Down Home Dishes With Trisha Yearwood

Most people know Trisha Yearwood as a Grammy-winning country music star, but her friends and family know her as a fabulous cook.

She's partnered with her sister and mom to write her first cookbook, "Georgia Cooking In An Oklahoma Kitchen" which debuted at No. 3 on The New York Times Bestseller list.

"We love to cook," she told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen. "My mom and my sister made me a little collection of recipes when I moved to Oklahoma."

Yearwood said that she was definitely homesick for "mama's cooking" and was happy to have all of those recipes in one place. Putting it all in a book just seemed the natural thing to do.

While out on the Early Show plaza, Yearwood showed how to make a Fourth of July menu that included her father's barbecued chicken - the trick is to soak it in saltwater overnight - featuring a vinegar-based sauce. For the side dishes, she showed how to make a not-too-sweet cole slaw as well as his and hers deviled eggs (her husband Garth Brooks likes mustard, but she likes mayonnaise).

Also below are her recipes for easy baked beans and home-churned ice cream to round out the menu.

When she's not busy making dinner - or making music - Yearwood devotes time to various charitable causes. Recently she teamed up with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Coldwater Creek in support of a unique donation program, Share Your Journey For The Cure. To find out more, click here.

"You won't go to a southern picnic or covered-dish supper and not see deviled eggs," Yearwood writes. "Garth and I grew up eating different versions of this dish, so both varieties are included here. Honestly, I never met a deviled egg I didn't like, so these are both yummy to me!"

Ingredients:

12 large eggs

His Filling:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon butter, softened
Salt and pepper to taste

Her Filling:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Paprika for garnish

Place the eggs in a medium saucepan with water to cover and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover the pan, and let stand for 20 minutes. Pour off the hot water and refill the saucepan with cold water. Crack the eggshells all over and let them sit in the cold water for 5 minutes. Peel the eggs, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.

Halve the eggs lengthwise. Carefully remove the yolks and transfer them to a small bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork, then stir in the filling ingredients of your choice. Season with salt and pepper. Scoop a spoonful of the mixture into each egg white half. Sprinkle the tops with paprika.

This is one time when freshest isn't bestest. Very fresh eggs are hard to peel, so use eggs near the sell-by date on the carton. Also, invert each egg in the carton the night before cooking so this yolk will become more centered in the white. It makes a prettier deviled egg. Who knew?

RECIPE: Fourth of July Coleslaw

"There are as many varieties of coleslaw as there are shades of pink, especially in the South!" Yearwood writes. "A lot of coleslaw recipes have sugar as an ingredient, but this one gets that bit of sweetness from sweet salad pickles, which don't mask the fresh flavors of the cabbage and carrots. We serve this every Fourth of July with Barbecued Pork Ribs and Easy Baked Beans (see below).

Ingredients:

1 firm head green cabbage, about 2 pounds
1 large carrot, peeled
1/2 small sweet onion, such as Vidalia, peeled and chopped fine
1/4 cup diced salad pickles
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt

Pinch of black pepper

Remove and discard any bruised or undesirable outside leaves from the head of cabbage. Quarter the cabbage and grate it into a large bowl using the coarse side of a hand grater or the shredding blade of a food processor. Grate the carrot and add it to the cabbage, tossing together to combine. Add the onion, pickles, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. Stir together until thoroughly mixed. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

RECIPE: Barbecued Chicken

"As a young man, my dad worked with the State of Georgia Extension Service, where he learned to barbecue chickens by the hundreds," writes Yearwood. "Over the years, he cooked thousands of chickens that were sold on the town square, at football games, or horse shows. He and his friends would build a huge pit with cement blocks and top them with specially made racks that could hold about 50 chicken halves each. To turn the chickens, another rack was placed on top, and two men, one on each end of the racks, would flip the entire rack at once! My mom has adapted Dad's recipe to serve a family, not the whole town."

Ingredients:

3 2 1/2-pound frying chickens, split (see Note)
4 tablespoons salt
1 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup peanut oil
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Put the chicken halves in a very large bowl or deep pot and cover with water. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the salt in the water. Cover the bowl or pot and refrigerate the chickens in this brine for 6 hours or overnight.

Prepare a fire in a grill with the grilling rack set 16 inches above the coals (see Note).

In a saucepan, mix together the vinegar, remaining tablespoon salt, peanut oil, Tabasco sauce, black pepper, 1/4 cup water, and the cayenne. Bring this mixture to a boil, stir well, and remove from the heat.

When the coals are uniformly covered with gray ash, spread them in a single layer. Drain the chicken, pay dry, and place the halves on the grill, skin side up. Baste with the sauce and cook for 30 minutes. Using tongs, turn the chickens skin side down and baste the top with sauce. Continue to grill the chickens for an additional 1 1/2 hours, turning and basting the chicken every 15 minutes. Add charcoal as needed to maintain a hot layer of coals. Check for doneness by twisting a drumstick. It should move easily.

Note: If you cannot find small chickens, use larger ones (3-3 1/2 pounds) and quarter them. If the grill rack cannot be adjusted, cook the chickens closer to the coals and turn the halves more often to avoid burning.

RECIPE: Easy Baked Beans

"I serve baked beans with everything from hot dogs to barbecued chicken," says Yearwood. "They are a great side dish, and the bacon, molasses, and brown sugar in this version make them irresistible."

Ingredients:

1 pound bacon
1 large onion, such as Vidalia, finely chopped
4 15-ounce cans pork and beans
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Fry the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the drippings, and drain it on paper towels. Crumble and set aside.

Pour out and discard all but 4 tablespoons of the bacon drippings. Add the onion to the pan and sauté until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the beans, molasses, sugar, mustard, and bacon, and mix well.

Pour the beans into a 3-quart casserole and bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

RECIPE: Home-Churned Ice Cream

"When we were children, we never made homemade ice cream unless we had company," Yearwood says. "I'm not sure if it was because we were being sociable or if it was because we needed help with the old hand churn. After working that hard, you definitely deserved a big bowl of ice cream! Daddy always added fresh peaches to this recipe because he loved homemade peach ice cream. Feel free to experiment with a fruit you love. I usually make it plain, then put out bowls of peaches, strawberries, bananas, nuts, and chocolate syrup so my guests can top it as they please."

Ingredients:

2 recipes Boiled Custard, chilled (recipe below)
1 pint fresh fruit, such as fresh Georgia peaches, peeled, pitted, and mashed
6 cups whole milk
20 pounds crushed ice
3 pounds rock salt

Wash the can, lid, and dasher of a tall 1-gallon electric or hand-cranked ice cream churn with hot soapy water. Rinse with cool water. In a bowl, mix the custard with the fruit. Set the dasher into the freezer can and pour in the fruit and custard. Add milk to within 3 inches of the top of the can or to the fill line marked on your freezer can. Put the lid on the can and place it in the freezer pail, making sure to center the can on the raised can rest in the bottom. Put several handfuls of ice around the can to hold it upright. Attach the motor or hand crank.

Start the motor of an electric churn and begin packing the space around the can with ice and salt, starting with about 4 inches ice and then adding about 4 ounces (1/2 cup) rock salt. Continue adding ice and salt to this manner until the ice reaches the top but does not cover the top of the can. Add 1 cup cold water to help the ice begin to melt. The freezer pail should be placed in a large pan or sink so the salt water that drains out does not damage surfaces. Make sure the drainage hole stays open.

Freezing takes 20 to 30 minutes. Add more ice and salt as needed. An electric churn will stop when the ice cream is frozen. If the motor stalls too soon, unplug it and check to be sure no ice is caught between the bottom of the can and the freezer. Do this by using your hands to force the can to turn and then restart the churn. A hand churn takes about the same amount of time; you will know it is frozen when the churn becomes very difficult to turn.

Wipe away any ice and salt from the lid of the can and carefully remove the lid. Pushing down on the can, carefully pull out the dasher, scraping any clinging ice cream back into the can. At this stage, the ice cream is soft. Put the provided cork stopper into the hole in the lid and replace the lid.

Harden the ice cream by adding more ice and salt to the freezer bucket, completely covering the can and securely corked lid. Cover the freezer with a heavy towel or newspaper layers and store the churn in a cool place until ready to serve. If you are not serving the ice cream within 1 hour, remove the towel and pack more ice and salt in the freezer pail. Dispose of the salt water in an area away from grass or plants. Scrub and rinse the pail thoroughly to avoid rust.

RECIPE: Boiled Custard

Boiled custard is a southern tradition that has been used for centuries in recipes like banana pudding, pies, and homemade ice cream. It adds the richness and flavor of a pastry cream to every recipe it's used in, but it's not as thick.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch or 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat 1 1/2 cups of the milk in a double boiler until a skim forms (just before boiling) on the top of the milk.

Sift together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup milk.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly stream 1/4 cup hot milk into the eggs.

Slowly pour the egg-milk mixture back into the double boiler, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Stir in the sugar mixture and continue cooking the custard until it thickens, about 15 minutes, stirring constantly (see Note). Stir in the vanilla.

Note: Combining hot milk and eggs is a delicate process, and lumps may appear even if you are very careful. If lumps do appear, strain the custard through a fine sieve.