2 fillets)
Dip
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
½ cup sour cream
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon Espelette pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped Fines Herbes
1 recipe Sorghum Seed Crackers, for serving
Equipment
Smoker
goes well with:
Hominy and Pokeweed Griddle Cakes
This trout dip uses all parts of the fish, including the delicious fatty belly. I serve it with freshly baked sorghum seed crackers, but you can use whatever cracker, bread, or toasts you like.
You’ll need to fire up the smoker to make this recipe. With that in mind, you might want to smoke more trout than you need for the dip. Tightly wrapped, smoked trout will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer.
Note: You’ll need to start this recipe a day ahead of time to brine the trout.
For the smoked trout: Put the water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the stove, add the tea, and steep for 8 minutes.
Strain the tea into a nonreactive heatproof container large enough to hold the trout comfortably. Add the salt and sugar and stir until they have completely dissolved. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate the brine until completely cold.
Place the trout in the brine, cover, and refrigerate for 12 hours.
To smoke the trout: Line a wire rack with paper towels. Remove the trout from the brine, rinse under cold running water, and place on the rack. Let air-dry at room temperature for 1 hour.
While the trout is drying, prepare the smoker with hardwood charcoal and apple wood (see Smoking); maintain the temperature at between 150°F and 160°F.
Smoke the trout for about 1 hour, until the flesh just starts to flake when lifted with a spatula. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and let cool to room temperature.
When the trout is cool, peel away the skin and discard. Gently flake the trout into approximately ½-inch pieces.
For the dip: Combine the cream cheese, sour cream, and horseradish in a medium bowl and mix until smooth. Add the salt, Espelette pepper, and lemon juice and mix well. Gently fold in the smoked trout and fines herbes. (The dip can be made ahead. Tightly covered, it will keep for up to 2 days in the refrigerator. Remove from the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving.)
To Serve: Offer the dip with crackers on the side.
Grilled Chicken Wings with West African BBQ Sauce
Makes 12 pieces
Wings
8 cups water
¼ cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon sorghum syrup, preferably Muddy Pond (see Resources)
6 chicken wings, separated into flats and drumettes, tips discarded or reserved for stock
3 tablespoons canola oil
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
West African BBQ Sauce
1 jalapeño pepper
½ small sweet onion (about 4 ounces)
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger
1 tablespoon peanut oil
½ teaspoon Bourbon Barrel Bourbon Smoked Paprika (see Resources)
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
¼ teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1 black cardamom pod (see Resources)
1 dried bay leaf
One 1-inch piece cinnamon stick
½ star anise pod
¼ cup sorghum syrup, preferably Muddy Pond (see Resources)
1 cup BBQ Sauce
1 tablespoon Boiled Peanut Miso
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Equipment
Round 15-inch open-top fine-mesh wire grill basket
goes well with:
It seems like I never reach my limit when eating chicken wings. (I’ve got a lot of research to do on the topic!) Here the spicy barbecue sauce combines my tried-and-true base recipe with some of the flavors I enjoyed on my trips to West Africa to study the region’s wood-fire cooking traditions and their culinary connections with the South. I’ve yet to try it on something I didn’t like. If you have any left over, serve it alongside a piece of simply seared fish.
Note: You’ll need to plan ahead to brine the wings.
To brine the wings: Put the water in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the stove, add the salt and sorghum syrup, and stir until they have completely dissolved. Pour the brine into a nonreactive heatproof container large enough to hold the wings and cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until thoroughly cold.
Place the wings in the cold brine, cover, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to overnight.
For the sauce: Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill (see Grilling), removing the grill rack and distributing the hot coals in an even layer in the bottom of the grill.
Put the jalapeño, onion, and ginger in the grill basket, place it on the coals, and grill, shaking the basket occasionally, until they are charred and the onion is starting to soften, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer them to a cutting board and let cool slightly. Cover the grill to maintain the temperature to cook the wings; add a few more pieces of charcoal if necessary.
Peel the jalapeño and ginger. Cut the jalapeño in half and seed it. Roughly chop the jalapeño, onion, and ginger.
Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the jalapeño, onion, and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the paprika, coriander seeds, turmeric, peppercorns, mustard seeds, cardamom pod, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and star anise and cook, stirring constantly, to toast the spices, about 1 minute. Add the sorghum syrup and BBQ sauce and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes to develop the flavors. Remove from the stove and cool slightly.
Transfer the sauce to a blender, add the miso and salt, and blend on high until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to a serving bowl and cool to room temperature. (The sauce can be made ahead. Tightly covered, it will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.)
To grill the wings: Drain the wings and discard the brine. Dry the wings with paper towels and place them in a large bowl. Add the canola oil and toss to coat, then add ¼ teaspoon of the black pepper and toss again. Place the wings in a single layer in the grill basket and put the basket directly on the coals. Grill, turning the wings often with long-handled tongs, until deeply charred on all sides and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer the wings to a bowl and toss with the remaining ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
To serve: Pile the wings on a platter and offer the sauce alongside.
Sea Island Red Pea Spread with Cucumber-Tomato Salad
Serves 4 as a snack
Red Peas
⅔ cup Anson Mills Sea Island Red Peas (see Resources), soaked in water to cover in the refrigerator overnight
5 cups water
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
Kosher salt
Spread
2 tablespoons Vegetable Stock
1 garlic clove, grated or minced
1½ teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons Benne Tahini
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Cucumber-Tomato Salad
¾ cup small dice heirloom tomatoes
¾ cup small dice English cucumber
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground sumac (see Resources)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon Bourbon Barrel Bourbon Smoked Paprika (see Resources)
1 recipe Appalachian Fry Bread
What would hummus look like if it came from the South? Like this beautiful spread made from Anson Mills dried red peas. The peas take the place of the traditional chickpeas, and they are blended with a tahini made from benne seeds. For a Southern analogue of the traditional pita, I make an Appalachian pone bread or fry bread. The cucumber-tomato salad adds crisp texture and cuts through the richness of the spread.
NOTE: You’ll need to start this recipe a day ahead of time to soak the red peas.
For the Red peas: Drain the peas. Transfer to a large saucepan, add the water and baking soda, stir well, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peas are completely soft and offer no resistance to a knife tip, about 45 minutes. Drain the peas, spread out on a rimmed baking sheet, season lightly with salt, and cool to room temperature, then transfer to a container and set aside. (The peas can be cooked ahead. Tightly covered, they will keep for up to 1 day in the refrigerator.)
For the spread: Combine 2 cups of the peas and the vegetable stock in a food processor and process until completely smooth. Add the garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, benne tahini, and salt and process, slowly adding the olive oil, until smooth. Transfer to a container, cover, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. (Tightly covered, the spread will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.)
For the salad: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir gently to mix well. (The salad can be made ahead. Tightly covered, it will keep for up to 1 day in the refrigerator.)
To serve: Transfer the spread to a serving dish, drizzle with the olive oil, and sprinkle with the paprika. Offer the cucumber-tomato salad and fry bread alongside.
Serves 6 as a snack or appetizer
1½ cups full-fat buttermilk (see here)
1 teaspoon Hot Sauce or Red Clay Original Hot Sauce (see Resources)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
1½ pounds medium green tomatoes, cored and cut into ½-inch-thick slices
1½ cups fine yellow cornmeal, preferably Anson Mills (see Resources)
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup Rendered Fresh Lard
1 cup Sour Corn Chowchow
There are a hundred different ways to make fried green tomatoes, and some are more successful than others. The problem with most bad fried green tomatoes is overbreading, which can muffle the character and flavor of the tomatoes. I soak the sliced tomatoes in seasoned buttermilk and give them a dredge in cornmeal, but the most important part of the recipe is letting the breaded tomatoes rest in the refrigerator before you fry them. That rest eliminates the need for additional flour and a messy egg wash, and the tomatoes can be breaded up to 2 hours ahead of time, which is convenient when you’re entertaining. When it’s time to serve them, just pull them out and fry away. Chowchow—the quintessential Southern relish—is my go-to condiment for fried green tomatoes.
Combine the buttermilk, hot sauce, and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a large bowl. Add the green tomato slices and toss to coat. Let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes, occasionally turning the tomatoes to ensure even coating.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the cornmeal, flour, the remaining tablespoon of salt, and the pepper in a shallow baking dish. Working with one slice at a time, shake off any excess buttermilk from the tomatoes, dredge in the cornmeal mixture, shake off any excess, and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator and let the slices rest for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
Fifteen minutes before frying, remove the tomatoes from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with paper towels.
Combine the canola oil and lard in a large deep cast-iron skillet and heat over medium heat to 350°F.
Working in batches, without crowding the pan, fry the tomatoes until crispy and golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes; using a fork, carefully turn the tomatoes over halfway through frying to ensure that they cook evenly. As they are done, transfer the tomatoes to the prepared baking sheet, season lightly with salt, and keep warm in the oven while you fry the remaining slices.
Arrange the fried green tomatoes on a serving plate and accompany with a bowl of the chowchow.
Fried Bologna with Pickled Peach Mustard
Makes 12 slices
Pickled Peach Mustard
½ cup Dijon mustard
½ cup chopped drained Pickled Peaches plus 1 teaspoon of their pickling juice
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Bologna
½ recipe Bologna, cut into ½-inch-thick slices, or 1½ pounds high-quality store-bought bologna, cut into 12 slices
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Like many kids in the South, I grew up eating fried bologna. It was one of the first things I was trusted to cook by myself. I loved getting out my mom’s cast-iron skillet and cutting four slits in the edges of the bologna slice so it wouldn’t curl up. The smell of it frying up always reminds me how lucky I am to have been raised in the Appalachian Mountains. The pickled peach mustard marries my childhood favorite with my more grown-up palate, with a nod to the summer flavors in my pantry.
For the mustard: Combine the mustard, pickled peaches, pickling juice, and salt in a blender and blend on high until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to a small serving dish. (The mustard can be made ahead. Tightly covered, it will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.)
For the bologna: Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Using a paring knife, notch each slice of bologna four times evenly around its circumference, cutting about ½ inch into the bologna.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until foamy. Add half the bologna slices in a single layer and cook until deep brown on the first side, about 1½ minutes. Flip the slices and cook until the other side is deep brown, about 1 minute more. Transfer the fried bologna to the prepared baking sheet. Wipe out the skillet, add the remaining tablespoon of butter, and cook the remaining bologna slices.
To serve: Arrange the bologna slices on a platter with the pickled peach mustard.
Smoked Baby Back Ribs with Benne BBQ Sauce
Serves 4 as a snack
Ribs
1 rack baby back pork ribs (about 2 pounds), white membrane removed
⅓ cup BBQ Sauce
2 tablespoons Anson Mills Antebellum Benne Seeds (see Resources)
Benne BBQ Sauce
1 cup BBQ Sauce
¼ cup Benne Tahini
1 teaspoon sorghum syrup, preferably Muddy Pond (see Resources)
1 teaspoon benne oil (see Resources)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion greens
8 pieces Pork Rinds
Equipment
Smoker
Pork ribs are one of those iconic Southern offerings that every cook has his or her own method for. For a long time, I’ve been obsessed with perfecting the process of making them, and I’ve eaten a lot of ribs over the years, with countless sauces and condiments alongside them. This technique is the one I keep coming back to. The earthy nuttiness of benne seeds adds an unexpected depth of flavor to the barbecue sauce.
Take your time and enjoy the experience of hanging out by the smoker while slow-cooking the pork. Some of the best lies I’ve ever heard have been served up in a cloud of rib smoke.
For the ribs: Prepare the smoker with hardwood charcoal and hickory (see Smoking); maintain the temperature at between 240°F and 250°F.
Liberally rub the ribs with the BBQ rub, making sure to cover every surface. Put the ribs in the smoker and smoke them until a bone comes away easily when pulled, 4 to 5 hours.
While the ribs are smoking, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the benne seeds and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the seeds start to smell a little nutty. Transfer to a plate and cool to room temperature.
for the sauce: About 30 minutes before the ribs come out of the smoker, combine the BBQ sauce, benne tahini, sorghum syrup, benne oil, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.
About 10 minutes before the ribs are done, baste them with the sauce, using about half. When the ribs are ready, transfer them to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.
To serve: Cut the ribs into 2-bone pieces and put them in a large bowl. Add the remaining sauce and the benne seeds and toss to coat the ribs. Pile the ribs on a platter and sprinkle with the scallion greens and pork rinds.
Smoking as a method of food preparation and preservation is almost as old as cooking itself. Our ancestors noticed that food exposed to wood fire and smoke not only kept longer but tasted better too. It’s a technique that is found in Southern cooking and practically every other cuisine across the globe.
The chemical makeup of wood smoke is incredibly complex, with hundreds of compounds released in combustion. Every wood produces its own cocktail of these volatile chemicals, and they differ further depending on temperature and how dry (or cured) the wood is. All these factors combine to give any hardwood its unique flavor and aroma characteristics. I use apple or hickory for the recipes in this book, but you should use whatever cured hardwood you like.
By nature, the smoking process is a social thing. Doing it properly takes not only time but also fairly regular attention to make sure the temperature and smoke levels are just right. It’s a great opportunity to sit around with a group of friends and family, whiling away the time with good stories, all punctuated with that enticing wood smoke aroma. Lawn chairs, cold drinks, and good music are crucial ingredients of any smoking recipe.
You don’t need an expensive setup to make delicious smoked foods at home. Whether you have a charcoal smoker or one fueled by propane or electricity, there are three elements involved in successful smoking: wood, temperature, and cooking time. Getting these right will result in a finished product that you and your guests won’t be able to get enough of. Here are a few things to keep in mind while manning the smoker.
•Before starting, scan a range of recipes for whatever ingredient you’re smoking. Taking an average of the times and temperatures you find will give you a good estimate of what to aim for.
•Keep a notebook where you jot down the results each time you fire up the smoker. Tracking the differences in cooking time, temperature, and wood choice each time you smoke the same item will help you zero in on the formula that’s just right for your equipment and conditions.
•Keep the temperature in your smoker 30 to 40 degrees higher than the target internal temperature for whatever you’re smoking. For Pit-Cooked-Chicken Sandwiches, for example, the barbecue-rubbed whole chickens need to cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 165°F, so you will need to keep the temperature in your smoker hovering at just around 200°F.
•Cook your meat until it’s really ready. I know that might sound like a silly thing to say, but doneness doesn’t mean the time is up. For meat with bones, you ought to be able to pull the bone away cleanly, with little to no resistance. For a boneless cut like brisket, you should be able to easily pull away a big hunk of meat. If you’re following a recipe or method from a cookbook or online source and the meat is still tough after the recommended time, keep smoking!
•Relax and enjoy yourself. Have fun taking part in a cooking tradition that reaches back to prehistory.
Serves 6 as an appetizer
Base
¼ cup small dice slab bacon, preferably Benton’s (see Resources)
⅓ cup dried shrimp (see Resources)
1¼ cups very finely diced sweet onion
1 cup very finely diced celery
1 cup very finely diced red bell pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Rice
4 cups water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 fresh bay leaf
1¼ cups Anson Mills Carolina Gold Rice (see Resources)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
Crab
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound fresh lump blue crab meat, carefully picked over for shells and cartilage
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoonsTomato Jam
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
2 tablespoons grated Crab Roe Bottarga (casing removed, grated with a Microplane)
There are two key things to know when cooking a good plate of crab rice: The first is to cook the rice separately, really focusing on it so it keeps its unique flavor and character. The second is to cook the crab with the attention it requires. The trick is to spread the crabmeat mixture in a thin, even layer in the skillet and then not disturb it until it’s browned on the bottom. It takes a lot of patience, courage, trust, and confidence in yourself, but once you make crab rice a couple of times, it will all seem natural.
Use all your senses when cooking this dish. Smell the crab as it starts to brown; it has a very distinct, delicious aroma. Listen for the popping and crackling that will start when the pan is almost dry. Once you hear that, take a little peek underneath to see if the crab is getting some light brown color. When you smell that aroma, hear that sizzle, and see that color, take the pan off the stove and gently fold in the lemon juice. There are few things better than crab cooked just right.
For the base: Put the bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium heat until it starts to soften and the fat begins to render, about 1 minute. Add the dried shrimp and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 6 minutes. Remove from the stove and set aside.
For the rice: Combine the water, salt, white pepper, and bay leaf in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and stir to be sure the salt has dissolved completely. Reduce the heat to medium, add the rice, stir once, and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the rice is al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain. Transfer to another medium saucepan, discarding the bay leaf. Stir in the butter and cover to keep warm.
For the crab: Heat the butter in a large skillet over high heat until foamy. Add the base mixture and the crab, spread it into a thin, even layer, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, undisturbed, until the crab begins to brown on the bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and gently fold in the lemon juice.
To serve: Put a dollop of tomato jam in the center of each of six warm plates. Divide the rice among the plates, placing it on top of the jam, and sprinkle with the chives. Spoon the crab on top and sprinkle with the bottarga.
Serves 6 as an appetizer, 4 as a main course
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 teaspoon canola oil
2 ounces country ham, preferably Bob Wood’s (see Resources), cut into ¼-inch dice
1 pound 21–25-count shrimp, preferably local, peeled and deveined
4 ounces small button mushrooms, washed, dried, and quartered
¼ cup thinly sliced scallions
½ cup Vegetable Stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 recipe Stovetop Grits, just cooked and still warm
This is shrimp and grits at its simplest. It’s a quick, easy, one-pan dish, and it is the only way I cook shrimp and grits at home. The recipe is a tribute to the late chef Bill Neal, of Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He was one of the first chefs to celebrate the dish and elevate it into the realm of the restaurant. Bill’s vision made it possible for chefs, including me, to serve shrimp and grits in restaurants all over the South. Making this dish is my chance to pay back that debt.
Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl, mix well, and set aside.
Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the ham, and cook, stirring frequently, until the fat has rendered and the ham is crisp, about 3 minutes.
Lightly dredge the shrimp in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess, and carefully add them to the hot skillet. Cook until lightly browned on the first side, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn the shrimp, add the mushrooms and scallions, and cook until the other side of the shrimp is lightly browned and the mushrooms and scallions begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, bring to a simmer, and cook until it has reduced by half and the shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the butter and lemon juice and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Give the grits a good stir, then divide them among warmed bowls. Spoon the shrimp and mushrooms, with their broth, on top.
Shrimp and Grits with Roasted Tomatoes, Fennel, and Sausage
Serves 6 as an appetizer, 4 as a main course
8 ounces smoked breakfast sausage, preferably Jakes Brothers (see Resources)
1 recipe Oven-Roasted Tomatoes
1 recipe Braised Fennel, with the cooking liquid
⅓ cup heavy cream
Forty 26–30-count shrimp, preferably local, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Hot Sauce or Red Clay Original Hot Sauce (see Resources)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon Fines Herbes
1 recipe Pressure-Cooker Grits, just cooked and still warm
½ recipe Crispy Pig’s Ears with Pimento Ranch (optional)
Fennel fronds and flowers for garnish (optional)
The shrimp and grits recipe on the preceding page represents tradition; this one explores what shrimp and grits can be. It blends the food of the coastal South with one of the great ingredients of the Appalachian Mountains: sack sausage. Sack sausage is a version of traditional pork breakfast sausage. Stuffed into a linen sack, bag, or (in the worst-case scenario) even a sock, it’s left to ferment and then cold-smoked for days and days. The sausage adds a depth and soul to the dish that you don’t always find in the traditional recipes. But because sack sausage can be hard to come by, this recipe calls for good breakfast sausage, which works well here. The roasted tomatoes and braised fennel brighten up the whole dish and give it the freshness it needs.
Oftentimes I finish the dish with some crispy fried pig’s ears, but don’t skip this recipe because you don’t want to go through all the effort of cooking pig’s ears. Leave them out, and it’s still delicious.
Cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until browned and broken up into small pieces. Add the roasted tomatoes, fennel wedges, fennel cooking liquid, and cream and cook until the liquid has slightly reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes.
Add the shrimp and simmer, stirring gently, until they are pink and just beginning to curl, about 4 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, hot sauce, salt, and fines herbes.
Give the grits a good stir, then divide them among warm bowls. Spoon the shrimp and vegetables, with their broth, on top. Divide the pig’s ears, if using, among the bowls. Garnish with fennel fronds and fennel flowers, if desired.