Currently Reading

Here are the tastingspoons players. I’m in the middle (Carolyn). Daughter Sara on the right, and daughter-in-law Karen on the left. I started the blog in 2007, as a way to share recipes with my family. I’m still doing 99% of the blogging and holding out hope that these two lovely and excellent cooks will participate. They both lead very busy lives, so we’ll see.

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BOOK READING (from Carolyn):

Music of Bees, Eileen Garvin. Absolutely charming book about a woman in midlife, lonely, who raises bees, also makes unlikely friends. Heart-warming and very interesting about beekeeping.

A Postcard from Paris, Alex Brown. Really cute story. Dual time line, 1940s and present day about renovating an old apartment in Paris, things discovered.

Time of the Child, Niall Williams. Oh such a good book. Very small village in Ireland, 1960s. A baby is left on the doorstep. The town all whispers and helps. I listened to an interview of the author, which made me like him and his books even more.

Sipsworth, Simon Van Booy. If you like animals you’ll swoon. An old woman who really wants to die finds a tiny mouse in her house and befriends it and finds a reason to live. Utterly charming book.

The Forger’s Spell, Edward Dolnick. True story. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of Johannes Vermeer.

If You Lived Here, You’d be Home by Now, Christopher Ingraham. Could hardly put it down – about a journalist who takes on a challenge to move to small town in Minnesota and write about it. He expects to hate it and the people and place, but he doesn’t. Absolutely wonderful true story.

The River We Remember, William Kent Kreuger. 1950s, Minnesota. A murder and the aftermath. Could hardly put it down. Kreuger has such a vivid imagination and writing style.

How the Lights Gets In, Joyce Maynard. An older woman returns to New Hampshire to help care for her brain-injured son. Siblings and family, lots of angst and resentments.

The Filling Station, Vanessa Miller. Every American should read this book. A novelized retelling of the Tulsa massacre in 1921. Absolutely riveting.

The Story She Left Behind, Patti Callahan Henry. Love this author. Based on a true story. A famous author simply vanishes, leaving her husband and daughter behind. She had invented a mystical language no one could translate. Present day, someone thinks he’s solved the riddle, contacts the family. Really interesting read.

The Girl from Berlin, Ronald Balson. Love anything about Tuscany. An elderly woman is being evicted from a villa there, with odd deed provenance. Two young folks go there to help unravel the mystery. Loved it.

The Island of the Colorblind, Oliver Sacks, M.D. Nonfiction. The dr is intrigued by a remote Pacific island where most of the inhabitants are colorblind. He also unravels a mystery on Guam of people born with a strange neurological problem. Medical mysteries unveiled. Very interesting.

The Bookbinder, Pip Williams. Post 1914 London. Two sisters work at a bookbindery. They’re told to not read the books. One does and one doesn’t. One has visions beyond her narrow world; the other does not. Eventually the one gets into Oxford. Lovely story.

The Paris Express, Emma Donoghue. 1895 on a train to Paris, a disaster happens. You’ll delve into the lives of many people who survived and died in the crash.

A Race to the Bottom of Crazy, Richard Grant. This is about Arizona. Author, wife and child move back to Arizona where they once lived. Part memoir, research, and reporting in a quest to understand what makes Arizona such a confounding and irresistible place.

The Scarlet Thread, Francine Rivers. A woman’s life turned upside down when she discovers the handcrafted quilt and journal of her ancestor Mary Kathryn McMurray, a young woman who was uprooted from her home only to endure harsh frontier conditions on the Oregon Trail.

A Place to Hide, Ronald Balson. 1939 Amsterdam, an ambassador has the ability to save the lives of many Jewish children. Heartwarming.

Homeseeking, Karissa Chen. Two young Chinese teens are deeply in love, but in China. Then their families are separated. Jump to current day and the two meet again in Los Angeles.

North River, Pete Hammill. He always writes such a good story. A doctor works diligently healing people from all walks of life. His wife and daughter left him years before. One day his 3-yr old grandson arrives on his doorstep.

A Very Typical Family, Sierra Godfrey. A very messed-up family. Three adult children are given a home in Santa Cruz, Calif, but only if the siblings meet up and live in the house together. A very untypical scenario but makes for lots of messes.

Three Days in June, Anne Tyler. The usual Anne Tyler grit. Family angst. This wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was entertaining and very short.

Saved, Benjamin Hall. Author is a veteran war reporter. Ukraine, 2022, he nearly loses his life to a Russian strike. Riveting story – he survives, barely.

Grey Wolf, Louise Penny. Another Inspector Gamache mystery in Quebec. She is such an incredible mystery writer.

All the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker. A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each. Could hardly put it down.

Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Winner of 2024 Booker Prize. I don’t usually like those, but I heard the author interviewed and she hooked me. This is not a normal book with a beginning, a story and an end. It’s several chapters of the day in the life of various astronauts at the ISS (Int’l Space Station). All fictional. She’s been praised by several real astronauts for “getting it” about space station everyday life.

The Blue Hour, Paula Hawkins. An island off Scotland. Inaccessible except when the tide is out. Weird goings on. An artist. A present day mystery too.

Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger. A judge is murdered and a boy is missing. Riveting mystery.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Carol Ricks Brunt. 1980s. A 14-yr old girl loses her beloved uncle. Yet a new friendship arises, someone she never knew about.

Four Treasures of the Sky, Jenny Zhang. 1880s, a young girl is kidnapped in China and brought to the United States. She survives with many hurdles in the path.

The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, Ken Dornstein. Memoir, 1988. The author’s brother died in the PanAm flight that went down in Lockerbie, Scotland. A decade later he tries to solve “the riddle of his older brother’s life.”

Worse Care Scenario, T.J. Newman. Oh my. Interesting analysis of what could/might happen if a jet crashed into a nuclear plant. Un-put-downable.

Song of the Lark, Willa Cather. Complicated weave of a story about a young woman in about 1900, who has a gifted voice (singing) and about her journey to success, not without its ups and downs.

Crow Talk, Eileen Garvin. Charming story which takes place at a remote lake in Washington State, about a few people who inhabit it, the friendships made, but also revolving around the rescue of a baby crow.

The Story Collector, Evie Woods. Sweet story about some dark secrets from an area in Ireland, a bit magical, faerie life, but solving a mystery too.

A Sea of Unspoken Things, Adrienne Young. A woman investigates her twin brother’s mysterious death. She goes to a small town in California to figure it out, to figure HIM out.

The King’s Messenger, Susanna Kearsley. 1600s England, King James. About one of his trusted “messengers,” and his relationship with a young woman also of “the court.” Lots of intrigue.

In the Shadow of the Greenbrier, Emily Matchar. Interesting mystery in/around the area of the famous resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Isola, Allegra Goodman. Hard to describe, survival story on an island in the 1600s.

Save the Date, Allison Raskin. Rom-com, witty, LOL funny. Clever.

The Sirens, Emilia Hart. Numerous time-lines, Australia. Mysteries abound, nightmares, abandoned baby, weird allergies.

Red Clay, Charles Fancher. LOVED this book. Mostly post-Civil War story about the lives of slaves in Alabama during Reconstruction.

Stars in an Italian Sky, Jill Santopolo. Dual time line, 1946 and recent time. Love stories and a mystery.

Battle Mountain, C.J. Box. Another one of Box’s riveting mysteries. Love his descriptions of the land.

Something Beautiful Happened, Yvette Corporon. A memoir of sorts in Greece, tiny island of Erikousa, where the locals hid Jews during WWII. All elusive stories told by the author’s grandmother.

The Jackal’s Mistress, Chris Bohjalian. 1860s Virginia, about a woman who saves the life of a Union soldier. Really good story.

Song of the Magpie, Louise Mayberry. Really interesting story about Australia back in the days when it was mostly a penal colony. Gritty strength of a woman trying to thrive with her farm.

The Boomerang, Robert Bailey. A thriller that will have you gripping the book. About a lot of secrets surrounding the president (fictional novel, remember) and his chief of staff and about cancer. A cure. Such a good story.

Care and Feeding, Laurie Woolever. Really interesting memoir of a woman driven to succeed in the restaurant business. She worked for Mario Batali and then Anthony Bourdain. Gritty stories.

Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green. Maybe not a book for everyone. A real deep dive into the deadly tuberculosis infection, its history. I heard the author interviewed and found the book very interesting.

The Book Lovers Library, Madeline Martin. Fascinating read about Boots’ drug stores’ lending library. And the people who worked in them.

The Arrivals, Meg Mitchell Moore. LOL funny, about a middle-aged couple whose children (and their various family members) return to the family home and the chaos that ensues.

My Life as a Silent Movie, Jesse Lee Kercheval. About grief. A big move to Paris, finding herself a new life with a new set of real blood family.

Escape, Carolyn Jessop. Another memoir about a woman really in bondage in Utah, Mormon plural marriage.

Tasting Spoons

My blog's namesake - small, old and some very dented engraved silver plated tea spoons that belonged to my mother-in-law, and I use them to taste my food as I'm cooking.

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Mississippi Comeback Sauce

Posted in Miscellaneous, on October 27th, 2011.

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It was just a few weeks ago – I was a real neophyte when it comes to Comeback Sauce. So much a neophyte that I’m like a dummy falling off an okra truck, if you get my drift. In other words, I’d never even HEARD of it. My ears perked up at the phrase. Actually, I was watching the Nate Berkus Show, and he had two of the stars on his show from The Help, and they did a cooking segment with Aaron McCargo, Jr. of the Food Network. Aaron had made a sauce and one of the guests said “oh, it’s something like Comeback Sauce.” Huh?

So, within half an hour I’d gone online and researched all about the stuff. What it is, is a cross between a remoulade sauce and Thousand Island dressing. The common denominators of nearly all of the recipes are: mayonnaise, ketchup, chili sauce, lemon juice and pepper. And sometimes Worcestershire sauce. I visited half a dozen Southern websites, and yes, I found a few boring-looking-sounding versions. Mostly they were equal quantities of mayo and ketchup and a ton of finely ground black pepper. None of those appealed to me, so I kept researching. I looked in my meager Southern cookbooks (no recipes for it there). But finally, I clicked on an online search result for Deep South Dish, a blog just chock-a-block full of Southern down home recipes. And sure enough, Mary had a recipe for a much more sophisticated version she calls Mississippi Comeback Sauce. She and I had a several-day email conversation about it and I promised to let her know once I made it. She also said it was fine if I put her sauce up here on my blog.

Assuming you enjoy reading all of this kind of extraneous trivia I bring you on this-here blog, you’ll need to humor me now as I explain a bit about the history of this sauce. It’s Mississippi born and bred. There is no wikipedia entry for it (at least not yet – Mary, you ought to start one!). I found an article written in the Clarion Ledger (the daily newspaper in Jackson, MS) back in 2001 which documents (sort-of) what they know about the sauce. It seems that it originated in a Greek restaurant called The Rotisserie in Jackson, Miss. a long time ago. It’s mentioned in newspaper archives back in the 1920’s and 30’s. But the sauce came into its own at The Rotisserie, and within a few years all of the other Greek restaurants in Jackson also had it on their menus too, or at least it was served in all of these other restaurants. Originally it started as a salad dressing. As time went by the restaurants began using it as a universal sauce – a dip for fries, a condiment to be served with onion rings or fried mushrooms, a dip for crudités. Eventually the sauce spawned to other non-Greek restaurants and it even became a side dipping sauce for french fried dill pickles. According to Mary, the sauce can be used on EVERYTHING. Sure, it can be a salad dressing if you enjoy the thousand island variety. I might use less of the ketchup if I were using it for salad dressing.

So, the other day I just had a craving for a BLT. Rarely does that kind of food craving take over – not that I don’t like BLTs, I do, but I try not to eat much bread if I can help it. We won’t talk about the fat in the bacon, or the mayo! Just the bread! In this case I just couldn’t help it. My DH made a trip to a little local bakery that makes lovely, thin-sliced soft white bread. While he was gone I decided to whip up the Mississippi Comeback Sauce according to Mary’s recipe. I used it to slather on the bread, and made the sandwiches with gorgeous heirloom tomato slices, Trader Joe’s thick-sliced bacon and some lovely purple-green-leaf lettuce. Here’s the photo:

The dark/black part in the photo at right is the purple lettuce. Under that the tomato, and the bacon on the bottom. You can barely see the Comeback Sauce slathered on the top and bottom slices of bread. But it’s there. And it was delicious. I should have toasted the bread. Just plain forgot!

Mary suggests it on a fried bologna sandwich, as a dip for fried green tomatoes, fried oysters, boiled shrimp or fried shrimp. None of those things are regulars on my dinner menus. Well, maybe some kind of shrimp, but not fried. There’s a restaurant here in our local area called Nieuport 17 that serves a luncheon dish – I think they called it Open Faced Shrimp and Avocado Sandwich. It’s a thin slice of bread, slathered with remoulade, topped with big halved shrimp slices, thin slices of avocado and a little bowl of remoulade on the side and a lemon slice to squeeze over the top. I’ve not been there for years for lunch (it used to be a great place to take customers) but I’ve been a fan of that sauce for years anyway. Now, the switch to Comeback Sauce should be an easy transition. Thanks, Mary!

What I liked: how easy it is to make; it’s really tasty. Yes, it’s a bit peppery, but not overly so. It’s tangy and tart at the same time. I can see it being a great drizzle on top of summer sliced tomatoes.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all.

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