We had our second guests of the summer this weekend arriving Friday evening from Seattle after a long 8 hour drive (that we've made many times in the past 12 years...) My sister, Barbara, and her husband, Jim, are driving to Colorado and spending their first night on the road at our house so I'm greeting them with a relaxing dinner of pork tenderloin with plum sauce (plums from our trees), yukon gold potatoes, broccoli salad and fresh strawberries with cream cheese dip. I chose a recipe to make for them from our vacation trip last year when the four of us went to the Master's Golf tournament to Augusta, Georgia. I could write at great length about that trip but I can sum it up by saying the food was DELICIOUS in the south. Too bad I wasn't doing this blog last year. So, for Barbara and Jim's visit, I decided to include a recipe from Mrs. Wilke's Boardinghouse, one of the many wonderful food experiences we had from Savannah, Georgia.
"West Jones Street is a boulevard of antique brick houses with curving steps and graceful cast iron bannisters. At 10:30 each morning a line begins to form at #107. At 11 o'clock, the doors of 107 open and the lunch crowd finds seats at one of the large tables-for-ten shared by strangers. And so begins the daily feast, boarding-house-style.
The tabletops are crowded with platters of fried chicken and cornbread dressing, sweet potato souffles, black-eyed peas, okra gumbo, corn muffins and biscuits. The menu changes daily so regulars can have something different every day (although you can always count on fried chicken). Mrs. Wilkes stopped taking in boarders in 1965, but her tables demand the vigorous exercise of a boarding house reach.
As at any southern feast worth its cracklin' cornbread, there are constellations of vegetable casseroles: great, gooey, buttery bowls full of squash au gratin and scalloped eggplant, cheese grits, corn pudding, pineapple-flavored yams topped with melted marshmallows, creamed corn enriched with bacon drippings, green rice (mixed with broccoli and celery); brown rice (with mushrooms and soy sauce); and the low-country legend, Savannah red rice.
When Mrs. Wilkes first started serving meals in this dining room in 1943, there were many similar places in cities throughout the region, where boarders as well as frugal local citizens gathered to enjoy the special pleasure of a meal shared with neighbors and strangers. Now, the take-some-and-pass-the-bowl style of the old boarding house is a rarity. Mrs. Wilkes passed away in 2003, but her establishment remains a prized opportunity to indulge in the delicious food – and the cordial foodways – of a culinary tradition that values sociability as much as a good macaroni salad."
Like I said before, I am always searching for authentic food experiences when we travel and Mrs. Wilkes' Boardinghouse was the ultimate, local, southern-style cooking food experience of the south. So, of course, I had to buy her cookbook after a taste of all her delicious food.
Serves 6
3 cups chopped fresh broccoli
1 small red onion, chopped
8 strips bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup vinegar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups water
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1. Combine the broccoli, onion, bacon, and raisins.
2. Combine the vinegar, flour, mustard, sugar, and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
3. Add the mayonnaise, and allow to cool.
4. Pour the mixture over the salad. I do not use all the dressing so pour as much mixture over salad, as you prefer. You can save the extra for regular salad dressing on future green salads.
5. Chill and serve.
Here is a perfect description of Mrs. Wilkes' Boardinghouse taken from Roadfood.com -
"West Jones Street is a boulevard of antique brick houses with curving steps and graceful cast iron bannisters. At 10:30 each morning a line begins to form at #107. At 11 o'clock, the doors of 107 open and the lunch crowd finds seats at one of the large tables-for-ten shared by strangers. And so begins the daily feast, boarding-house-style.
The tabletops are crowded with platters of fried chicken and cornbread dressing, sweet potato souffles, black-eyed peas, okra gumbo, corn muffins and biscuits. The menu changes daily so regulars can have something different every day (although you can always count on fried chicken). Mrs. Wilkes stopped taking in boarders in 1965, but her tables demand the vigorous exercise of a boarding house reach.
As at any southern feast worth its cracklin' cornbread, there are constellations of vegetable casseroles: great, gooey, buttery bowls full of squash au gratin and scalloped eggplant, cheese grits, corn pudding, pineapple-flavored yams topped with melted marshmallows, creamed corn enriched with bacon drippings, green rice (mixed with broccoli and celery); brown rice (with mushrooms and soy sauce); and the low-country legend, Savannah red rice.
When Mrs. Wilkes first started serving meals in this dining room in 1943, there were many similar places in cities throughout the region, where boarders as well as frugal local citizens gathered to enjoy the special pleasure of a meal shared with neighbors and strangers. Now, the take-some-and-pass-the-bowl style of the old boarding house is a rarity. Mrs. Wilkes passed away in 2003, but her establishment remains a prized opportunity to indulge in the delicious food – and the cordial foodways – of a culinary tradition that values sociability as much as a good macaroni salad."
Like I said before, I am always searching for authentic food experiences when we travel and Mrs. Wilkes' Boardinghouse was the ultimate, local, southern-style cooking food experience of the south. So, of course, I had to buy her cookbook after a taste of all her delicious food.
Even President Obama could not pass up eating at Mrs. Wilkes' when he was visiting Savannah, Georgia in March 2010.
So, if you are traveling to Georgia and want a true Southern style food experience, I would highly recommend Mrs. Wilkes' Boardinghouse. Or if you can't travel to Savannah, Georgia, the next best thing is to purchase her cookbook, Mrs. Wilkes' Boardinghouse Cookbook.
Broccoli Salad
Serves 6
3 cups chopped fresh broccoli
1 small red onion, chopped
8 strips bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup vinegar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups water
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1. Combine the broccoli, onion, bacon, and raisins.
2. Combine the vinegar, flour, mustard, sugar, and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
3. Add the mayonnaise, and allow to cool.
4. Pour the mixture over the salad. I do not use all the dressing so pour as much mixture over salad, as you prefer. You can save the extra for regular salad dressing on future green salads.
5. Chill and serve.
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