My dinner from Matthews was a wonderful Southern meal: fried chicken, fried green tomatoes. This meal was provided to me free of charge. I had visited Matthews the Sunday before and got out of my car to see if they were open. They were not. Mr. Matthews happened to be in the front window and motioned that they were closed. As I walked back to my car, I heard him whistle at me. I went into his office where he said, "I'm very sorry, I would like to give you a meal." He pulled a bent card out of his wallet and filled it out for me. He then waved his hand and said "We've been here sixty years!" I explained that I was very aware and had spoken with his son before. Mr. Matthews was both proud of his efforts and concerned that he had somehow let me down. That kind of service, folks, is why Matthews has been in Tucker for sixty years. I wish them many, many more.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...
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