Three Rivers Is Back

After more than a decade off the grocery shelves, Three Rivers Cornbread Mix has returned, and cooks all over East Tennessee are celebrating. Folks of a certain age remember Three Rivers as the cornbread mix their mothers and grandmothers used.

Three Rivers was originally a product of White Lily Foods, a milling company that J. Allen Smith brought to Knoxville in 1873. The "three rivers" epithet refers to Knoxville's location near the confluence of the Holston and French Broad, which forms the Tennessee River.

In 2008, White Lily was purchased by Smucker's. They closed the Knoxville plant, but continued to produce the White Lily brand in two other mills in the Southeast. White Lily is made only from Southern soft summer wheat. This wheat has less protein and more starch than other varieties, and consequently has the ability to absorb more liquid or fat when used in a recipe. It therefore makes the flakiest biscuits and pie crusts imaginable.

The Three Rivers brand did not survive the transition to Smucker's initially. White Lily started making its own brand of cornbread mix. The mix was passable, but not at all like Three Rivers. Three Rivers has a higher proportion of cornmeal to wheat flour, and the cornmeal is more finely ground than in White Lily. The taste is different, also, with Three Rivers having a richer "corn" flavor.

Recently, the Three Rivers brand returned, making its way to Food City stores from a White Lily Foods distribution center in Jackson, Tennessee. A little searching revealed that Ingle's, a regional chain from Asheville, NC, has also begun carrying Three Rivers.

If you want to experience what cornbread is supposed to taste like, pick up a bag of Three Rivers, and use the following recipe:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet with oil or bacon drippings and place it in the oven. It needs to be smoking hot when you pour in the cornbread batter.

Put 2 cups of Three Rivers in a large bowl. In a second bowl, combine one egg, 1/4 cup oil, and 1 cup of whole milk. Make a well in the meal, and pour in the liquids all at once. Stir until combined, adding a little more milk if needed to make a thick, pourable batter.

Carefully remove the skillet from the oven. Pour in the batter; it should sizzle. Return the skillet to the oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the sides have pulled away from the skillet. Cut into wedges and serve at once with plenty of butter.

The Relish Tray

I see that charcuterie and cheese boards are all the rage this season, and I am reminded of the old Southern tradition of serving a "relish tray" as part of a special occasion meal. Along with deviled eggs, a glass plate with a variety of colorful, crunchy homemade pickles was a regular feature of family holiday dinners when I was growing up.

You can always purchase pickles at the grocery store, but making your own is pretty simple. You can make homemade pickles now, and keep them in the refrigerator until Christmas or New Year's Eve. If you make a batch today, they will even be ready in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Always select the prettiest, most nearly perfect produce for making pickles. Carefully wash and trim the vegetables and cut them into bite size pieces. Good choices include cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower, celery, asparagus, turnips, squash (summer and winter), beets, parsnips, bell peppers and tomatoes. You can also make pickles out of berries and other fruits, although the procedure is a little different than the one for vegetables.

Wash and rinse a canning jar and place it in a warm oven to stay hot. Combine a cup of water and a cup of white vinegar with a tablespoon of salt in a small saucepan. Set the pan over medium heat, adding your choice of whole spices. Use any combination of mustard seeds, coriander, cloves, cinnamon stick, allspice berries, bay leaves and peppercorns. You need a teaspoon of spices for each pint of pickling liquid. You can also add garlic, hot peppers, and/or dill seeds or a dill head to a jar of pickles. Add them with the vegetables, rather than steeping them in the pickling liquid.

Bring the liquid to a simmer and allow it to bubble gently for 10 minutes while you pack the vegetables and flavorings into the hot jar. Pour the hot liquid over the contents of the jar. Allow it to sit for a moment to release air bubbles, or use a bamboo skewer to free air bubbles from the sides of the jar. Apply and lid and allow the jar to cool to room temperature. Place the jar in the refrigerator and wait a week before enjoying the pickles.

To pickle fruits or tomatoes, allow the pickling liquid to cool before pouring it over the contents of a room temperature jar. This works with whole berries, peeled and seeded tomato quarters, cherries, and stone fruits. Add a teaspoon of sugar to the pickling liquid for added sweetness, if you prefer.

Use an assortment of homemade pickles to create a colorful, traditional relish tray for your holiday table.

Shrimp and Grits

Here is a recipe that you can multiply at will for holiday entertaining. Like many good restaurant dishes, the secret to this one is advance preparation. Everything can be made ahead and kept warm, with the shrimp being grilled at the last minute.

I have shamelessly stolen the idea for this dish from one of Knoxville’s best restaurants, JC Holdway, located on Union Avenue.

If you are accustomed to the shrimp and grits, often featuring a heavy cheese sauce, that are offered up by chain restaurants, you are in for a treat. Adding cheese is anathema in the South Carolina Low Country where shrimp and grits likely originated. While this version differs from the traditional recipe, it nevertheless captures the richness of the original. The recipe seems complicated, but with a little prep, it comes together quickly.


2 servings, easily multiplied


6 large shrimp, unpeeled


For the shrimp stock reduction:

1 tablespoon chopped onion

¼ cup chopped celery with leaves


Seasoning mix:

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt


For the grits:

1 cup yellow corn grits (I used Yelton’s)

1 ½ cups water

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter


For the seafood hollandaise sauce:

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons shrimp stock reduction

¼ cup butter, in pats

1 teaspoon basil vinegar or lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper



                Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tail segment intact and reserving the shells. Place the peeled shrimp on a plate and keep refrigerated.



                In a small saucepan combine the reserved shrimp shells, the onion and the celery. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer gently 1 hour. Strain the shrimp stock through a fine sieve, discarding the solids, and return it to the pan. Over gentle heat, reduce the stock to 2 tablespoons. Watch carefully as it reduces to prevent burning. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Measure the cooled reduction carefully. If you have less than two tablespoons, add water.



                Combine the seasoning mix ingredients in a small bowl. Reserve.



                Bring 1 ½ cups water and ½ teaspoon of salt to boil in a large saucepan. Add the grits, stirring well. Immediately reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter. Remove from the heat and keep warm.



                In the top of a double boiler, place the egg yolks and shrimp stock reduction. Set the top over the bottom half, which should have 2-3 inches of water. Water should not touch the top half, or the eggs will curdle. Turn on the heat and bring the water to a boil, whisking. Adjust the heat so the water just simmers, and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens. Add the butter, one pat at a time, whisking to incorporate before adding another pat. Remove the top half of the boiler and whisk in the vinegar (or lemon juice) and white pepper. Keep the sauce warm.



                To finish the dish, spray a grill pan with cooking spray and place it over medium-high heat. Take the shrimp out of the refrigerator, sprinkle them with the seasoning mix, using as much or as little as you prefer, and place them on the hot pan. When the bottom side begins to turn opaque, flip the shrimp with tongs and cook them on the other side. Three or four minutes should be sufficient, depending upon the size of the shrimp.



                Place a dollop of grits on a heated plate. Set three of the grilled shrimp on top of the grits. Surround the grits with hollandaise sauce.



Notes: Chef Joseph Lenn at JC Holdway garnishes this dish with pickled tomatoes and microgreens. I happened to have pickled tomatoes I made last summer, but you could also use a dollop of salsa, or some canned tomatoes spiked up with a little vinegar and spices. Garnish with any fresh herb you happen to have. I used parsley, but tarragon or chives, both in season here in autumn, would also be good. Look for "stone ground" yellow corn grits. Several small suppliers in North Carolina make excellent products. Yelton's is my favorite, but use whatever good quality grits you have available.

Here in Tennessee, frozen seafood is usually better than "fresh" which is typically frozen seafood thawed by the store. I buy raw, unpeeled wild harvested North Carolina shrimp. It comes individually frozen in bags. I divide up a bag among smaller containers so I have shrimp in the freezer whenever I want it.