Most of us know the feeling, that sweetly hollow spot that opens when we think of a beloved family member no longer by our side. Kris Lee of Starkville is familiar with it, too. Memories of his late great-grandmother often surface when he’s in the kitchen. She loved to cook. As a boy, he spent many an afternoon after school under her watchful eye.
“To an impressionable young child, watching her work with nothing but homegrown ingredients and an iron skillet was nothing short of magic,” Lee said. “And she hummed, all the time.”
As an only child raised in his great-uncle’s home in Louisville, Lee absorbed the tutelage of his great-grandparent who was born in the latter years of the 19th century. He observed as she cooked without measuring cups or recipes. She simply watched for the right color, waited for the right smell.
“Everything she needed was in her hand, literally: a dash of this, a handful of that, a pinch here,” said Lee. “That’s how she measured. To this day, I can’t follow a recipe; when I try, it’s a disaster.”
His family practically elevated cooking from memory to an art form, he maintained. “And there can’t be too many rules, except for baking, perhaps.”
That history stays with him and emerges in his love of cooking and sense of culinary adventure.
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Those who know Lee only through his prolific work with Starkville Community Theatre or as a visiting assistant professor currently helping design Mississippi University for Women’s new Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing may be in for a surprise. The published writer and educator with two master’s degrees of his own sometimes prefers digging in garden dirt, hiking a trail or pounding a tennis ball over the net to putting his nose to the page.
He also enjoys entertaining and channels some of his trademark creativity into menus. Serving a variety of heavy appetizers, tapas-style, often tops his list. It provides opportunities to offer guests something-to-talk-about and encourages people to expand their palates.
Today he shares one appetizer recipe he dubs great for tailgating and almost any other social gathering — pig candy. These savory and sweet bacon bites are easy to put together, easy to carry anywhere and good served warm or cold.
“It’s a very flexible food,” Lee said. “The recipe is part-family and part-whatever-was-in-the-cabinet.”
Traditional pig candy isn’t usually rolled, but Lee prefers it. It makes a nice presentation, especially when pierced with a sprig of the rosemary growing outside his front door. (See recipe for instructions.)
“It looks more like candy to me served rolled that way,” he remarked. And the oils of the rosemary bake into the bacon, adding flavor.
Lee’s seasoning mix calls for Cajun spice, chili powder, yellow curry powder, Five Spice powder and brown sugar. It produces a caramelized version with a hint of kick. Don’t be afraid to improvise if you have other favorites, such as cinnamon, you feel would work.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that anyone can cook if you decide what you like to taste and just keep that in your cabinets,” stated Lee. “I’m not afraid to mess up,” he added, with a nod to his family for giving him the freedom of “thinking and imagining.”
“My uncle, his sister, me … I think this is how we love each other, through this very simple idea of tradition handed down,” Lee said. “I’m nowhere near as good as they are, but I love trying to get there.”
If he had a wish, it might be that his great-grandmother could come back to see him in the kitchen, incorporating her lessons, maybe even humming a tune.
“Family is with me every dish I make, even when I’m alone in the house,” said Lee. “I know I can go to the kitchen for a little company, no matter what I’m making, a sandwich, dressing or scrambled eggs. Cooking, for me, has become a sort of living scrapbook, if that makes any sense at all.”
PIG CANDY
Thick-cut bacon (applewood or maple is best, but plain is good, too)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon Cajun spice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
1 tablespoon Five Spice powder
(Note: seasoning measurements may vary depending on how spicy you prefer your pig candy.)
(Source: Kris Lee)
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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