Mississippi Sideboard #9: Squash Eudora
Jesse Yancy breaks down a tried-and-true recipe named in honor of Eudora Welty, who would have turned 116 this month.
This is the latest installment in Mississippi Sideboard, a monthly collaboration with the food, culture, and history writer Jesse Yancy. Jesse’s long-running blog of the same name is a foray into the particularities of southern cuisine and an exploration of the lesser-known parts of Mississippi history.
In the introduction to her splendid Southern Hospitality Cookbook, Jackson epicure Winifred Cheney states that a signature dish is “a tribute in the field of cookery.”
Here Winifred misinforms. A signature dish is a recipe that identifies or is directly associated with an individual chef or a particular restaurant. For instance, one could say that blackened red fish is a signature dish of Paul Prudhomme’s, or oysters Rockefeller of Antoine’s.
Dishes named for people, either in honor of them—as in the Rockefeller—or made for them—as with Melba toast—don’t have a specific term of reference. They’re just recipes named for people, which are (predictably) created constantly. Winifred herself created two dishes in honor of her neighbor Eudora Welty: apples Eudora and squash Eudora.
Winifred is notorious for her tedious, voluptuous recipes with expensive ingredients. Such is the case with her apples Eudora, which she describes as “tart apples cooked in a delicious syrup, drained and baked in a rich custard, then filled with an apricot rum filling and topped with a dollop of whipped cream.” If that doesn’t wear you out just reading it, cooking it’s going to make you bedridden. Then she gives us squash Eudora, which is absolutely wonderful, and certainly somewhat less tedious.
Wash but do not peel two pounds tender yellow squash. Slice thinly and parboil with a pat of butter until tender. Drain and season with black pepper and salt to taste. Drain and wash a half pound (8 oz.) livers, cut into halves and sauté in butter with a bit of Worcestershire.
Drain livers and set aside to cool, then mix with squash, about a cup of chopped green onions, a teaspoon curry powder, one egg lightly beaten and a half cup grated Parmesan. Spoon mixture into a shallow casserole, dust top with more Parmesan, and bake at 350 until firm.
Winifred says that you can substitute a pound of lump crab meat for the livers. If you’ve got the bucks, go for it.
Jesse Yancy, a native Mississippian and a graduate of the University of Mississippi, is a writer, gardener, and editor living in Raymond. Yancy publishes articles about food, history, and literature on his blog, Mississippi Sideboard.
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My beloved cousin and brilliant artist Lynn Green Root (and Winifred Green Cheney's kin) used to jokingly say "Squash Eudora" wasn't so much a recipe as the hidden name for a counter-movement to get the ubiquitous Miss Eudora to give way so other Mississippi creatives could be recognized. Thanks for bringing back that memory.