A Night of Failures

Oh Biddy I needed your help last night!!

Mama had to take Papa to the airport so I was going to make dinner and have it ready for when she came home. Lila was coming after her trainer. I was so excited to be cooking and to have everyone coming over. Here was my menu: Roasted chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, fried okra, corn bread, marinated long beans and berries with leftover creme brulee for dessert. The berries and the leftover creme brulee (I torched a new crust on them) were the best parts of this dinner. It was a serious night of failures.

Let's start with the chicken. Roasted chicken was a staple for me and Tyler. It is probably his favorite thing that I cook. I made it all the time on St Simons. Using the recipe from the huge COOKS recipe book. Easy and great. Except for last night. According to the timer and the thermometer it was done. When I cut into it, the meat was nice and juicy and white. But then there was weird pockets of blood. Mama suggested (HA) that I put it back in the oven. It went back in the oven for about 30 more minutes. It was a 3 1/2 pound chicken that ended up baking for almost 2 hours. UNREAL.

Next up, the sweet potatoes. They didn't fail too horribly. My vision was baked sweet potato fries. I ended up with squares of baked sweet potatoes. There was no crust. No crunch. No oomph. They were OK because everyone loves sweet potatoes but they were not what I was hoping for. And of course they were cold because my ovens were full trying to fix my other failures.

Now comes the fried okra. Maybe I need a 30 year old electric skillet that poses a huge risk of grease fires and electrocution in order to get fried okra like my grandmothers. Instead I had okra that never really got crispy. They got black...but not crispy. Still good because everyone loves okra. But not what I was hoping for.

Finally we have the cornbread. This cornbread recipe comes from Mr. Craig Claiborne himself. NY Times food writer, author of many cookbooks, some might say an authority in certain food circles. He let me down last night. BIG TIME! This cornbread recipe is the first recipe printed in the Breads section of his Southern Cooking cookbook. It calls for 1 1/2 cups cornmeal, 1/3 cup flour, salt, baking soda, 2 eggs, 1 cup buttermilk, 2 cups whole milk and some butter in a skillet. Now some people might read that recipe and think that was a shit ton of liquid. Not me. I knew that Mr. Claiborne would not let me down. I was wrong. After heating the butter in the skillet you pour in the batter and then pour in (without stirring) the 1 cup of whole milk that you have reserved. Into a 350 degree oven you put your skillet and you bake for 50 minutes. Approximately 2 hours later my cornbread was still gummy and not cooked through. After burning my palm and my knuckles due to faulty potholders and carelessness. I put the damn thing on a plate and told Mama and Lila to eat what they wanted. Mr. Claiborne has seriously let me down.

Don't you wish you had been here for this dinner?!?! Some ended up on the table cold, some undercooked and some burned. What a delight! I was even more annoyed because I had attempted to time this dinner so everything came out at the same time. I do a better job when I just start cooking and don't plan!

Sorry I didnt take any pictures...not much to look at!

LTB