In my last post, I wrote that I was going to do some research on comparing Mrs. Wilkes' Macaroni and Cheese to other recipes to see the differences, since I think her version had a typo with milk being 3 cups. I spent 20 minutes looking for a recipe online that was simliar to her version and guess who had it? Paula Deen. It has also been recommended to me that I also look to Paula to learn to cook southern food. But on my visit to Savannah I dined at both ladies restaurants and it was a clear choice that Mrs. Wilkes' had the better food. So that is why I chose her cookbook and made the commitment. However, it is also become obvious that these cookbooks I am using have typos or missing instructions. I am going to make a focused effort to call down to Mrs. Wilkes' and see if I can get some help from them. If not, then I am going to also compare other recipes to verify that I am using the correct amounts in the recipes.
Back to the recipe comparision. Here's the recipe for Paula Deen's Macaroni and Cheese:
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked elbow macaroni, drained
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Once you have the macaroni cooked and drained, place in a large bowl and while still hot and add the cheddar. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and add to the macaroni mixture. Pour macaroni mixture into a casserole dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes. Top with additional cheese if desired.
In comparison, Mrs. Wilkes' had 2 cups of elbow macaroni, cheese was the same, 4 eggs beaten, no sour cream, 1/2 cup of butter, salt was the same and 3 cups of milk. Both recipes cooked for the same temperature and time. I think this shows that the 3 cups of milk was clearly the issue in the dish not being right. So I'm going to say that I solved the issue of Mrs. Wilkes' version not turning out and later, will make Paula's version to settle it once and for all.
Dad and Mom also came over on Thursday to pick up some food. As I wrote in my last post, my Dad was feeling a little left out that he wasn't able to get any of my cooking. It makes it difficult when he is an hour and a half away. But I found out he was coming to town to visit my Mom and his sister and he wanted o stop and see Jacob too. I told him that I would give him some food to take and sample but he had to give me a report on what he thought of the food. He agreed. When he stopped by, he dropped off Aunt Doris's clean containers from my last trip and left with his own goody bag of my food to try.
Now I am up to Thursday evening where I was planning on doing quite a bit of cooking. Unfortunately, work kept me so busy that I wasn't done until 6:30 p.m. I was so tired from the day, I told Tom that we would just have leftovers instead of me preparing anything. And that is what we did.
Friday morning, I am at the office and I get a call from my Dad. He wanted to give me a review of what he tried. He told me that the cheese balls were good and that he ate them first. Next he tried the kraut and frankfurters. He told me that he had never had noodles mixed in but he loved it because it took out the sourness of the kraut. He said it was the best he has ever had and when he makes it in the future, he will add noodles. He still needs to sample the seafood casserole and when he does, I'll let you know what he thought of it.
Once I got home from work, it was time to put some dinner together for Tom and I. Here's is what I had on the menu:
Meatloaf
Potatoes in Cream Sauce
Cream Sauce
Pecan Pie
I started working on the Meatloaf first. While I was assembling the ingredients, I asked Tom if he would peel and cut up the potatoes for the Potatoes in Cream Sauce. I used the 2001 cookbook and it said that "This comfort food can be found on the menu every Wednesday." The only unusual ingredients I found was the 2 cups of corn flakes crushed and a can of cream of mushroom soup. It also called for eggs, onion, green pepper, salt, milk and soy sauce. In the directions it said that the secret is to mix well but lightly. Do not pack.
Well I did that and I put the Meatloaf into a loaf pan versus putting it on a platter type baking dish. It was a mistake to put it in a loaf pan. It was a huge pain to get out of the pan and I let it rest for 10 minutes. It wouldn't lift out because it was so moist that it was breaking up. So I had to dump it out onto my serving tray. Here's a photo of the Meatloaf in the pan as I feared it I took a photo of it dumped onto the platter, it would not look good.
Tom got the potoatoes peeled and cut and on the stove and they were cooking. I put out the rest of the ingredients for the Potatoes in Cream Sauce. It called for 2 tbsp. of butter and flour, 2 cups of milk with 4 cups of potatoes. I followed the instructions and it did not thicken up. Again I think there was too much milk in the recipe. In comparing other recipes they all called for less milk. Once I put them into the serving bowl, I added cheddar cheese on top. Here's the photo:
Finally, I had to make the Pecan Pie and get that into the oven. I have made plenty of Pecan Pies in my day. Especially when I had to bake them up for various fund raisers that were done for my former Mom's group, M.O.S.T. I have always used the recipe on the back of Karo Syrup and it was perfect pie every time. Mrs. Wilkes recipe was different with less sugar 1/2 cup, more butter 3 tbsp and only a cup of pecans versus 1 1/2 cups on the Karo recipe. I followed Mrs. Wilkes' and the pie looked good when it came out of the oven:
Now let's get to the taste testing. Tom and I first tasted the Meatloaf. I was curious to try it with the corn flakes in it. It really tasted great! Tom said it was the best meatloaf he has ever had. It just was moist and crumbly. It didn't want to hold its shape. Tom called it "Sloppy Joe Meatloaf". When I tasted it, I was surprised at how good it tasted.
The Potatoes in Cream Sauce didn't thicken up so well. It tasted OK but I was disappointed in the texture. Tom liked them too. We also had a salad and after cleaning up the kitchen we cut into the Pecan Pie and served it with whipped cream. The pie didn't hold it's shape, but again it tasted good. But in my humble opinion the Karo Pecan Pie is a better recipe and better tasting pie.
All the left overs were put away and I checked in with my Aunt Doris and told her that I would be stopping by on Saturday to bring her some more southern cooking fo her to taste test for me.
Saturday was a day of running errands and no cooking was done. Again we had left overs but we also had dinner at Steak and Shake so Jacob could wait on us. We also stopped over at Aunt Doris and I took her quite a bit of goodies to share with her and she was feeling better after having Tonsilitis. At the end of the day Tom and I went to the store to get groceries as we are having Ron and Kathy over for dinner tomorrow. I'll be working on some additional recipes to serve up with the Barbecue Pork. I'm excited to continue to have different folks sample the food and give me their opinion.
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