- 2 months ago
Martha Stewart shares her essential Southern recipes, featuring creamy grits, crispy fried chicken, fluffy biscuits, and rich gravy. These timeless dishes celebrate the heart of Southern cooking, bringing comfort, tradition, and bold flavors to the table.
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00:00A few years ago, I was in Amarillo, Texas. I was there to give a lecture on entertaining
00:04and I was entertained. All the cooks in Amarillo get together once a week. I think it's on Tuesday
00:11night and they cook all their favorite dishes and they eat each and every one of those dishes
00:18all together. Well, I learned a lot about fried chicken that night. I had tasted the chicken. It
00:22was the best I had ever put in my mouth and I adapted a lot of the techniques that the cooks
00:27used for fried chicken 101. I'd like to show you my version of Amarillo, Texas fried chicken.
00:36First of all, the chicken is always soaked in ice water and preferably overnight. The reason
00:42for soaking is to leach out any bloody spots from the chicken, any impurities. The chicken
00:48is so white and so tender and so moist after it soaks in the iced water. You can add salt
00:55to the iced water too. You should probably add about, oh to a bowl this size, probably
00:59about two tablespoons of salt. And then drain the chicken into another bowl. And for another
01:07eight to 24 hours, soak it in approximately three cups of non-fat buttermilk. And the buttermilk
01:15should cover the chicken. And cover it with plastic wrap, put it in the refrigerator. The buttermilk
01:21is the perfect soaking liquid. The dredging ingredients cling to the surface of the chicken
01:25better because of its thick consistency. And the buttermilk also adds a tanging taste, which
01:31is added flavor. So I'm going to put this in the refrigerator. I already have one in here.
01:37And this has been soaking overnight. It's ready to be drained and floured and fried. Now I have
01:46to check my oil. We're using solid vegetable shortening. Yes, it has to be about 350. It's
01:52perfect. I better hurry up and get this chicken ready. If you like it a little bit spicy, stir
01:58in about three tablespoons of Tabasco sauce before you take it out of the buttermilk. So that looks
02:04like about enough. And down in Texas, they love their Tabasco. Just stir it around. This will add
02:13a little bit of spice where none existed before. Now I'm just draining each of the pieces on this
02:20rack. Now discard the buttermilk, not to be saved. Now in a shallow dish, put one and a half cups of
02:30sifted all-purpose flour, about a tablespoon of salt, and freshly ground black pepper. The pepper
02:38adds that other really great flavor that's very important to fried chicken. One of the cooks down
02:46in Amarillo put the flour in a paper bag and she shook the chicken in the bag. You can do it that way
02:55or you can just do it this way. Just roll the chicken around. I don't want to have too much flour
03:01on my chicken and just transfer this to a parchment lined sheet. Work really fast and get a few pieces
03:09right into that 350 degree hot oil. So here we are. Eight perfect pieces and we're ready to fry the
03:19chicken. Now here is our pan that's lined with parchment and has a rack on it. The legs take quite
03:27a while to cook. We have two pounds of solid vegetable shortening melted and I'm using the old-fashioned
03:34Crisco. I'm putting the chicken in skin side down to start. It'll be churned twice during the cooking
03:41process. Try to keep the temperature at 350 degrees. So while the chicken's cooking I'm going to make a
03:49cabbage slaw. This is a great slaw too because there's no mayonnaise in it. It's real healthy. I've already
03:55shredded a half a head of really bright red cabbage and now I'm going to quickly shred half a head of
04:04green cabbage. Now I always like to cut out this hard core and that's a little bit inedible. So we cut
04:12that out just like that and just shred the cabbage. This is how my mom always shredded it. Just churning
04:19the cabbage. Just drawing the knife down like that. I find that it works so fast and so well with a big
04:31chef's knife like this or a Japanese cleaver that you get a really nice slaw very very fast. Here's our
04:39salt and I'll just measure it. I'd say about a half a tablespoon of salt to start. You might have to add a
04:46little bit later on. A little bit of sugar. I'd say about a half a tablespoon of sugar. Kind of important
04:53for this cabbage. And about a quarter of a tablespoon. A little less than a teaspoon of pepper. Just let that
05:03sit like this. You can stir it around a little bit with your fingers. And now rice vinegar. This
05:10marocan is a very nice rice wine vinegar. And just put oh I'd say about about a quarter of a cup to
05:18start all over your cabbage. Let this sit until your fried chicken is done. Then you can taste it. If you
05:24want it fat free you will not add any really good virgin olive oil. If you want a little bit more
05:31flavor you can add a little bit of olive oil right at the end. So let that just sit. We'll finish it
05:38right before we serve it. And now it's been about seven minutes. We're going to cook the chicken
05:45a total of 18 minutes. And now I think it's time to make the first turn. Let's just look and see.
05:51It's looking really crispy and delicious. A little bit of color is already coming to the chicken.
05:58The first published recipe for fried chicken was in Mary Randolph's 1824 book The Virginia House White.
06:04And fried chicken became really firmly established as a southern dish probably in the mid-1800s. Back
06:11then it was only made for special occasions. Well now it's time to turn it again. It's getting to be
06:16just that mahogany color that I want. And so I'm turning each piece again carefully. Boy is this
06:23looking good. Let's taste the coleslaw. I'll see if we have to add anything to it. I love how this
06:34looks. I really need a great big spoon. We'll toss it. It's amazing how fast cabbage starts to tenderize
06:46with the addition of that salt and a little bit of the sugar. Let me just taste.
06:54A little bit more vinegar. So maybe a third of a cup. And just to make it shine, a little bit
07:01of olive oil. Just a glistening. The chicken is just the right color.
07:07Very nice to have a rack like this. Well there you have it. Real crispy. Beautiful. I always put a
07:21little sprinkling of salt on my fried chicken. And as soon as it cools I'm going to take a bite.
07:27Well fried chicken 101 my southern friends would be proud. Enjoy. You don't have to be a southerner
07:32I found out to enjoy grits. Now becoming more popular around the country and in top restaurants.
07:39This southern staple is enjoyed in numerous forms. Today we have a very simple recipe that features
07:45smooth creamy grits topped with broiled tomatoes and bubbling cheddar cheese. And if you like some
07:52crispy bacon. And I'm just slicing two tomatoes. I'm making six ramekins with this recipe. Six
08:00individual servings. And these tomatoes I'm going to just put under the broiler to get cooked.
08:09I love broiled tomatoes. And make them even tastier by putting a little bit of pepper on top.
08:16A little bit of salt. And a drizzle of olive oil. Just a teeny teeny bit of olive oil. And these
08:24will cook slowly under a hot broiler. Now in this skillet. Two thick slices of bacon. Just cut into
08:33little half inch squares. They'll cook and get crispy. Cooking grits is really easy. Grits are simply
08:41dried corn or hominy. A type of corn treated with an alkali. And coarsely ground. This actually is a
08:47rather fine coarseness. And this is white corn. White corn and yellow corn have negligible differences
08:54in sweetness and nutritional content. But white is generally favored in the south. When cooking grits,
09:00make sure your water is really boiling. And use a whisk. Pour the grits in slowly, gradually. And keep
09:09stirring so that you don't have any lumps. So one cup of grits to four cups of boiling water.
09:17And keep an eye on the heat. If the pot gets too hot, the grits will burn. And that is not what we want.
09:25Now just sprinkle this in and stir. I have watched lots of people make grits.
09:33And it's very easy to do. Grits like this will take about five minutes. Gradually thickens.
09:41Now you can use crumbled bacon. And crumbled bacon is thin slices of bacon cooked. And then you can
09:48crumble those. But if the bacon is thickly sliced like this bacon, it's a little hard to crumble it.
09:53And don't buy pre-cooked bacon bits. There is no reason to do that. Fresh grits will last several months
10:02in your pantry. If you keep them in the freezer in a tightly sealed bag. I keep them actually in
10:08quart plastic containers.
10:12To the grits, you're going to add two tablespoons of butter. Two generous tablespoons. And then to make
10:20these cheesy grits, add one and a half cups of grated cheddar. Now as you add the cheddar, use a wooden
10:28spoon. Not the whisk because the whisk will get all stuck. And stir this. It'll melt right into those grits,
10:36making them very, very cheesy. Now I had added no salt, no pepper. So right now I'm going to add
10:45a goodly sprinkling of salt and a smaller sprinkling of pepper.
10:53There's the tomatoes. They've just gotten a little bit of color around the edge. Those are going to go
10:59on top of the grits. And the grits with the cheese and the butter can sit for a little while. If you want
11:05to keep it longer than half an hour or so, I would put that in a bain-marie of hot water so that they
11:13will stay warm. So here is our bacon. Just drain it on a piece of paper towel. A brown paper bag.
11:28And now it's time to fill buttered ramekins. Butter because you don't want the grits to stick.
11:35And you also add a little bit more flavor to the grits. Okay, I think those are nicely buttered.
11:42And spoon in your grits. Mmm, they look good. Now grits like this can be served for breakfast.
11:53You could put a little pile of grits on a plate and put a fried egg on top and a piece of country ham.
12:00That'd be good. Or you can make it a little fancier as I'm doing in a ramekin. And this can be served
12:07not only for breakfast, but also for lunch. I really got to know a little bit more about grits when I
12:15visited my friend Sally down in Tennessee. And she took me to several wonderful stone mills
12:22that ground their own grits. It was just amazing to see corn being transformed from the kernel into a grain
12:30like this. So just clean up the edges a little bit. And put your sliced tomatoes right on top.
12:42One has to be vegetarian. Actually, I'll make two vegetarian. And the rest
12:53can have a sprinkling of this delicious smoky bacon.
12:57Mmm, these look really good. Then grate a little bit more cheese.
13:08This is the white cheddar. And sprinkle on top of the tomatoes.
13:13Just a half a cup or so. And these will go back under the broiler for approximately two minutes.
13:24Wash them carefully. This is oven proofware, the dishes themselves, but
13:30you don't want anything to happen to them under a hot broiler.
13:36I think these look good. And just a little bit of pepper. I love pepper.
13:45Cheddar's salty enough so you don't have to add any more salt. So under the broiler for two minutes.
13:52I hope you'll try this recipe.
13:59They're ready. Bubbling. Very hot. Oh my gosh. These look great.
14:07When I have people over for breakfast or brunch, I like to make biscuits. Biscuits with poached eggs and
14:14a little bit of hollandaise sauce is a really good breakfast. Buttermilk biscuits are easy to make.
14:20And this is the best recipe I have ever found. If you have a hard time finding buttermilk,
14:26and many of us do, I know in my little town I have to special order a quart of buttermilk,
14:32you can make your own at home. And the biscuits don't suffer one bit with homemade buttermilk.
14:38To two cups of whole milk,
14:42add about a quarter of a cup of vinegar. You can use white vinegar, apple cider vinegar,
14:54and I have even used Japanese wine vinegar in a pinch. And just add a quarter of a cup of vinegar.
15:01Pour that into the milk and watch what happens. By the time I finish our biscuits here, this will have
15:08turned curdled into something resembling buttermilk. So exciting. I love it. So I'm going to make half the
15:15batch with some herbs and half the batch plain. This recipe calls for four cups of all-purpose flour.
15:23All of our dry ingredients will be sifted together.
15:29Dip and level. That's what it's called. Four teaspoons of baking powder.
15:35And again, I'm going to stress in every single recipe, check for freshness. Make sure your baking
15:43powder is absolutely fresh. And because we're using buttermilk, we need to use a little bit of baking
15:51soda. One teaspoon of baking soda. And one tablespoon of sugar.
15:56And a heaping teaspoon of coarse salt. Kosher salt's really good.
16:08And just sift everything.
16:13There you have it. Very easy. Mix that up.
16:18And put half of this into your food processor. This whole show is about the use of the food
16:27processor just to save you time. And now add your ice cold butter right into the food processor.
16:36This is the two sticks of butter that you've cut up into quarter inch squares and kept chilled in the fridge.
16:49There. So that's the simple process of cutting the butter into the flour using the food processor.
16:57Mix the other flour into the butter flour. Now add the buttermilk. It's thickened beautifully,
17:05and you can see the curds. You want your dough to be light and fluffy, moist, but not wet.
17:12You want it to be a very nice texture. So half of this I'm going to just put on the table
17:21in some flour, and the other half I'm going to add some of these chopped herbs. And
17:28I like dill a lot, so I'll put finely chopped dill, a little bit of rosemary,
17:35and a few chives. Altogether about two tablespoons in a half a recipe. So you could use four tablespoons in
17:45a full recipe. Mmm, smells really good now. Okay, so we're first going to roll out these. Draw the dough
17:55together. Don't do a lot of kneading or manipulating. This is a very light touch biscuit.
18:06And roll this to about an inch.
18:09And I think I'll make rounds for these. So pretty.
18:22There, so that's 10 biscuits. Before you put these in the oven, brush the tops with a little bit of
18:29buttermilk. Boy, do those look good. Let's hope they rise and are as light and fluffy as they should be.
18:39These go into the 450 degree oven for about 8 to 10 minutes. And now the herb biscuits.
18:47The dough is beautiful, fragrant. I'll make these a little bit thicker.
18:57And we're going to cut these into squares.
19:01So I'll roll it into a rectangle.
19:09Oh, that is a gorgeous biscuit.
19:17I think they'd be great with bacon or sausage, a fried egg, some grits, and fried green tomatoes.
19:24Red-eyed gravy and grits served with country ham and buttermilk biscuits. What a delicious way to
19:29start the day, especially when I'm with my friend Sally LeGrone down in Tennessee, where she lives.
19:36And what kind of grits are your favorites?
19:38Well, I brought you some grits. I really like the stone ground speckled grits, if you can see here,
19:43because it's made from the whole corn. So it's got everything from the great germ
19:48Oh, yeah.
19:49Through the ear of corn. It's so healthy, high in fiber, everything going for it.
19:53So slices of country ham that come like this. What a beautiful slice of ham.
19:58Isn't that gorgeous?
19:58Is this again from our friend?
20:00That's from our friend Ed Rice, and that is a perfect center cut slice.
20:05Wow. Two slices, actually. From the Smokehouse of Champions, Ed Rice in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.
20:11Take the fat off of that. And what I have done is put a cup of grits to four cups of boiling water.
20:18Let that come up to a simmer. I added a little salt. I'll add a little pepper.
20:22Now, red-eyed gravy, where does it get the name red-eyed gravy from?
20:25The intellectual version says it comes from the bubble of the fat. The story says that it comes...
20:33Oh, so it looks like a red eye?
20:35It looks like a red eye. The story says that it comes from Andrew Jackson, who told one of his
20:42cooks who had sort of a whiskey-drinking cook who had red eyes that he wanted gravy as red as your eyes.
20:48That sounds like the real thing.
20:50But I put a cover on top of my grits partway because they
20:55they pop up and they can spatter you.
20:58Okay.
20:58So that's more precautionary than anything else.
21:00So you're using the skin and the fat of the ham to make the gravy?
21:04And also to fry the ham in. And it winders it down. And your skillet
21:11then has just a thin coat of fat in it. And this is what your gravy will come from.
21:17So we'll cook that for just a minute. And while I do that, do you want to score the ham?
21:22Just score here at the edges.
21:24Prevents it from curling?
21:25It keeps it from curling.
21:28But see how...
21:29Can somebody really eat this big a piece of ham for breakfast?
21:32There are a few he-men who claim they can. I would love to know how much water they have
21:38to drink for the rest of the day and they've eaten that much ham. No, I would actually serve probably
21:44at least three people with a piece of ham that big. See how I have a nice little thin coat of
21:52fat on the bottom of the skillet? Again, I use my fingers. We'll take it.
21:58We keep rendering the fat down. I just leave it in here.
22:02And what I'll do is cook these about three to four minutes per side just so they're nice and lightly
22:09done. Sarah, should I be doing something with the eggs? If you would like to start the eggs...
22:14Are we having scrambled? We're going to have scrambled. Okay.
22:17I think scrambled eggs are nice with this because you can have a bite of grits, a bite of
22:22ham, and a bite of the eggs. And it's not as runny on your plate. That's just my personal preference.
22:27And we brought you my own eggs from the pens you saw this morning. They are so beautiful.
22:38Just give the grits a stir every now and then. See how they're starting to thicken.
22:42Oh, yes. Realicious. Yeah, see, I like the speckles in them.
22:45Well, I think you'll like the texture as well. It's a little coarser than the normal grits from the
22:51grocery store, but it has a wonderful flavor because it's got the whole kernel of foreign in it.
22:56I think those hand slices were perfectly done. And do you see why I do the fat the way I do?
23:01You've got a nice layer of fat in here, but it's not on your plate when you eat it.
23:06A little help conscious on something that is totally unhealthy, but totally delicious.
23:12And I'm anxious to see this red-eye gravy. Don't you think gravy doesn't seem to be any
23:16ingredients for red-eye gravy here? Well, this is your ingredient right down
23:19in here. See all of this good leavings in the pan? Okay.
23:23This is what we make our red-eye gravy with. I take about a half a cup of water. Pour it in there.
23:30See how the fat all bubbles up, Marca? Yeah.
23:33Get the red going. This will cook down for just a few minutes, and that's your red-eye gravy.
23:40Oh, just that. Oh, just as simple as that. Scrape the bottom of the pan,
23:45and you get all the good little bits and the little crusty pieces up. Do you like your eggs just done?
23:52I like my eggs done. Eggs are good.
23:57And this will be ready in just a minute.
23:59I just need a little salt and a little pepper. Yum in color. It's so beautiful, Marca. Just gorgeous.
24:08That doesn't look red. Red-eye gravy. Oh, okay. Red-eye.
24:16Red-eye. Eye. It gets your eye right. Eye.
24:20Eye. And there's your red-eye gravy. I cook it down to a red-eye.
24:24Just a little bit of ink. Yes. Like red-eye. Red-eye.
24:31Not exactly a natural sound for you, is it? Red-eye.
24:34And look how beautiful it is. Can you say eggs again? Eggs. Eggs.
24:38Eggs. Look how beautiful and creamy it is.
24:40I would make a terrible Southerner. Please forgive me.
24:43No, I think you do, though. Make a wonderful friend of Southerners and lover of Southern foods.
24:51Look at how nice and creamy our grits are. A little spoon right there.
24:54There you go. And you could add butter to these, but because I put the gravy on them, I don't.
25:01Let's have some of that red-eye gravy. Oh, look how red it got.
25:05There's your red-eye gravy. Now, this is okra. It's known as a Southern favorite,
25:11but the rest of America is beginning to catch on to this delicious vegetable.
25:16Today, I'm going to show you one of the most common and best ways to cook it.
25:20If you've never tried okra before, this is a great recipe.
25:23Now, it's essential that you get okra that is tender, very nicely colored, no brown spots.
25:31It shouldn't be shriveled and it shouldn't be dry. And it should also be able to be cut easily
25:38with a knife. If the knife is offered any resistance whatsoever by the okra,
25:44that is way too old to cook. So just discard that. Now, remember, after you wash it, dry it very,
25:51very well. Pat it dry. I buy okra in the farmer's market or I get it right out of my garden. It's a
25:59beautiful plant. It's related to the hibiscus family and the flowers are very hibiscus-like.
26:06They are also edible. Now, to prepare for frying, just cut off the tops, the stem end, like this
26:15and cut the okra into half-inch pieces. You see how easily this is cut? These little tips, well,
26:24they're not right for frying, so I just kind of discard those or add them to the stock pot.
26:29I like okra stewed. I like it in gumbo, but this is something that you'll all enjoy, fried okra coated
26:38in a cornmeal and served with a remoulade sauce. So here we have our okra already cut up. I have three
26:46egg whites in this dish and I'm going to thin those with three tablespoons of cold water.
26:52Whisk this up. Just break up the egg whites. And the oil is a vegetable oil. You could use olive oil.
27:06If you like the taste of olive oil, you could use canola or just a good quality vegetable oil. So get
27:13this a little frothy. And I suggest, well, you have to use your fingers, so I suggest using one hand for
27:21the wet and one hand for the dry. In the cornmeal, this is one cup of beautiful cornmeal. A quarter cup
27:30of flour is added to that. Use an unbleached flour. A half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Ground. That
27:39has a little zip. And black pepper, a quarter of a teaspoon. And two teaspoons of salt. I think this kind
27:49of fried food needs salt needs salt. And this is not greasy fried food. This is like a little snack. So that's
27:59ready for dipping. Okay, so we're working with a small amount of okra first. Just push this around
28:07in the egg white mixture. Egg white and water. And then just place it in the cornmeal.
28:15And the oil should be heated to 375 degrees. So this looks good. Now you can just put all your
28:27coated okra onto a piece of parchment paper.
28:34And drop these into the hot oil. Now these are browning very nicely, very quickly.
28:41These are done. Such a beautiful golden color. Just remove them to a paper towel covered
28:53baking sheet. And start frying the next batch. I'll show you how easy it is to make a very flavorful
29:01remoulade. To one cup of mayo, you can use low-fat mayo if you want, or homemade mayo. Add one tablespoon of
29:09finely chopped parsley. A tablespoon of finely chopped basil leaves.
29:18Two tablespoons of milk, which thins out the mayonnaise a little bit. A quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
29:25Two teaspoons of finely chopped shallot. Some salt. Two tablespoons of champagne vinegar.
29:40And a squeeze of lemon juice. Also serve these, if you will, with some wedges of lemon. People like
29:50lemon and okra. Stir this all up. This you can make the day before and get all the flavors melded together.
29:58It's a very delicious remoulade. So we have, right here, a platter and some remoulade sauce.
30:07So you can just put the first batch of okra here. Don't forget to sprinkle it with salt.
30:17While it's still hot. And then dip it in your remoulade and taste.
30:25Mmm. Really, really good.
30:27I think that batch is for me. You can make all the rest for you.
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