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NAN A. TALESE, 2009
(available in paperback from Dial, 2010)
IT’S 1969 AND EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD LEOPOLD BLOOM KING (LEO) is a newspaper delivery boy in Charleston, South Carolina, “who doesn’t have a friend his own age.” Leo, traumatized during his childhood by the suicide of his older brother, Steve, has spent years in mental institutions and was arrested for drug possession. Determined to reverse his downward spiral, Leo aims to turn himself into “a worthy townsman of such a many-storied city.” He finds himself befriending teens across Charleston’s racial, social, and economic divides, including beautiful twins Sheba and Trevor Poe; Molly Huger and Chad and Fraser Rutledge, from high-society families; orphans Niles and Starla Whitehead; and Ike Jefferson, one of the first African-American students to be integrated into the public schools and with whom Leo will serve as cocaptain of the football team. Two decades later, the paths of Leo, now a newspaper columnist, and his friends intersect again when Sheba, who has become a glamorous Hollywood movie star, returns to Charleston. When Sheba reveals that her brother, Trevor, is missing—lost, she believes, on the streets of San Francisco and possibly dying of AIDS—Leo and his coterie of friends set out to rescue Trevor.
In this ode to Charleston, a city “enchanting enough to charm cobras out of baskets,” Conroy takes the reader back and forth through two decades in the lives of this group of unlikely friends, celebrating their camaraderie and evoking individual struggles—all against the backdrop of Charleston, from its legacy of racism and class divisions in the 1960s to the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in the late 1980s. Ultimately, Conroy leads readers to a stunning revelation that unlocks the mystery of Steve’s suicide decades before.
In an early scene in South of Broad, Leo bakes benne wafers, a specialty of the South Carolina Low Country, as a welcome gift for his new neighbors, Trevor and Sheba Poe. Sesame, or benne, as Africans in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries called it when they brought the seed to America as slaves, gives these thin crisp cookies a rich, nutty flavor.
The recipe Leo makes for the Poes is an actual recipe from Mrs. Gustave P. Richards that appears in Charleston Receipts. First published in 1950, Charleston Receipts is the oldest Junior League cookbook in print, and a culinary bible in Charleston. The cookbook features recipes handed down from both white Charleston residents and their black slaves, who later became servants, along with verses in Gullah, a Creole language dialect still spoken by African-Americans from the coastal islands near Charleston, and drawings by Charleston artists. Charleston Receipts “reflects the nostalgia for the old South that prevailed among Low-Country aristocrats during the postwar post–Civil War era,” according to Michelle Green of Food & Wine magazine. Leo and his father have cooked their way through Charleston Receipts, starring the recipes they have made. The benne wafer “earned an entire constellation in their book.” We think you’ll agree.
This recipe is adapted from a benne wafer recipe from Charleston Receipts.
NOTE: To toast sesame seeds, place in a dry skillet over medium-low heat and toast until lightly browned and fragrant, shaking the pan to prevent burning. Allow to cool before using.
1 cup light brown sugar, packed 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) butter 1 large egg, beaten ½ cup all-purpose flour |
¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup sesame seeds, toasted (see note) |
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
In a mixing bowl, cream the brown sugar and butter. Add the beaten egg and mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Add to batter and mix until combined. Add the vanilla and toasted sesame seeds and mix well.
Drop batter by teaspoonfuls, well spaced apart (these cookies will spread, so allow plenty of room).
5. Bake until lightly browned, approximately 7–10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Yield: About 3 dozen 2-inch cookies
Slightly North of Broad, one of Pat Conroy’s favorite Charleston restaurants, is a stop on the South of Broad tour of Charleston, which highlights book-related venues mentioned in Conroy’s novel. Travelers can sample a South of Broad–themed dessert or cocktail at Slightly North of Broad, where executive chef Frank Lee combines his passion for French techniques with his beloved local ingredients. His “South of Broad classic” dessert is a modern interpretation of the classic black bottom pie served in southern diners—a quintessentially southern dessert that he felt paired nicely with the setting of Conroy’s novel.
Southern culinary historian John Edgerton calls black bottom pie “a southern pie that has been spreading joy in and out of the region for close to fifty years or more.” Thanks to Slightly North of Broad for sharing this recipe for a rich southern favorite that will enrich your discussion of South of Broad.
NOTE: For best results, make pie a day ahead and refrigerate overnight.
For the crust 3 cups cream-filled chocolate-sandwich-cookie crumbs, such as Oreos ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted |
For the pie filling |
|
1½ tablespoons water ¼ cup rum 1½ tablespoons gelatin 1 tablespoon cornstarch 6 large egg yolks 3 cups milk |
1 cup granulated sugar 2 ¼ cups dark chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped 1 cup heavy cream 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar Berries or chocolate curls for garnish |
1. To make the crust: Place cookie crumbs and butter in a large mixing bowl. Mix until combined. Spread into a 9-inch springform pan. Press mixture up the side of the pan.
To make the filling: Pour water and rum in a small bowl. Dissolve the gelatin in the water/rum mixture. Set aside.
Combine cornstarch, egg yolks, milk, and granulated sugar in a large saucepan. Boil over medium heat until thick, about 15 minutes, stirring often. Add gelatin and fully combine. Place chocolate in a large mixing bowl, and add 3 cups of the hot custard. When chocolate is melted, stir to combine. Pour mixture on top of crust in springform pan. Set aside at room temperature.
Make an ice bath: Fill a large mixing bowl half or two-thirds full with ice and cover with cold water. Place pot with remaining custard on ice bath, and chill until gelatin begins to gel, about 5 minutes. Remove from ice bath.
In a large mixing bowl, whip the cream on high speed until it almost has soft peaks, then add the confectioners’ sugar, and beat to combine, on high speed, until cream has soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the custard. Once thoroughly mixed, pour mixture over chocolate layer and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, and preferably overnight. Remove pie from pan before serving. Garnish with berries or chocolate curls.
Yield: 8 to 12 servings
The Cover to Cover Girls Book Club of Lake County, Florida, had a lively discussion of South of Broad. “Several of us are very familiar with Charleston,” says Sandra Stone. “Charleston is a gracious lady who has seen it all, including hurricane and earthquake, and still manages to welcome us into her parlor when we visit.
“The serious issues of race relations, betrayal and family resonated with everyone in the group,” explains Stone. “South of Broad deepened our understanding of the fear African-American students faced every day during integration of the South’s schools,” she adds. “Conroy puts all of his characters in this book through such difficult life and relationship situations. Many of the characters felt betrayed—by their parents, by spouses, or by the church through a trusted priest. While these situations were difficult, they also offered the opportunity to show the resilience of the human spirit. Conroy brings each character through these difficult times in a way that gives not only the characters but us as readers some hope for humanity.”
The Cover to Cover Girls’ conversation was accompanied by benne wafer thins—the cookies the main character, Leo, bakes in an early scene in the novel (see recipe). Stone served the benne wafers in sweetgrass baskets, described in a scene in South of Broad. According to Stone, the descendants of West African slaves have made these baskets and sold them on the roadways and in shops in the Charleston area for hundreds of years. “The baskets are woven of the local sweetgrass of the Low Country, pine needles, bulrush, and palm leaves,” Stone says. Cheese straws, pecan pralines, and sweet tea—all southern favorites—rounded out the book club menu.
When the six members of the Book Club Girls Club (BCGC) of St. Louis discussed Pat Conroy’s South of Broad, host Denise Evans prepared genuine southern recipes. She turned to The Pat Conroy Cookbook for gumbo, pickled shrimp, and southern ratatouille, along with her own recipe for peach cobbler.
“Pat’s recipe for gumbo is authentic, easy to prepare, and the aroma is tantalizing,” says Evans. “The title of the chapter where the pickled shrimp recipe appears is so ‘Pat Conroy’ and hilarious: ‘Why Dying Down South Is More Fun.’ To me, pickled shrimp is a bona fide call-out to the South.
“My book club pals know how much I love the South, including southern books, food, travel, lifestyle, and history,” adds Evans. “Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors. It was fitting that I used his recipes for our South of Broad discussion.”
