Sweet Onion Cornbread, Cabbage and Conecuh sausage, and Fruited Mint Tea

Sweet Onion Cornbread

Background of Cornbread:

• Cornbread dates back to the Native Americans.
• There are many kinds of cornbread including blue cornbread made with blue cornmeal and Mexican cornbread which did not actually originate in Mexico but in Texas where peppers were used in many dishes.
• Northern cornbread is known to be sweeter and have more of a cake-like texture while Southern cornbread has little to no sugar and crumbles easily. 
• Variations such as adding onion, jalapeno peppers, and eating cornbread with pinto beans is a particularly southwestern tradition. 

Recipe:

2 cups finely chopped onion

1/4 cup butter melted

1 1/2 cup self-rising

2 tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. dillweed 

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 cups, 1 cup to sprinkle over top)

2 eggs well beaten 

1/4 cup milk 

1/4 cup vegetable oil 

1 8 oz. sour cream 

1 can cream-style corn 

1 dash of hot sauce 

Saute chopped onion in melted butter in a large skillet until onion is tender and set aside.

Combine cornmeal, sugar, and dillweed in a large bowl. Add sauteed onion, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese (1 cup), beaten eggs, milk, vegetable oil, sour cream, cream-style corn, and dash of hot sauce, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. 

Spoon mixture into a greased 10 inch cast iron skillet (or two regular tin pans). Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Sprinkle cornbread evenly with remaining 1/2 cup cheddar cheese (1 cup), and bake cornbread an additional 5 minutes. Yield 8 servings.

Cabbage with Conecuh Sausage

Background of Cabbage and Conecuh:

• Cabbage was likely domesticated somewhere in Europe before 1000 B.C. possibly from Ireland
• Conecuh sausage located in Evergreen, AL. in Conecuh county
• Name is derived from Indian term meaning "Land of Cane"

Recipe:

1 pack of Conecuh sausage  

1 Cabbage

Vegetable oil to cover bottom of skillet 

Medium-thin sliced sausage. Layer conecuh sausage into boiler/skillet and keep stirred until brown over medium-high heat. Cut and wash Cabbage. Place cabbage in boiler/skillet with sausage and keep stirred over medium heat until cabbage is tender with light crunch. Enjoy!

Fruited Mint Tea

Background of Fruited Mint Tea:

• In 1795, South Carolina was the first place in the U.S. where tea was grown and is the only state to have ever produced tea commercially. 
• Tea has been served cold at least since 19th ce. 

Recipe:

1 Quart water

5-7 fresh mint sprigs 

8 regular tea bags (4 family size)

2 cups sugar 

1 12oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed and undiluted

1/3 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

Place water in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Add 7 mint sprigs boil 2 minutes (4-5 minutes). Remove from heat. Add teabags. Cover and let stand 10 minutes (20-30 minutes). Remove mint and tea bags. Stir in sugar.

Combine tea mixture, orange juice concentrate, and lemon juice. Add enough water to make 1 Gallon. Serve 24 hours after making (chilled). 

References: Southern Living Cookbook and Family recipes

Enjoy!! -MeShellai McWilliams

Pound Cake: Created in Europe, Rooted in the South

      

           Pound cakes have long been a southern staple. The recipe my family uses has been handed down for 100 years. The reason that it’s called pound cake is because the original recipe called for a pound of each ingredient. This made a huge cake that was able to serve multiple families. The cake itself is actually a British creation better known as sponge cake, but it is the Southern version of it that has been a source of debate for centuries. The first known cookbook written by an African American, Abbie Fisher, contained 2 recipes of the popular dessert! It was called What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking (Stradley).

            This recipe is over a hundred years old and has been handed down in our family from my grandmother, Ida Milton Stewart Webb, who was born in Birmingham, AL in 1887. Ida's father, Jack Stewart, developed an inflammation of the lungs (probably emphysema) which the doctor blamed on Birmingham's sooty air. A repairing lease was recommended in the country, and the family moved from Birmingham to Atmore when Grandmother Ida was a girl. The sideboard with the marble top in our dining room came from Birmingham, and still has soot on the back!  Jack died in Atmore not long after they moved, leaving his wife, Abbie McQueen Stewart, alone and with no means of support. Abbie took in boarders and ran a millinery shop, making hats for women, to put food on the table for her two young girls. The dining room table in our house, which lets out to 22 feet in length when all the leaves are in it, is from Abbie Stewart's boarding house in Atmore. This pound cake recipe was frequently served to boarders as Sunday dessert, along with fresh berries and cream.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened to room temp.

5 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Measure 2 cups sugar into a bowl. Sift the sugar three times on wax paper. Beat butter and sugar together in large bowl until creamy. In a separate bowl, beat the 5 eggs until they are light and frothy.

Measure 2 cups of flour. Sift flour three times. (Measure and THEN sift!) 

Add beaten eggs and sifted flour to creamed butter and sugar, alternating, until the mixture is beaten and the flour and the eggs are all added. Add the vanilla and beat thoroughly.

Grease tube pan on all sides and down the middle tube, then dust with flour. (I use about 1/4 cup flour to dust the pan) Shake flour all around the greased pan until all sides are coated, and knock the extra flour into the sink or garbage. 

Add creamed cake mixture to the pan and shake it gently until it is evenly dispersed. 

Bake in a COLD oven at 325 degrees for one hour. DO NOT PREHEAT OVEN. Put the cake in the cold oven and turn it on. This is what makes the yummy crust.

When cake is done, rest the cake pan on a cookie rack or trivet for 30 minutes and then remove cake from pan and cool completely.

References:

Stradley, Linda. "Pound Cake - History of Pound Cake." Pound Cake History, Whats Cooking America. What's Cooking America©, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.

and my mother!