My Good Friend Nathalie Dupree - No. 33

Plus, her foolproof Pecan Tassie recipe

Nathalie Dupree at home.

When Nathalie Dupree first cooked on TV in 1986, you had to know how to cook well to get that opportunity.

She might have been covered in flour making biscuits, and she might have brought you to tears laughing at her missteps, but you knew that she knew how to make those biscuits.

Today, while TV features Paris Hilton and celebs who know nothing about cooking, and we are supposed to painfully warm to their mistakes, it makes me yearn for really good cooks like Nathalie, the fearless experts who appeared live to tape without any breaks and just put all her successes and gaffes out there for us to savor.

She was on air for 16 years and 300 episodes and had the ability to turn “the culinary mistake or misstep into her signature moment,” according to her dear friend, the late novelist Pat Conroy.

I met Nathalie in Atlanta when I was a young newspaper food writer and was clueless about classic cooking. She would call if a seat opened up in a class with a visiting chef like Jacques Pépin, Paula Wolfert, or Paul Prudhomme at her Rich’s Cooking School downtown. And I’d grab my notebook, hit the elevator button, and be around the corner in no time.

Nathalie at Rich’s Cooking School in Atlanta. Photo courtesy of The Nathalie Dupree Archive, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries.

A storyteller with a flair for last-minute entertaining

Nathalie’s resume reads like a life well lived. She is a Le Cordon Bleu London graduate, worked in a Majorca restaurant kitchen, and was one of the first chefs to merge European techniques with Southern ingredients and call it “New Southern Cooking” at her restaurant in Social Circle, Georgia.

Neighbors grew zucchini and tomatoes for her, and she’d create a menu shopped entirely from what they grew and the local grocery. (Note: She’s always had a soft spot for home cooks and ingredients bought at the supermarket.)

But by far her greatest accomplishment was Rich’s cooking school where she would train students who would go on to be chefs and restaurateurs and caterers and writers. She called these students her “chickens” and would read Marcel Proust to them while they baked madeleines. And she’d go delightfully off-script with sultry, personal stories that were far more titillating than the turkey vegetable soup simmering on the stove.

Nathalie on TV. Photo courtesy of The Nathalie Dupree Archive, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries.

If you were a student and a visiting celebrity chef was in town, you just might have the chance to sit with Julia or Jacques or Craig at Nathalie’s dining room table later that evening. (More on those dinner parties in the recipe below.)

And on air? Nathalie was as approachable as your best friend. She caught the oven mitt on fire like your best friend. And unlike many TV cooks today, she showed us how to make recipes the viewer wanted to cook, “not recipes that made me look good.” And viewers recognized her TV face and voice when she traveled, and Nathalie said she understood their need for connection.

“Cooking on TV is an intimate act for the viewer,” she said. “You are in their home. They are watching you without any makeup on and their shoes are off, and they feel close to you.”

Honoring Nathalie at the James Beard House

Tribute dinner for Nathalie at the James Beard House in 2019. From left, Nathalie’s “chickens” Cynthia Graubart, me, Virginia Willis, Rebecca Lang, and Kelly Litton with the Mother Hen.

Today, Nathalie, 81, and her husband, the writer Jack Bass, live in Raleigh, NC, after a longtime residence in Charleston, SC. She is the author of 13 cookbooks, has sold her papers and cookbook library to the University of South Carolina, and is working on her memoir. 

Nearly two years ago, I was one of five chefs - all “chickens” at one time or another - invited to the James Beard House to cook a tribute dinner to Nathalie for her accomplishments in the world of food and her 80th birthday.

I baked little coconut, Coca-Cola, and caramel cakes for dessert. And to save time, I baked the cakes and made some of the garnishes in Nashville, and they flew in foam coolers with me to New York. I’ll admit it was stressful in the busy kitchen, and being the last course, I was worried that no one would have room for dessert! (I’ve since learned it’s a common fear among pastry chefs!)

But then I reminded myself - what would Nathalie do? She won’t notice the caramel icing that hardened haphazardly on a few of the cakes or the ice cream that melted before it got to the table. She would take my imperfections in stride. 

Joy in a bite…pecan tassies

Kate’s Pecan Tassies, named after Nathalie’s longtime assistant Kate Almand.

Today, Nathalie has shelved fussy recipes like cold lemon souffle that “try too hard” and hungers for microwaved stone-ground grits or two-ingredient biscuit recipes (self-rising flour and heavy cream) that pull together in a snap.

Or she gravitates to a foolproof cream cheese pie crust for pies or pecan tassies. These miniature pecan pies are perfect for beginners because the crust doesn’t have to be rolled out and can be pressed into the pan with your fingers like clay. The recipe comes from Kate Almand, Nathalie’s faithful assistant who was always behind the scenes or at the sink washing dishes.

And perhaps that’s the secret of really good and lasting food TV. Enough order to make everything look easy. A star who knows the recipe and her audience. But enough endearing mishaps and delicious imperfection to draw us intimately close from a distance.

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Want More Nathalie?

Here are some wonderful ways to find out about Nathalie Dupree:

1. A link to read Pat Conroy’s hilarious recollection of taking cooking classes from Nathalie - I highly recommend!

2. More info about her University of South Carolina collection.

3. Listen to the Southern Foodways Alliance’s interview with Nathalie.

4. Buy her cookbooks! Nathalie Dupree’s Favorite Stories and Recipes is her most recent book.

Do you have a favorite Nathalie recipe or memory?

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Kate’s Pecan Tassies

“I’ve never understood the person who ties bows on the backs of dining room chairs,” Nathalie shared with me just last week. Ironically, as I recall, there were never enough chairs at the Atlanta dinner parties that Nathalie hosted. Truly a 1980s Gertrude Stein, she had the gift of putting people together at the last minute and letting the power of food bring politicos, writers, home cooks, and visiting chefs together at the table to swap ideas and opinions as they shared sauteed duck breast, vegetable terrine, wine, and these pecan tassies. Pecan Tassies are that doable and always loved Southern dessert that’s been printed in nearly all her cookbooks. “I do love them," Nathalie said. "And I love teaching them for the same reason." They are joy in a bite - a warm gooey pecan pie filling in flaky crust baked in a mini muffin pan. And they can be made in advance and freeze well, too.

Makes about 30 pecan tassies

Prep: 30 to 35 minutes

Freeze and Chill: 45 to 50 minutes

Bake: 28 to 32 minutes

Very Versatile Cream Cheese Dough:

1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 ounces cream cheese, chilled (see Baking Tips)

Filling:

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

2/3 cup well chopped pecans, divided use

1. For the crust, cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and place them in a bowl in the freezer until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. 

2. Place the flour in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the frozen butter cubes and pulse about 30 to 40 times, or until it is the texture of oatmeal. Cut the cream cheese into 4 pieces and distribute these on top of the butter and flour. Pulse until the dough begins to pull together, about 15 times. With your hands, gather the dough and press it together into a ball. It may seem dry at first but keep pressing. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge to chill at least 30 minutes and up to 5 days.

3. When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge. Pinch off pieces of dough that are about a half tablespoon in size. Press these into the ungreased 2-inch wells of a mini muffin or cupcake pan. You will fill about 30 wells with dough. Press the dough so that it covers the bottom and sides of the well to form a miniature crust. Place the pans in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

4. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the egg, sugar, melted butter, vanilla, and salt in a medium-size bowl and whisk together until smooth. Set aside. 

5. Remove the crusts from the refrigerator. Divide the pecans in half. Scatter half of the pecans evenly into the bottom of the crusts, using about 1/2 teaspoon each in each crust. Using a small spoon, portion the egg and brown sugar mixture over the nuts, evenly filling the crusts a little more than halfway and not allowing the filling to get between the pan and the shell. Sprinkle the remaining pecans on top of the filling. Wipe any drops of filling off the pan, and place the pan in the oven. Bake until the crust is lightly golden brown, about 28 to 32 minutes. Let the tassies cool in the pan about 10 minutes, then run a knife around each crust to transfer them to a rack to finish cooling or a plate to serve slightly warm. These keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Or, you can freeze them in that container for up to 1 month.

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This Thursday for Subscribers:

With all the sad news in the world, I’ll share how to make something cozy and comforting, a chicken soup that is as delicious now - yes, even in warm weather! - with summer veggies as it will be this winter. And chicken soup with homemade pesto on top? Just the medicine we need. ❤️❤️❤️

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