A southern Christmas

American Visions, Dec-Jan, 1995 by Joanne Harris

We couldn't get Chef Timothy Patridge to don a red suit or even a stocking cap, but when we caught him on a recent Sunday afternoon, fixing dinner for his family, he did consent to tell us about a dream he'd just had--one in which he was visited by the ghosts of Christmases present, past and future.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

"Food teaches you to feel. ... The recipe I'm doing today, for ovenbaked chicken, is one from a very, very good friend of mine who passed away. The fried squash is made from my mother's method. ... Food keeps me in touch not only with my feelings for people I've known and grew up with, it also keeps me in touch with who I am all the time. When I eat, I feel better. When I feed my kids, I want them to get a sense of, `Ooh., this is good.' Then I can say, `Well, that was the way your grandmother fixed it."'

The flavors and aromas of Patridge's youth have influenced the development of his cooking style. His father was a farmer from Fayetteville, Ga., who hunted squirrel, rabbit and possum--all of which showed up on the dinner table, along with fresh garden fruits and vegetables as well as those preserved by his mother or one of his many aunts.

Food preparation is an intimate endeavor for Patridge, who has the traditions of the South embedded in him. His strongest memory of the farm is when he "did" his first hog: he slaughtered it at age 14, with his father overseeing.

"My father and grandfather had to have their redeye gravy when we did the hams. Redeye gravy is when you fry country ham and take it out of the pan, pour coffee in the pan with the drippings, and put a little cayenne pepper in it. It turns red. Some people say that it's `redeye' because it looks like red eyes. A lot of people say that it's traditionally served on Sunday mornings to cure the red eyes from your hangover."

Southern Grits, Country Ham and Redeye Gravy

Serves 3 to 4

Southern Grits

3 to 4 cups water 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. butter 8 oz. stone-ground grits

Bring the water to a boil with the salt and butter. Add the grits. Stir slowly until done, about 20 minutes.

Country Ham and Redeye Gravy

4 to 6 1-oz. slices country ham (not to be confused with sugar-cured ham) 1/2 cup coffee 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper or to taste Southern Grits (above)

While the grits are cooking, place the ham in a cast-iron skillet. over medium heat. Fry the ham until slightly crisp; then remove from the pan. Add the coffee and pepper to the drippings and stir lightly. Return the ham to the skillet and heat thoroughly. Serve the gravy poured over the Southern grits.

CHRISTMAS PAST

With Patridge's grandmother, his seven aunts and uncles and their children, and his family, Christmas gatherings numbered in the 40s or 50s, and each aunt, niece and daughter-in-law was expected to bring a dish: Aunt Ethel's chitlins, Aunt Lily's fruitcake, baked ham, roast hen, fried chicken, sweet potato pie, fresh collard greens, Southern potato salad, ambrosia, grape Kool-aid with lemons in it!

"You ate all day long. If you got up at 12, you could get breakfast; if you got up at 8, you had breakfast. That was the one day the kids could eat anything they wanted to and nobody ever stopped them. You actually could let all your problems go away at Christmas. Everybody was always happy and loving. it was a symbol of the time for us to, as my grandmother said, `put your burdens down and come on home.'

"A Southern Christmas, from my perspective, was always that culmination of the hard work for the year. It wasn't so much religious, but it was about family getting together. When you were black, it wasn't about a whole wide spectrum of things. It was about a very, very closely knit Christmas. You always had your family.

"My grandmother had peach trees in the front yard, and she would pick, peel and dry the peaches, and then at Christmastime we'd always have dried-peach pies, fried pies. I have set the ingredients to measurements, although my grandmother didn't use any at all. The recipe was never written down."

Grandma's Fried Peach Pies

Yield: 8 to 10 pies

Peach Filling

3/4 cup sugar 1 cup water 1/4 tsp. salt 1 tsp. butter 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 3 cups dried peaches

Mix the sugar, water, salt, butter and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a slow boil, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Add the peaches, stirring slowly until they become slightly plump. (The filling should be slightly moist.) Taste and add sugar, if needed. Set aside to cool.

Pie Crust

4 cups plain flour 1 tsp. salt 2 tbsps. sugar 1 cup sugar 1/2 to 2/3 cup lard (butter or shortening may be substituted) Ice water as needed Peach Filling (above) 1 egg mixed with 1/2 cup water 2 cups oil for frying

Blend the [illegble] ingredients. Add half of the lard. Mix well with a fork or a pastry blender. Add more lard, as needed, in small amounts until the mixture is crumbly. Add the ice water until the mixture forrns a ball. (Mixing with your hands works well at this point.) Fold and knead the dough several times, then form it into a ball and refrigerate for at least one hour.