Columbia, South Carolina
How It All Started
Mary Martha Greene has spent a lifetime falling in love with the experiences that surround her recipes. Each mouthwatering recipe in her book is drenched in Southern culture and heritage. Mary writes in her book, "As long as your story is being told, and your recipes are being passed down, you never really die".
A family legacy is most remembered through shared experience in the kitchen or around a dining table. The memory or just a smell of your grandmother's cooking, the sounds of the dishes being set on the table, the laughter after accidental messes are made. It's a feeling, a weight that carries the emotions of a time long past. Of people you may have lost, and memories that your family can't afford to forget.
Mary Greene's book The Cheese Biscuit Queen Tells All shares the history and culture of Southern hospitality to it's readers. So even if you aren't a native to the area, you're invited to join in with the delicious recipes and historical depiction of what it is like to be blessed to be raised in the South. Follow along with the charm and rich values of past generations found within this book.
This isn't your average cook book! It is a peek behind the curtain of Southern life. As you get lost in the stories - rich with history and peppered with hilarity - try not to get too distracted that you burn your biscuits!
Champagne Mustard
ingredients
Cook in a double Boiler
Cook in a double Boiler
4 whole large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup dry mustard
½ cup champagne or prosecco vinegar
¼ cup sherry
Cook in a double Boiler
Cook in a double Boiler
Cook in a double Boiler
Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed for 5 minutes. Transfer the contents to a glass double boiler or a heat-proof glass bowl placed on top of a metal saucepan (the mustard and vinegar cannot come into contact with any kind of metal after they are mixed together).
Enjoy!
Cook in a double Boiler
Enjoy!
Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 to 25 minutes, until thickened. Use with ham and other meats, on sandwiches, in salads, and in deviled eggs. Keep refrigerated for several weeks.
Irish Cream Cheesecake
A Beautiful cheesecake for All your Holiday CeleBrations
I meant to post this last week for St. Patrick's Day, but didn't get around to it -- It's so good you can substitute other liqueurs, such as Grand Marnier, Amaretto or Crème de Menthe for a Grasshopper cheesecake for your Easter table! My younger cousins helped make this one disappear.
Crust:
1 Cup (8 whole) Chocolate Graham Crackers
¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely grind graham crackers in food processor. Add butter and blend until combined. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with aluminum foil and reassemble pan. Butter pan or spray with cooking spray. Press crust mixture into bottom of a 9-inch diameter spring-form pan. Bake 8 minutes. Transfer crust to rack to cool. Keep oven at same temperature.
Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 ½ cups sugar
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
½ cup Irish Cream liqueur
¼ cup Cream de Cacao (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sour cream together in a large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and flour. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined. Add vanilla. Add Irish Cream and Crème de Cacao in a steady stream until it is incorporated into cream cheese mixture. Scrape beaters and sides of bowl to loosen any lumps, beat again until they are incorporated into mixture. Pour filling into crust. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees. Bake until center is set, about 50 minutes longer. Cool cake in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Let cool to room temperature, then chill in refrigerator overnight.
Glaze:
½ cup whipping cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon Irish Cream Liqueur
Combine cream and chips in a microwave proof bowl. Heat for 1½ to 2 minutes, depending on the wattage of your microwave. Add Liqueur and stir until smooth and all chips are melted. Remove sides from pan and place cheesecake on a plate or cardboard cake round covered with wax paper. Pour glaze over the top of the cheesecake, spreading with a spatula to cover the top and sides. Refrigerate until set, at least 30 minutes. Trim paper from edges of cake and serve.
Serves 12 to 16.
How to write a Recipe
Tips for Writing and Preserving your Recipes
Format Check list
Title: (Is it Aunt Agnes famous congealed brussels Sprouts?)
Headnote: Do you want to add a little story or other background about the recipe here?
Number of Servings
Ingredients
Heating instructions
Pan preparation
Instructions for making the dish
Cooking/Baking time
Cooling time, if any
Serving suggestions
Storage recommendations.
Any suggestions for reheating or using as leftovers.
Ingredients
Be Thorough.
1. Make sure you list all of the ingredients needed for the recipe.
2. This includes everything from olive oil to salt and pepper. I even list water if it’s mixed into the recipes as opposed to used for boiling. The more details you provide, the more accurate your recipe will be.
Be Organized.
1. List Ingredients in the order that they are going to be used in the directions for the recipe.
2. If adding a group of ingredients at the same time, list them in descending order of quantity. For example, if you were sifting dry ingredients together and had 1 cup flour, ½ teaspoon salt and one teaspoon baking soda, the order would be flour, soda and salt.
3. Break ingredients into sections if there are multiple parts to a recipe, such as a crust and then a filling for a pie.
4. If an ingredient is used more that once in a recipe, include the word “divided” in the list of ingredients. In the instructions, indicate the amount to be added at each step.
Be Specific
1. If you don’t know the amounts of your recipe, get the measuring cups and spoons out and start measuring – as charming as it it to think about your grandma measuring flour with the palm of her hands, everyone’s hand size is different, and your grandchildren may have no idea of what size Grandma’s hand really was.
2. Give hints as to the size of ingredients, ie a medium tomato
3. If the preparation of an ingredient is simple, list that in the ingredients - -ex. 1 cup of chopped pecans, 2 eggs, beaten. Be sure to use hints like thawed, canned, fresh, etc.
4. Clarify if it should be measured before or after it is chopped – 1 cup of pecans, chopped may be a different amount from 1 cup of chopped pecans.
5. Do not use two numerals together. For example, an 8 ounce container of cream cheese should be listed “1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese”
6. If an ingredient begins with a letter, capitalize the letter – ex Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
Be Consistent
1. Begin at the very beginning. Consider all of the steps for the recipe and organize them in a timely manner.
2. How many does the recipe serve?
3. Include time and temperature.
4. Include the size of the cookware and any preparation -- ex. “Grease a 13 x 9 pan”
5. Give clues -- Be as descriptive as possible when explaining something. Golden-brown, translucent, and sweating are examples of visual cues that will help in following the recipe.
6. Give warnings. If something is particularly tricky or dangerous, it’s always nice to tell the user to heed with caution. Instructions such as “Don’t Overbeat”
7. You don’t have to write in complete sentences – be short and concise.
8. Try not to be repetitive. If you tell the user that they need one cup of unsalted butter in the ingredients, no need to tell them to add unsalted butter in the instructions, just tell them to add the butter.
9. Write the instructions in your own words but be consistent. Don’t say “Sift the flour and add to the mixture” in one recipe, and then say “Add the flour after sifting it” in another. Also be consistent in the phrases you use. Don’t assume the potential user has the same level of cooking skills as you do.
10. Spell out tablespoon and teaspoon, they can be easily confused in writing and reading recipes.
11. Make sure if an ingredient is listed in the ingredients list, that it is also listed in the instructions.
12. Separate each step into different paragraphs
13. Double check your steps – use you newly updated recipe to make the dish. (Even better, get a family member to make it with you to enjoy the process.)
14. Include approximate length times for cooking or baking
15. Recruit taste testers – share with family and friends
16. Share any plating instructions, -- any special dishes the family always used for serving, what temperature to serve the dish, any special garnishes.
17. Give instructions on how the store the dish “Benne wafers are highly subject to humidity and need to be stored in an airtight container for two to three days.”
18. Give any directions for using the leftovers to re-make the dish.
