Cooking For Joy
Country-Fried Apples Will Fix You Right Up
If you have five apples, you can make this Southern comfort classic
Editor’s Note: Heated has asked contributors to write about a dish they’re cooking that cuts through bleak headlines, forced isolation, and limited ingredients to bring them joy; we’ll be running at least one contribution a day through this social-distancing stretch.
I had a very eccentric aunt from Tennessee named Della who made the most insanely delicious hot applesauce. She cooked slices of tart apples with the peel still on, doctored them with tons of cinnamon and brown sugar and a bit of butter, and then ran them through a hand crank food mill while sitting on the front porch and socializing and probably drinking bourbon.
The resulting silken sauce, which she reheated, was like some kind of crazy potent baby food for adults. I have absolutely no intention of using a food mill right now, but those flavors are the same as the country-fried apples I’ve made all my life (and which are served as a “vegetable” at country diners all over the South as part of a meat and three).
I make these all of the time, and when I’m feeling nostalgic I leave the peel on and just cook them more slowly, until the peel fights you not at all. You can…
