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as long as you eat it standing up, calories don’t count. they never count on a bad day either.
As someone still new to cooking (not counting the numerous frozen pizzas and Eggo waffles I’ve “made”) I didn’t realize what a challenge I was taking on making biscuits from Ms. Edna’s recipie. Thankfully, with the help of an excellent teacher, they came out really good and I was told some people go their whole lives without making a flaky biscuit. Apparently I have the touch! How rewarding to have your efforts turn into something people really enjoy. And yes… we used lard and buttermilk. Not something I would do every day but well worth it once in a while! I may have to go buy “The Gift of Southern Food” and see what else I can turn out to delight and amaze my friends. Thanks Ms. Edna!
Add buttermilk from a churn and you would have the best biscuits you have ever tased. Oh yes, and if you have a wood cookstove, they come out even better.
You can’t make good Southern biscuits without lard. My grandmother and mother both used it. They said Crisco just wouldn’t work and it doesn’t. So, when I need it, I look in the Mexican aisle. I can ususally find it there.
My dear Aunt Edna, I will miss you dearly, but I know you are up there with God, my mom, Uncle Lue and Aunt Jen cooking and laughing away! I will always remember picking blackberries in Freetown with you and Aunt Jen in the hot summer sun, testing all the recipes for The Taste of Country Cooking in our kitchen in the Bronx, typing up the “Taste” manuscript for you when I was only 12 years old, watching you make homemade ice cream for Revival meeting at Bethel Baptist Church, learning how to make Brunswick stew, eating your wonderful cooking at Gage & Tollner waiting for you to get off work, eating roast chicken, baked sweet potatoes and salad at your apartment in Atlanta, visiting you at Middleton Place - so many wonderful, wonderul and funny memories of our family! I will always remember talking about Africa with you - African food, culture, clothing, music and history. What an inspiration you have always been. And, I am so grateful that my two daughters have gotten to know you and spend time with you - Salymata and Amina will wear African clothing at your funeral (and so will I and the Goons!) in your honor! I just hope I can find some big, dangly earrings!
Love, Nina
My sister and I had the pleasure of Miss Lewis’ company when we all did a brief stint at Harry’s Farmers Market in the early 90’s. Harry had Scott & Edna working in the test kitchens while my sister & I were in the design offices. She was always so quiet, always smiling, despite the crazy deadlines & hustle there at the market. She was cooking her collards one day & let us taste them. They were fabulous, of course. My sister asked her if she’d give her the recipe. A short while later , Miss Lewis returned with a hand scribbled recipe on notebook paper. In addition, she had gone downstairs to the market floor & hand picked the collards & other ingredients! How special she was. My sister still has that recipe - now I think she’ll frame it. Peace to you sweet lady.
My favorite cookbook is “The Gift of Southern Cooking.” Out of that book, the maccaroni and cheese recipe, the peach cobbler with brandy sauce, the sweet potato casserole and the fried chicken are all recipes I will use forvever. There are still many in the book I haven’t gotten to yet, but no recipe has disappointed.
I respect Edna Lewis and the work she did. Her death is a real loss, but she lives on through good food.
There is no one recipe for which I will most remember Miss Lewis—I will more likely remember her for the way in which she presented Southern food as relying upon fresh seasonal ingredients.
Those are the foods I grew up eating on the farm, and so, I felt great kinship with Miss Lewis the first time I read The Taste of Country Cooking.
Whenever I eat fresn baby lima beans or a light and airy biscuit, I think of Miss Lewis, and I reckon I always will.
At the very moment I was reading the news in the Times, I was biting into a piece of Fried Chicken I made Sunday from the Gift of Southern Cooking. Sunday I also made the angel biscuits, butterbeans in cream with chives and the roasted okra. Miss Lewis and Scott, you are both a presence in my kitchen. Not Natalie, not Shirley - it was Miss Lewis’s teachings that allowed this cook to finally be able to make biscuits. To Scott, to Miss Lewis’ family, I send my condolences. What a gift to all of us she was.
The South lost another jewel in Miss Edna. A delightfully softspoken and gentle woman. A southern cook like her — I don’t know if there will EVER be another — just THINKING of her delicious cooking puts 10 lbs on my thighs!
And what a poignant and wonderful relationship she and Scott Peacock shared! He’ll always miss her and grieve for her, for sure, but when you treat people well — you can be at peace when they transition because you know that you gave them your absolute best. He gave her his best and God will bless him for it. Miss Edna also gave Scott her best, too.
Sleep well, Miss Edna.
One of my fondest memories of ‘Miss Edna’ was sitting in one of her cooking classes and observing every move she made. She moved quietly and did not make many comments. Mr. Peacock was at her side telling the class exactly what was going on in that skillet as she cooked. He spoke to her and suggested that she tell the class what she had just added to the pan. She seemed a bit stunned that she had to tell us that she had just used lard. I think I did hear a gasp from the back of the room, however, I personally felt a real sense of connectedness with Miss Edna - I grew up in rural Georgia where lard was a staple in our pantry. To this day, I keep a small box of lard in my fridge partly as a part of my heritage and partly as a tribute to Miss Edna. Thank you lovely lady.
Her fried chicken recipe. It takes three days to make. ‘Nuff said.
A new resident in Decatur, I became aware of Scott through Watershed Restaurant, and bought “The Gift of….” because of him. However, it wasn’t long until the talent of Edna Lewis struck me. One day I cooked both methods of making chicken broth—-Scott’s vs Edna’s. Despite drawing some good humored ribbing from my friends, I learned a lot from that day’s cooking. Edna’s broth was liquid gold that I store as gold bullion in my freezer “safe.” Scott’s was more practical in expenditure of time and I’ll use his occasionally, but the day I learned about Edna Lewis’s chicken broth is as warm in my memory as are my thoughts of Ms. Lewis.
The most unfortunate thing about this entire ordeal is that we are reacting to comments that were never made by Emeril Lagasse. Journalist Chris Rose, who in his column and on the radio took Emeril to task about his “quotes,” presented the other side of the story in yesterday’s New Orleans Times-Picayune. In the article, Turning down the heat, Rose reports that Emeril says he was misquoted by “New York gossip queen Cindy Adams.” In the story Rose writes:
Now Emeril says of the quote: “That’s bullcrap. Did not say that. I’m as frustrated as most people in the city about some of our governmental leaders; I did express that. (But) as far as making (statements) about ‘New Orleans is dead and not coming back’ — that’s not true.”
“Cindy Adams came up to me and said, ‘Emeril, so how is New Orleans?’ And I told her, ‘God, we need help with our leadership, and we need help with our city.’ I did say that. But: ‘The mayor’s a clunker, the governor’s a clunker?’ I don’t use those words. Those words are not even in my vocabulary. ‘The city is dead’? I never said that.
New Orleans CityBusiness Editor Terry O’Connor, in his Feb. 10 commentary said it best:
Why does all this concern any of us post-Katrina? Because no New Orleans business can afford to casually be besmirched by controversial comments. Especially now.
How the media treats New Orleans businesses is an extremely sensitive topic.
It’s simply responsible to take great care not to damage any business or any greater New Orleans-area resident in these extremely difficult post-Katrina days. We’ve got enough to do to recover without fighting among ourselves or wasting energy trying to debunk harmful half-truths.
I agree with Sammy and Emeril-They are clunks. The latest I’ve heard proves it. Governor blanco is now threatening the feds if they don’t get millions of more money in aid. Sorry “Gov”, American generosity only goes so far. and you’ve had more than your share!
Emeril’s comments were right on. The mayor and governor ARE clunks, and they are the ones at fault for New Orleans being in the shape that it is in right now. All they have done since September is sit on their hands and whine that the federal government is not coming down to make New Orleans whole again. Meanwhile, in Mississippi (where the hurricane actually hit) the people are pitching in and working together at all levels to rebuild their homes, businesses, and cities.
It still amazes me how ignorant some people are. It’s obvious to me that Emeril and the real victims of Katrina, live in two vastly different worlds. WAKE UP PEOPLE!! GO OUT AND MEET SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T LIVE, THINK, OR LOOK LIKE YOU. Emeril probably only hangs out with his neighbors…..Melva and Cathy.
I’ve never been to New Orleans, but I know it is city deep in history for everyone. If we can spend billions of dollars to rebuild New York and Iraq, then money should also be spent to support New Orleans. This was a event that couldn’t have been avoided. Many of the people didn’t have access to transportation if they wanted leave anyway. How can you evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in a 2 days.If you every try to leave during a hurricane you would know, that it is virtually impossible to go anywhere unless you fly! Hurricanes come and go every year, these people were only doing what they have always done.(I’m from FL and we do the same thing.) If they did leave where they going to live or eat.( No credit cards or cash ) Most live pay-check-to-check as most Americans. What would you do if you lost everything tomorrow(house, car,job) and now had to live somewhere else with little or no money? I bet you would have a different perspective.
I’ll bet if Savannah flooded, Paula Deen would be out there fixing grits for the relief workers. Where was Emeril after Katrina?
What is it they use to say “The truth will set you free” Well, my friends like it or not Emeril is just telling it like it is. Louisiana state and local governments have long been corrupt, anyone remember Edwin Edwards.And the present govenment is no better. Mark my words months from now there will be reports of funds that were misused. And you have to want to help yourself before you can be helped.
Some parts of NOLA should not be rebuilt in my opinoin becuase no matter how good you build the walls of a fish bowl it still can spring a leak!
I was raised in Louisiana all my life. And I love the state. My parents still live in rural central Louisiana. The culture and food there is great. Emeril, just hit the nail on the head. The Governor is a Clunk!!!
