. . . Lafayette and Near-About Marsh

This week marks the 190^th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s departure from France on his way to tour the United States for which he had fought so hard during the Revolution.  The adulation he received as he traveled the length of this young nation may never have been repeated for any visiting foreign celebrity.  Legends abound attached to the Marquis’s 14-month tour of the States.

One such legend involves an African-American cook named Near-About Marsh.  She was named thus because she near-about died at birth; the plantation mistress nursed her and adopted her as a close personal servant.  Legend has it that Lafayette, travelling from Raleigh, North Carolina, on the Old Stage Road was served Near-About’s Baked Savory Fruit.  We made it the other night and must say it made a marvelous accompaniment for roast pork.

Near-About’s Baked Savory Fruit

ingredients:

1 pound artisan-cured bacon

6 firm farmers’ market peaches

2 large sweet onions

2 or 3 large heirloom tomatoes

2 or 3 honeycrisp apples

brown sugar

vinegar (apple cider)

Heat oven as high as you can get it  (500)

Line a spring form pan with the bacon, covering bottom entirely and sides as much as possible

Layer the bottom of pan with peach slices

Sprinkle peaches with two table spoons of brown sugar and a table spoon of vinegar

Next, cover the peach layer with a layer of thinly sliced onion, brown sugar (heaping tablespoon), and vinegar (tablespoon sprinkled)

Then, add a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes, brown sugar, and vinegar

The, add a layer of thinly sliced apple, brown sugar, and vinegar

At this point you might add some Cajun spice to taste

Finally, cover completely with a layer of the thin-sliced onions, brown sugar, vinegar, and some more Cajun spice or spice of your choosing

Press down the composition lightly with your hands, set the pan into a roasting pan or large oven pan to catch the drippings

Weigh down and cover the contents of the springform pan with a heavy pyrex pie plate (probably filled with water to increase the weight)

Place in very hot oven for 30 minutes

 Turn oven down to 400 and cook for about one hour

Remove from oven, place springform pan on pretty serving plate, open the springform, and serve

If you decide to put the whole mix in a crust cut several slits in the crust before filling in order to allow the bacon drippings to escape during the cooking

We know stories of Near-About from Susannah Marsh’s diary written in the 1850s during a visit to North Carolina. 

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