On Cooking Southern: Recipes of the Week

Good doesn’t have to be hard.

By Laurie Triplette
ldtriplette@aol.com
MOTTO: KISS (Plan your meals; Buy fresh or grow your own; cook it gently; season sparingly).
CREED: Good doesn’t have to be hard.
Hey y’all. I’m the Old Bride, and the name of my game is food and Southern culture. I am looking forward to visiting with you regularly each week. If we’re lucky, our get-togethers will include a dollop of Southern humor conveyed with a super-sized portion of focus on food. You know—the size that’s been banned by the politicos in New York City. Bless their hearts.
We shall encourage philosophizing as we visit. Think of our more noble asides and observations as a Cocktail-Hour Salon of Faulkner and Welty and Nathalie Dupree channeled through my crazy Aunt Emily, who made the best coconut cake—at Christmas, —or EVER.
We’ll also be sharing a Southernism of the week, starting with words and sayings from my Secret Lexicon of Southernness.

SOUTHERNISM OF THE WEEK

TRIFLIN’: Wasting everybody’s time by not living up to innate potential. Capable of doing much better, unlike someone who’s sorry, shiftless, or no-count. (See Aggravating.) The 2012 Razorbacks?

RECIPES OF THE WEEK

BIEROCKS
From my book GIMME SOME SUGAR, DARLIN’, the Old Bride shares Aunt Sheila’s German Meat Pies, called “Bierocks,” which are our Arkansas cousins to the Louisiana Natchitoches (Natchez) Meat Pie. For a Natchez meat pie, omit the cabbage, combine ground pork AND beef; add minced garlic, bell pepper, green onion, and cayenne pepper to the meat filling. Heck, add the cayenne anyway.
Bierocks Filling
2 lb ground beef or pork, or both combined
1 c chopped white or yellow onion
4 c chopped cabbage
2 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
1 to 2 cloves minced garlic
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, OPTIONAL
Brown the meat, drain, and combine with onions, cabbage, salt, and pepper. Sauté until cabbage and onions are tender. Add garlic during last 10 minutes (too soon will over-sweeten). Set filling aside.
Bierocks Pastry
2 pgs active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 T butter
1 c warm milk
4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c white granulated sugar
1/2 c warm water
Beaten egg, OPTIONAL
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add warm milk, butter, and salt. Let stand for 10 minutes. Add flour and sugar. Let double (approximately 40-60 minutes). Knead dough; roll out like pastry; cut into 6-by-6-inch squares. Spoon filling into the center of each square. Paint a thin wash of beaten egg along the pastry edges, fold pastry over filling to form a triangle; pinch edges together. Place seamed side down on very lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes until lightly browned. Serve hot or cold with spicy Remoulade sauce and cold draft beer. Excellent for tailgating. Reheat wrapped in foil in oven set to 300˚F or on top shelf of grill. Yield: 24-48, depending on size.
SPICY REMOULADE SAUCE
Tastes fantastic on shrimp, salmon croquettes, crab cakes, or fried green tomatoes.
2 c good mayonnaise
2 T Creole mustard
3 T horseradish
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white or fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T lemon juice
1 T dry white wine (real wine, NOT cooking wine)
Dash of Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 c ketchup
2 T minced white onion
2T minced celery leaves
Combine first 11 ingredients in blender. Puree. Add in onion and celery. Store, refrigerated, in a covered canning jar for up to a week. YIELD: About 3-1/2 cups.