Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Sweet Tea and a Teaser for Tuesday

A couple of weeks ago, I made "Iced Tea" in my Cookbook Countdown. (Yes, I was taking the easy way out... I have over 200 cookbooks to get thru)



I posted about it here: ICED TEA
 
Now, comes my comparison. If you remember, I said that "Sweetened Iced Tea" was not my thing....and my friend April, who grew up in Virginia was horrified at my use of words.



She said that "Sweet-en-eddd Icee-ed-tee" doesn't even flow off your tongue. ( oh my gosh she drew it out and made fun of me...sweet ten ed iced ed ed tee )


She set me straight.... it's Sweet Tea. It flows.....


I made my sweet tea from this cookbook.... You've all seen it: Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose.




It's a great cookbook, full of all kinds of stories as well as recipes. I think I love reading cookbooks for reasons such as this, I like to hear the stories that went along with people's food memories.


I do feel some guilt here tho as there are so many great recipes in this book, that it seems a shame to make "Sweet Tea".


I even found one for "Inside out Sweet Potatoes" which is mashed sweet potatoes wrapped around a marshmallow, and rolled in cornflakes, baked and when you bite into it, the marshmallow is warm and gooey and yummy!!


This recipe is a legend in my family. From what I  understand, my great-grandmother used to make these, and no one has been able to reproduce them since she passed away.  I hear stories about how great they were, at every Thanksgiving.   I'm going to try them and see if I can surprise my mom! There are all kinds of treasures in this cookbook.


Anyway, make the Sweet tea, I did.



 And you know what? It was good. Even the Handyman thought it was good. We both liked it very much.


But....as you know. We are northerners/westerners, and we prefer our tea "un-sweet" (and also a bit stronger than this recipe allowed for), so we'll stick to that.






Even if Sweet Tea is not your thing, I suggest you check out this cookbook. It's a lovely little visit to the South.


Sweet Tea


4 pitcher-size cold brew tea bags or 6 tablespoons orange pekoe tea leaves in a diffuser.
3/4 cups sugar
Ice cubes
2 lemons
Fresh Mint sprig (optional)


Place the tea bags in a large pitcher. Add 3 quarts of cold water, and steep for 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine 1 cup water and the sugar. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.


Remove the tea bags. Add the sugar syrup and stir to combine. Serve over ice with lemon and fresh mint, if desired.
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I am going to add a Tuesay Teaser here. I don't think I've ever done one before..



Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.


Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)


Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here is my teaser:
I stopped for coffee and hot biscuits just outside of Nags Head at an empty diner that probably thrived in the summer but was barely kept alive in off-season by teh occasional truckers passhing through. The woman behind the register was napping with her head down on the steel countertop when I arrived.
~pg 139, "Legwork", by Katy Munger.

4 comments:

Karen said...

Mmm, the inside out sweet potatoes sound yummy! I always like the 'thought' of drinking iced tea, but the taste never really has appealed to me. There was a restaurant in CA that served sweet tea and it was really good. Goes to show - add sugar to something and how could it be bad. LOL

Chef E said...

I grew up eating and drinking southern foods, so I love the idea!

Pam said...

Love that sweet tea and everything Southern too! Yours looks very sippably delicious!

Carin Siegfried said...

sometimes you do have to spell it out! I once ordered room service - in upstate NY - and along iwth my pizza I reqested Unsweet Tea, and I got HOT tea! Hilarious! So yes, sometimes you have to specify "iced tea". I am a Southerner who drinks unsweet tea. We are around, though few and far between. I was raised by Yankees though.

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