Until last month,
Sheri Castle had one cookbook published under her name, the exceptional The New Southern Garden Cookbook. Those
in the industry, however, recognize her deft editing, demanding recipe testing
and, above all else, ability to share great stories in countless ghostwritten cookbooks
– several of which have earned high praise for celebrity clients.
Today, as the author of the Southern Living Community Cookbook (Oxmoor House, $29.95), she is sharing
the spotlight with dozens of home cooks – who have been featured in the popular
magazine over the past 50 years but, for the most part, have lived outside of
the glare of culinary fame. To accomplish this, she examined more than 46,000
published recipes to feature ones that not only reflect the best of Southern
cooking, but which also exemplify the era in which they were published and the
region they from which they came.
Dates are not included in the book, but one can guess with clues like use of a woman’s formal married
name, as in the case of Mrs. Denver W. Anderson of Tennessee, who made fried
hand pies with reconstituted dried apples that recalls the old timey applejacks recently featured on A Chef's Life. While technology changes were covered enthusiastically when gadgets were novelties, the book features few recipes that require a
microwave or call upon a slow cooker. Likewise, none deploy the once ubiquitous
dessert topping Dream Whip. Recipes from male contributors suggest more recent
issues.
Delightfully
illustrated in the manner of vintage cookbooks, Southern Living Community Cookbook celebrates all that is good and
wholesome – and rich and decadent – about Southern home cooking. It also includes a handful of recipes from
well-known chefs, including local legends Bill Smith of Crooks Corner, Sara
Foster of Foster’s Market, Amy Tornquist of Watts Grocery and Mildred Council
of Mama Dip’s. It also features the most requested recipe in the history of Southern Living: Hummingbird Cake – a festive
cream cheese-frosted layer cake with crushed pineapple, chopped pecans and
mashed banana made famous by Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro.
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| Sherri Castle |
North Carolina is well represented in the collection,
including the book’s first recipe, Spiced Pecans from Diane Butts of Boone. “That
was pure coincidence,” says Castle. “My job was to pick delicious recipes that
are reliable and reasonably easy to make.”
Except for its debut issue in February 1966, Castle says Southern Living has always featured
reader recipes. Every recipe had to make it through the demands of Southern Living’s test kitchen before
being accepted for publication.
Along with local community cookbooks – including those
produced by churches and Junior Leagues as fundraisers – these publications
empowered women as experts and wage earners at a time where few had jobs
outside of the home.
“Some were what I could call heavy users, who mailed in
recipes year after year,” Castle says. “I could tell where they moved over the
years. There was one in particular, given the number of Air Force bases, that
she moved because of deployments.”
Where ever they went, their Southern cooking traditions went
with them. Southern Living’s reader
recipes became a sort of touchstone for some who lived far from home. It’s a
powerful notion, considering many of these recipes were submitted well before
the advent of the internet.
“Mailing a recipe in was the social media of the day,”
Castle says. “You couldn’t pin or post, but the intention was the same. They
wrote the recipes in long hand and tucked them in an envelope. And they waited
to find out if they made the cut.”
While Castle does not have any of her own recipes in the
book, she wrote the introductory notes that give everything from deviled
eggs and pimento cheese to butternut squash tortilla soup and bourbon slush
their distinctive sense of place.
Castle has been gratified by the response of readers, who
have found the recipes evocative of childhood or the aromas of a loved one’s
kitchen.
“That’s exactly the reaction I hoped for,” she says. “It time
travel. I hope everyone finds a recipe in there that provides a happy ‘aha moment’
for readers.”
Sweet Potato Pie with
Rosemary Cornmeal Crust
From The Southern Living Community Cookbook: Celebrating Food
and Fellowship in the American South. Copyright (c) 2014 by Oxmoor
House. No reproductions or reprints allowed without express written
consent from Oxmoor House. Recipe from the kitchen of
Crystal Detamore-Rodman of Charlottesville, Virginia.
Makes 8 servings.
Crust
¾ cup all-purpose
flour
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| @ Southern Living photo |
½ cup plain white cornmeal
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup cold butter, cut into pieces
¼ cup very cold water
Filling
1½ lb. small, slender sweet potatoes
3 large eggs
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
3 tbps. butter, melted
2 tsp. finely grated fresh orange zest
1 tbsp. fresh orange juice
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
- To prepare the crust, whisk together flour,
cornmeal, powdered sugar, rosemary and salt in a medium bowl until well
blended. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until mixture is
crumbly, with a few pieces of butter the size of small peas.
- Sprinkle cold water, 1 tbsp. at a time, over
flour mixture, stirring with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour
onto a work surface. Gather and form into a ball, then flatten into a disk.
Wrap well in plastic wrap and will 30 minutes.
- Unwrap dough and roll between two sheets of
lightly floured plastic wrap into a 12-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate.
Fold edges under and crimp. Chill 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake crust at 400
degrees for 20 minutes, shielding edges with aluminum foil to prevent excessive
browning. Cool completely on a wire rack (about 1 hour).
- To prepare the filling, place sweet potatoes on
a baking skeet and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minute or until soft. Let stand
10 minutes. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp into a bowl. Mash
pulp until smooth. Discard skins.
- Whisk together eggs and granulated sugar in a
large bowl until well blended. Stir in milk, melted butter, orange zest,
orange juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Stir in sweet potato pulp. Pour
mixture into crust.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce oven
temperature to 325 degrees and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until center is
set. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Note: If you don’t want to prepare
a homemade crust, you can add cornmeal and fresh rosemary to a refrigerated
crust. Substitute ½ (14.1-oz.) package refrigerated piece crust for cornmeal
crust ingredients. Unroll onto lightly floured surface. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp.
plain white cornmeal and 2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary. Lightly roll cornmeal
and rosemary into crust. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate according to package
directions. Fold edges under; crimp. Proceed as directed, beginning with Step
5.
