America I AM Pass It Down Cookbook by Jeff Henderson Read Free Book Online Page A

says, is non-negotiable.
    2 cups White Lily all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
    Preheat oven to 425o F.
    Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add butter and incorporate until mixture resembles coarse sand.
    Add cream and mix until soft dough just starts to form. Do not over mix.
    Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead just until the firm ball of dough forms. Roll the dough into a ½-inch-thick disc. Cut biscuits with a 2½-inch round cutter.
    Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.
    Serve hot.

I cast my bread on the waters long ago. Now it’s time for you to send it back to me— toasted and buttered on both sides.
— The Reverend Jesse Jackson

Jane Nganga’s Maandazi
    Rancho Cucamonga, California
    MAKES ABOUT 15
    Maandazi is one of a group of East African fried breads that can be savory or slightly sweet, as this one is. It is most often eaten for breakfast. Similar fried breads that are moistened with coconut milk are called mamri.
    10 cardamom pods, or ½ teaspoon powdered cardamom
5 cups self-rising flour
1/8 teaspoon castor sugar
¾ tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon snipped chives
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola or peanut oil
2 cups milk
10 cups canola or peanut oil for deep frying
    If using whole cardamom, crush the cardamom pods in mortar and pestle and shake out the seeds. Grind seeds in the mortar to a powder and place it in a large bowl with flour, castor sugar, baking powder, cumin, and chives.
    Beat egg and 2 tablespoons of oil together in a small bowl and add them to the flour mixture. Using your fingertips, mix well, then add the milk slowly to make a soft, firm dough.
    Knead dough lightly until smooth and not sticky, and allow to rest, covered in a warm place for 30 minutes.
    Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about ½-inch thickness and use a 3-inch round pastry cutter to cut out 15 rounds.
    Heat the 10 cups of oil in a deep pot until it reaches 350º F or until a pinch of flour dropped into the oil bubbles vigorously.
    Fry 4–5 minutes, flipping over once, or until donuts turn golden. Serve as a snack or an accompaniment to a meal.

Tater Pie
    Chestertown, Maryland
    MAKES 1 PIE
    Hilda Hopkins was born in 1926 of mixed black, white, and Native American ancestry, and grew up on Maryland’s shore. She recalls that her mixed heritage meant that racism came from all sides. Life was often hard, especially being one of twelve children. Tater pie was a go-to dish her mother made when there was little or no food in the house. “My special memory is that my mother always said, ‘It’s time to make tater pie,’” says Ms. Hopkins. “She would bake five or six of these pies and it was all we had to eat for the day.”
    1 pound of white baking potatoes, boiled and peeled
1 stick of butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
1 can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon extract
1 piecrust
    Preheat oven to 350º F.
    Cut potatoes into chunks and place them in a mixer with the butter. Add sugar and salt, and mix on medium until smooth.
    Add egg yolks one at a time and mix until well combined. Add milk, vanilla extract, and lemon extract.
    In a separate bowl, whip egg whites to a stiff peak and gently fold into the potato batter.
    Pour the batter into the piecrust. Bake 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a cake tester stuck into the middle of the pie comes out clean.

Sylvia Barton’s Spoon Bread
    SERVES 6 TO 8
          
Sylvia Barton with her sons Craig and (Chef) Scott.
    Scott Alves Barton is a noted chef, culinary historian, and lover of food culture. When he’s not cooking or teaching cooking to both adults and kids, he’s following the threads of culinary culture around the world, weaving them into the fine fabric of history and