southerncooker's Reviews
8 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 8Sort by: Title | Date | Rating 
Basic to Brilliant, Y'all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company
By Virginia Willis, Helene Dujardin, Anne Willan
Ten Speed Press - 2011
Cheddar Butter : page 230
This was wonderful on the Jalapeño Cornbread Muffins from the same page. This was a Brilliant Short Recipe. It was easy to whip up and so tasty. I know it would be good on other things as well. Cheddar, softened butter, garlic, hot sauce, salt and pepper, I agree!, Brilliant! Be sure to serve at room temperature so it spreads easy.
I didn't bother with the food processor since it stirred up easily with a fork. I only made half a recipe.
useful (0)
Creme Fraiche : page 16
I can almost never find creme fraiche in my local supermarket when I need some for a recipe. I was planning on testing a recipe and it called for creme fraiche and I found the recipe in this book and decided to give it a go. It worked perfectly and tasted great in my recipe. Now any time I need some I can make my own for a lot cheaper than I can purchase it , if I can find it in the first place.
useful (1)
Sweet Peach Pancakes : page 220
I made these for Mom and I the other day with a nice ripe white peach from a local peach farm. We really enjoyed them. They look nice with the peach slices in the middle of the pancake but my pancakes came out a bit lopsided. They still tasted great though.
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Okra Cornmeal Cakes : page 182
A neighbour gave us an abundance of okra so after frying a mess I went looking for some more ways to use it up. I made my daughter and I some of my okra, tomato, corn gumbo and made these to go with. We loved them and they went fantastically with the gumbo.
useful (1)
Jalpeno Cornbread Muffins : page 230
These were very good. I made half a recipe for six muffins. I think I could have used the whole jalapeño though since they weren't that hot. I did decide to make the Cheddar Butter to bring the recipe to brilliant and was glad I did since the muffins were delicious with the butter. These muffins were the perfect accompaniment to the Lentil Soup from Soup's On.
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Deviled Chicken Thighs : page 116
I was expecting a little more flavor but this was still quiet good. I think it will be even better next time by bumping up the chili flakes a bit and adding some salt to the thighs before spreading on the Dijon, coarse grain mustard and chili flakes, then dipping in egg and finally panko. The panko gives a nice crisp crust straight from the oven. I did use the optional butter dotted on the tops before baking.
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Sweet Potato Biscuits : page 222
While these were very good especially made into country ham biscuits I enjoy a version from Martha Stewart better. I made a half recipe and got 6. Whole recipe says it makes 16. Maybe I compromised the recipe by halving it.
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Pinto Beans with Side Meat : page 196
Hubby and I both agreed we like the way I cook pintos better either with peanut butter, ham hock or ham bone. Although we enjoy salt pork as a seasoning didn't care for it with the beans. Hubby also didn't like the taste the thyme and bay leaves (I used dried since I couldn't find fresh ones) lent to the dish. We didn't mind the broth nor the onions. I did top mine with some of mine and Mom's homemade Mexican Chow-Chow and served the beans with cornbread. For us these beans were just ok and not a recipe I'd use again.
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