Peter Gilmore finds fresh inspiration with a road
trip through America’s Deep South that serves up
fabulous food and iconic experiences at every stop.DRIVEN TO
DISCOVER
TRAVEL INSPIRES ME. Immersing myself in different cultures and new experiences feeds
my creativity as a chef, and I’ve been lucky enough to have eaten incredible food all over
the world. But one place I’d never visited was America’s Deep South – until now.
The Deep South is a place that swirls with vivid images of history, food and music. For
me, the only real way to experience it was through a road trip in a vintage Ford Mustang.
Our trip started in St. Louis, Missouri. And what else would we stop for first but
barbecue, one of the South’s most iconic culinary institutions. Barbecue takes many forms
in this part of the US – where every state claims to serve the best – from brisket to pulled
pork to suckling pig ribs. It’s all good! Another mission while in Missouri was to visit Jere
Gettle’s Baker Creek Seeds, which has been supplying me with rare seed varieties for
years. Their mission is to promote, protect and preserve our agricultural heritage. Around
his business, Jere has created a pioneer village with an experimental garden, a vegan
restaurant, a blacksmith, a watermill-powered bakery, a small theatre and, of course, a
seed shop. I was the proverbial kid in a candy store.
Next, we pointed the Mustang south towards the country music capital of the world,
Nashville, Tennessee. In ‘Music City’, we had to make a stop at Sean Brook’s Husk, a
restaurant that is defining the region with its focus on the preservation and recovery of
lost Southern flavours.Of course, a road trip in the US is not complete without a diner experience – a cup of
joe and a slice of pie the next morning and we were fuelled for our drive to Memphis to
visit Elvis’ home, Graceland. Clichéd? Sure. But we are talking about The King!
From Memphis, it was off through Mississippi to New Orleans – but not without a stop
in the historic Civil War town of Vicksburg. There, we discovered a great Southern
restaurant called Walnut Hills that served the best fried green tomatoes I’ve tasted. After
a slice of chocolate cream pie, we were on our way again to the Big Easy.
New Orleans is abuzz with the things that make life worth living – eating, drinking and
culture – and we were on a mission to try its iconic food. Boiled crawfish, fried shrimp
po’boys, jambalaya, grits and fried alligator all gave us a fabulous taste of the city.
Jazz, one of America’s truest art forms, echoed up every street. Our most memorable
experience was had at Preservation Hall, an old and intimate concert venue founded in
1961 to honour traditional New Orleans Jazz.
On our last day we enjoyed beignets – the traditional New Orleans sweets introduced
by the French-Creole colonists in the 18th century – at the famous Café du Monde.
Dunking them into chicory coffee as we sat by the mighty Mississippi River was the
perfect way to reflect on my latest food inspirations gathered from our time in the South. SOUTHERN-FRIED BEIGNETS
MAKES 251 x 7g sachet dried yeast
2 tbs caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (250ml) condensed milk
60g coconut oil, melted, cooled
1 tsp vanilla essence
600g plain flour, sifted, plus extra to dust
Sunflower oil, to deep-fry
Icing sugar, to dustCombine yeast, sugar and^1 / 2 cup (125ml)
tepid water in the bowl of a stand mixer,
stirring to dissolve yeast. Stand for
10 minutes or until yeast mixture bubbles.
Add egg, condensed milk and a pinch
of salt, and stir to combine. Add coconut
oil, vanilla and half the flour, then, using
the hook attachment, knead on low speed
until combined. Add remaining flour and
knead for 8 minutes or until smooth and
elastic. Transfer dough to a large oiled
bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set
aside in a warm place for 2 hours to prove.
(The dough won’t double in size, but will
increase slightly.)
Lightly dust 2 baking trays with flour.
Place the dough onto a floured surface and
roll out into a 1cm-thick slab. Cut dough
into 5cm squares, re-rolling as necessary.
Place on prepared trays and cover with a
clean tea towel. Set aside for 30 minutes
to rise slightly.
Fill a large saucepan or wok one-third
full with sunflower oil and heat to 170°C
(a cube of bread will turn golden in
50 seconds when hot enough). Working in
batches of 4-5, lightly pinch the edges of
each square to create air pockets, then
gently drop into oil and deep-fry, turning
halfway, for about 5 minutes or until crisp,
golden and cooked through. Remove with
a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.
Dust beignets generously with icing
sugar and serve warm.delicious.com.au/recipes
For more recipes inspired
by fabulous places.“NEW ORLEANS IS ABUZZ WITH THE
THINGS THAT MAKE LIFE WORTH LIVING
- EATING, DRINKING AND CULTURE.”
RECIPESAMANTHA COUTTSTRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHYGETTY IMAGESFOOD PHOTOGRAPHYJEREMY SIMONSSTYLINGKIRSTEN JENKINSDownload our enhanced
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142 delicious.com.au