Author: Jane Simon Ammeson

When Southern Women Cook: 300 Recipes from Every Corner of the American South, with Stories About the Women Who Feed Us, with a foreword by Toni Tipton-Martin,  and  edited by Morgan Bolling, tells the stories of those who’ve made an impact on the cuisine and culture throughout history, and shines light on the torchbearers innovating it today. Interwoven with narratives from 70 diverse Southern women contributors, the recipes—from Texas barbecue to Gullah Geechee rice dishes to treasured hometown desserts—present the intricate patchwork quilt that is Southern cooking.

TONI TIPTON-MARTIN is Editor in Chief of Cook’s Country, a food and nutrition journalist, and the James Beard Award– winning author of Jubilee; Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice; and The Jemima Code. MORGAN BOLLING is Executive Editor of Creative Content for Cook’s Country, a cast member of the Cook’s Country TV show, and a passionate Southern woman.

MORGAN BOLLING is Executive Editor of Creative Content for Cook’s Country, a cast member of the Cook’s Country TV show, and a passionate Southern woman.

Southern-Style Baby Lima Beans

Serves 4 to 6 

Total Time: 1¼ hours

The beauty of this recipe is in its simplicity: Frozen baby lima beans are cooked low and slow, seasoned with a few strips of bacon and wedges of onion in the pot. The resulting beans and their smoky, thick, peppery broth are complex and deeply comforting. Stirring occasionally as the beans cook emulsifies the bacon fat into the broth, giving it a silky texture. This dish is great as a side or as a main course served over white rice. Do not thaw the baby lima beans before cooking.

• 4 slices bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1½ pounds frozen baby lima beans
• 1¼ cups water
• 1 onion, halved
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• ¾ teaspoon table salt

Cook bacon in large saucepan over medium heat until lightly browned and fat has rendered, 7 to 10 minutes. Add broth, lima beans, water, onion, pepper, and salt. Bring to boil over high heat.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until beans just begin to break down and liquid is thickened, about 1 hour (liquid will continue to thicken as it sits). Discard onion. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Peruvian Imports

Lima beans, which originated in Guatemala, have been cultivated in Lima, Peru, for centuries—hence the name—and are a staple food there. By the 1500s, what we now call Peru had found trading partners throughout South, Central, and North America and also in Europe. As the beans were introduced to North America, they were adapted into regional recipes. Many versions of Native American succotash use this large, nutritious bean. Lima beans remain especially popular in the dishes of the American South. Some cooks use the terms “lima beans” and “butter beans” interchangeably, as the two beans come from the same plant. But other cooks know butter beans as the more mature larger white beans that are typically sold dried or canned, and baby lima beans as the smaller, greener beans that are typically sold frozen or canned.

Pat-in-the-Pan Buttermilk Biscuits

Makes 9 biscuits

When chef Virginia Willis did a demonstration at Cook’s Country in August 2018, the Southern cookbook queen left us with characteristically beautiful words: “Biscuits are like people; they are better when they rise together.” More than poetry, though, this sentiment referred to her preferred technique of baking biscuits touching each other on a baking sheet so they physically push each other up in the oven for a higher rise. Her demo inspired our own recipe for pat-in-the-pan biscuits. Following Willis’s lead, we use low-protein cake flour for tenderness, and baking powder and baking soda for lightness and lift. We pinch bits of cold butter into these dry ingredients; the butter pieces melt in the dough during baking, producing steam that creates a fluffy interior crumb.

We follow a tried-and-true Southern method for patting biscuit dough in a pan and scoring it so these biscuits can also rise together. We developed this recipe using Softasilk cake flour and a metal baking pan. This recipe can easily be doubled to yield 15 biscuits: Use a 13 by 9-inch baking pan and extend the baking time by about 15 minutes.

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 4 cups (16 ounces) cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons table salt
• 2 cups buttermilk, chilled

Cut 10 tablespoons butter into ½-inch pieces and freeze until chilled, about 15 minutes. Let 1 tablespoon butter sit at room temperature to soften. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Grease 8-inch square baking pan with remaining 1 tablespoon butter.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in bowl. Add chilled butter to flour mixture and smash butter between your fingertips into pea-size pieces. Gently stir in buttermilk until no dry pockets of flour remain. Using rubber spatula, transfer dough to prepared pan.

Lightly sprinkle extra flour evenly over dough to prevent sticking. Using your floured hands, pat dough into even layer and into corners of pan. Using bench scraper sprayed with vegetable oil spray, cut dough into 9 equal squares (2 cuts by 2 cuts), but do not separate. Bake until golden brown on top, about 30 minutes.

Let biscuits cool in pan for 5 minutes. Using thin metal spatula, slide biscuits onto wire rack. Brush tops with softened butter. Let cool for 10 minutes. Pull biscuits apart at cuts and serve warm.

Southern Chicken Spaghetti

Serves 8

Total Time: 1¾ hours, plus 15 minutes cooling

Lisa Fain, known as the Homesick Texan, defines Tex-Mex chicken spaghetti as “baked pasta with chicken and chile con queso” on her website. Typically this dish features shredded chicken, cheese, and some mix of mushrooms, peppers, and onions (and sometimes canned Ro-Tel tomatoes) intertwined in baked spaghetti.

     According to Fain’s research, the earliest recorded recipe dates back to 1931. It was published in the Amarillo Daily News and featured a simple combination of chicken, cheese, and noodles, seasoned with a liberal dose of chili powder. The recipe evolved to include canned cream of mushroom soup and Velveeta, products of the convenience-food boom of the 1920s and 1930s that underscored the era’s casserole culture.

     But this casserole’s history isn’t limited to Texas. New York Times food editor and restaurant critic Craig Claiborne noted his mother’s influence on his version of the dish—a childhood favorite—in his 1987 book, Craig Claiborne’s Southern Cooking. Claiborne speculated about its origins and compared the rich flavors of the dish to those of an authentic Italian ragù bolognese, due to its creamy tomato base and savory ground meat. His mother, Mary Kathleen Craig Claiborne, was “famous for it up and down the Mississippi Delta,” he said.

     We keep chicken spaghetti easy by starting with a rotisserie chicken. Breaking the spaghetti in half makes the dish easier to serve and eat. A creamy sauce made with butter, flour, chicken broth, and half-and-half is flavored with mushrooms and other vegetables. A combination of American and cheddar cheeses gives this pasta bake an ultra creamy consistency with plenty of cheese flavor. For a spicier dish, use the larger amount of cayenne pepper. Use Dutch oven that holds 6 quarts or more.

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1½ teaspoons table salt, plus salt for cooking pasta
• 8  ounces deli American cheese, shredded (2 cups)
• 4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (1 cup)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 12 ounces white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced ¼ inch thick
• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups half-and-half
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼-½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven. Loosely wrap half of pasta in dish towel, then press bundle against corner of counter to break pasta in half; repeat with remaining pasta. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain pasta and rinse thoroughly under cold running water; set aside. Clean and dry pot.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine American cheese and cheddar in bowl; set aside. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in now-empty pot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion and cook until softened and liquid has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer vegetables to separate bowl and set aside.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in again-empty pot over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in broth, half-and-half, pepper, cayenne, and salt, scraping up any browned bits and smoothing out any lumps. Bring to simmer and cook until sauce is thickened, 6 to 8 minutes.

Off heat, whisk 2 cups cheese mixture into sauce until smooth. Stir in spaghetti, vegetables, and shredded chicken until well combined.

Transfer mixture to 13 by 9-inch baking dish, spread into even layer, and cover tightly with greased aluminum foil. Bake until sauce is bubbling around edges, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheese mixture over top, and bake, uncovered, until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Recipes courtesy of America’s Test Kitchen. All rights reserved.

Photography by Steve Klise.