By June 2024. Memphis summer, 65 years old, and the heat wraps around Orange Mound like a wet blanket that nobody asked for but everybody wears because that is the deal you make when you live in the South. The smoker calls louder in summer — something about the heat amplifying the smoke, the way humidity amplifies everything in Memphis — and I answer, because answering is what pitmasters do.
Rosetta beside me through the week, steady as ever, the woman who runs this household with the precision of a hospital ward and the heart of a mother who has loved fiercely for 40 years of marriage.
Smoked turkey wings this week — big, meaty, brined and rubbed and smoked at 275 for three hours until the skin crackled and the meat pulled clean. Turkey wings are the working class of BBQ: cheap, underrated, and transformed by smoke into something extraordinary. Uncle Clyde served them on Fridays at his stand, and I serve them on Saturdays in my backyard, and the tradition bridges the gap between then and now.
Sunday at Mt. Zion, the choir sang and I sat in my pew and let the music hold me. The bass notes I used to add are quieter now — my voice is aging, the way everything ages — but the listening is its own participation, and the church holds me the way the church has held this community for a hundred years: faithfully, unconditionally, with room for everyone who shows up. I show up. That is enough.
After the wings come off the smoker and the plates are cleared and the backyard settles into that easy Saturday quiet, something sweet is the only right ending — and in Memphis in June, that something is peaches. Rosetta started making this dump cake years ago because it asks almost nothing of you after a long day, and it gives back everything. Uncle Clyde would’ve approved: working-class ingredients, extraordinary results, same as the wings.
Peach Cobbler Dump Cake
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 10
Ingredients
- 2 cans (15 oz each) sliced peaches in syrup, undrained
- 1 box (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
- Layer the peaches. Pour both cans of sliced peaches, including all the syrup, evenly into the prepared baking dish. Stir in the vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg directly into the peaches and spread into an even layer.
- Add the cake mix. Sprinkle the dry yellow cake mix evenly over the top of the peaches. Do not stir — let the layers remain separate.
- Top with butter. Lay the thin butter slices evenly across the top of the dry cake mix, covering as much surface as possible. The butter will melt down through the cake mix as it bakes.
- Bake. Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 40–45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the edges are bubbling. If any dry spots remain, add a few extra thin pats of butter and bake an additional 5 minutes.
- Rest and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Spoon into bowls and top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if desired.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 52g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 320mg