usadeepsouth.com
by Keetha DePriest Reed
[Editor's note: Here's a fabulous recipe from Keetha D. Reed's new cookbook, MORE CULINARY KUDZU. Yummm...
To order a copy, write Keetha at keethadreed@hotmail.com
More of Keetha's recipes may be found HERE.]
One Saturday evening some twenty-odd years ago, Mee Maw, my dad’s mother, called my mother and said she and Gran Gran, my grandfather, and Aunt Imogene and Uncle Sid would drive down for a visit. The next day.
As luck would have it, Mom didn’t happen to have the fixings for a meal for eight on hand.
She called Mrs. Schubert, who lived nearby and who owned, along with her husband, the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Mrs. Schubert went to the store and gathered up what she thought Mom needed for a meal for the in-laws –- a meal that included roast beef, blueberry congealed salad, a bean salad and biscuits -- and had her son in law, Randy Broadway, bring it over.
Mom asked her about the best way to prepare a roast and, rather than try to explain it, Mrs. Schubert insisted on fixing it for her. She brought the roast and gravy to our house early the next morning. Mom learned later that she had gotten up at 2:00 in the morning to put that roast on for her.
It was a very good roast, and to this day Mom prepares her roast the same way. Her number one rule is to always start with a good cut of meat. Mom uses a sirloin tip roast beef, as Mrs. Schubert suggested.
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Sunday Roast
3-pound sirloin tip roast beef
1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place the roast on a large sheet
of wide heavy-duty aluminum foil. Sprinkle with the dry soup mix
and pour the Cream of Mushroom soup on top. Seal foil and place
in a heavy pan, such as a black iron skillet.
Roast for 1 hour. Reduce temperature to 200 degrees and cook
an additional 3 1/2 to 4 hours.
I don’t know if this kind of thing is limited to just the South. I doubt it. But I wonder if kindnesses such as these aren’t more common in small towns. Could you imagine calling up the manager of the local Super Wal-Mart at home and discussing a menu for the in-laws? Much less his offering to run down to the store and get what you need and bring it to you? Much less his getting up in the middle of the night and preparing it for you?
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Fruit Salad
2 chopped apples
1 mandarin orange
2 medium bananas, chopped
1 can chopped pineapple, drained and reserved
½ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Combine fruit in a large bowl.
Heat pineapple and orange juices. Add cornstarch, sugar, and lemon juice.
Boil for one minute or until thick. Pour hot mixture over fruit.
Savory Salad
1 ½ cup sugar
¾ cup vinegar
½ cup oil
1 can French-style green beans, drained
1 can English peas, drained
2 jars chopped pimentos, drained
2 stalks celery, chopped
onion, diced
bell pepper, diced
Combine sugar, vinegar, and oil, stirring well. Set aside.
Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl and pour dressing over it.
That’s it! Refrigerate for several hours or overnight; keeps well.
Quick Biscuits
1 cup self-rising flour
½ cup sweet milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
Preheat oven to 400°. Grease muffin tin. Combine all ingredients and
drop by spoonful in greased pan. Makes 9 nice-sized biscuits.
[The date on these recipe cards is March 31, 1982.]
[Cookbook author Keetha Reed, left]
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