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Tempting. Higgins' dog contributed less-than-helpful efforts toward the finished product. |
Though I was taught never to read at the table, I broke the rule with author Fred W. Sauceman, and his latest book on mountain dining, “The Place Setting.” It reads almost like an adventure novel, providing me an interesting and often nostalgic tour into some of the storied though lesser-known restaurants and recipes along the Blue Ridge.
It was all in there – including the great barbecue to be had at Ridgewood Barbecue in Bluff City, Tenn., and why I’d never get that recipe; a discussion on the possible role of deviled eggs in strengthening race relations.
And, of course, the recipes. One from Janette Carter, late of the famous musical Carter Family. And one that’s my own personal favorite, passed down to Fred Sauceman’s wife, Jill, by her grandmother – “Grandma Nevada’s Apple Stack Cake.”
Jill Sauceman was kind enough to talk me through the trials of my very first bake-from-scratch experience. She listened (perhaps laughed) as I whined about the mess my navy blue shirt had become while mixing the
flour, offering that “White Lily” flour had been held as the best for baking by her grandmother. Not of course that it mattered to my shirt or to our dog, now playing in the spilled flour on my kitchen floor.
Kidding aside, the finished cake tasted of the hidden richness of simpler times on a country porch, going well with either strong coffee or sassafras
tea. I certainly didn’t leave the
table hungry.
“The Place Setting,” Fred Sauceman, copyright 2006, Mercer University Press,
Macon, Ga. 478/301-2880,
www.mupress.org.
