The Shopper Kitchen: Bacon and avocado and ‘Bayou Cuisine’
By ANGELA McRAE, Special to The Coweta Shopper
Bacon. Avocado. Already sounds good, doesn’t it? The combination of bacon and avocado is an enticing one, and when I saw a recipe for bacon-and-avocado dip in a cookbook I recently acquired, I knew I wanted to make it.
The book, Bayou Cuisine, came from an antique mall in Lavonia, Georgia. I was enjoying a lakeside craft retreat with some girlfriends when three of us decided to steal away on Saturday morning to visit the antique mall that has become a favorite over the past few years. One booth was brimming with vintage cookbooks, and I started flipping through them. Bayou Cuisine, I learned, was first published in 1970 by St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Indianola, Mississippi, and the 1979 version I found was its sixth printing.
The comb-bound cookbook was huge, measuring eight by ten inches and two inches thick and including 400-plus pages. What really sold me on it, though, was the Rich’s department store sticker on the cover. The book sold for $9.95 back in the seventies, so it seemed like a great bargain to find this bit of nostalgia for $7, and the book has been a delight to read.
I was puzzled the first time I heard someone talk about “reading” a cookbook as opposed to merely “using” a cookbook. Why on earth would you “read” a book full of nothing but recipes and directions? Now that I’m older (and have more insurance), I get it. Cookbooks are culinary time capsules of the period and the place in which they were written, and the bayou cookbook has turned up hits like Turtle Soup with Rum, Squirrel and Dumplings, and Wild Boar Stew, none of which I plan to make but all of which I’m happy to read about.
The other night, I enjoyed some tasty guacamole at a friend’s house, and I’d been hankering to make something with avocado in it, so when I saw this recipe for a bacon-and-avocado dip, I was hooked. Because my husband hailed from Louisiana, I have a particular fondness for that state, so this recipe from a Miss Adelaide Murdock, head of the economics department at Louisiana Tech, sounded right up my alley. The ingredients were mostly things I already had on hand, and this slightly spicy, chunky dip would be great to take to a summertime party. If there’s any left over, you can do as I did and enjoy some upscale avocado toast for breakfast.
A visit to the bayou, however, is completely optional.
Bacon and Avocado Dip
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tablespoon butter
8 slices lean bacon
4 medium avocados
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Brown almonds in butter, drain, and set aside. Fry bacon and crumble. Mash avocados in a large bowl and combine with all of the other ingredients. Mix well and serve with party crackers.
