Mama (Louise Dodd) Sent in Her Answers

The Cooking School was a great success. I got a load of e-mails and have decided to send out "Carol's Cooking Quiz" to everyone that came. If they send them back, we will have more food, more local people and more fun in the blog and the Newspaper. How could that not be good?

I had to send the first one to my mother, Louise Dodd. Here are a few of her answers. I will post more tomorrow. If you see a comment in bold that is me "talking."

Write a short 3 sentence biography of yourself? I am a food columnist for the Courier Herald and also the mother of one son, Bill and the Porters (including four adorable grandsons) who are co-owners of the paper with Griffin Lovett. I am the author of a cookbook, “Eating from the White House to the Jail House” and have eaten a lot more places too. Collecting cookbooks is one of my hobbies along with duplicate bridge.

What and where is the best food you have ever eaten? My favorite meal is fried doves, long-cooked grits and homegrown, sliced tomatoes. Carl Gillis used to be the master of this meal.

What tricks do you use to ease clean up? I clean as I cook and never let things get out of control.

What is your favorite seasonal produce and how do you use it? I’m sitting here tossing a coin to see if it’s homegrown tomatoes or fresh peaches. O.K. tomatoes. I like a tomato sandwich on white bread with mayonnaise on one slice of the bread and Durkees dressing on the other. That’s hard to beat with a big glass of ice cold milk.

What passed-down family recipe is your favorite? Share it.
This old, old recipe is said to have been brought to Georgia by my forebears, the Salzburgers, who settled in Georgia near Savannah the year after Oglethorpe settled in 1733. I really don’t think they had Crisco but maybe they used lard. This is delicious and easy and I make it all the time.
Kogelhopf
1 1/2 packages dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1 tablespoon Crisco
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup water
3/4 cup evaporated milk
4 1/2 cups plain flour plus 2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cups raisins
Mix together yeast and 1/4 cup warm water. In a large mixing bowl, put Crisco, salt, sugar, 1 3/4 cups water and milk. Add yeast mixture and mix well. Add 4 1/2 cups flour and blend in well. Cover bowl with tea towel and let dough rise in warm place for 2 hours. Add 2 cups flour and raisins. Mix well. Grease 2 loaf pans and divide dough into them. Brush tops with melted butter. Let rise about 45 minutes. Bake at 325º for 25 to 30 minutes.

Mama is a great cook, but I can't believe she shared this recipe. If I didn't love all my blog readers so much I would have never been able to let her share this Raisin Bread recipe on the internet. If you toast it with a little butter, I promise you it will be the best thing you have ever eaten. It is the Salzburger Bread and it is truly our family favorite! Come back tomorrow for more Louise Dodd Answers!

Calling all Cooks

I just noticed that from that last post it appears you would be writing and cooking with Kim Cattrall- sorry it is just me- Carol Porter, but I hope this next post makes it up to you.
What follows is the e-mail I sent out today to the first ten names I drew from the Taste of Home Cooking School spinning bin. Not all had e-mail addresses, but the ten that did got the following e-mail from me. If you are foodie enough to read this blog, I open up the letter to you also. Read it and then cut and paste the questions into an e-mail. Answer the ones you want and send me the answers to cporter@courier-herald.com. Just read it-You'll get it. Bonne ecrit! ( I am sure that is poor French, but good writing!!!)

Dear Food Lovers,
This e-mail is from Carol Dodd Porter. I am the General Manager and one of the owners of Your Courier Herald in Dublin, Georgia. First of all, a big thank you for coming to our cooking school. I hope you all had as much fun as I did!
Today I drew ten e-mail addresses from the pile of yellow slips of paper that were turned in from Your Courier Herald Taste of Home Cooking School. Your name was one of the ten drawn. I think I was supposed to ask you to subscribe, but I had a better idea. Why not do an e-mail Question and Answer Interview on local cooking lifestyles? This way we get to keep having cooking fun all year and we will have more local cooking articles in the newspaper.

And if you complete these answers you will be added to a drawing for $100 and your photo and recipes could be featured in our next year’s cooking special section. If this works, out I will also publish them in the newspaper!

As I get your answers, I will put them on my new cooking blog. The blog is a way for our community to share cooking ideas. To find it ( I just started it today) go to www.courier-herald.com and click on Your Courier Herald Cooks. Of course there will be no interviews up yet as you are the first ten I have drawn. ( I am sending my mother, Louise Dodd, one also.)
I plan for this to work in much the same way as we conduct the Outdoor Interviews with the Sportsmen in our area that we run in Wednesday’s edition of the newspaper.
If you want, please answer the following questions and send them back to me. You can hit the reply button and type your answers in under each question. You don’t have to answer them all if they don’t apply to you, but I do need you to include at least two recipes.
If you have any questions I will be glad to answer them. You can even call me if you need, at 272-5522. Thank you so much again for coming to the cooking school and I hope to be reading your answers soon. I know Laurens County is full of terrific cooks!!!

Sincerely,
Carol Porter




Answer at least two of the first six questions. (Two recipes at least)!

1. What is your favorite recipe? Share it.
2. Which dish do you always get raves over? Share it.
3. What is your favorite cookbook and why? Share a recipe from it.
4. Can you imitate a restaurant dish? If so, share the recipe.
5. Call a good friend. Who is she and what is her favorite recipe? Share it.
6. What passed-down family recipe is your favorite? Share it.

Then answer at least 8 or more of the rest (and always answer #20.)

1. What cook taught you the most about cooking and give an example?
2. Who is your favorite media food star and why?
3. What is your biggest time saver in the kitchen?
4. What is your favorite comfort food?
5. If you eat at a restaurant, what do you order?
6. If you are having a party what do you always cook?
7. What was the first thing you ever cooked?
8. Do you cook all at once or work ahead? Give an example.
9. What is your favorite short-cut from the grocery store?
10. What store-bought item do you use that is closest to homemade?
11. What is your family's favorite home-cooked dish?
12. What is your biggest extravagance at the grocery store?
13. What is your favorite seasonal produce and how do you use it?
14. What recipe do you make low-cal that still tastes good?
15. What ingredient do you love to use the most?
16. What is your favorite cooking gadget? Why?
17. What and where is the best food you have ever eaten?
18. What tricks do you use to ease clean up?
19. If you cook do you also clean up? If not you, who?
20. Write a short 3 sentence biography of yourself?

Thank you for answering and send them on to me at cporter@courier-herald.com or call if you have any problems or questions at 478-272-5522. Thanks again, Carol Porter

Write and Cook with Me

NEW YORK (AP) — After reprising her role as the ‘‘Sex and the City’’ seductress for the big screen, Kim Cattrall plans to heat up the food scene this summer.
Cattrall will host this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards, a ceremony in New York to honor the nation’s top chefs, restaurants and food media with what often are referred to as the Oscars of the food world.

* * *

If they are the Oscars of the food world, Your Courier Herald Cooks are the Klugmans. Their names may be unknown, but their food is just as good!!!!
(Klugmans? It is based on The Odd Couple, a story about Felix Ungar, a neat doctor, and his roommate Oscar Madison, a messy sportswriter -in real life, Jack Klugman.)
For every famous foodie media star to receive a Beard Award, there are thousands of unknown cooks, cooking not for the thrill of recognition, but for the thrill of pleasing those they love. Those are the cooks of Your Courier Herald. In this blog and in the printed edition of Your Courier Herald, I will be featuring Your Courier Herald Cooks. Without documented credentials or worldwide fanfare, these local cooks will share tips, secrets and yes, recipes with our dear readers.
If you like to cook, wish you did, or just like food, stay tuned to this blog as I bring you the best “unknown” cooks to ever fry a chicken. You can comment on their cooking style, add a key ingredient or just share a story about a memorable meal. I am drawing e-mails from the list I received If you know a local cook that you feel has something to share please send us their e-mail and we just might add them to our list of Klugmans.