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A Taste For The South

Tribune illustration by PAT KANE

Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, Martha Hall Foose was classically trained in France before returning home.

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By JEFF HOUCK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2008

There is an alternate universe in Martha Hall Foose's new book, "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales From a Southern Cook." It's a fantasy place where you can almost taste the memories.

It's a world where congealed strawberry salads are not only expected as a carry-in dish at post-funeral bereavement buffets, but they're also required. Collards have as much terroir as a French chardonnay. The door of the mailbox doubles as a pedestal for your beverage. And you don't just call the dish "chicken and dumplings." They're "pillows adrift on the richest of stews," thank you very much.

There is a lyrical quality to cooking food in Foose's environs. Flavors are as passionate, intense and excessive as anything read in a Eudora Welty or Flannery O'Connor tale.

Even when the subject is cauliflower, she takes the opportunity to turn a phrase, brag about the recipe and introduce readers to the family as well.

"I thought I did not like cauliflower. Turns out, I did not like overcooked cauliflower," Foose writes. "I was converted with this dish, a specialty of my husband, Donald. He gets the cauliflower just tender and showers it with a savory combination of crunchy bread crumbs, garlic and cheese. Even our son, Joe, loves cauliflower this way."

Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, Foose attended the famed Ecole Lenôtre pastry school in France and later moved back home to open the Bottletree Bakery in Oxford, Miss. Later, with her husband, she opened the Mockingbird Bakery in Greenwood. Now an executive chef at the Viking Range Corp. in Greenwood, the author lives in nearby Tchula on her family's farm.

"Screen Doors" (Clarkson Potter, $32.50) is part of a recent wave of Southern cookbooks published in recent years, some to wide acclaim. Jean Anderson's "A Love Affair With Southern Cooking" (HarperCollins, $32.50) took the prestigious James Beard Awards' Americana category earlier this year. Last year's "The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook,." by Matt and Ted Lee (W.W. Norton, $35), took the 2007 Beard award for best cookbook as well as the same prize from the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Foose, who will visit Tampa on Thursday at the Publix Apron's Cooking School in Citrus Park for a book signing and demonstration, recently chatted about what makes her native cuisine a national treasure.

Why do you think Southern cooking is so romanticized?

One of the things I figured out while I was away at cooking school in France is that when people think of American music, they think of rhythm and blues and jazz. When they think of American literature, they think of Faulkner and Welty. When they think of American food, they think of fried chicken and biscuits.

Would you say that's representative?

I think so. Southern cooking is such a unique combination of Caribbean flavors and the local produce. Also, I think people think the South is all completely the same. Florida and Mississippi are definitely Southern, but we both have different takes on the food we eat because, being ahead of the curve for once, Southerners have always been localvores. We've always eaten local foods. The South is a very diverse area. When people think of the South, I think they think that's what all of America is.

People think Florida and they think of beaches. They don't think produce, necessarily, other than citrus. But we have produce and cattle and all types of foods. The South started out as an agrarian culture and you ate what you grew on the farm.

It's really true. I'm really excited that I'll be cooking at Publix cooking schools around Florida. They have such beautiful produce in their shops, and I'm excited about getting to use some of that local Florida produce.

What is it about Southern flavors that makes them so special? What endears them to people?

I think there's always a touch of nostalgia in every Southern recipe. The ones we use have been passed down. I think in a lot of ways, you really can taste the traditions in things. Your grandmother's gumbo or callaloo is always going to taste better than New England clam chowder. laughs Sorry people from New England.

Yeah, something that has gone from person to person, there's a warmth there that goes along with it. There's usually a story or two.

I really love to get hand-me-down recipes. That's one of the things that's been so fun on the book tour. People will bring their grandmother's index cards. "This is the best chocolate chip cookie," or "This is the best rice pudding. You've got to try it!" That's been so fun to see how engaged people are with their family's recipes.

I grew up in a family where my mom worked. A lot of times it seems these recipes have sort of skipped a generation. When I grew up, mothers were working full time. You didn't have so many moms at home. Hopefully "Screen Doors" will help fill the gap for some people who didn't get those recipes from their moms.

Do you have a recipe that you particularly treasure?

I really love my Great-Aunt Carrie's tea cake recipe. In Mississippi - I'm not sure if it's the same in Florida - sugar cookies are called tea cakes. I love that recipe.

Also, my Great-Aunt Mary, another great-aunt who was a fabulous cook, had a homemade "Marynaise" recipe that was very big in the summer.

What distinguishes that recipe?

Once you've had homemade, it's really hard to go back to the stuff in the jar. It's got egg yolks and lemon and a little bit of vinegar, a little bit of cayenne and a little bit of hot sauce. That, and a freshly sliced tomato on some fresh-baked bread, and I'm happy. I don't need anything else.

The title of your book got my attention. First, because it has two of my favorite images of growing up in Florida as a kid: The screen door, because it seemed like it was always open, and sweet tea was a defining beverage. You knew where you were in the world based on whether they served sweet tea.

It's like, how do you say hello in the South. "Do you want sweet or unsweet?"

In Hawaii, it's "Mahalo." In the South, it's "Sweet or unsweet." What is it about sweet tea that makes it so much fun?

Well, making it is really fun. But also because we did live in really rural areas - there weren't that many big cities - tea was something you could make at home. It was a beverage, something other than water. You couldn't run to the corner store and buy a soda pop. It's really so refreshing. And on those long, long summer afternoons, that hit of caffeine is pretty nice.

In the book, you write about how your Mockingbird Bakery once got voted as having the best sweet tea. How did you set yourselves apart? Oh, and please tell the story about the crooked sweet tea spoons.

Well, there's a wonderful publication in Mississippi called Delta magazine. It's sort of our regional Vanity Fair. We make this sweet tea, which I make with orange pekoe tea, a simple syrup and flavor it with some mint or lemon.

I had ordered all these really cool spoons. On the long ice tea spoon, it has a little bend in the handle so you can balance it on the side of your glass. I just loved them. I ordered dozens and dozens of these spoons, but they kept disappearing. I even ordered a magnetized trash can cover because I thought maybe they were getting thrown away. I couldn't imagine where they were all going.

One day during lunch, a very well-respected older lady in the community, I saw her just sweep it off the table right into her purse! I was, like, "Oh, my gosh! She is stealing all of our teaspoons!" Then one day, I saw her come in and she didn't steal any more. I guessed that she got enough for the bridge club. She got all she needed and didn't take any more.

She got enough for service, in other words.

Enough for eight, probably.

One of the endangered species is the long-handled iced tea spoon. Everyone expects you to swirl your tea with a short spoon and, invariably, you get your first knuckle wet.

Yeah! You need the right tool for the job. Ours came from a company called RSVP.

What is it about the crooked spoons? Just that you can balance them on the glass?

Yep. But you have to watch out for crooks who steal them.

IF YOU GO

Martha Foose

WHEN: Book signing from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, class at 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Publix Apron's Cooking School, 7835 Gunn Highway, Tampa

COST: $50; (813) 926-4465

CRUMB CAULIFLOWER

1 small head cauliflower, trimmed and separated into florets

1/2 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the cauliflower in the olive oil for 2 minutes. Stir to coat with the olive oil, then cover and cook for 5 more minutes. Scatter the garlic and the bread crumbs over the florets. Cook uncovered, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender and the crumbs are nice and brown. Add the parsley.

Turn out onto a warm serving platter. Drizzle with the extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle with the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot. Makes 4 servings.

SWEET TEA PIE

Crust:

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (1 sticks unsalted butter, softened

11/4cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

8 large egg yolks

3/4 cup strong, steeped orange pekoe tea, cooled

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

11/2 teaspoons cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

To make the crust: In an electric mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until well-combined. Add the flour and mix until the dough forms a ball. Pat the dough into a 9-inch pie pan. Chill until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To make the filling: In an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until light. Add the yolks one at a time, beating at low speed until well-incorporated. Slowly add the tea, lemon zest and lemon juice. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour, cornmeal and salt, and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared crust. Bake for 45 minutes or until set. Cool completely on a wire rack, and then chill for 2 hours before serving.

Notes:

•Any strongly steeped tea you like can be used here; try herbal blends.

•The filling mixture will look curdled when it is finished mixing; do not worry. It will bake just fine.

•Garnish with candied lemon peel, sweetened whipped cream and mint leaves.

•To candy lemon peel, boil strips of lemon peel in 1/2 cup light corn syrup combined with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup water until translucent, about 8 minutes. Remove from the syrup and rinse in warm water. Toss in granulated sugar and let dry on a rack or wax paper.

Reporter Jeff Houck can be reached at (813) 259-7324 and jhouck@tampatrib.com.

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