by D. J. Lutz
For the Topping
2 cups pecans, shelled (of course)
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup of your favorite bourbon
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In a skillet (cast–iron, if you have one) over medium high heat, stir the melted butter and pecan bits until the nuts are thoroughly coated.
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Add the sugar and stir; again, you want the pecans coated.
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Keep stirring until the sugar starts to caramelize on the pecans.
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Add the bourbon. Stir until the candied pecans are floating in a sea of thick sauce.
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Once done, remove from heat and pour onto a cookie sheet covered in either parchment or wax paper. Allow to cool.
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Once completely cool, cover with wrap and set aside until it is time to assemble the dessert.
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When ready, break the sheet of bourbon–glazed pecans into chunks that will fit into your serving glass.
The Mash–Up
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Once the filling has had a chance to chill, you are ready to assemble the dessert. You will need four parfait glasses for this one. If you don’t have a parfait glass, any sturdy glass will do—even a regular bowl will work if that is all that you have on hand. Mason jars? Why not!
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Break the graham cracker crust into chunks. Evenly distribute the chunks into the parfait glasses. This is the bottom layer. You only want to fill the glass up about a third of the way. If you have more crust, get more parfait glasses. Your guests won’t complain if there is more dessert. If they do, you need to get different guests.
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Spoon the chilled chocolate filling on top of the crust bits. You can almost fill the glass here, but save room for the guest of honor, the pecans.
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Heat the candied pecans in your microwave oven until they become soft and gooey again. It should not take more than 30 seconds—maybe 1 minute at the most.
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Spoon the bourbon–flavored, sticky pecan mixture on top of the chocolate filling.
Serve immediately so your guests will find a bit of warmth from the pecans, enjoy the aroma of the infused bourbon, and savor the richness of the chocolate mousse (that is what this really is) as it mingles with the texture of the graham cracker crust.
Southern Corn Pudding
Courtesy of Chef George Harrison Windsor
Aside from tobacco, cotton, peanuts, tomatoes, soybean, winter wheat, potatoes of all types, and even collard greens, one of the most prolific crops grown in the Southeastern United States is corn. Every summer, Eastern Shore farmers will open their roadside food stands (or pull their pickup truck alongside the highway) to sell baskets of the stuff to anyone with an out–of–state license plate on their car. And there are a ton of those. Especially on Friday and Sunday.
For those who live in the area? They just go to church. Those same farmers will bring in a few bushels on Sunday morning, and everyone can take what they need. At least, that is what I have found since moving to Seaview. No wonder the Methodists are never hungry. I think they carry a spoon in their pocket, just in case they come across an unexpected “pot luck.”
Anyway, George Harrison Windsor shared this recipe from his three–times–great–grandmother’s stash of papers found behind the abandoned whiskey still in back of his house. No worries” he told me; they hadn’t cooked up moonshine in generations, although he wondered about his friend Cosmo, since the lad had taken a good part of the old equipment for some unknown reason.
For your culinary enjoyment, here is George’s old family recipe. It has been (very much) modernized for those of us without a nearby corn field.
Ingredients
1 cup sour cream
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
1 can cream corn
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 habañero pepper, finely chopped (optional—for those who like to tempt fate)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 package cornbread mix
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F.
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Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.
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Transfer to a greased 8x8–inch pan, at least 2 inches tall.
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Bake at 325° for approximately 45 minutes or until the top starts to set. This should not turn brown on top, just slightly tan.
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Once you think it is done, let it bake 5 more minutes.
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Now it is probably done all the way through. Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes. If you try to eat a spoonful now, it would be like putting a glob of molten lava into your mouth. Don’t do it. Just wait. In fact, use this time to find the white wine in the cooler. You’ll need it later, especially if you chose the habañero option.
Buena suerte, mi amiga. That’s all George said to me when he let me have a taste.
Spicy Crab Poppers
Probably the most requested item at our tea service!
This bite–sized morsel is a conglomeration of shredded fresh crab meat mixed with finely chopped celery, onion, and bell pepper, plus the requisite “secret” spices. It’s a winner! And even as a vegetarian, I sometimes slip into pescatarian mode just to try one!
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 stalk celery, of decent size, trimmed of the white end and devoid of leaves
1 white onion
1 green bell pepper
1/2 cup sun–dried tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh–cracked black pepper
1 pound lump crab meat (If shellfish allergies are a concern, use a flaky white fish.)
3 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning (“It’s a law,” my grandma once told me.)
10 shakes of your favorite hot sauce (This translates to about 2 tablespoons. I think. Live dangerously. Add a few more shakes, if you are unsure.)
1/2 cup real mayonnaise (not the fake stuff)
1 box puff pastry
enough flour to dust a cutting board
1 egg
1 cup water
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 375°F.
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Chop the celery, onion, and bell peppers finely.
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In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
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To determine when the oil is hot enough, drop a piece of chopped vegetable in the pan. If it sizzles, it is ready. CAREFULLY add the chopped vegetables.
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Stir occasionally to allow all the veggie bits to sauté until soft.
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Chop up the sun–dried tomatoes as best you can and add to the pan of vegetables. Add the minced garlic and black pepper, too. Stir a few more times.
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Now add the crab meat! Continue to sauté for 5 minutes. While everything is dancing in the pan, find another bowl.
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In this new bowl, combine the mayonnaise, Old Bay, and hot sauce.
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Remove the pan of crab and vegetables from heat.
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Combine the crab and vegetables with the spicy mayonnaise.
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Dust your cutting board with flour.
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Take some puff pastry, put it on the floured cutting board, and shape it into a large rectangle.
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Spread the crab mixture over the entire surface of the puff pastry.
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Roll the pastry up lengthwise into a long “log” and place on a baking sheet, seam–side down. Depending on how thick you made the layer of crab meat, you may need another sheet of puff pastry. That’s okay. The more, the better!
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In a small
bowl, mix the egg and water.
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Using a pastry brush, paint the puff pastry log with the egg wash.
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Bake at 375° for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
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Remove from the oven and cut into bite–sized pieces.
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Enjoy!
Peanut Butter Pickle Banana Crunch Sandwich
Winning recipe from Bailey Babbitt
This treat, also the judges’ favorite, is made from a savory homemade peanut butter. I think you could use any decent peanut butter on regular bread. Just spice up the peanut butter with a teaspoon or two of chili powder and a dash of crushed red pepper and top with a few long slices of sweet, fresh banana. Drizzle some honey on top of the bananas and add a thin layer of bread and butter pickles. Cap it all off with a single layer of salty potato chips. “A winner!” according to Bailey. I think she is right.
As she described it: “Your palette will taste the earthy flavor of the chili powder intermingled within the creaminess of the peanut butter. A not–so–subtle zing from the red pepper will soon take over, only subsiding as the tongue relishes the cool sweetness of the banana slices. The tartness from the pickles will elevate your senses again, and the salty chips give you that satisfying crunch.”
When I tried this, I realized it was simple to make, yet complex in flavor. I could feel the crunch of the potato chips and enjoyed the natural taste of the salt. You get everything – sweet, sour, salt, savory, and heat—all between two pieces of soft bread. The judges said it: “It’s the best picnic food, ever!”
The Seagull’s Nest Sweet Potato Roll
George told me that these rolls are good with just a little butter on them, but if you want to be official, you need to slice the rolls horizontally and make a mini sweet potato roll “sammich” using a thin slice of Virginia ham. Yum!
And, from George himself, “Lawd have mercy, child, for goodness sake, use Virginia ham. If you use that pressed and steam–baked pig in a can, you might as well be from Norfolk.” I used the Virginia ham, after soaking it in water for a few days, and it was perfection.
Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lard or vegetable shortening
1/2 cup milk
extra flour for dusting
Directions
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Preheat your oven to 400°F.
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Wash your sweet potatoes; try to scrub the dirt off with your hand. Do not use any type of cleaner. The dirt, what’s left of it, won’t kill you. Hopefully. No guarantees.
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“Poke them ’taters with a fork,” George said. He did several times. This helped the steam escape and prevented the very messy exploding potato syndrome from occurring.
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Once the oven is preheated, carefully place the sweet potatoes in the oven. I put them on a baking sheet. Sweet potatoes are notorious for leaking sticky resin–like sugars all over the inside of your oven when they are cooking. Sounds cool, right? Yeah, but smells terrible. Use a pan under those potatoes.
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Bake the potatoes for at least 1 hour. Once the potatoes are squishy and squeezable, they are done. Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes. George took this opportunity to have a mint julep. Normally, I do not recommend drinking while cooking. But for George, what could I do? It was his kitchen.
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Remove the potato skin. There are a number of ways to do this. I put the potato in a large glass bowl and smash it with a potato masher. The pulp escapes, leaving the skin flattened upon itself, making it easy to remove from the bowl. Plus, your sweet potato meat is now in the correct vessel for the next step!
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Sans skin, continue to mash up the potato until it is relatively smooth in texture.
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Separate 2 cups of sweet potato for use with the rolls.
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The rest of the sweet potato? Ah, here’s the lagniappe:
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Put the remaining sweet potato in a bowl.
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Add the butter and cinnamon.
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Eat as a snack in progress while you finish making the rolls.
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Back to the rolls: add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to your bowl containing the 2 cups of sweet potato mash.
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Mash some more until the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the sweet potato.
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Add the lard/shortening. Knead it into the dough using a wooden spoon (or your hands if you are a devil–may–care cook and don’t mind orange–ish dough all over your hands).
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Add the milk. Fold the sweet potato into itself until you have something approaching cake batter. It won’t be as creamy as that, but you get the idea.
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Dust your cutting board with some extra flour.
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Roll the dough out onto the cutting board evenly. Try to get an even thickness, about a half–inch all around.
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You can use a biscuit or cookie cutter, a glass, or, again, your hands to form the individual rolls. Cut away and reshape the scrap to make more rolls.
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Place the rolls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400°for 15 to 20 minutes.
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Once completely baked through and lightly brown on top, remove the rolls from the oven and let cool.
Tex–Mex Sushi
Courtesy of dishwasher–chef–inventor Cosmo Finnegan
The most unusual cooking came from Cosmo Finnegan. The food tasted great, which was to be expected in a culinary competition, but the amazing thing was the experience of watching him combine colonial technology with a modern culinary fusion of ethnic cuisine. Just by looking at the plate in front of you, you didn’t know if you were going to be tasting Tex–Mex, Japanese, or chuck wagon food. Sometimes, though, you just have to put fear aside and go for it.
I could never get the straight recipe, but here is the gist. Read it through first, and then get your mis en plas on.
For the Brisket
1 large hunk beef brisket (a couple of pounds will do)
2 cups water
2 cups soy sauce
4 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons cumin
4 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Directions
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Place the brisket fat side up in a large roasting pan.
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In a bowl, mix the remaining ingredients to create the marinade.
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Pour the marinade over the brisket, cover, and refrigerate until the next day.
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Assuming you want to serve the brisket for dinner, six hours before serving, uncover the brisket and let it sit on the counter to start to lose its chill.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F.
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Using a sharp, long–bladed knife, slice the layer of fat off the brisket.
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Spoon some of the marinade over the top of the brisket, to refresh its memory.
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Roast the brisket in the oven.
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How long, you ask? Try 30 minutes per pound, and then add 10 more minutes at the end. Brisket, cooked well, takes a long time. That’s why we started at noon, remember?
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Once the internal temperature is . . . well, once the meat is so tender you can shred it with a fork, the brisket is done.
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Spoon some more marinade over the top again, cover with foil, and let sit in the oven
(set on “warm”) until you are either ready to slice—or just make it easy on yourself and shred the whole thing. Every once in awhile, baste with the juices collecting in the roasting pan. When you are ready to serve, either shred with a fork or slice on a bias (against “the grain”).
For the Rice
2 cups white rice, or your favorite variety (they will all work well)
3 cups water
1 cup water infused with a little saffron
Directions
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If you use a rice cooker, follow the directions for your particular machine. If you prefer the old–school way to cook rice, put the rice and 4 cups of water into a large pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and allow to simmer, covered slightly, until the water has been absorbed. You are looking at about 40 minutes or so.
For the Stir–Fried Vegetables
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, no leaves, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, skin removed, finely chopped
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 can (8 ounces) of cooked black beans
optional side garnish: goat cheese
Directions
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Heat the oil in a large saucepan.
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Add the remaining ingredients. Sauté until the onions seem translucent.
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Once done, remove from heat and set aside until the rice is done.
Putting It All Together
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Mix the stir–fried vegetables in with the rice.
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Using an ice cream scoop, form the rice into a ball and place on the plate.
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Using a spoon, create a well in the top of the rice ball. It’s almost like a rice volcano!
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Take some of your shredded brisket and fill the volcano’s hole.
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Drizzle a little marinade on top.
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Optional: Serve with a smattering of crumbled goat cheese on the side.
And what about Cosmo’s Dr Pepper–flavored barbecue sauce?
That’s one secret yet to be revealed!
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the writers who encouraged me at every step along this journey, especially Lucy Silag and Janice Peacock. For quite a few years, we lurked about the online writers’ haven known as Book Country. A mention must also go to the cohort of writers from the mystery anthology 50 Shades of Cabernet. You know who you are!