The next reference to food in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird I'd like to mention is not a reference to food at all. It's a name: Dill. Still ~ that's a name that lends itself to recipes (and ridicule). Wait, Dill, we'll be back . . .
. . . because the first real, you know, actual food mentioned is sugar bread. Calpurnia was the house cook and maid, who provided childcare to Jem and Scout when Atticus (their lawyer father) was at court. She kept the tomboy Scout from mischief by having her "do her letters" as Cal worked. If Scout behaved, Calpurnia would give her sugar bread as a treat.
Now ~ doesn't that sound decadent?
It reminds me of my mother's cinnamon toast. Mother would spread a piece of white bread with butter, then sprinkle a mixture of sugar and cinnamon over it. She'd then bake it until the butter melted.
And ~ yes ~ I altered her recipe over the years. I'm not big on sweets, but this recipe takes me right back to childhood ~ and that's definitely worth a few extra calories.
Right?
Nostalgia is important to me. It's why I fell in love with Mary Englebreit's art and books and magazines. All that wonderful kitschy-ness! (Yes ~ I'm emotionally stuck in the 60s!)
My childhood was difficult, but there are some good memories: sleeping on the screened in porch at my Irish Mamaw's lake house, only to be awakened to the smell of bacon frying and coffee percolating. (This was WAY before Mr. Coffee made all our lives easier!) I remember playing with my older sisters and cousins. Once we even tried to make a Six Flags Over Eatonton . . . You can only work with what ya got . . . And ~ yes ~ 2x4s sink under the weight of even a small child and don't make very good log rides. I recall the adults scaling and gutting fresh caught fish on an outside aluminum table. Washing them in the large white enamel 1940s kitchen sink. If there was any roe discovered in the process of gutting, it went into the frying pan with the fish filets. This was my favorite treat in childhood. (I've since graduated to caviar, but only certain types!)
What does all of this have to do with cinnamon toast?
Childhood.
As a senior in high school in the early 80s, I ~ Inexplicably! Gasp! ~ had the munchies on a regular basis. Sometimes I'd make my mother's white flour, lard and buttermilk biscuits. I could eat a whole cookie sheet of biscuits in one sitting. (What I wouldn't give to have THAT metabolism again!!!)
If your tooth is more sweet than savory, the cinnamon toast also works well as a snack. It occurred to me when I was about 17 that I could change the sugar mixture into a nice "candy" if I didn't butter the bread. Instead, I spread the sugar and cinnamon liberally over the bread. (I prefer a dark, nutty, wholegrain bread to my mother's white bread.)
I'd melt the butter, pour it over the bread and sugar mix. Once I baked it, I was left with the easiest, laziest and cheapest confection. (An added bonus: your kids and grandkids will think you're just about the best cook in town. And you'll barely get your hands dirty.)
I'm afraid I left Dill stuck several paragraphs back. How can you see the name "Dill" and not think of Irish salmon with dill rolls. (Well, I can't . . .)
St. Patrick's Day was always a big occasion in my home. Growing up, we ate corned beef and cabbage (which, in The Devil's Own, IRA member Brad Pitt, explains he's never eaten although his character grew up in Ireland.) As a wife and mother, I served other (more authentic) Celtic fare. Grilled salmon. Halibut chowder. Butterscotch custard pie. (As a vegetarian, I cheat seeing as I eat fish! Maybe I'm a fish-etarian.) My mother served soggy cabbage with canned corned beef. (Still good!) For my kids, I served steamed, buttered and salted cabbage with a corned beef brisket. (The smell's not as "porta potty" as canned.)
The smell of food is important, seeing as the sense of taste and the sense of smell are connected. I used to wonder if my sense of hearing was also connected to my taste or tummy ~ because I'd gag and lose my appetite if one of my kids mentioned an animal or large insect as I was eating. (I take a pill for that now.)
From childhood to adulthood, a great deal can happen. And we are able to carry it all around as memory. Life did not turn out the way I'd hoped or planned. All of us are born with x-amount of dreams. Some of us foolishly used them all up by about age 15. We were ignorant of the fact we were doing this ~ and we definitely didn't mean to! When adulthood isn't as pleasant as it should be, I remember the John Lennon quote: "Life is what happens while you're making other plans." Anyone's life is worth a novel or two. According to Stephen King, if you survived childhood, you have enough material to write . . .
I also ~ like the grown up Scout ~ enjoy looking back to find the threads of my dreams ~ weave them with fallible memory ~ and accept that it is what it is.
RECOMMENDED PURCHASES
This is Not the Life I Ordered: 50 Ways to Keep Your Head Above Water When Life Keeps Dragging You Down by Deborah Collins Stephens, Michealene Cristini Risley, Jackie Speier and Jan Yanehiro ~ Published in 2009, this book kept me afloat amidst numerous (like, say, 7) major traumas. I hate the idea of formulaic books, but I think they work because they make us feel we have some control and aren't quite as helpless as we sometimes feel.
On Writing by Stephen King ~ a friend recommended this book years ago. This is not only a brilliant book on the craft of writing; it's also almost an expose in the way an autobiography is. My favorite story is about when King was dragging bags of recycling to the curb when he realized, "Damn! I AM an alcoholic!" He got into recovery ~ but luckily for us ~ he has never recovered from writing. Keep 'em coming!
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote ~ I had never read this book until about 7 years ago. I go through modes where I want to read all the classics. (This usually lasts through 3 books, then I'm back to the light stuff.) I once read that Capote is credited with creating a whole new genre: Creative Non-Fiction. That's when a factual book reads like a novel ~ with all the captivating details, twists and turns. This book certainly reads like fiction. The DVD Capote (with Philip Seymore Hoffman as Capote and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee) is loosely based on the book. Though Hoffman is not a small man (like Capote was), he is a dead ringer in this movie! And Keener is fabulous!
To look at Mary Englebreit's art, check her out at www.maryenglebreit.com.
RECIPES
Mother's Biscuits
1 cup shortening or lard
1 cup buttermilk
Self-rising flour, enough to make a thick paste (not too runny, but not too dense)
Mix all ingredients together in a biscuit bowl. Use your hands and just dig in! Pretend you still like to play with modeling clay or Play-Doh®. Once it is well mixed, wash hands and flour hands then begin rolling ¼ cup portions in your palms. Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 450° for 15-20 minutes. A taste of the South!
Dill Rolls
Kosher or sea salt
Dill weed
Cooking spray
Open the dough and cut into rings. Place on sprayed cookie sheet as you would a cinnamon bun. Sprinkle lightly with the salt, then cover each with approximately ½ tsp to a tsp of dill, depending on your taste. Bake at 375° until golden and cooked through.
Butterscotch Custard Pie with Meringue
This is not a bread recipe, but it's scrumptious ~ and there IS dough involved!
Pie Crust
¾ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 ½ oz. butter
egg yolks
Preheat oven to 350° and pre-bake pie crust approximately 10 minutes. For the filling, mix sugar and flour in a small heavy-based pan. (I use my iron wok.) Using a whisk, add milk gradually until it's a smooth paste. Add butter and whisk over low heat for 7-9 minutes or until it boils or thickens. Remove from heat; add egg yolk and vanilla. Whisk vigorously so you won't have a pie full of scrambled eggs. Spread in pie crust.
Now ~ to prepare your meringue:
2 egg whites
2 TBS powdered sugar
Mix egg whites in a bowl with an electric beater until firm peaks form (like my friend, Kim's, fake boobs.) Add the sugar gradually. I prefer powdered sugar because it mixes in better than granulated. Continue beating as you add the sugar. Pour over pie and bake for 20 minutes or until meringue is slightly golden. Serve warm or cold!
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