Corn

Mama’s spaghetti and tuna casserole was delicious. We don’t want to give anyone the idea that it wasn’t by calling this Not-Your-Mama’s. But this casserole, full of creamed corn, olives, and cheese and topped with addictively crunchy fried onions, is really better than it has any right to be. Sorry, Mama!

Bobby loves his goulash. It’s still the dish he begs Mama to make for him, even though he can have this easier, leaner version ready for himself when he gets home whenever he likes. Mama often serves her goulash the next day to let the flavors marry; cooking it in a crockpot in a single day achieves the same delicious effect.

If you’ve ever had Frito pie down South, then you know where we’re coming from here. This creamy turkey casserole, topped with a crispy layer of melted cheese and crushed corn chips, is the kind of thing that can make grown men cry on Super Bowl Sunday. Bobby loves to serve this with a side of crunchy, garlicky broccoli.

Can you guess how many turkey-bean burgers we ate when we were growing up? Zero! We’re big beef burger fans and we could eat a burger every few nights if we let ourselves. So every now and then, we lighten things up with turkey and black beans in this Mexican-inspired twist on a traditional burger. It’s about as healthy a burger as you could ask for, and it’s a real crowd-pleaser, too—even little Jack likes it! And since we usually serve this burger without the bun, we like to make our corn bread to go with it.

When I host cooking school weekends at my place, I often do a Lowcountry Boil on Friday nights for my usual “meet and greet” session, where the folks attending can get to know one another—and me—a little bit. This is a specialty of the Lowcountry areas like Charleston and Savannah, where the people live near the water and have access to plenty of fresh shrimp. But of course you don’t need to live near the water to enjoy it. The traditional way to serve this is to basically dump it—spread it, if you will—across a large picnic table that has been covered with newspaper. You may want to fancy up the serving situation, but it’s fine to keep it casual, too. You can just tell your guests that’s how they do it down South.

When I make this stew, an extremely old-fashioned and indigenous example of the “poor people” food that the South was built on, I feel like I’m cooking a piece of my own history. The origins of this piquant, thin stew, which is loaded with meat and vegetables, are hotly disputed between Brunswick, Georgia, and Brunswick County, Virginia (I’m a Georgia product myself, so you know which side I’m on). I always make this for a crowd. A big crowd. Like those at my cooking school, which typically draws more than fifty students. I have my own professional-size meat grinder, and what I often do is grind the onions and potatoes together with the pork and brisket. You don’t need to do that at home; you can just mix them together. And feel free to cut this recipe in half (or quarters, whatever you need), but I suggest you make it for your next snow day, and bake up some cornbread to go with it—feed the whole block and you’ll have friends for life, trust me.

Here’s a simple Japanese way with cooked rice that Hiroko Shimbo showed me when I asked her one day what she would do with leftover rice. It’s called sushi salad because it’s made with sushi rice. As Hiroko points out so persuasively in her book The Sushi Experience, it’s the rice that makes it sushi, not all the various garnishes or tasty bits that are wrapped—or, in this case, tossed—in the seasoned rice. This is one of those dishes that are subject to variations depending on the season, but it’s hard to improve on the following intoxicatingly delicious summer version.

I concocted these pancakes one night when I happened to have an ear of corn left over and a small piece of salmon I’d cooked the night before. It turned out to be a lovely, natural marriage of flavor

Tamales are a huge part of the Christmas celebration and tradition in the Rio Grande Valley, where Sandy was born and raised. As such, the holiday season simply wouldn’t be complete without eating copious amounts of tamales. Tamales are fun to make, but very time-consuming, so many people simply purchase them from a local restaurant. We go to Delia’s in Edinburg, Texas. Around Christmastime, they make about 25,000 tamales and become so busy that the doors are closed to regular customers and the police are dispatched to direct traffic. If your order isn’t in at least two weeks prior to Christmas, then you’re out of luck! Our spin on the tamale is a casserole that saves you both calories and countless hours of preparation.

Ah, the never-ending debate of shepherd’s pie versus cottage pie. So, what’s the difference? It’s all about the meat. A shepherd’s pie traditionally calls for lamb, and a cottage pie calls for beef (or sometimes only vegetables). We wouldn’t think of calling our meat pie a shepherd’s pie, as we’d rather keep ourselves out of the line of fire. The beauty of this meal is that it’s a great way to use leftovers. Include what you have on hand, whether beef or lamb, or even just a great mix of vegetables. Our favorite interpretation is below, so once you master the steps, try your hand at a variation.

Where I come from, corn is the epitome of a summer vegetable; we used to drive out to the fields to get ours fresh and just leave our money in a can on the side of the road. So in this dish I combine corn with lovely little cherry tomatoes sautéed until they burst out of excitement, letting their delightful juices flow! Add some bacon and this sauce just steps up, pokes you, and says, “Hi, I’m summer, glad to see you!”

I always say everything tastes better with bacon. And when fresh corn is at its peak and just screaming to be eaten, this recipe is unbeatable (it also reminds me of summer as a kid because it was always my job to shuck the corn). It’s the perfect combination of smoky, sweet, spicy, and bright—what more could you ask for, except maybe MORE!

Fry these up and stuff them in a big roll with shaved cabbage and mayo for your vegetarian friends. They deserve big po’boys of fried things too! Or serve them as a side or even a party-food popper.

When Ernestine Williams, mother of Ole Miss Colonel Reb and NFL football great Gentle Ben Williams, was teaching me how to make skillet fried corn, the top of the black pepper shaker fell off and a ton of pepper fell in the skillet. She scooped out as much as she could but there was still a whole lot that got left in. We liked it. Now when I make it I add a good bit of black pepper and a whole lot of garlic. You have to use fresh corn in this dish; frozen just won’t do if you want it to really fry up nice.

One bite and you’ll know why this sweet and spicy corn is one of the most popular dishes at my Beso restaurants. The smoky Chipotle Aïoli (page 162) was created especially for this and it absolutely makes the dish. You can pour it on heavy, like they do at the restaurant, or pour it on lighter, like I do here, but don’t skip it! The optional tortilla strips add crunch and heft. To cook the corn, grill or boil it.