Southern Sweet Tooth
The Southern sweet tooth is a formidable force. Sugar is more than an ingredient in the South. It falls somewhere between condiment and food group. No Southern cookbook worth its “um…sugar” would be without a glorious chapter filled with wondrous desserts.
What is this curse of the Southern sweet tooth? Sugary desserts are with us at special moments. We have desserts at birthday parties, holidays, and special occasions. People want to experience those memories again and are experiencing their pasts through dessert. Mamas calm crying babies with sugar. (Mama dipped my sister’s pacifier in Karo® syrup, she finally put a stop to it when Jona was old enough to reach the bottle on the dresser herself.) We drink tea so sweet it will make your teeth hurt, slather jam and jelly on biscuits, eat ham cured in sugar and salt, often put a pinch of sugar in slow-cooked greens, and finish up the meal with a sweet wedge of pie.
Some food historians reason that the Southern fascination with sugar is a practical one. In the hot, humid South, sugar was originally a means of preservation. That’s why we have sugar-cured ham and bacon, sweet pickles, and boiled icing to protect cakes. Another rationale is tied directly to slavery. Sugar production is undeniably backbreaking work and very labor intensive. Sugar cane was grown in parts of the South and in the Caribbean. Sugar followed the movement of African slaves through the islands of the Caribbean and into the plantations of the South. The vast majority of all the sugar grown in the US during the antebellum period was from Louisiana, and according to the Louisiana State Museum, the state produced between one-quarter and one-half of the sugar produced in the entire United States. The mothers and sisters of the slaves working hard in the fields were in the kitchen, making the food that eventually evolved into Southern cuisine.
Sugar has been highly valued throughout the ages and its storage has long been held under lock and key. The issue was transportation. It would take months for sugar to travel from Louisiana to hill and mountain country. Southern craftsmen created a specialized piece of furniture known as the “sugar chest”. This sturdy decorative box was built throughout the South, most notably in Kentucky and Tennessee. Finally, with the advent of steamboats and improved shipping, sugar prices fell in the 19th century and sugar became more widely available.
Georgia Pecan Brownies
For the most part, Mama has always made everything from scratch. Homemade cakes, cookies, and pies were the norm, but she would open one box when she made brownies. My father worked for a company that made, among myriad other things, brownie mix. I remember opening the Christmas gifts from corporate friends that contained a potpourri of company products, including the familiar red box--the brownie mix. Perhaps one of the reasons I am so fond of these brownies is that they represent my first solo forays into baking. Other than turning on the oven, I was allowed to prepare the brownies all by myself.
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
12 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or pan with butter.
2. In a saucepan, melt the 1 cup of butter over medium heat; add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Keep warm.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter mixture and stir to combine. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, chocolate, and nuts. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted and the ingredients are combined (the batter should be very thick). Alternatively, you can mix the batter in a heavy-duty mixer. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with an offset spatula.
4. Bake until set, 25 to 35 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool. Cut into pieces and serve. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Makes 24
Reprinted with permission from Bon Appétit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, by Virginia Willis, copyright © 2008. Published by Ten Speed Press.
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