Dropping Knowledge Like Hot Biscuits

by Mike McJunkin

November 17, 2011

12:00 AM

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Adrian Miller - Soul Food Historian

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Ham at Beth Bistro

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Cornbread at Beth Bistro

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Chitlins at Beth Bistro

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Beth Bistro menu board

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Prepared neck bones at Beth Bistro

Last Friday night at the historic Bethlehem Center, soul food scholar and culinary historian Adrian Miller spoke about the history of soul food in the United States to celebrate the opening of The Beth Bistro on West 38^th. The event included a sampling of traditional soul foods that connected the discussion directly to the palate and gave the flavors a more cerebral depth.

From their origins in African and Caribbean foods to the vegan soul food of Oakland, CA, Adrian lead the audience through the progression of soul food from slave food to fine dining. As I listened to how slave rations and opossum gave birth to greens and neckbones I had the soft unctuousness of a carefully cooked neckbone and the deep, earthy flavor of slow cooked greens still lingering on my palate. While the speaker showed how white and black foodways merged during the reconstruction era over a common poverty, I had the sweet smell of chitlins and fried fish with hot sauce assaulting my senses.

I thought the origin of red drinks in soul food was particularly fascinating. Miller traces their origins to two popular West African drinks. One used red kola nuts to make bitter water more palatable. The kola nuts were either chewed just before drinking, or ground into a powder before being put into water. The other is “jus de bissap,” a tea made from the red flowers of the hibiscus sabdariffa plant. Referred to as the “national drink of Senegal,” jus de bissap is made by combining the dried hibiscus flowers, sugar-cane as a sweetener and ginger for flavor. The red hibiscus flowers came to the Americas via the slave trade, were introduced to Jamaica and then spread throughout the Caribbean, Latin America and then to Florida. In some Caribbean Islands, it is a seasonal drink, primarily consumed during Christmas.

An unexpected trend in contemporary soul food is the diminishing role of pork. Because of a combination of health concerns and increased religious pressures on diets, pork is seeing an increasingly diminished role in soul food. This has spawned a demonic mutation of soul food and shame in the form of vegan soul food in Oakland, CA and other horrors around the country. That hurts my soul. In my family of potato farmers from Sand Mountain, pork is the lifeblood of soul food. Fatback in greens and beans, hog jowl and biscuits as a snack, bacon grease to make that crispy crust that forms on cast-iron skillet cornbread. Where would we be without the noble suid? How could we turn our backs on the animal that has brought so many of us so much pleasure? I suppose everyone has to answer that for themselves, but I’ll take my soul food with an extra helping of porky goodness please.

Slaves, typically, did not have the “big house” processed flours, sugars, or whole milk to work with. They were given rations of cornmeal and seasonal vegetables that they supplemented with foraged foods and occasionally small game such as opossum or fish. They used simple ingredients cooked with care and precision to get every bit of flavor from what they had. Today’s chefs and home cooks are discovering the beauty of those unprocessed, natural flavors. Local markets, local farms, and local food producers are the favored sources of ingredients more and more in today’s home and restaurant kitchens to the point local farmers are selling their goods at local markets to the tune of over 5 billion dollars a year.

I recently had an enlightening conversation with Eric Taslimi, Executive Chef at Table 2, about the future of food in Chattanooga. Eric is a great example of how food trends such as food science (sometimes referred to as molecular gastronomy) are not distracting him from the more important factor of taste. He sees the future of food as being more product (food) driven than modernist technique driven – in other words proper technique is of utmost importance, but it should be there in service to the ingredients and to heighten the flavor of the dish – to make sure a quality, umami packed mushroom tastes like a quality umami packed mushroom and has not become deconstructed or processed to the point of unrecognizability. Table 2’s Wild Mushroom Risotto or their Smoked Pork Belly are great examples of how simply produced, locally sourced foods can taste when the main ingredient is allowed to shine.

Chattanooga’s food scene is following the same cycle as much of the rest of the country. The simple, local, fresh ingredients that filled the pantries of the working class are now the preferred choice of the discriminating gourmand. The foods that were borne out of poverty and necessity are now appearing on white linen tablecloths and served with a nice glass of Gewürztraminer.

Where To Get It

So now that you are hungry for some soul food where can you get some that has been made with fresh ingredients and a heapin’ helpin’ of love? There are the standards like Mt Vernon and Southern Star, and they do produce some good, solid comfort food, but there are a few places off the beaten path that I recommend you give a try.

The Beth Bistro (hosts of the soul food historian event with Adrian Miller) has a lunch buffet that you have to put in your regular rotation. While they acknowledge and honor the long traditions of soul food in the south, they do so without being heavy handed with the salt and fat so commonly associated with these traditional foods. The chicken is juicy, the mac & cheese is gooey, and the brightly flavored lemon pound cake make the Beth Bistro a standout in the Chattanooga area, where thawing a block of something or opening a can of greens has too often become the norm.

http://www.thebeth.org/www/docs/162 - 200 West 38th Street, Chattanooga, TN 37410, (423) 266-1384, Mon-Thu: 11 – 3, Fri: 11 – 8

Herman’s Soul Food and Catering on Brainerd road is definitely bringing the good stuff when it comes to fresh, thoughtfully prepared food. Fresh (yes, I said fresh) yams, corn, and chicken start being prepped at 6:00 a.m. to become part of a menu that will “make your tongue slap your brains.” Crispy chicken & waffles and perfectly cooked liver & onions are my personal favorites. And don’t leave without a piece of red velvet cake – seriously, get the red velvet cake.

http://www.hermanssoulfood.com - 3821 Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN 37411, (423) 624-5715

If you really want to get off of the beaten path and get some soul food that leans more towards the street food tradition, try Maggie G’s at 400 E. MLK Blvd. or Mary’s at 2125 McCallie Avenue.

Although they are more southern comfort food than soul food, Wisteria Café serves up a top notch meat & three. My personal favorites are the fried green tomato BLT with fresh cut fries, fried to order chicken livers and the house-made pimento cheese. It’s worth noting that Wisteria Café’s Chef Wolfgang Poe won the 2011 Five Star Food Fight Champion at the Chattanooga Market in August of this year.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wisteria-Cafe/111976515553626?sk=info - 6849 Prestige Lane, Hixson, TN 37343, (423) 847-1163