Andy and Amy Reid

“The food business is a tough business,” said Andy Reid of Bruce, who has been cooking, in and out of restaurants, for a long time.

He went to Memphis as a butcher when he finished high school, was later hired to manage a fried chicken restaurant and worked for a restaurant management company. Later, he and his sister Brenda Ruth, had the Trojan Inn in Bruce, and he and wife, Amy, had Cagni’s in Calhoun City.
Amy and their daughter, Kristi, catered for about three years out of Cagni’s. Pepper jelly turnovers and miniature cheese balls with pretzel sticks were two things she quickly recalled them serving.

Amy, formerly of Memphis, said her parents were both good cooks. Her mother made a “really good pea curry casserole. There’s just something about it that goes well with dressing,” she said, adding that it had become a family tradition but only prepared when they are having dressing. She also said her daddy made grits, then he would fry the leftovers, which she says she can’t do.
“I was fortunate enough to grow up with two exceptional cooks–my mother, Tula, and grandmother, Essie Doss,” said Andy.  Tula did a lot of tasting as she cooked, kind of an experiment to try to come up with  a unique flavor. “Don’t be scared to experiment,” is something he learned from her.

“My grandmother had 10 kids, so all she did was cook. That was the best table I ever sat down to–always had it spread out, and you wouldn’t believe her breakfast!”
He is proud to have his grandmother’s dough bowl and Amy, her mother’s bean pots.
Amy and Andy learned to cook together, and now say they take turns doing the cooking,

She has “a world of cookbooks,” but also goes to cooks.com and to recipesearch.com to look. Southern Sideboards and Gracious Goodness are her favorite cookbooks. One thing she likes to do is roast different kinds of vegetables in the oven, seasoned with salt and pepper. She and their kids like lemon garlic chicken and she prepares it a good bit.

He watches the cooking channel–Rachel Ray, Pioneer Woman, and Emeril, and said they ate at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans once when Emeril was chef. Tujaque’s is Andy’s favorite New Orleans restaurant, and The Blue Heron in the Ozarks, which can only be reached by boat, is a restaurant they both enjoyed. Andy says BBQ ribs are one of his favorite foods and he likes any good rib place.

The Reids like spicy food and they fix the Cajun Cabbage frequently, a recipe Andy created.  They also enjoy a taste of hot and savory with a touch of sweet, so seven or eight years ago, Amy began making jams to add in their dishes–pear/pineapple, muscadine, peach, and also strawberry freezer jam. She likes to use homemade pear jam when making her garlic chicken, but says apple jelly will work. Pepper jelly is also something that they keep at their house.

They will work on something until they get it where they like it in replicating a dish they’ve had from a restaurant. The most recent of those projects was the dressing for a chicken salad with cranberries, apples and celery in which they ended up using mayonnaise, yogurt and honey.
They make all of their own salad dressings and spaghetti sauce. A favorite dressing of theirs consists of white wine vinegar and olive oil, garlic puree, dijon mustard, salt and pepper and turmeric. She lets her spaghetti sauce cook all day and likes to make a big batch with some to freeze.

They have a family brunch at Christmas at which everybody brings a dish. She has made beignets in the past and everybody really liked those, but they always enjoy garlic cheese grits, breakfast casserole, chocolate gravy and biscuits, and Amy also makes Paula Deen’s Pecan Praline French Toast casserole.
Cajun Cabbage
1 small head of cabbage, thinly sliced
1 pack smoked sausage, sliced
1 onion
1 can diced tomatoes with chili peppers
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 tsp. red pepper jelly
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. each, butter and olive oil
Put butter, olive oil, sausage and onion in large iron skillet and brown. Add cabbage, chicken stock and tomatoes. When cabbage is wilted, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until done.

Banana Pecan Pound Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box instant banana pudding
1/4 cup oil
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
3 mashed bananas
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Combine all ingredients except pecans and mix on low. Stir in pecans. Pour into greased and floured pan. Bake for one hour at 325°.
Glaze:
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Bring ingredients to a boil and cook for about 3 minutes. When cake is done, use wooden pick to pierce holes in top. Pour glaze over top. Cool cake for 30 minutes before taking it out of pan.

Broccoli Salad
(David Pryor)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 lb. bacon (fried and crumbled)
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Two bundles of broccoli (florets, and peeled and chopped stems)
Mix mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar to make dressing, and set aside. Shortly before serving, toss with broccoli, onion, bacon and pecans.

Spicy Pecans
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups pecans
Heat pecans in dry skillet stirring frequently until they start to toast. Put pecans in a bowl and add all of the other ingredients to the skillet. Bring to a boil and cook for a couple of minutes. Put pecans back into skillet and toss. Cook several minutes until pecans are glazed. Transfer pecans to foil lined sheet to cool and harden.

Pea Curry Casserole
3 cans English peas, drained
3 boiled eggs, sliced
Butter, curry powder, pepper
2 cans golden mushroom soup
Layer one can peas, one egg, 1/2 can of soup, dot with small amount of butter, add pepper and curry powder; make another layer of the same; for the third layer use a full can of soup on top. Bake at 350° until bubbly.