Dinner & A Book

From the book: The Best Cook in the World by Rick Bragg

• 2 ½ cups of freshly picked blackberries (or any fruit)
• 1 to 1 ½ cups of sugar
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 dash of salt

Directions

1. As with plum pie, combine the sugar and blackberries, and store in the refrigerator overnight in a covered dish, to make it “likker.”
2. If you want traditional crust, follow the biscuit crust recipe, as in the preceding recipe, either in lattice form or vertical crust. Or create a simple wet drop- crust by mixing the flour, milk, and a dash of salt, and pour over the fruit.
3. My mother likes to create islands of the batter, leaving little rivers of blackberry filling. This will allow the edges of the drop crust to crisp a little, and allow the fruit to bubble through as it cooks. But before placing it in the oven, drizzle about half of the melted butter on top. When it’s done, repeat this.
4. The same recipes work well to make apple, peach, cherry, and other traditional cobblers.
5. Some people like to top their cobbler with vanilla ice cream. “But if you got good cobbler, you really don’t need to try to make it no better.”