Extra Real Good

Ted's Best Fried Fish Ever & Hush Puppies

This recipe is from my uncle Ted, who usually fries up some fish any time we get together as a family. It's good! 2 pounds of fish should serve about 6 people.

1 box Zatarain's corn flour
1 box Dixie Lily cracker meal
salt and pepper
beer
3 eggs
fish
oil for frying

Cut the fish into chunks, all about the same size. Soak in beer for about 1/2 hour. Fish should be very cold (you may want to add ice). Scramble 3 eggs in a bowl with about 3 tablespoons of water. Put of the box of corn flour in one pan and the rest of the corn flour and the cracker meal in another bag. Sprinkle salt and pepper into the bag, enough of each to cover, and then shake to mix. Dredge 8 to 10 pieces of fish first in the corn flour, then in the beaten egg, then shake in bag. Put pieces in deep fat fryer at 375 degrees farenheit until brown.

For the Hush Puppies:

1 package Dixie Lily hush puppy mix
1 large onion, chopped fine
2 jalepeno peppers (optional)
diced fine and deseeded

Make hush puppy mix according to package directions. Add onion and jalepenos. Drop by spoonful into hot oil, fry golden brown. Try not to burn the crap out of yourself.

You'll want some cocktail sauce also: catsup
prepared horseradish
Worcestershire sauce
lemon
Tabasco sauce

Proportions done to taste: start with catsup, add plenty of horseradish, dabs of everything else, keep adding till its right!

Barbecued Fish

This recipe comes by way of my Aunt Agnes. I made it using tomato paste instead of ketchup (since I didn't have any ketchup in the house), and it was quite delicious. It seems to be a good treatment for fairly cheap fish (I used whiting at $1.80 per pound).

3 or 4 pounds of fish
2 T. chopped onion
2 T. vinear
2 T. brown sugar
3 T. worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato catsup
1 T. fat (Aunt Agnes suggests bacon grease, I went for olive oil)
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 t. salt
dash pepper

Place fish in a shallow greased pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Lightly brown onions in fat and add vinegar, brown sugar, worcestershire, catsup, fat, and lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes or so and pour over fish.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Baste fish with sauce while cooking.

Doughnuts

This was a favorite of my mom and her siblings when they were growing up. You can do so much with a can of biscuits. I used to love making garlic rolls by taking a can of biscuits and smothering them with oil, garlic, and italian seasoning. This doughnut recipe is so simple, you probably already know it, but I love recipes like that.

Can of biscuits
Oil for frying
Powdered sugar

Cut hole in middle of biscuits with spout of a coke bottle or some such. Fry maybe a half-inch of oil. Drain and put in paper sack with some powdered sugar already in it. Shake to coat.

Okra, Corn, and Tomatoes

I know there's a lot of people out there that don't like okra, but just try it. If you like pickles, try pickled okra. If you like fried things, try frying up some okra (bread it first, or course). Or you can try this recipe of my grandmothers. It's very tasty, and it you cook it right, it doesn't have the "sliminess" that people complain about with okra.

1/2 pound sliced fresh okra (can use frozen if absolutely necessary)
1 small onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn or 1 small box of frozen corn (or fresh corn, of course)

Saute okra and onion in olive oil, stirring continually, until some of sliminess is gone. Add tomatoes and corn. Bring it to a boil, don't cook too long (you don't want okra to get too mushy).

Baked Cheese and Garlic Grits

When I was a kid, I used to get teased by my family because I didn't like grits. I believe there was speculation that I wasn't really a southerner. Perhaps they were correct as I seem to be a northerner now. But the funny thing is that now I like grits, even though I only seem to eat them when I head back south.

But even when I hated grits, I still loved cheese grits. Everybody loves cheese grits, and this is a very tasty recipe from my mom.

4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick cooking grits
6 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1-2 cloves garlic
2 eggs beaten

Bring salted water to the boil; stir in grits. Cook grits, stirring frequently, until done. Melt butter. Add minced garlic and saute briefly. Add cheese, butter mixture and milk to hot grits. Stir until cheese melts. Add small amount of hot grits to beaten eggs, stirring well. Stir mixture into remaining grits. Pour into greased 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 325-degrees for 1 hour, or until set.

Creamy Hash Brown Casserole

This casserole will clog your plumbing, but if you love gooey cheese and fat the constipation will be worth it. The recipe is from "Micromedex Favorite Recipes" published by cookbook fundraising giant Walter's Publishing. Micromedex is a medical software company that used to employ one of my friend's mothers.

The casserole is fine with the frozen potatoes, but I'm sure it would be better with fresh. When I made this, it was for a luncheon and I made far too much. I couldn't stomache the leftovers without suffering sever intestinal distress, so I ate them mixed with rice. This actually made them appropriately cheesy rather than absurdly cheesy.

32oz pkg. frozen southern-style hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 lb cubed Velveeta
1 10 oz can cream of chicken (or mushroom) soup
2 c. sour cream (16 oz)
1 c. butter, melted
3 T. onion, chopped
1 t. paprika
2 c. cornflakes, slightly crushed
fresh savory (optional)

In a large bowl, combine hash browns, cheese, soup, and sour cream, 1/2 c. of the butter, and the onion. Spread into greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Combine cornflakes and remaining butter and spread over top. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with savory if desired.

Ice-Box Cake

This recipe is from Man Bait (or How to Snag and Keep Content a Husband) by the Anna Worden Guild of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 1950. So serving up this recipe to you might just be a cheap excuse to let you know that I've read a cookbok titled Man Bait. But for your information mr or mrs smarty-pants, I actually served it at my "Spiral Bound Luncheon" a couple of years ago and it was real good, and easy to make. It will certainly help you snag a man, and since I'm happily married, I suppose it helps you keep content a wife as well.

1 lb graham crackers
1 pkg dates
1 lb marshmallows
1 c. thin cream
1 c. nut meats

Roll crackers. Cut dates and marshmallows and nuts. Combine crackers, dates, marshmallows, and nuts in a large bowl, but keep out one cup of the crackers. Pour cream into this mixture and mix well. Divide mixture in half and shape in two loves, roll in remaining cracker crumbs, let stand 12 hours in ice box. I actually pressed mine into a heart-shaped cake pan and it was just swell. Slice the "cake" and serve with whipped cream.