Back on a steamy July night a few weeks ago I was roughly two-thirds of the way through a damned eventful drive (carjacking) from the southern-most Seattle metro to Birmingham, crawling along a busier-than-it-should-have-been two lane in the Arkansas hills, when all hell broke loose weather-wise.
I’d seen the thunderstorms off in the distance in the hours before sunset and had been watching the lightning dance for hours. Eventually the wind kicked up, rain fell in buckets, hail bounced, tree branches started to litter the road and the radio blared tornado warnings. Traffic slowed to a crawl and then came to a stop.
A semi ahead had swerved, lost control, jack-knifed and finally tipped its loaded trailer blocking both lanes of the road. I was stranded, behind schedule, pissed off and starving.
A little village a few miles back, the two gas station and two roadkill cafe sorta village, beckoned; I spun around and pulled into the only eatery remaining open. The old neon sign simply said ‘Cafe’ and there was a hand-painted proclamation of ‘Good Eats’ on a 1 x 10 near the door.
It was a fairly humble affair with a long covered porch on one side with a decently-sized smoker – grill going on one end; there was genuine hardwood stacked on the porch – things were looking up. Even better there were two ageless geezers sitting in wooden chairs sipping on beers, ostensibly tending the fire.
I dashed to the cover of the porch, greeted the gents eyeing me carefully, and reached for the door. One of the fellas offered ‘git Daryl’s Mayhaw Chicken’ as I went in; sure enough, they were shutting down shortly and the options were a plate of the Mayhaw Chicken or a cheeseburger.
The choice was easy; Daryl’s (one of the gents outside) Mayhaw chicken was lacquered with a spicy sweet glaze with just a hint of nasal-clearing horseradish along with a surprisingly well-fit burst of mint. Served with a pile of hand-cut coleslaw and softball-size hunk of cornbread, that plate of food made the 2-hour wait to clear the road a painless one. (They even let me nap in a rocker on the porch until the road opened again.)
Daryl hails from Mississippi, hence the reference to Ole Miss, and apparently travels back often to visit family and pick Mayhaw in the wetlands when they ripen in May, putting up most as Mayhaw jelly to last the year. His recipe he shared was based on ‘so many handfuls or coffee-cups’ of ingredients, but this version seems to be pretty damned close to that evening’s fare.
Another keeper recipe from the road.
8 ounce jar mayhaw jelly (red current works too)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. Creole mustard
2 tbsp. green Tabasco sauce
1 tbsp. prepared horseradish
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, mince or chiffonade
Pinch of salt2 whole frying chickens, cut up, skin-on, rinsed and patted dry
Salt
Make the glaze. Melt the mayhaw jelly in a small saucepan over low heat; remove from heat and stir in the apple cider vinegar, Creole mustard, green Tabasco, horseradish, mint leaves and salt. Combine well; set aside at room temperature in two parts.
Fire the grill and prep the chicken.
Grill time. Pile those red hot hardwood charcoal coals along each side of the grill, creating an indirect zone down the center of your grill. Grill the chicken for 12-15 minutes per side, brushing with the glaze during the later half of cooking, taking care not to let that sugary goodness char.
Serve and drizzle. Pull the chicken, let it rest a minute (probably really don’t have to rest chicken right off the grill, it just doesn’t hold that much residual heat, but what the hell) then plate with the second split of the glaze to drizzle on for an added burst of flavor.
Enjoy.
