“Mississippi Come Back Sauce”

BRIGHT ORANGE COMEBACK SAUCE SAYS "HAPPY TASTES"

Mississippi’s Come-Back Sauce

 From the Great Delta to the Bayou,  one thing about Mississippi…It’s a drivers state. You’re always gonna see trees and water wherever you drive. I believe the historians when they say that a squirrel used to go across the whole state and never hit ground because of the trees here. Mississippi loves its trees so much, we have the largest collection of tree farms in the USA.  When I was growing up, there were an abundance of trees that had food on them like nuts and berries, and juices flowing from them that were as valuable as oil is to us today.

Cuisine of all kinds is abundant here.  Before refrigeration,and even after, for those who couldn’t afford it, hunting and catching wild meats and fish was a daily task.  That’s goes back before slavery times when people needed more protein than they were allocated so they could do all that physical labor from sun up to sundown needed to keep their farm going.

I used to love playing near the creeks. That’s where I got my first biology lessons. The ponds and creeks were my first swimming pools. The white sands on the creeks were my first beaches. I realized the value of using everything when I realized you could eat mussels and grind the shells for use in growing plants and making other items to use everyday.
Walking in the woods you always were aware that you were being watched by something. I always wished I could do that. Watch things and never be seen. That was the closest I would come to being invisible.  I enjoyed drinking the water from and underground spring. That’s when I realized that real water is suppose to have a taste and be so cold that it made it’s own ice. I remember how my grandmother would take that water and take fresh lemons and quarter or slicr them kind of thick  and put them in a brown tan colored clay like bowl, then add some cane sugar and take a potato masher and mash then until all the juices were squeezed  and the smell of fresh lemons danced in the air with other molecules.  She then added some more sugar and that  icycold spring water. Ain’t nobody made lemonade like that for me since.

That’s why after traveling  and residing all over the USA,  I always end up coming back to Mississippi. If you’ve ever really experienced it’s charm and graciousness amongst all the negative rumors, you too would come back. Speaking of coming back,  there was someone in the 1930’s who knew about coming back and they made a sauce with just that name.  It used to be in all the eateries just like ketchup is today, but now there are only a few classic establishments that know of this sauce and still use it today. Let me share the recipe with you. This sensational sauce is a collaboration between Thousand Island dressing, tartar sauce and remoulade sauce. It can be used as a dipping sauce for grilled or deep fried vegetables, poultry and seafood or a salad dressing. Just leave it on the table and see how long it lasts.

Mississippi’s Best Come-Back Sauce or Dressing

2 large garlic cloves (peeled)
1 large onion (cut into quarters)
1 cup Hellman’s or Blue Plate mayonnaise
1/2 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup French’s mustard
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup peanut , canola or olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon each white wine vinegar  and fresh squeezed lemon juice with zest
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon of smoked paprika
2 tablespoons cold spring or bottled water

Put the garlic and onion in a blender and puree.

Add all the other ingredients and blend until well mixed.

Refrigerate overnight so all the ingredients can marry into each other. You can recycle a used plastic ketchup bottle or some other plastic squeeze bottle and sit it on the table . It is best served chilled, I like to keep it in a bowl with ice and water 30 minutes or so before serving so that I can get that underground spring coolness.

This  sauce can be used on chicken, fish, sandwiches, salads, french fries or however your taste buds prefer.

Here are some places to eat at while in Jackson,Mississippi:

1. Big Apple Inn – 509 North Farish Street
2. Bully’s Soul Food – 3118 Livingston Road
3. Crechale’s – 3107 Highway 80 West
4. Mayflower Cafe – 123 West Capitol Street
©2008 (oldschoozchef)