The “Deep South” that we think of today is an area of the US that stretches from New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico into Arkansas’ Ozark mountain range, across to Charleston on the Atlantic Coast and as far north as Kentucky and southern Virginia, and also includes adopted bits of Florida, but (let’s be clear) has nothing to do with Texas. Yet it is only a couple of hundred years old. So, wide ranging as it is, the food of the south is still in its infancy. The southern writer David Shields notes that: “to speak of southern food before there is a conscious South risks incoherence.”
But in a short span of time, southern food has rooted itself as the definitive cuisine of an entire country. It is the most distinctively “American” of any food I can think of. And, over the past few years, it has become the cuisine du jour. “Slow and low” cooking, “potlikker” (a stock used for braising greens), and “yardbird” (chicken) are becoming recognisable terms associated with the region and its food, giving us a sort of etymological terroir. We have a recognisable culinary identity, and it includes all of the lovely stereotypes we’ve earned – mostly that we love our food fried in fat.
I plan to defend a few of those stereotypes over the next few weeks, but for now I want to concentrate on deep frying, invoking images of crackling pork rinds, cornmeal-crusted catfish, crispy chunks of okra, and, this week, iconic southern fried chicken and glazed doughnuts: the gateway foods that lead into the depths of a serious southern food habit.
The southern chef Edna Lewis is one of my heroes. I loved fried chicken for many years, but her recipe changed this dish (and many others) for me. She approaches it from the inside out, first by focusing on preparing a special fat in which to cook the chicken: fresh lard infused with butter and smoked pork. The level of attention and respect given to the different fats – considering what each imparts to the dish – is an important practice once you’ve tasted the difference it makes. And while restaurants deep-fry for speed and efficiency, at home it only requires a shallow fry on the top of the stove.
If fried chicken is the king of the savoury fryer, then the sweet crown must go to the doughnut. One of my fondest doughnut memories includes going to early Revival church services on Wednesdays before school, where Miss Fanny, the church steward (and, yes, a big and beautiful black woman who kept me on the straight and narrow in my youth) had made fresh ring doughnuts glazed with valley cream and chocolate, warmed in the ovens adjacent to the Fellowship Hall.
You won’t find me hitting up the 5 doughnuts for 50p deals, or anything that’s more than a couple of hours old. You could say I’m a doughnut snob, which I’ll take – I grew up close to doughnut royalty. My father’s best friend married our local doughnut shop owner, Amanda Barton, who came from a lineage of Mississippi doughnut makers. Everyone in Yazoo county knew Amanda. She always worked by hand and eye to make her dough and, as the shop is now closed, the recipe remains solely with her. While we were in Mississippi visiting our family last year, Amanda stopped by with a surprise batch of Hawaiian Delights – a fritter-style doughnut filled with bits of fresh pineapple and desiccated coconut. It’s a flavour that, in its prime, was a bit of a unicorn menu item at her shop (they are more labour-intensive to make than ring doughnuts so you’d never know when they’d be on the board). We felt like we were seeing a friend again for the first time in years. Once we’d arrived back in London, I committed to cracking the recipe code on these fried delicacies to share with doughnut lovers here.
Southern fried chicken
Brine and marinate the chicken for 2-3 days before cooking. A dredge is a dry mixture in which to toss the chicken (while a batter is a wet mixture).
Serves 4-6
8 large chicken legs, split
50g salt
1 litre water
500ml buttermilk
1kg pork lard
225g butter, whole
100g smoked bacon or serrano ham
For the dredge
400g plain flour
200g rice flour
100g cornflour
1 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
25g salt
1 heaped tsp paprika
3 tsp baking powder
1 Make a brine from the salt and water. Add the chicken, then refrigerate and soak in the brine for 24 hours. The next day, transfer the chicken to a new container, cover with the buttermilk and chill for another 24-36 hours.
2 On the day of cooking, combine the three fats in a cast-iron skillet and slowly turn up the heat. Once the butter has melted and the bacon fat has rendered, strain the solids from the fat.
3 Heat the oil to 160-165C/320-329F. Combine all the dredge ingredients and mix it all together well. Coat the chicken in the dredge mix and gently lift into the hot skillet. Turn the pieces a few times during frying to ensure good even browning. Cook for around 8-12 minutes until golden brown, or until they reach an internal temperature of 65C/149F. Set aside to rest in a warm area for 3-5 minutes before serving.
Roasted garlic ranch dressing
Makes around 500g
250g buttermilk
185g mayonnaise
½ tsp onion powder
3 heaped tsp chives
3 heaped tsp dill
2 tbsp garlic, roasted
Salt, black pepper and lemon juice, to taste
1 Mix all the ingredients together, then chill until needed.
Hawaiian delight doughnuts
Makes 4-6
5 tsp fresh yeast, or 2½ tsp dry yeast
210ml warm water
25g sugar
430g strong white flour
25g milk powder
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
A pinch of ground nutmeg
25g desiccated coconut
1 large egg
75g butter, softened
1 tbsp cornflour
½ pineapple, cut into small dice, drain and reserve the juice for the glaze
Flavourless oil, for deep frying
For the glaze
200g icing sugar
40ml pineapple juice
1 Combine the yeast, water and sugar, then wait for the yeast to activate.
2 Combine the flour, milk powder, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and coconut in a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast mixture and egg. Mix until a thick dough forms – around 6-8 minutes. Add the softened butter and knead for 8-10 minutes, until the dough becomes thicker and begins to clean the sides of the bowl.
3 Turn out the dough and bring it together into one tight mass. Put into a greased bowl, cover with clingfilm, and leave until it has doubled in size, then knock it back and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4 Toss with pineapple and cornflour. Take a bit of the chilled dough (around 60-65g) into your hand and press flat lightly. Add a spoonful of the pineapple cubes to the disc and fold over the pineapple. Roll flat, to a shape the size of your palm, around 3-4mm thick. Fry in 160C oil for 2-3 minutes each side till done. Cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes.
5 Meanwhile, combine the glaze ingredients and whisk together well. Coat the doughnuts in the glaze. Serve.
Peach iced tea
Makes 2 litres
2 black tea bags
2 peaches, cut into eighths
2 litres of water
Ice, to serve
Mint, to serve
1 Boil the water. Put the tea bags and peaches in a large jug and pour the water over. Leave to infuse and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.
2 Serve over lots of ice and garnished with mint.
- Brad McDonald is chef patron at The Lockhart and Shotgun in London. His book, Deep South (Quadrille) is out now. @bradmcdonald01
