Mount Pleasant Magazine May/June 2021

www. Char l es tonWomen . com | www. Char l es tonWomenPodcas t . com | www. ReadCW. com CW A nyone who truly loves food knows that some of our favorite dishes aren’t so much about the taste but the nostalgic memories that accompany them. I will always associate the taste of Passover brisket with my grandmother, and, although you would be hard-pressed to find processed foods in my pantry, I can’t imagine ever braising a brisket without her secret ingredient – two packets of onion soup powder. As Charleston has continued to expand, our food culture is adapting – a literal melting pot of all of our food histories. I reached out to three wonderful chefs helping to shape the culinary landscape of our city to learn about how their own families have inspired their cooking and to share the recipes that remind them of home. BY L I NDSAY C . B I SHOP From Family to Plate Finding Inspiration in the Kitchen MICHELLE WEAVER – EXECUTIVE CHEF OF CHARLESTON GRILL Chef Weaver learned the ABCs of Southern cooking from her mother. “Two of her rules were never throw out bacon grease, and vegetables taste better from your own garden,” she reminisced. Some of Weaver’s fondest memories are of her mother’s family coming to visit during the summer. “My Aunt Gaye was the baker and dessert queen. My all-time favorite was her strawberry and angel food cake. It took two days to make it right. First, she would make the angel food cake. Once the cake had time to cool, she would cut off the top and gently dig a tunnel all the way around. She would cut and macerate the berries, then fold the inside tunnel pieces and freshly whipped sweetened cream into the strawberries. Then pack it back into the tunnel and replace the top. She would finish the cake by making some sort of magical icing with whipped cream and love. It would need to sit in the fridge overnight so the juices could soak into the cake just right. My cousins and I would open the door to drool and admire it so much we would get run out of the kitchen!” Weaver tried her first oyster during one of these get- togethers. “My Uncle Butch would drive up from Florida with a cooler full of shrimp and oysters. My first oyster on the half shell was sitting on a cooler in our backyard next to him. I loved them so much he had to teach me how to shuck them because he couldn’t keep up,” she remembered. Weaver’s mother, Pat, would prep and cook for two days before the family arrived. “She would put on a spread