I hope you enjoy this issue of Between the Layers! Share it with your friends. A Much-Needed Bowl of Red - No. 363Chili and sweater weather + post-wedding thoughts from the Mother of the Bride
I’M BAAAACK! Taking a couple weeks off to celebrate my daughter’s wedding without any writing deadlines allowed me to give my all to being Mother of the Bride (MOB) as well as deep-think what I do here at Between the Layers. For nearly five years, I’ve explored each Tuesday what it means to cook and bake in a modern world with one eye on the past and the other on the world around us. I blend recipes that never go out of style with the stories behind them, weave in new ingredients and methods, and speak up about topics that matter to me. So I want to share some behind-the-scenes activity in the days leading up to the wedding. You know how when you have a party and you clean the house but everyone winds up in the kitchen? Well, our family gravitated to the kitchen table all week. All nine of us were packed around a too-small oak pub table for three meals a day and many times in between. I thought ahead and bought two turkey breasts and a bag of fresh cranberries. The turkey roasting in the oven and cranberry chutney simmering at the back of the stove made the house smell just like Thanksgiving. With a wreath on the door, it felt like the holidays, and I joked (not too seriously) that this was the only turkey I’d be cooking from now until the end of the year. The groom-to-be piled turkey onto a sandwich where the bread was the most delicious and fresh sourdough, shared by the matron of honor who had dashed over to Mama Bread in East Nashville for a fresh loaf. The six-year-old flower girl ate triangles of turkey and cheese quesadilla with apple slices as she colored pictures and soaked in the conversation. Everyone ate. Everyone talked. Everyone listened. It was magic.
But what the heck has been going on while I’ve been in wedding mode?The government shutdown continues, food is in short supply to the most vulnerable, and our president who campaigned on balancing the budget and getting everything in the black is hosting a Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago. Whatever happened to quiet soulful Camp David retreats? I check my email and am surprised to see a letter from the president of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, a women’s historical organization of which I am a member as was my mother and her mother. It’s about the demolition of the East Wing to make space for a giant ballroom:
It’s a good thing that the ladies aren’t happy.I had been feeling guilty checking out of social media for the wedding, not commenting on posts about job losses, the purging of mainstream media, continued ICE cruelty, and a delay to SNAP payments ushering in food insecurity. In the comfort and camaraderie of my family wedding, I felt powerless to help my faltering country, but we did rescue two flower girls and their father from a lost Uber driver in advance of the wedding… All I could do was surround myself with family, friends, flowers, and wedding cake. But I snapped back into reality reading this email. If ladies who don’t usually speak about politics in public or in email—although ironically this is an organization created to remember those who fought for our American freedoms—are mad as heck about the East Wing being torn down, it’s a start. It’s a good thing. I couldn’t help but think how a MOB would have never let the East Wing debacle happen. Destroy history? Disappoint our nation’s visitors to the capital city? I wouldn’t let my husband prune our wisteria around the porch pre-wedding. And incur the unnecessary expenses of a grandiose ballroom? We watched our wedding budget like hawks. Being a MOB involved following a budget, making many people happy, providing hot meals and hospitality, and wearing a dress befitting of the occasion but making sure not to steal the show from the bride. It balanced tradition with an open mind. It met deadlines but rolled with setbacks. It thought of others. Just like being a mother.
According to the White House Historical Association, the East Wing was built in 1942 during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. It housed the staff and offices to support a federal government during World War II. It wasn’t a popular renovation, and to be fair, most of the renos at the White House haven’t been popular. But over time, the East Wing came to stand for something. It was the home for the First Lady’s office and staff. The East Wing “has long been a space of female power and a female niche in the White House,” Elizabeth Rees, historian and research fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center told National Public Radio (NPR). “With the West Wing being a traditionally male-dominated space, the East Wing was a unique physical space for women to work…and provided them with their own environment in which to flourish.” While Betty Ford and earlier First Ladies worked out of their bedrooms, plans to move the First Lady’s office to the East Wing started under the Ford presidency (1974-1977), according to MaryAnne Borrelli, author of The Politics of the President’s Wife and professor of government at Connecticut College. Rosalynn Carter was the first to have office space for herself and her staff here. And from this office Carter focused on mental health initiatives. Laura Bush launched a literacy campaign here, and even without an East Wing today we will not forget the grace she and her daughters showed Michelle Obama and her girls in 2009 as the new White House occupants.
Undoubtedly recipes were swapped in the East Wing.Laura Bush’s cowboy cookies, Rosalyn Carter’s cheese ring, and Lady Bird Johnson’s Pedernales River Chili, which I share today are just a few. It’s a rock-solid chili recipe that pulls together effortlessly and simmers without a peep in your slow cooker. Pedernales River flows through the LBJ Ranch in the Texas Hill Country outside Austin. The recipe was created by the Johnson’s trusted cook Zephyr Wright who came to DC once the Kennedy’s French chef Rene Verdon left because he couldn’t tolerate the barbecue, chili, and cornbread the 36th President wanted on White House menus. Wright suffered from the discrimination of Jim Crow laws as she traveled back and forth from the ranch to Washington. Johnson would say she was a reason he signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and after he signed it, he handed her the pen.
If those East Wing walls could have spoken as they were crumbling down, you would have heard from strong women from different places and different political beliefs. They balanced mothering and serving the country. They used what little power they had to create something that might last. Strong women of our past supported America’s split from Britain and later, the right to vote. They protested slavery and unsafe work conditions. They put an end to child labor. They demanded water be safe to drink. They saw Prohibition as a way to strengthen families and stop domestic abuse. So the fact that the ladies aren’t happy is a good thing. They just need to speak up more loudly.
And while tea cups and sponge cake come to mind when I think of lady meetings, right now my palate is calling for something stronger—a bowl of red chili. Perdenales River Chili isn’t fancy. You will want to jazz up the seasonings, add pinto, red kidney or black beans to it, place avocado cubes on top, or toss on cheese and cilantro. But it is exactly the non-partisan kind of chili I am craving. If we had made a pot of it on wedding week and left it on low in the slow cooker, it would have been inhaled on salads, in tortillas, or just from a cereal bowl. And the fact that it comes women in the East Wing of the White House—Lady Bird Johnson and Zephyr Wright— makes it all the more appealing. The walls may be down, but the stories continue to be told. Happy cooking, happy November, go vote! - xo, Anne P.S. And donate non-perishable foods with pop tops to your local food bank. Why pop tops? They are easily opened by children who may be alone and preparing their own meals. Food banks are struggling to keep up with demand as SNAP (food stamp) benefits have been delayed for millions of Americans.
THE RECIPE: Pedernales River Chili RevisitedThe original Pedernales River chili recipe is a half-century old, and it’s understandably mild for many people’s tastes today. Supposedly this was the only chili LBJ would eat and preferred it be made with venison. The recipe has been circulated by his presidential library for years. I read all the comments on the recipe before I tested it this past weekend. I used ground turkey, cut the meat in half, and upped the seasoning. The original recipe calls for two cloves of garlic but I added 12! One of the comments I read talked about how you can substitute red chile paste you make from cooking down dried hot chilies for chili powder, which I always find lackluster. As it turned out, my son had left a couple bags of dried red chilies from a trip to New Mexico in my pantry, so I opened them, grabbed six, followed the directions on the bag, and made my own chili paste. So easy and good! You can absolutely use chili powder instead. I also used Rotel tomatoes and green chilies instead of plain canned tomatoes. Suit yourself. Like most all Texas chili recipes, it contains no beans. Cook those pintos or red kidney beans and serve to the side. And if the chili needs thickening at the end, which most chili recipes do and especially those not benefiting from the starchiness of beans, add a handful of crushed corn tortilla chips or tablespoon of masa corn flour. To garnish, well the usual is chopped onions, but we add shredded cheese, avocado cubes, cilantro, sour cream, and tortilla chips. And always serve cornbread to the side. Makes 8 to 12 servings (chili freezes well!)
How to Make Red Chile Paste (Sauce): Remove the stems and seeds from 6 large dried red medium-hot peppers. Place the peppers in a saucepan with water to cover—about 1 3/4 to 2 cups. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pan, and let cook until the chilies are soft, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the cooking liquid. Turn chilies and liquid into a blender or food processor and puree. Set aside to use in making this chili. You’re on the free list for Anne Byrn: Between the Layers. If you’re liking what you’re reading, why don’t you become a paying subscriber for more recipes, stories, and content.
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