Sook’s Cookbook is one of the most unusual cookbooks around. I found it on Amazon. It’s written by Marie Rudisil, who is author Truman Capote’s aunt. Sook was the matriarch of the Faulk Family whose collection of recipes were legendary among her Alabama peers. Capote’s favorite recipe from her was for lemon meringue pie. I’m making that tonight.
It’s an endlessly charming collection, describing various family member recipes through the ages, especially from the black maids and cooks from the slavery era to more contemporary times. These women created black Southern cuisine as we know it today.
I recently prepared the Roast Chicken, based on Scriptural Precepts described in the book. It’s basically a roast chicken put on a bed of vegetables and bathed in nearly 2 sticks of butter. I brined the chicken first, which gave the bird wonderful flavor and moistness as brines do. I used Erin French’s basic brine (found in her cookbook, “Lost Kitchen.”) It’s flavored with juniper berries, which have become hard to find. In the past I’ve had no problem, but a recent search in Whole Foods and Hannaford yielded nothing. But keep a jar in stock—however you find it—because they add wonderful flavor to brines and other preparations.
I don’t generally buy farm birds because they’re so expensive and often not worth the premium price just because of their exalted heritage. The breast meat is not plentiful on these birds and they get so much exercise free-roaming around yard that they work off the fat that less rigorously raised birds contain.
Of course there have been exceptions. One of the best birds around comes from Goranson Farm, raised by Jan Goranson’s exacting standards. They have great flavor and texture, plenty of moistening fat, but they’re expensive at $6+per pound. At 6 to 8 pounds the price is tantamount to buying fillet mignon. The farm-raised chickens at Spring Brook Farm in Cumberland are also worth the price. They’re big, fat birds, lots of breast meat and good, gamey flavor
Another great local bird is one that I got at a lamb farm in Union at Guini Ridge Farm on North Union Road off Route 17. I traveled there to get their lamb and when they went to the freezer to get it I asked what else was in their chest freezer. The farmer pulled out this enormous chicken—at least 8 pounds—and I took that too. When I got back home (which was still in New York then), I put it in my freezer and several weeks later I defrosted it and roasted it in the usual way. It was an incredible chicken, having all the elements of a bird well raised, loaded with gamey flavor.
Other great chickens have come from a farmer in Cumberland whose farm is no longer in operation–Sally Merrill of Sunrise Acres–and then there were two other farms that produced wonderful chickens: Iacono Farm in East Hampton, NY who was one of the first farmer’s to offer free-range chickens (a rarity in the 1990s) and Mecox Bay Farm in Bridgehampton, NY whose Mecox Farm Dairy Farm that made cheese had a slew of farm animals like chicken and pork raised on their fertile land by the sea. On the sly you could buy raw milk and cream (illegal to sell on a retail basis in New York). A gallon was close to $20. But in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country such a price goes unnoticed.
Brine the chicken overnight. It’s worth the effort. I had a nice 6-pound chicken, which I bought at Pat’s Meat Market; they get their all-natural chickens from Allen Farm in Pennsylvania. At about $2 per pound its fantastic value and great eating too.
Chicken pot pie with biscuit crust
Chicken Pot Pie. There was plenty of leftover chicken to make a chicken pie the next day. I prepared it with a biscuit crust, which was a simple recipe (no kneading) of mixing 1 cup self-rising flour (use King Arthur soft wheat brand of self-rising), 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 cup milk and a pinch of salt. Mix until smooth. Cover the pot pie mixture (leftover shredded chicken mixed with a cream sauce) with some mixed vegetables like potatoes, carrots, corn, limas and peas. You can use good quality frozen mixed vegetables for ease of preparation. Spoon or pour the biscuit topping over the chicken. There’s plenty of dough to cover a 2-quart casserole dish; bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until browned and the filling is bubbling. Take out of the oven and brush the biscuit topping with melted butter
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Ingredients
- 6-pound chicken, brined overnight
- 3 to 4 carrots, potatoes, and celery roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Take the chicken out of the brine and dry well. Prepare the vegetables and put in a large roasting pan. Cut the potatoes into larger pieces than the chopped vegetables. It helps to sauté these first in butter to give them a head start in cooking. Lay the chicken on top.
- Roast the chicken at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn down heat to 375 and roast for at least an hour more, basting the bird occasionally with the butter in the pan. Roast until juices run clear or an instant read thermometer registers 155 to 165 degrees.
- Carve and serve, scooping up the vegetables and saucing the chicken meat with the butter left in the pan.
- When done, strain the butter left in the roasting pan into a storage container and refrigerate. You’ll use this butter to make the roux for the cream sauce for the chicken pot pie. About 3 tablespoons solid butter and 3 tablespoons flour will work for about 1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken stock for the sauce.
