COOKBOOK REVIEW: A Southerly Course

This lovely sweet cookbook is a special one for a northern girl. It amazed me with pictures of things I have never seen, and food I have never tasted or even heard of.

A Southerly Course: Recipes and Stories from Close to Home by Martha Hall Foose reads well and is lushly photographed and illustrated. For those of you with a cookbook addiction, this will be one you want for your collection because it can be enjoyed as a good book or as a cookbook with recipes.

Every picture tells a story. Every story results in a recipe.

Where I might get some of the ingredients might be a challenge here in the north. But if I can't find fresh crawfish, I'll substitute shrimp. If I can't find pigeons, I'll use cornish game hens. No problem.

I had more fun reading the comments! "Hominy and tomatoes with a South Texas chili spice are a great change from boring potato salad. It is sort of like changing the radio dial from a typical oldies station to a fiesty, fun Mexican one."

or...."Cold beer is the thing to drink with frog legs, but it is also a great marinade to flavor and tenderize the meat."

Cool. The author's personality and her love of her roots in the south create a soft glow all around the book. Pastel colors. Fading sunlight. Billboards from her town. Pictures of Elvis. It works. You'll love it.

Recipe for Butterscotch Pots de Creme from A Southerly Course

Printable Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients:

6 large egg yolks

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons Scotch whisky

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground mace.

Method:

Heat oven to 300 degrees.

1. In a large heatproof bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cream, milk, and brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and keep warm.

3. In a medium saucepan, combine the granulated sugar with 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook without stirring until the mixture becomes dark amber, swirling the pan if hot spots develop. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the Scotch whisky and 1/4 cup of the warm cream mixture, whisking until combined. Whisk in the remaining cream mixture.

4. Whisk the caramel mixture into the egg yolks in a slow, steady stream. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and mace. String the custard through a fine strainer.

5. Ladle the custard into 6 pot de creme or 4-ounce custard cups. Place the cups in a roasting pan and carefully fill the pan with enough hot water to reach halfway up their sides. Cover the pan with foil.

6. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the custards barely jiggle when shaken. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and remove the foil. Allow the custards to cool in the water to room temperature.

7. Transfer the custards to the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour.

p. 234, A Southerly Course: Recipes and Stories from Close to Home by Martha Hall Foose