Date I made these recipes:
April 20, 2014 (Easter Sunday)
The Cracker Kitchen –
A cookbook in celebration of cornbread-fed, down-home family stories and
cuisine by Janis Owens; Introduction by Pat Conroy
Published by:
Scribner
ISBN: 13:
978-1-4165-9484-0
Recipes: Easter Ham (made with Coca-Cola) – p. 6 and
Potatoes au Gratin – p. 7
Southern Sideboards
by the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi; recipe submitted by Mrs. Frank
Byers, St. Petersburg, Florida
Published by: Junior
League of Jackson, Mississippi
© 1978
Recipe: Tart Cherry-Pineapple (Jell-O) Salad – p. 89
I don't know why or how it is that Easter sneaks up on me
every year, it just does. I blame
Christmas and Valentine's Day for this predicament. With Christmas and Valentine's Day there is
no guessing, no sneaking, no near-miss on the date. Christmas is always,
always, always December 25th and Valentine's Day is always, always,
always February 14th. But
Easter? Easter is stealth. Stealth holidays are not my favorite.
Also not necessarily my favorite? Making a ham because it's expected. I do like to change it up a bit and hey, if
the actual day of Easter can change up from year to year, so should my menu,
right?
And so I was all set to do something different such as make
a lasagna like I did one year, but then that damned Catholic guilt set in: "Make a ham.....Make a ham....You know
you should make a ham. Everybody makes a
ham....What is wrong with you???"
And so I decided that I would make a half-hearted attempt to
find a ham recipe but if I didn't, then I wasn't going to put much effort into
it. It's always wise to find a
compromise for guilt, no?
Luckily, this cookbook, The
Cracker Kitchen, was prominently displayed among by 1,900 cookbook (and let
me tell you, that is no small feat) and there on page 6 was a recipe for ham in
Coca-Cola and page 7 had a recipe for Potatoes Au Gratin and well, I win! I win!
In fact, the ham recipe is titled "Easter Ham." Be still my heart....
I must confess that when I purchased this book, I thought
the title was interesting (The Cracker
Kitchen) and I believe a quick glance at the time suggested it was filled
with southern recipes, but that information goes out the window when it comes
time to select a book. And so silly
me—somewhere down the road, I thought the term "cracker" applied to
coal miners but I found out via the internet that the correct term is "coal cracker." "Crackers" all by itself is often a
derogatory term for poor white southerners.
I do believe my high school and college history books glossed over this
little items and this is why reading cookbooks is important! I've learned more about history and culture
from reading cookbooks than any of my textbooks. In fact, had I endless hours available (and I
don't), I could probably compile an anthology of the history of the United States
as told in cookbooks. Some other
lifetime....
Our cookbook's author though, does a pretty good job giving
us the history of the region and the origin of the name and some darned fine
recipes in between. She describes a
"cracker" as "...your family lived in Florida for at least three generations, had
Southern roots, and among themselves, still talked like raccoons." (For clarification on the raccoon issue,
you'll have to read the book.) And then to make things interesting, she talks
about her daddy, a Pentecostal minister who runs a ham radio net called "Ambassadors
for Christ."
Again, it appears that selecting this cookbook for Easter,
what with it's "Easter Ham" recipe and an "Ambassador for
Christ" was a matter of divine intervention. "And the Lord said...no lasagna."
This cookbook is nicely divided up by seasons so there are
recipes and menus for spring (Easter, Mother's Day), Summer (Memorial Day,
Fourth of July) and so on which I find helpful when planning something like my
Easter Dinner. I could have gone whole
hog (hahahaha) and make the Green Bean Bundles (with bacon) for this meal but
decided to hold off in favor of my Jell-O salad. I can have green beans any time but occasions
like this just scream for a Jell-O salad and so I made one – because I could.
Oddly enough, the heartiest (and delicious) food came from a
cookbook about "crackers" – poor white folks – whereas the more "common-man"
recipe for my Easter repast – Jell-O – came from a Junior League cookbook. Huh. "Class,
for your essay compare and contrast the social order and economic status of "crackers"
with members of the Junior League...."
Two more different classes of people you could not meet.
I must admit that the purpose of the Junior League has
always puzzled me. If you look at any of
their websites (they are in most major cities), you'll see that their mission
is to build communities by volunteering.
Okay...volunteering within the Junior League or outside of it? It's unclear.
But what I do know is that being a Junior League member is not for the
feint of pocketbook. It takes money to
join (dues + "tuition" in a mandatory training class) and money to remain
a member in good standing via generous donations to every fundraiser the group
puts on and there are several.
In addition to money, and I suspect this is more of a southern
thing, you need to know the right people and by "know," I mean that
in order to join the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi, you need
"sponsorship" by at least four current members. So obviously, waltzing into a meeting
unattended is frowned upon. And in
certain circles, waltzing in without hat
and gloves is rumored to be cause for immediate banishment to a desert island. And based on what I've read and heard, who
your kin are (or aren't) is of incredible importance to most southern Junior Leagues. Let's just say a cracker from Florida (poor and
without pedigree) is as unlikely to "win" a coveted spot in a Junior
League as they are to win the lottery (assuming they play it). It bothers me greatly that a class system
still exists in volunteer ranks (never mind in life) but such is the Junior
League way. Maybe for this reason alone,
my Junior League cookbook collection is limited. I salute that these cookbooks are a great
fundraiser for their activities, and some Junior League cookbooks (mostly
southern) are highly sought after, especially earlier versions but I don't have
the shelf space or interest to collect the "whole set." But this particular cookbook, Southern Sideboards, did impress, not
only for it's size (almost 400 pages, spiral-bound—impressive!) but for the
variety of recipes.
Of interest in this cookbook were recipes for things like
"Bull Shot," which sounds like
a Bloody Mary only made with beef broth; "Wassil" (High, Ho, the
Merry-O, a wassiling we go!), dove and other wild birds/game (I've never seen
dove recipes outside the south); and fruit cakes of every kind and
variety. Other "southern"
staples include lots of pork recipes (BBQ ribs, pork chops, etc); relishes and
pickles; homemade ice cream and desserts galore. I'm not sure this group left anything out and
sure enough, and bless their hearts, they even included "recipes" for
Play Dough, Finger Paints and Soap Crayons.
No task too small or too mundane for a Junior Leaguer! All the recipes
were submitted by club members who, as was usual and customary at the time,
went by their husband's name. As I've
said in other blog postings, this irks me to no end but it was a sign of the
times and so I just have to roll with it.
Now in a total "shut the front door" moment, as I
was flipping through the front of this book to look for the copyright, I
noticed an Introduction, Of Food and
Fellowship, written by Wyatt Cooper.
"Not THAT Wyatt Cooper," thought I. Yes, THAT Wyatt Cooper—as in father of CNN
news anchor Anderson Cooper. Don't ask
me how I know these things, I just do.
(Just like I know that Anderson's
mother is Gloria Vanderbilt of THE Vanderbilt family. Gloria is still alive and well although
sadly, Anderson's father, a native of Quitman, Mississippi,
died in 1978, just after submitting the introduction.)
So there I was, flipping through this cookbook wondering
what I could add to my "cracker" Easter repast and
then...Jell-O. Who doesn't love
Jell-O? (Don't answer that!). I told my friends that I made it not only
because I could (freedom to make Jell-O is a lesser-known Freedom, as outlined
in our Constitution) but because I do not recall a holiday where mom didn't
make a Jell-O salad. Like most people,
we had our Thanksgiving Jell-O, our Christmas Jell-O (actually, mom rotated
between four or five salads), our Easter Jell-O, Valentine's Day Jell-O (made
in heart molds) and even green St. Patrick's Day Jell-O. This "Easter" Jell-O though, is
nothing like mom made as it's rather tart but it's a nice change-up for once as
some Jell-O salads (like the ones with marshmallows) can be overly sweet and
who needs more sweet what with all that great candy the Easter Bunny brought to
our homes?
Now before I get to these delicious recipes, let me just say
that trying to find a five-pound (or less) ham at Easter time is akin to
finding the Holy Grail. It may exist but
you're going to have to go on a crusade to find it! Luckily, and unbelievably, Target had a 6
pound ham priced at $13.00 and change and it became mine, all mine! The rest of the stash was all 9 pounds on
up. As it is, we now have frozen ham
slices and a frozen ham bone to deal with so you should expect to see some more
ham recipes popping up here and there.
Maybe next Easter? (Pays to plan
ahead!)
Easter Ham – serves 8
(Ann's Note: requires overnight
marinating)
One 12-ounce can cola
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
One cooked 5-pound ham
In a large sealable bag, mix the cola and sugar until
dissolved. (Ann's Note: no need to mix; the minute the Coke hit the
sugar, the sugar was a goner!) Add the
ham and shake it around to make sure it's coated.
Marinate overnight in the refrigerator, occasionally giving
it a shake to make sure the marinade stays on the ham.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Put the ham in a roasting pan and bake for 1 hour, basting once or
twice. Let it cool a few minutes before
slicing. Serve right away, or later,
cold.
Potatoes au Gratin –
serves 6
4 cups peeled and thinly sliced white potatoes
½ cup salted butter (Ann's Note: if you only have unsalted butter, add about ¼
teaspoon of salt; the ration is ¼ teaspoon salt per ½ cup butter)
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 cup sour cream
½ cup whole milk
1 ½ cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Dash of hot sauce
Preheat the oven to 325.
Fill a large pot with water and put your potatoes in. Bring to a boil and boil 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the potatoes.
Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray
and spread the potatoes in it in a thin layer.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until
blended. Stir in the sour cream, milk, 1
cup of the cheese, the salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Cook, stirring, over medium-low heat until
smooth, adding more milk to thin it if necessary.
Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes. Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbling.
When you take the potatoes out of the oven, top it with the
remaining ½ cup cheese and let it sit for 5 minutes, until melted.
Tart Cherry-Pineapple
Salad – Serves 8-10
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
Grated rind and juice of 1 orange
1 (16 ounce) can tart cherries (reserve juice)
½ cup water
1 (3 ounce) package lemon gelatin
1 envelope unflavored gelatin, softened in ¼ cup cold water
½ cup sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
Boil the fruit juices (lemon, orange, cherry) and pour over
the lemon gelatin and the softened unflavored gelatin. Stir well to dissolve. Cool. Add remaining ingredients. Spoon into a ring mold or individual
molds. Chill to set.
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