Feb 22

Let's Dish - February 2024

If you've talked to me in the library, you know that I am a huge fan of movies and TV. Something else I'm very passionate about (and need to make an excuse to do more) is cooking & baking. I love trying new foods and recipes and sharing that with loved ones. With this blog series, you get to come along for the ride. So, let's dish!

For February, I decided to try the book Son of a Southern Chef by Lazarus Lynch. What drew me to it was the bright and colorful photography throughout. Everything seems so joyful and, for me, it makes it exciting to try the recipes.

As the title might suggest, the book is filled with southern inspired recipes, specifically southern soul food. Lazarus talks about learning about cooking from his father, his education and start on social media, and his inspiration to keep going after the loss of his father. His story is full of love for both the kitchen and his father and how those two things are tied together.

After his story, he gives his suggestions on ingredients and equipment to keep on hand if you want to have a kitchen ready for Jamaican, Caribbean, and soul food cooking. Many of these items are great to have on hand in general. He also includes helpful measuring equivalents, tips on finding good chefs knives and skillets, a couple tips on safety and cross contamination, common knife cuts, and definitions on "prep time" and "total time" (which are used throughout this and many other cookbooks).

There are a ton of delicious-looking recipes throughout. Full transparency, I ended up buying the book because I wanted to keep the recipes around for later. For the blog, I went with two different recipes: the Spicy Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich and the Drunken Cherry Double Chocolate Almond Brownies. I had a great time making, and sharing, both recipes and I think I'd revisit both again.

The fried chicken sandwich takes time, but is fairly easy. I kept the chicken marinating for a few hours, next time I might do overnight. From there, it's pretty easy to make the flour mixture for dredging and then actually coating the chicken. Frying is easy since you are only doing a few minutes per side then finishing the cooking in the oven. The chicken was flavorful and crispy, exactly what you want in a fried chicken sandwich. The "House Seasoning" used in the buttermilk marinade and dredging flour is great, I have some extra saved in a container in my spice drawer. I also really enjoyed the spread used on the sandwiches. You can customize the level of heat by using less or omitting the cayenne. It's used in the House Seasoning plus extra in the marinade. I skipped it in the marinade, but kept it in the seasoning to cut some of the heat.

The brownies I changed up slightly by not using the ganache on top. I personally am a fan of brownies without frosting or anything on top. I prefer any "extras" to be baked in. I'm not normally a huge fan of brownies with nuts (my mom LOVES walnuts in hers, and while I'm not going to say no to any brownie, my perfect brownie is gooey and rich and without crunch), but the slivered almonds used aren't too crunchy. Again, like with the chicken, these aren't too difficult but do take time. I did soak the cherries in the vodka overnight. For anyone worried: without the ganache, the cherries in the batter will have the alcohol cooked off. If doing the ganache, the leftover cherries are added after baking, so something to keep in mind. I absolutely love the flavor of the brownies. Cherry and chocolate is one of my favorite flavor combinations. It's also a favorite of my brother, who introduced me to the coolers at Scooter's (ice cream and slush) with chocolate ice cream and cherry slush. I also love the hint of almond from the almond extract. The brownies themselves are rich, maybe not as gooey as I normally like, but not at all cake-like. One thing that probably led to those results is that I was out of parchment, so I used extra nonstick spray in it's place. I can see myself adding the leftover cherries I didn't use for the ganache in a batch of boxed brownies in the near future.

Overall, I highly recommend trying the book. I think it goes without saying, we don't really have any soul/Caribbean restaurants around Port Clinton, so this could be a great way to try something you might not be used to. Some of the recipes I plan to try are: Shrimp and Crazy Creamy Cheddar Grits, Corn and Green Onion Fritters, Berbere-Spiced Eggplant, Ain't That Easy...Roti (roti is something I've been wanting to try for a long time, I will always be on board for any culture's flatbread), and Dulce De Leche Banana Pudding (my second choice if I hadn't made the brownies).