A La Beer: Southern Comfort by DRAFT Staff

Magazines » July/August 2009 » A La Beer: Southern Comfort

A La Beer: Southern Comfort

There’s no mistaking Southern comfort food when you’ve bellied up to a table. Traditionally, this cuisine’s found in heaping, rib-sticking mounds with multiple sides of richly prepared, farm-fresh vegetables. Through deep-frying and oven baking, Southern cuisine is as integral to the story of the South as the history that made it, but not so steeped in the past that it’s forgotten today. From a Hot-lanta boundary-pusher’s breakfast treat to a Nashville native’s locally grown lunch to D.C. dinner with a twang, these three square meals prove that the taste of the South is alive and well.

BREAKFAST
Chef: Chip Ulbrich
Sometimes referred to as the “Capital of the South,” Atlanta hosts the headquarters of Coca-Cola, Home Depot, UPS and, the folks at South City Kitchen might argue, Southern cuisine. If you’re wandering the streets of ATL hankering for authentic stone-ground grits, fried green tomatoes or collard greens, the Kitchen’s executive chef Chip Ulbrich is the man to find. Ulbrich, who has guest-chefed a dinner at the James Beard House, not only dishes authentic Southern and low-country food, but works to push these traditional styles into the modern age: grilled mahi mahi sits alongside andouille sausage and dirty rice, while traditional dumplings come stuffed with herbed cheddar. Here, Ulbrich fries up a breakfast treat that matches two quintessentially Southern favorites: doughnuts and Terrapin Beer.

South City Kitchen
1144 Crescent Ave, Atlanta
www.southcitykitchen.com

Krispy Kreme-Style Doughnuts with Terrapin Imperial Pilsner Glaze
Makes 12 to 14

Doughnuts:
1⁄4 cup flat Terrapin All-American Imperial Pilsner
5 cups all-purpose flour
11⁄2 cups lukewarm milk, scalded, then cooled
1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄3 cup shortening
2 1⁄4-ounce packages yeast
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
canola oil for frying

Imperial Pilsner Glaze:
4 to 6 tablespoons warm Terrapin All-
American Imperial Pilsner
2 cups powdered sugar
1⁄3 cup butter
11⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Doughnuts:
• Dissolve yeast in warm water in a 21⁄2-quart bowl. Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour. Beat at low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Then beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Stir in remaining flour until smooth. Cover and let rise until doubled, 50 to 60 minutes. Dough is ready if an indentation remains when dough is touched.
• Turn dough onto a floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour. With a floured rolling pin, gently roll dough 1⁄2-inch thick. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter and place doughnuts on a large tray; cover and let rise until doubled, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Slide doughnuts into hot oil with a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts as they rise to the surface. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Remove carefully from oil, being careful not to prick the doughnuts, and drain.
• Dip doughnuts into creamy glaze and let set on a rack until cool.

Imperial Pilsner Glaze:
• Heat butter until melted, then remove from heat.
• Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
• Stir in beer, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.

LUNCH
CHEF: Martha Stamps
Southern cuisine calls for local produce, not processed goods, and chef Martha Stamps keeps her kitchen au naturale by picking veggies like purple okra, heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn and rainbow chard from The Harding Garden, an urban farm attached to the restaurant. With a focus on freshness, Stamps dishes out staples like buttermilk fried chicken and Smoky Mountain trout with traditional sides like squash casserole, braised spicy kale and warm black-eyed pea salad. For DRAFT, Stamps took a crack at lunch by providing a down-home take on the classic BLT, complete with creamy, homemade mayonnaise and slices of Yazoo Dos Perros beer bread, in honor of the local Nashville brewery.

Martha’s at the Plantation
5025 Harding Rd., Bellemeade, Tenn.
www.marthasattheplantation.com

Summer BLT
Makes 2 sandwiches

Summer BLT:
4 slices Yazoo Dos Perros beer bread, lightly
grilled or toasted
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced
6 slices applewood bacon, crisply cooked
ripe avocado, sliced
fresh green leaf lettuce
fresh basil leaves
homemade mayonnaise, to taste
kosher salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste

Yazoo Dos Perros Beer Bread:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
12 ounces Yazoo Dos Perros

Homemade mayonnaise:
3 egg yolks
11⁄2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
1⁄2 teaspoon white pepper
1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
pinch cayenne pepper
juice of 2 lemons

Yazoo Pale Ale Beer Bread:
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cheddar in a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir in beer and mix until just combined (batter will be thick).
• Spread mix in a greased 8-inch loaf pan.
Bake until brown and hollow-sounding when thumped, about 45 minutes.
• Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool 10 more minutes.
• Slice bread 1⁄2-inch thick; grill or toast when
making this sandwich.

BLT with homemade mayonnaise:
• Place all ingredients except oil in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Turn on and slowly pour in oil; the mixture will emulsify and thicken. Adjust seasoning to taste.
• Slather mayonnaise on beer bread and assemble sandwich, layering bacon, lettuce, tomato, basil and avocado. Salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
• Refrigerate mayonnaise for up to 1 month.

DINNER
CHEF: Jim Foss
Popular among Washington insiders, as well as those outside the proverbial -- and actual -- Beltway, for more than 15 years Georgia Brown’s has provided much-needed Southern comfort to a city known for its raw nerves. Boasting fried chicken that rivals your grandma’s and ingredients flown in from the Deep South, executive chef Jim Foss tailors the taste of the South to fit political power lunches or family-centric brunches. Get your dinner plate ready; Foss prepared a beery take on Southern venison, complete with juniper berries, caramelized shallots and a parsnip purée.

Georgia Brown’s
950 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. www.gbrowns.com

Herb Crusted Dogfish Ale-Brined Venison Rack with Juniper and Stout Glacé de Viande, Caramelized Shallots and Parsnip Purée
Serves 4

Venison and brine:
1 8-rib venison rack
2 quarts cold water
1⁄2 cup Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
1⁄4 cup kosher salt
1⁄4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon juniper berries
2 bay leaves

Herb Crust:
1⁄4 cup breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons fresh mint, minced
3 tablespoons parsley, minced
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon each salt and pepper
1 teaspoon garlic, minced

Shallots:
12 shallots, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Sauce:
2 cups glacé de viande
1 cup Guinness Draught
1 tablespoon juniper berries, crushed
salt and pepper to taste
Parsnip Purée:
2 pounds parsnips, peeled and diced large
1⁄2 cup cream
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg, ground

Venison, Shallots and Parsnip Purée:
• Combine all ingredients except venison in a bowl and allow salt to dissolve. Add venison rack to liquid; let brine at least
12 hours. Once fully brined, rinse with cold water and pat dry.
• Mix all ingredients for the herb crust well, then pack crust onto the rack’s meaty top portion from end to end. Place on a baking sheet and roast at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, or until medium rare (125 degrees internally).
• Meanwhile, make the parsnip purée, shallots and sauce. For the parsnips, place diced parsnips in a pot with salt and cover with water; cook until very tender. Strain parsnips and pass them through a food mill. Combine with remaining ingredients and keep warm until ready to serve.
• For the shallots, combine all ingredients in a baking dish and roast at 400 degrees for
15 minutes or until caramelized.
• To make the sauce, toast juniper berries lightly in a saucepan; add Guinness and reduce by half. Add glacé and reduce by about a third. Season with salt and pepper.
• Remove venison and set aside for 15 minutes. Once venison has rested, carve in two-bone portions. Mound parsnip purée in the center of each plate and spoon sauce around purée. Lean venison chop onto purée and garnish with three shallots and fresh herbs.