The Oscars Experiment: Precious

Our second get-together involved the movie "Precious". And as it is a movie tracing the lives of an African American family living in Harlem, we thought it best to make soul food. I looked up "Harlem Soul Food" online and actually found some recipes! The rest is history!

RECIPES

CRISPY FRIED CHICKEN

Ingredients:

1 (4 pound) chicken, cut into pieces
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour for coating
1 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
2 quarts vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1.Take your cut up chicken pieces and skin them if you prefer. Put the flour in a large plastic bag (let the amount of chicken you are cooking dictate the amount of flour you use). Season the flour with paprika, salt and pepper to taste (paprika helps to brown the chicken).

2.Dip chicken pieces in buttermilk then, a few at a time, put them in the bag with the flour, seal the bag and shake to coat well. Place the coated chicken on a cookie sheet or tray, and cover with a clean dish towel or waxed paper. LET SIT UNTIL THE FLOUR IS OF A PASTE-LIKE CONSISTENCY. THIS IS CRUCIAL! The chicken acquiring its paste-like consistency

3.Fill a large skillet (cast iron is best) about 1/3 to 1/2 full with vegetable oil. Heat until VERY hot. Put in as many chicken pieces as the skillet can hold. Brown the chicken in HOT oil on both sides. When browned, reduce heat and cover skillet; let cook for 30 minutes (the chicken will be cooked through but not crispy). Remove cover, raise heat again and continue to fry until crispy.

4.Drain the fried chicken on paper towels. Depending on how much chicken you have, you may have to fry in a few shifts. Keep the finished chicken in a slightly warm oven while preparing the rest. Beautiful results!

The chicken was so successful that even vegetarians ate it!

Note about the chicken

Most people loved the chicken, but a few remarked on the lack of distinct flavor. I would respond to that by saying that in the future the flour should be much more spiced with paprika, salt and pepper and maybe even some cayenne pepper.

VEGETABLE - OKRA - TOMATO GUMBO

3/4 - 1 lb. fresh okra, sliced
1 lg. onion or 6 green onions, chopped
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
2 or 3 cloves garlic
Sprinkle of Mrs. Dash
Sprinkle of Gumbo File
Salt to taste
Sm. amount olive oil
1/2 c. rice, uncooked

Start cooking the rice while preparing the Gumbo mixture. Wash and cut okra. Clean and chop onions, also garlic. Wash tomatoes and dice. Use a non stick skillet. Add olive oil. Stir fry the above. Add a small amount of water. Add seasonings. Cook until tender. Serve over cooked rice.

Onions and garlic on the bottom, followed by the tomatoes and then the okra on top

Cooked gumbo after stirring only a few times


Note about the gumbo:

We were unable to find Gumbo File or determine what it was, and were also unable to find Mrs. Dash so we added salt, pepper and cayenne pepper instead. It was delicious. We got some tips on how to cook the dish from the owner of a small grocery store nearby. An Afghan man, he had made gumbo often and suggested that we layer the vegetables. First fry up the onions and garlic, then place the tomatoes on top and let cook. Add the okra after the tomatoes are a bit softened and let cook all together, stirring only a few times to keep the okra from becoming a gluey mess. His tips worked out nicely. It was more detailed than the recipe above, in any case.

PEACH COBBLER

Ingredients:

1 large can of Delmonte® Sliced Peaches
1 stick of butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla flavor
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 box of Pillsbury® pie crust mix - follow the directions to make the pie crust A picture of this dish is available on the CD. Click here for your copy.

Instructions:

Mix peaches and other ingredients in a large dutch oven pot, and bring to a boil. Pour ingredients into a large casserole dish. Roll the pie crust into 1 whole sheet to cover the dish, or cut it into strips and place over the peach mixture.

Peach cobbler before adding our crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook until golden brown approximately 1 hour

End results

Best served with vanilla ice cream.

Note about the cobbler:

This cobbler was way, way, way too sweet! The flavor, otherwise, was good, but we all decided that the cobbler needed no more than half the amount of sugar that was suggested. We also found that the cobbler was a bit too liquidy, so we would recommend trying another cobbler recipe for future reference.

We were pleasantly surprised to have another cook among us who arrived later and brought cornbread! Thanks to Mark! Everyone really enjoyed it.

Tried and true cornbread!

DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS ON THE MOVIE "PRECIOUS":

- Most people thought that Mo'nique had a stellar performance in the movie and found her very believable

- There was a split opinion on how successful this "grassroots editing" was in the movie. Some found the fantasy scenes to be inappropriate and out of place for the context of the story, others liked those aspects to the film, and felt they showed the urgency in creating such a form of escapism in order to survive

- Leita thought the heavy subject matter was dealt with in a much lighter way than one would imagine you could and that was successful

- Some parts of the plot, according to Tijana, were easily predictable and bordered on "the cheese”

- There was a final question that was raised that merits attention: Does this type of movie cater only to a particular type of audience: young, black single mothers?

Final Rating: 6.3/10