Miller finds joy through cooking

Dr. John Miller’s passion for cooking was sparked at an early age by watching his mother and grandparents in the kitchen.

“When I was big enough to stand up and work with pots and pans on the stove, they let me help,” Miller said. “I’ve just always liked it.”

Originally from Marion County, Miller moved to Philadelphia after several years of practicing medicine in Washington, eventually opening his family practice at Neshoba Urgent Care.

As far as cooking, he began with scrambled eggs, and over the years, he’s ventured from simple to more complicated meals. His wife says he makes a really good omelet.

“I like cooking all kinds of meat,” Miller said. “I follow an extremely low-carb diet, so I cook a lot of steaks, hamburgers, bacon, and sausage.”

Miller’s family has some favorites, particularly his seasoned steaks, his peanut butter cake—a recipe passed down from his mother-in-law—and his cornbread dressing, a holiday staple.

One dish especially loved by his family is his candied sweet potatoes.

“One Thanksgiving, my wife’s aunt said, ‘If he can’t come, just have him send the sweet potatoes,’” Miller said.

While his Japanese fruit cake may not be as popular as other dishes, Miller considers it one of his personal favorites, especially around Christmas.

His specialty, however, is steak, though he admits it’s not always perfect. Due to his diet, he skips side dishes, focusing solely on the main course.

“I recently made a chicken fricassee that turned out really good,” Miller added.

Miller considers a cast iron skillet his essential kitchen tool. His advice for cooking steak is to “Get the pan piping hot, give the steak a quick sear on both sides, and then finish it in the oven.”

Outside of the kitchen, Miller enjoys playing golf and reading. But cooking, he says, brings him the most joy, especially since it allows him to brighten others’ days—something he values deeply as a doctor.

CANDIED SWEET POTATOES

Boil whole about 6 medium or 3-4 large, sweet potatoes.  After they are boiled peel them and cut them into spears. Then mix the following in a boiler:

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 stick butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. salt

Warm this in the boiler until melted thoroughly and combined. Pour this over the spears of sweet potato. Cook on low until thickened (I actually do this part in a slow cooker set on low, but it can be done in a boiler on the stove). Shake to combine when needed, DO NOT STIR.

Note: Depending on how many sweet potatoes you cooked you may need to double the candying mixture.

RED VELVET CAKE

½ cup butter or Crisco

2 eggs

1 tsp. cocoa

2 cups cake flour (or light flour such as White Lilly or Martha White All Purpose)

½ tsp. salt

1 tbsp. white vinegar

1 ½ cups sugar

2 oz. (normally a whole small bottle) red food coloring

1 cup buttermilk (preferably not one of the low or non-fat ones)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

Cream butter and sugar in a mixer and then add eggs one at a time. Mix flour, cocoa and salt, sift 3 times. Add alternately buttermilk and flour mixture to batter while mixer is on low starting and finishing with the buttermilk. 

Add separately the baking soda to the vinegar and fold this into the batter. Pour into two greased and floured (or greased and sugared) 8 in round cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool on racks. Split each layer into 2 layers.

Icing for Red Velvet Cake:

¼ cup flour

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup Crisco

1 stick butter

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 dash salt

Blend flour in a little of the cold milk and then add the rest of the milk into a boiler or pan and cook, stirring constantly. Cook until thick. Remove from heat and cool.

Cream sugar, butter, Crisco, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy. Combine with flour/milk mixture. Should be similar to whipped cream. 

Note: I often find that I do not have quite enough icing so you may need to double the icing recipe.  

CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE

This is a pie that is added to an already-prepared pie shell. You can use one you made from scratch, one from the grocery store freezer or a prepared graham cracker or similar crust. It just needs to be prepared ahead of time regardless of which you use because you will not be cooking it further after the filling is added.

2 tbsp. butter

Equal amount of all-purpose flour by weight (works best with a heavier flour like Gold Medal or King Arthur)

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa

1 dash salt

1-pint heavy cream

In a boiler melt the butter. When melted sprinkle in the flour over relatively low heat and combine.  Stir constantly. The idea is to make a pale roux that will be used to thicken the cream. Continue stirring until the roux starts to thin out and maybe even bubble just a little. 

Do not cook it until it starts to turn dark. When the roux starts to thin add the cream. Cook, stirring constantly, until the cream starts to become very thick but does not start boiling. After it gets going and the roux is obviously dissolved into the cream you can increase the heat a little to help this process. 

When thick add the sugar, cocoa and salt all at once and continue stirring on the heat until well combined and thickened again. Pour into prepared pie shell. Sit the pie on a rack until cooled to room temperature. Filling should be very thick at this point and should not run when you cut into the pie.

When you have enjoyed a piece or two of it (unless you eat the entire thing) cover pie loosely (the lid from a shell purchased from the store will do fine) and put in refrigerator. Filling will be even thicker after pie has chilled.  

Note:  I use the same basic recipe to make a lemon cream pie. You would do everything the same up until the point the cream gets thick but instead of the cocoa mixture you would add ¾ cup sugar and ¼ cup lemon juice with a little salt (unless you like a stronger lemon flavor in which case you can add a touch more juice but not too much as the acid could break the mixture).  Otherwise, it is prepared the same way.