Whiskey

Only a Southerner, inheritor of the infamous Southern sweet tooth, would add massive quantities of butter and sugar to a dish and still regard it as a vegetable. Add a shot of bourbon? No problem.

Meme made a paste of mustard, brown sugar, and sometimes Coca-Cola when she baked a ham. She baked it in a heatproof oven bag to avoid having a messy pan to scrub. Adding bourbon, which I use here, would have never crossed her mind. Only when she baked fruitcake was she anywhere near a bottle of bourbon. She and her neighbor, Cousin Eunice, would drive to the liquor store every November to acquire the spirits for the holiday baking—she would have never gone by herself.

Although I like to make this chunky sauce all year long and I use it to top everything from Super Lemon Ice Cream (page 85) in the winter to Fresh Apricot Ice Cream (page 76) in the summer, you can make it more winter-holiday-friendly by adding a handful of dried cranberries in place of some of the pecans, using the variation at the end of the recipe. Then try it ladled over Cinnamon Ice Cream (page 38) for a real treat. If possible, make this sauce in advance and let it sit for a few hours, so all the ingredients have a chance to mingle and meld together deliciously.

This ice cream tastes just like a big, moist, chewy oatmeal cookie, thanks to the winning combination of plump raisins and crunchy oatmeal praline folded into a custard made with just the right touch of brown sugar.

There seems to be no agreement as to the origin of the word “butterscotch.” Some culinary scholars argue that its name is taken from “butter-scorched,” a theory worthy of consideration, since the process does indeed require cooking butter. Yet others academically assert that the term is derived from the word “butter scoring,” as in “cutting.” Not as in, “Dude, I scored some awesome Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream from David!” S0 I’d like to offer my own theory, one that’s a bit simpler: It’s because buttery butterscotch always tastes better with a shot of scotch in it.

For those who like their chocolate sauce rich and thick, this sauce has more body than the Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce (page 243), courtesy of a modest amount of cream. It is particularly appealing when served side by side or gently swirled with White Chocolate Sauce (below) as an accompaniment to wedges of chocolate cake.

This recipe uses canned pumpkin rather than home-cooked fresh pumpkin simply because the moisture content is consistent and no one wants to take any chances with a cheesecake after spending all that money on cream cheese. This is a fantastic holiday recipe, and as with regular cheesecakes, the secret to great results is to begin with all the ingredients at room temperature and to not overbeat the filling.

One of the pitfalls of having a blog is that you leave yourself open to all sorts of questions. The most common are from folks who want to substitute ingredients. I always want to reach through my computer screen, grab hold of their shoulders, and say, “But I worked so hard to develop this recipe. Please make it just as it is!” When I was working on these cupcakes, I began with the simple idea of individually filled chocolate cakes, similar to the kind I had as a kid, but with an adult sensibility. So I added a pour of Irish cream liqueur to the filling and spiked the ganache icing with a tipple of whiskey, which effectively wiped out the possibility of making these kid-friendly. So please don’t ask if you can make them without either, because the bad news is that you can’t. But the good news is that you can have them all for yourself and you don’t have to share them with the kids.

The usual corn syrup is replaced with agave nectar in this elegant tart. It’s beautiful on a holiday dessert table or at any get-together.

This recipe is a tribute to my Southern grandmother Catherene, who taught me to bake starting at the tender age of three. Part of her family hailed from Georgia and the others from Kentucky. The peaches are for Georgia, and the bourbon is, of course, for Kentucky!

We took Mama’s classic pineapple rings off the ham and put them on our grilled chicken breasts. This sweet-and-sour, quick-cooking dish is a real crowd-pleaser. Pineapple slices coated in brown sugar and Bourbon turn sweet and caramelized on the grill, and a salad dressing marinade makes the chicken tangy, moist, and tender. Perfect with a nice green spinach salad.

When Bobby caught on to thick-cut pork chops, they started disappearing from the walk-in refrigerator at The Lady & Sons. We both enjoy how juicy and satisfying a nice big chop is, especially since it’s not as heavy as red meat and not as easy to dry out as a thinner chop. This is a simple, tasty way to cook them. All you need to add is some grilled veggies to make a complete meal.

Anybody who’s ever seen me on Pitmasters knows that Crown Royal is my drink of choice. Students who come to my classes bring me bottles; folks who come up to my rig at barbecue contests bring me bottles, too. I’m grateful, because after a long day of barbecuing I always relax with a little Crown and water—because every king can always use another Crown. But on occasion, I like to surprise my liver with something different. This is as Georgia of a drink as you can get, with a little help from our Canadian neighbors.

It’s the drink that propelled Obama to the White House! Well not exactly, but this cocktail will gather all parties together harmoniously around the table, just like its ingredients in the glass. Canton (a liqueur made from Chinese baby ginger) is a less abrasive alternative to fresh ginger, which can sometimes overwhelm a drink if not used properly.

I’m a bourbon drinker, and this reinvented classic cocktail shows off my favorite whiskey in style. I replace the typically used sweet vermouth with the deep sweet-and-sour flavor of cherries, balanced by the spicy undertone of fresh rosemary and warmth of good bourbon.

In the scheme of desserts, panna cotta is not only one of the lightest, it’s thankfully also one of the easiest and fastest to prepare. The eggless custard sets with gelatin, but what really matters is the quantity used. If you have a heavy hand, then the result is more like cement Jell-O than melt-in-your-mouth. The infusion of the almonds adds a nutty-creamy flavor that’s satisfying without being cloying. Roasted pears set the whole thing off with a balance of texture and fruitiness.

This variation on a Manhattan was created by longtime Lantern bar goddess Kristen Johnson and christened by Lantern lexicographer Phil Morrison. When naming his first novel, Thomas Wolfe is said to have been inspired by an engraving of a John Milton poem on a stone statue of an angel in a cemetery in Hendersonville, North Carolina, not too far from Levering Orchard: Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth: And, O ye Dolphins, waft the hapless youth.