Grits, It's a Southern thang!

They say G.R.I.T.S stands for "Girls Raised In The South". I'm definitely a G.R.I.T.S. girl! And I love eating grits. Grits are coarsely ground dried corn. If you grind it finely, it is corn meal. But coarsely ground corn is grits. The Indians were the ones to introduce grits to the first settlers. They called them "rockahomine". Hominy is different from Hominy Grits. Hominy is a certain dried corn that is soaked in lye until it swells and softens. Grits is ground dried corn and it is not soaked in lye. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh tasted grits made by the Indians. In 1607, the Jamestown settlers became acquainted with the Indian "rockahomine". During the War of Northern Aggression and during the resulting Reconstruction Period, the South was so poor and burnt out that many subsisted on grits, cornbread made from cornmeal and whatever else they could find to eat, including wild greens like Creasy greens, Poke salad, Dandelion greens, etc.. So Southern families became well acquainted with grits. In 1976, grits became the official state food for SC. The grits belt goes from the Carolinas down to Louisiana. People outside that area can't understand why we love them but it might be because they've never had them the way we like them. If you make grits without salt and butter, then they are bland and terrible. A lot of restaurants make them bland in case they have people who can't have salt. But the first thing I do is taste them and then I add the salt and butter that I desire. It is such a comfort food.

Grits

1 cup grits
2 cups boiling water
salt and pepper to taste
butter to taste

Bring salted water to boil, add grits. Turn heat down and stir it regularly and keep a watch on it. Once it's simmered down to the consistency you desire, remove from heat. Add pepper and butter.

Variations:
Remove cooked grits from heat and stir in some shredded cheddar cheese.

Once you put the grits in boiling water, turn down the heat, stir and let it cook until it's mostly done. Take an egg and scramble, then add to the grits and let if finish cooking. You can do this in the microwave to give you a fast breakfast.

Serve with sausage gravy or Red Eye gravy. (Red Eye gravy is made from the grease left over after frying country ham with coffee added to it to give it it's "red eye".

Add milk to make grits creamier.

Add a clove of chopped garlic to cheese grits.

Once grits have gotten cold they are hard. You throw away the hard grits unless you want to fry them. You cut the hard grits in pieces and coat with scrambled egg, dredge in corn meal (or flour) and fry in butter in a hot iron skillet. Drain on paper towel and serve with a poached egg on top.


Shrimp and Grits

2 to 3 slices bacon
grits, for 4 to 6 people
1 to 1 1/2 pounds shrimp
1 small onion, finely minced
1 can (14.5 ounces) crushed tomatoes with juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or to taste

Cook 2-3 slices bacon until done but still tender, set aside. Prepare grits per directions, adding a small finely minced onion before starting cook time, clean shrimp, when grits are almost done, chop shrimp into halfs, crumble up bacon and toss both into grits. Continue cooking until grits are ready. Add crushed tomatoes (juice and all), then add hot pepper.


Chef Bill Smith's Shrimp and Grits

2 cups water object
1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth object
3/4 cup half-and-half object
3/4 teaspoon salt object
1 cup regular grits object
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese object
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese object
2 tablespoons butter object
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce object
1/4 teaspoon white pepper object
3 bacon slices object
1 pound medium-size shrimp, peeled and deveined object
1/4 teaspoon black pepper object
1/8 teaspoon salt object
1/4 cup all-purpose flour object
1 cup sliced mushrooms object
1/2 cup chopped green onions object
2 garlic cloves, minced object
1/2 cup low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth object
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice object
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce object
Lemon wedges

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually whisk in grits. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until thickened. Add Cheddar cheese and next 4 ingredients. Keep warm.

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon, and set aside.

Sprinkle shrimp with pepper and salt; dredge in flour.

Sauté mushrooms in hot drippings in skillet 5 minutes or until tender. Add green onions, and sauté 2 minutes. Add shrimp and garlic, and sauté 2 minutes or until shrimp are lightly brown. Stir in chicken broth, lemon juice, and hot sauce, and cook 2 more minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet.

Serve shrimp mixture over hot cheese grits. Top with crumbled bacon; serve with lemon wedges.

Sharon's White Chili

Sharon's White Chili

1 pint of dried white Northern Beans
2 qts water
4 turkey necks (or chicken necks and backs sans skin)
1 chopped onion
3 peeled and sliced carrots
Salt and Pepper

Rinse your dried beans and put in crock pot with water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put the onions, carrots and turkey necks in. I put the crock pot on high for 4 hours. Remove the turkey necks and let the vegetables continue cooking on high. Put the turkey necks in the refrigerator for an hour. Pull all the meat off the cooled turkey necks and put it in the crockpot with the beans. Let them simmer until the beans are soft. To serve, ladle into a bowl and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Also serve with cornbread or slices of avocado and sour cream. Fresh cilantro is wonderful added on top.

Source: Me!

Turkey Frame Soup

Don't throw that leftover turkey frame away. There is still meat on those bones! Make a delicious turkey soup with it.

Turkey Frame Soup

1 Turkey frame (the turkey carcas leftover from roasting a turkey)
1 can of chicken broth
2 cans of petite cut canned tomatoes
water to fill your soup pot 3/4 way full
Cut fresh carrots and celery, enough to satisfy your families veggie needs
1 chopped onion
2 fresh Sage leaves, 2 fresh sprigs of Oregano and 2 fresh sprigs of Thyme or dried Sage, Oregano and Thyme
Salt and pepper
Hold noodles to the side - Cooked wide noodles (enough for your family needs)

Boil until vegetables are soft. Remove all the turkey carcas/bones and place on a plate and let cool down. Remove the meat from the bones. Toss the bones in the trash and toss the chopped meat in the soup. Simmer until supper time. Add cooked noodles about 30 mins before serving so they don't get overcooked.

*Note* If you want to freeze some, freeze the soup without the noodles. If you anticipate saving some for lunch tomorrow, then put the soup in one container and the cooked noodles in another container and put them together before heating in the microwave.

Source: ME!

Family Recipe Friday - More Meals From The Great Depression

Family Recipe Friday- Family Recipe Friday is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. Family Recipe Friday is an opportunity to share our family recipes with fellow bloggers and foodies alike.

These didn't come from my family (although I'm sure they cooked these dishes) but are so interesting I had to share.



Depression Breakfast With Clara

These are a short series of "Depression Cooking" that 93 yr old Clara has done. In this one she makes a simple cookie and coffee. She said they ate this on Sundays during the Great Depression. It's interesting. According to my grandparents who would be Clara's age if they had lived, sometimes they didn't eat much more than a biscuit or grits for breakfast. Lunch was a cold biscuit leftover from breakfast or fried grits leftover from lunch. Supper was beans and cornbread. If you had a farm, you might have access to meat, fresh vegetables,fruit, eggs. But don't forget so many farms suffered from the drought which caused the Dust Bowl in the Mid West states AND so many farmers lost their farms during the Depression. If you had coffee, flour, milk and egg, you were doing well. Add sugar and that could be considered a luxury. In the South, we learned, during the War of Northern Aggression, how to make ends meet with nothing. And during the Reconstruction years (a misnomer) and early turn of the century we were still living in poverty due to the ravages of the War. We made a comeback with WWI and the roaring 1920's but our forefathers still remembered the hard times so when the Great Depression came, they still knew all those little thrifty things they had learned from their grandparents. I remember my Grandmother showing me what tree she could use to brush her teeth. The twigs from that tree would fray and you used it like a brush. Or smoking rabbit tobacco when you didn't have real tobacco. Carefully picking thread out of a dress and re-winding it on a spool so you could re-use it. Using lard to shine your shoes because you didn't have shoe polish. Making paste with flour and using it to put newspapers up on the walls during the winter to keep out the drafts. Then washing it down in the spring and peeling it back off the walls. I could go on and on of the things I remember my Grandparents telling me about. Some were habits they still practiced when I was a girl.

You didn't waste ANYTHING! If you had a pig, you used everything but the hooves and the squeal! See below:


Head cheese - Head cheese is in fact not a cheese, but meat pieces from the head of a calf or pig (sometimes a sheep or cow), in aspic, with onion, black pepper, allspice, bayleaf, salt and or vinegar. It may also include meat from the feet, tongue and heart. It is usually eaten cold or at room temperature as a luncheon meat. It is sometimes also known as souse meat, particularly if pickled with vinegar.
Historically meat jellies were made of the cleaned (all organs removed) head of the animal, which was simmered to produce stock, a peasant food made since the Middle Ages. When cooled, stock made from meat congeals because of the natural gelatin found in the meat. The aspic may need additional gelatin in order to set properly.
-Wikipedia
-for more detail, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-head-cheese.htm



Brains and Eggs - Breakfast meal consisting of pork brains (or from another mammal) and scrambled eggs. Before cooking brains, blanch them briefly to firm them, or soak in several changes of cold, acidulated water, made by adding a small amount of vinegar or lemon juice to water.
-Wikipedia


Pickled Pigsfeet - Growing up down South on a tight budget this might have been a weekly staple. Slow cooking is the best way to release the awesome flavors contained in pigs feet.
4 – pigs feet, split in half lengthwise
2 - medium onions, chopped
2 - stalks celery, chopped
1 - garlic clove, chopped
1 - bay leaf
1 - teaspoon salt
1 - cup white vinegar
1 - teaspoon black pepper
3 – teaspoon crushed red pepper
barbecue sauce
water
Begin by giving the pigs feet a good washing. For presentation purposes remove any unsightly hair that you observe. Yes pigs grow hair on the toes and feet just like humans. A disposable razor will remove the hair. Place all the ingredients in a large boiling pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover pot with lid and allow pigs feet to cook until tender, about 3 hours. While your meat is cooking stir constantly and skim away any foam that develops.
-Cooks.com
-For more... http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.familyoven.com/user/recipe_thumbnails/00100/03336/100-33336.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.familyoven.com/recipes/search%3Fterms%3DSouthern%2520Style%2520Pigs%2520Feet&usg=__IJDsTC65VKMD1qwHvK_hpxy00vk=&h=140&w=140&sz=11&hl=en&start=36&sig2=5DbGPqNBUdL6oF5VWjCvQQ&um=1&tbnid=eFdS58IipGdN9M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=93&ei=HkeYSdzJBszAtgfv_LidCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpickled%2Bpig%2527s%2Bfeet%2Brecipe%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS311US312%26sa%3DN




Pig's Tail -
1 lb. smoke pig tails
1 lb. bag black eye peas
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
Salt to taste

In a large pot add 1 quart of water. Boil until tender the pig tails. If water boils out add more, then add black eye peas. When peas are halfway done saute onions and green peppers then add them to the pot. Cook until peas are soft, mix flour and 1/2 cup of juices from the pot, then pour back into pot and add butter.
-Cooks.com

2 lbs. collard greens
1/2 lb. smoke pig tails or smoke neck bones
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
Salt to taste

Boil smoke meat until tender, clean grease leaf by leaf, then slice in 1/2 inch thick pieces and place them into the pot with meat. If water boils out add more and cook until greens are tender.
-Cooks.com



Pig's Intestins aka Chitterlings (aka chitlins) - are the intestines and rectum of a pig that have been prepared as food. 'Chitterling' is a Middle English word for the small intestines of a pig, especially as they are fried for food. Pig intestines are also used as casing for sausages. Chitterlings are carefully cleaned and rinsed several times before they are boiled or stewed for several hours. A common practice is to place a halved onion in the pot to mitigate what many regard as a pungent, unpleasant odor that can be particularly strong when the chitterlings begin to cook. In America chitterlings are sometimes battered and fried after the stewing process and commonly are served with cider vinegar and hot sauce as condiments.
-Wikipedia


Pig's Heart - This is larger and less tender than lamb's heart, usually inexpensive and may be stuffed and slowly braised. To saute, slice and dredge in flour and spices. Heat butter or oil in a skillet. Sauté over medium heat until brown on each side and done in the middle. Heat cooking liquid with herbs, spices, and vegetables in a Dutch oven. Add heart, cover and cook in the oven at 325°F (160°C), or simmer on the stovetop from 45 minutes to three hours, depending on variety meat used.


Pig's Kidneys - Cut them open lengthwise, season well with pepper and salt, dip in raw egg, dredge into bread-crumbs, run a skewer through to keep them open, and broil for about a quarter of an hour over a good fire; when done place them upon a dish, have ready an ounce of butter, with which you have mixed the juice of a lemon, a little pepper and salt, and a teaspoonful of French or common mustard, place a piece upon each of the kidneys, place in the oven for one minute, and serve. Pig's kidneys may also be sauted.
-Chestofbooks.com


Pig's Liver - Slice the liver and lay in cold water for half an hour to draw out the blood. Wipe perfectly dry, salt and pepper and flour well. Fry slices of thin, fat bacon clear ; take them out and cook in the same fat a sliced onion. Strain the fat, return to the pan, and when it hisses lay in the floured slices of liver and fry to a good brown. It should be better known that pigs' livers, as well as those of lambs and even young mutton, are nearly as good when well-cooked as calf's liver, and cost much less.
-Chestofbooks.com


Pig's Lung and Pig's Blood -
Blood Pudding
2 cups Pork blood
Salt

2 lb Pork, fresh
1 Pig's lung
1/2 Pig's heart
2 Pig necks
Salt

5 Onions; chopped
Salt & pepper
Cloves
Summer Savory
Coriander seeds; crushed
2 Tbsp Flour

Cut the fresh pork, the lung, heart and neck into large pieces. Place the meat into a large pot and add just water to cover the meat. Add the salt and 3 chopped onions.
Simmer on medium heat for 3 hours.
Remove the meat from the cooking liquid and let it cool. Cut the meat into very small pieces or grind it with a meat grinder.
Add the meat to the cooking liquid with the 2 remaining onions, pepper and spices. Bring the liquid to a boil and slowly add the blood by pouring it through a sieve.
Stir constantly. Add the flour, mixed with a small amounts of water. (The flour may be browned in the oven before being add to the meat, provided that slightly more flour is used.) Simmer the mixture on low heat for approximately 1 hour, stirring frequently. This sauce may served later by warming in a skillet.
To make blood pudding sausages, prepare blood pudding sauce but do not simmer for the last half hour. Rather, clean the small intestines of the pig, cut them into 20 inch pieces at tie them at one end. Using a funnel or a piece of birch bark as was the Acadian tradition, fill the intestinal lining with the sauce until the intestine is three quarters full. Press out the air and tie the other end, leaving some space for expansion. Put the sausages in boiling water and cook for 45 to 1 hour.
-YumYum.com



Pig's Spleen - Laying both spleens out on a plastic sheet, layer raw bacon, salt & pepper and fresh sage leaves. Then roll them up and skewer with toothpicks. Place the spleen rolls into an oven safe dish and cover them with chicken stock. When done, cut in cross sections and serve with red onion rings.
-Nosetotail.com



Pig's Snout - While cooking you want them to be flat on the grill thus the purpose of scoring them. Score the snouts with a sharp knife by making cross cuts every 1/2" thru the meat and fat (NOT the skin). This allows the fat to drain off them after you have placed them on the grill on a med fire. Use any BBQ seasoning or seasoned salt with grd red pepper to taste. Have a bottle of water close by for flareups. They will get soft and after defatting will become crisp. They must get crispy all over. Watch for flareups because you do not want them to burn and turn black. They should be a nice brown color. Do not put BBQ sauce on them until ready to serve. Can be served as a sandwich with potato salad on the bread as a condiment.
-Malik on Chitterlings.com



Pig's Ears -
3 lbs. pig ears - whole or halves
2 tbsp. pickling spice
3 tbsp. red crushed pepper
2 tbsp. vinegar

Put pig ears in large pot - cover with water. Add all ingredients to pot. Let cook on medium heat about 2 hours or until meat is tender.

Zelia's Mississippi Sauce
3 pkg. pork snoots
3 pkg. pig ears
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 onions, chopped
4 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper

Place snoots with 1/2 of each ingredient in pot. Add water to almost cover meat. Allow to boil. When boiling, lower heat, cook until very done about 4 hours.
In a different pot do same with pig ears. This cooking can be done at same time. When snoots and ears are very done, cool and discard liquid.

Mash, chop snouts and ears together very well.

1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes or ground
16 oz. cider vinegar
4 tsp. sage
1 tsp. brown sugar

Mix thoroughly, store in small containers or large bowl. Note: When sauce is set firmly (takes overnight or about 8 hours). I slice small piece, taste. If needed more seasoning may be added. Do this by heating sauce to soften it to original consistency. Add some of needed ingredients: sage, vinegar, pepper, salt, spices. Return to containers to reset.
-Cooks.com



Pig's Stomach -
A pig’s stomach (cleaned and trimmed by your butcher; you might need to order it beforehand)
750g of minced pork
two fresh eggs (beaten)
100g of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
two slices of stale white bread soaked in milk
two hard-boiled eggs (shell removed)
salt and black pepper
cooking-oil
Wash the stomach thoroughly in plenty of salted water. Mix together the minced pork, beaten eggs, soaked bread, cheese, salt and pepper. Stuff the stomach with this, placing the hard boiled eggs in the middle. Sew up the stomach using a sewing-needle and strong cotton. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the vegetables, tomato pulp, stock or stock cube, and some salt and pepper. Bring the pot back to the boil, then turn the heat right down and put in the stuffed stomach. Leave the pot to simmer for an hour. Now carefully remove the stomach from the minestra, put it into a baking-dish, brush it with oil and season it with salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4½/180C and bake the stomach for an hour. Leave the soup to simmer for the same amount of time. Remove the stomach from the oven and let it stand for 15 minutes before slicing it to serve it. Do this in the kitchen, in a large dish that can catch the juices which ooze out. Serve it with baked potatoes, and with the minestra as a first course.
-taste.com.mt



Pig's Testicles -
Four pigs’ testicles (you will need to order them at the butcher’s), sea-salt, black pepper, three cloves of garlic, or stalks of fresh garlic (peeled and chopped), fresh parsley (chopped), table salt, 100ml of white wine, cooking-oil.
Cook the testicles in salted water for about 20 minutes; then peel off the skin. Cut them into slices a centimetre thick. Heat some oil in a pan and cook the testicles with the garlic, parsley and white wine for about 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper, and serve.
-taste.com.met


Pig's Skin - Pork rind or Pig Skin. Cooked, this may be either eaten warm with a meal, or served cold as a snack. In both forms, any fat attached to the skin of pig at the time of frying is absorbed in the process. Cracklings is the American name for pork rind produced by frying or roasting.
Pork skin
Salt
Preheat oven at 325 degrees F. Put leftover ham skin on a sheet pan and sprinkle with salt. Bake until nice and crispy, usually about 3 hours.
-Paula Deen on Foodnetwork.com

Turkey Brine

Brining Your Turkey

Salt changes the structure of the muscle tissues in the meat, allowing it to swell and absorb water and flavorings. It also breaks down the proteins, resulting in a tender-seeming turkey. This means that--despite the moisture loss during roasting and the long cooking time--the end result is a juicier bird. When buying a turkey for brining, choose a natural turkey, not a self-basted bird that's been injected with a solution of salt and other flavorings. Look for the words "natural", "no additives", and "minimally processed" on the label. Brine should be cold before adding the turkey or the meat will absorb too much salt.

Vegetable Broth Brine (Read the instructions on this one so you see how to use the brine for all the other Brine recipes that follow)

1 gallon vegetable broth
1 cup sea salt
1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried sage
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried savory
1 gallon ice water

In a large stock pot, combine the vegetable broth, sea salt, rosemary, sage, thyme, and savory. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to be sure salt is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature. When the broth mixture is cool, pour it into a clean 5 gallon bucket. Stir in the ice water. Wash and pat dry your turkey with paper towels. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down, into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled. Place the bucket in the refrigerator overnight. Remove the turkey carefully draining off the excess brine and pat dry. Discard excess brine. Cook the turkey as desired reserving the drippings for gravy. Keep in mind that brined turkeys cook 20 to 30 minutes faster so watch the temperature gauge. Place a gallon of frozen water in a large cooler (freeze in a water bottles) or ice bags (ice in Ziplocs) and brine the turkey and brine in the cooler while it marinates overnight. Or use a big bucket and put the iced water, turkey and brine in the bucket. Most refrigerators won't hold it so use the ice to keep your turkey safe while it marinates. Watch out for the cooking time on this as a brined bird cooks much faster - especially if you're using a roasting bag (which I did). A 22 lber can cook in only 2 1/2 hours!!

Citrus Brine

1 cup salt
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 orange, cut into wedges
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 gallons cold water

Rub salt onto your turkey, and place remaining salt, lemons, oranges, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and pepper into a large pot. Place the turkey in the pot, and fill with water. Refrigerate overnight. Discard brine after removing turkey. This is a good one to use if you are smoking your turkey.

Brine With Garlic

2 gallons water
1 1/2 cups canning salt
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar

In a large bucket or container large enough to hold your turkey, mix together the water, salt, garlic, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Store in a refrigerator, and soak turkey for 2 days before smoking or roasting.

Sweet Brine

4 quarts water (24 cups)
3 1/2 cups kosher or sea salt
4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cracked peppercorns
7-8 cloves garlic
5 bay leaves, crumbled coarsely

Prepare brine by combining ingredients in a stainless steel or enamel pan (do not use aluminum). Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until all of the sugar and salt are dissolved. Allow brine too cool.

Smoked Turkey Brine

1/2 c. pickling salt
1 c. Morton's tender quick (found in spices near salt)
4 to 5 tbsp. liquid smoke (1 to 3 oz. bottle for 2 gal. brine)

Sage Brine

Toast about 2 tablespoons of the chopped dried sage (best using fresh sage that you have dried)
Put the sage into a pot of water with two parts kosher salt and one part sugar. Bring to a boil and then let it cool.

Cranberry Brine

2 medium onions, roughly diced
5 stalks celery, roughly chopped
5 medium carrots, roughly chopped
14 garlic cloves, unpeeled and smashed
6 bay leaves
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh thyme
6 sprigs fresh sage
12 sprigs fresh Italian Parsley
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 cup kosher salt
2 quarts cranberry juice

Mix together in a large pot 1 of the onions, 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, 6 garlic cloves, peppercorns, 3 sprigs each of the rosemary, thyme and sage, 6 sprigs of the parsley, kosher salt and the cranberry juice; heat and stir until the salt disolves and mixture begins to simmer; remove and let cool to room temperature.

Apple Brine

1 1/2 cups, KOSHER salt (not regular, use Kosher)
1 1/4 cups, brown sugar
10 whole cloves
3 teaspoons, black peppercorns
1 1/2 gallons (6 quarts) apple juice or cider (non-alcoholic)
The peel from oneor two orange or one tangerine (colored part only - not white pith)
Optional: 3 teaspoons, dried thyme and/or 3 teaspoons, dried sage

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive pot, bring mixture to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes (partly covered). Allow brine to cool completely.

Family Recipe Friday - Cooking During The Great Depression

Family Recipe Friday is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. Family Recipe Friday is an opportunity to share our family recipes with fellow bloggers and foodies alike. Whether it’s an old-fashioned recipe passed down through generations, a recipe uncovered through your family history research, or a discovered recipe that embraces your ancestral heritage share them on Family Recipe Friday. Here is my contribution:
 
If you were going to live and survive the Great Depression, you set your pride asside and did what you could. To say, "I would never eat a possum", just means you haven't been that hungry. You eat what you have to eat. They were eating wild game, road kill, weeds, and making do with whatever they could think of to safely eat. My Grandfather would literally pick up road kill if he was the one that ran over it (he would know it was fresh). It was too important to waste! Some would use ground acorns to make a fake, or ersatz, coffee. Due to the tannin it would be bitter. Some learned how to peel the acorns, place in a bag and sit it in a creek for a few days. Then they dried it and ground it to make the "coffee". This was less bitter and acidic.

Some made Egg Drop Coffee. If you didn't have a percolator insert you could use egg to hold the grounds down in the water! Using 1 egg to every 8-10 cups of coffee, 1 Tbsp coffee for every cup. Take the coffee grounds for as many cups of coffee that you want to make up to ten cups and put them in a cup. Crack open the egg and smash the egg shell and put the egg into the coffee in the cup egg shells and all. Take a spoon and mix up the egg and the coffee mixture so the coffee grounds are mixed up with the egg. If the mixture is dry you can add enough water to make a wet mix with. Boil enough water to make the amount of coffee that you are making grounds for. Add the egg mixture into the water when the water is at a full boil. Stir the mixture until the egg and coffee grounds are well mixed into the water. Let the water with the coffee and egg in it sit quietly for a couple of minutes and then pour a cup.

Back then, it was important to get as many calories as possible with as little food as possible. They needed those calories for energy and to keep themselves from losing more and more weight. If you don't have a good intake of protein and calories you get physically weaker and weaker and can't do the simple tasks to take care of yourself. Once you fall into that cycle you will starve to death. So it was essential to get as many calories out of your food as possible.

These days, we have the opposite needs. We eat such calorie rich foods and such large helpings that we suffer from obesity. Their problem was to keep enough weight on so that their body didn't start shutting down and having enough energy to work to survive and keep moving.

We drain and rinse our browned hamburger meat to lower our calorie intake. They would have thought throwing the hamburger grease away was a sin, a waste, throwing away something that might literally keep someone alive!

My Mother-in-law tells me that if there was any scraps left after a meal, her Grandmother would set them aside for the hobos. They had a train track virtually across the street in a small Southern town. So I guess they did see a lot of begging hobos and she would give them their food scraps.

If you lived in the rural areas you could catch wild hogs, feed them corn for a year and eat them once the wild taste was out of the scavenging animals. You went squirrel and rabbit hunting. Your dogs had jobs like a hunting dog, coon dog, gun dog, retrievers, etc. You caught possums and held them awhile to cleanse and fatten them before killing them. Same with raccoons. You ate doves, black birds, wild turkeys, etc. Notice that everything takes a lot of labor and energy! If you had vegetables and fruits it was because you grew, harvested and prepared them to cook. If you had meat it was because you hunted or grew it, butchered, processed and cooked it. You cut the wood for the wood stove. You drew the water from a well. Just eating was labor intensive so it was essential that you be ABLE to do this work in order to eat. If you were elderly, disabled, invalid, too young, handicapped, and didn't have help, you died. If you didn't have enough to eat to produce working energy, you died.


Black Bird Pie

3 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup very warm water (almost hot)

Mix little biscuit dough. Knead 'til tough and dry - roll with rolling pin 'til very thin and cut into 2-inch strips.

Clean birds. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/martin/wildrecipes/infdov.php
BIRDS:
25 birds well covered with water
3/4 lb. sausage (link) - optional

Cook until tender (at least 2 hours or 1 hour for chicken). Salt and pepper to taste. When birds are tender, keep broth at a rolling boil and drop in pastry - piece by piece, shaking pot constantly to keeep pastry pieces separated. When all is in pot, place cover on and let cook for approximately 10 minutes. Let set for about ten more minutes. Then eat.
Source: NC Cooperative Extension



Possum

Some caught possums and kept them 1-4 weeks in pens and fed them on cornmeal and milk to clean them out (they eat anything) and fatten them up. To prepare the possum, put 1/2 cup lime in about 1 gallon of boiling water and scald quickly, and pull off hair while hot. Scrape well--remove feet, tail, and entrails--like you would a pig. Cut off ears, remove eyes and head. Pour hot water over it and clean thoroughly. Put one cup salt in sufficient cold water to cover possum, add 1 pod red pepper and let stand overnight. In the morning remove salt water and pour boiling water over it. Cook in enough boiling water to boil up over possum but not enough to cover. Cook until skin can be pierced with a fork easily, and let stand in water until ready for baking. Peel sweet potatoes and boil them until tender in slightly-salted water (to which 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of sugar have been added). When ready to bake, place possum in pan with skin side up. Surround with the sweet potatoes. Strip with bacon, sprinkle with thyme or marjoram, and brown in the oven. Baste with the drippings often.
Sources: Various Internet sources. Just do a Google search on "Possum" or "Opossum Recipes"



Dutch Oven Squirrel

4-6 dressed squirrels, cut in pieces
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tbsp. lemon
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp sage
one onion
2-3 stalks celery
6-7 small carrots
1 tsp sugar

Add all ingredients to a large pot or dutch oven. Cover with water and cook on low heat for 3 hours. Remove squirrels. Blend vegetables to thicken gravy. Add squirrels and gravey back to pot. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Serve.
Source: Wildgamerecipes.org



Great Depression Salad

Young leaf lettuce
4 Tbsp Bacon Grease
4 Tbsp Vinegar
1 tsp Sugar

Clean lettuce leaves and place on salad plates.
Heat the bacon grease (about 4 Tbsp) and add equivalent vinegar and a tsp of sugar. Let heat through. Then pour over lettuce leaves.
Source: My family, but I also saw this on the Internet



Baked Rabbit

1 or 2 wild rabbits
All-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sage
1 med. onion
Salt and pepper
6 slices breakfast bacon

Dress rabbits and cut up, place meat in a large bowl of salt water, let stand 1 hour. Pat dry. Sprinkle pieces with small amount flour; salt and pepper to taste.
Place 3 slices bacon on bottom of Dutch oven. Add rabbit, sprinkle sage over meat. Add onion slices to top of meat. Then add 3 more strips of bacon on top of meat. Pour water to cover and bake 2 1/2 hours at 375 degrees adding water as needed. Meat will be brown and crisp outside, juice and tender inside.
Source: Wildgamerecipes.org



Scalloped Corn

1 can corn
3 eggs
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups sweet milk
1/2 cup soda cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Beat eggs separately, put 1 teaspoon of butter in baking dish and 2 tablespoons butter melted butter into cracker crumbs. Add yokes of eggs, milk, salt and sugar to corn, fold in whites of eggs. Bake in casserole dish for fifty minutes in moderate oven.
Source: CoveredBaptists.Probards31.com



Variety Cake

1 cup sweet stuff like sugar, honey, or jam
1 1/4 cup water
1 cup dried fruit (e.g., raisins, cranberries)
1/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mashed up pumpkin
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda (optional)
1/2 cup nuts (your choice)

Combine the sweet stuff, water, dried fruit, shortening, spices and salt. Bring to a boil. Cool mixture and add pumpkin. Mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Stir in texture ingredient. Pour the wet stuff over the dry stuff and gently mix. Dump into a greased baking pan. Bake 1 hour @ 350 degrees.
Source: CDkitchen.com



Meatless Loaf

1 cup rice
1 cup peanuts crushed
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients together. Bake in a loaf pan for 30 minutes or until loaf is good and set.
Source: CoveredBaptists.Probards31.com



Chipped Beef on Toast

1 jar of chipped beef
Toast
Milk Gravy

Place 1 piece of chipped beef on a piece of toast and pour gravy over it.
Source: My family, but I found it on the Internet too



Rice Pudding

½ cup long grain white rice
½ cup sugar
1 can evaporated milk, diluted to make one qt [must use evaporated milk]
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon to taste

Grease a glass 9" x 13" Pyrex dish with solid shortening. Preheat oven to 300F. Place all ingredients except cinnamon in pan. Generously sprinkle top with cinnamon. At least once during the baking, stir cinnamon crust into the rice and sprinkle top again with cinnamon. Let bake until rice is tender, or approximately 1 ½ hours. Let cool and serve either warm or cold.
Source: CoveredBaptist.probards31.com



Spice Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups strong coffee OR water OR apple juice
1/2 cups shortening
2 cups dark raisins OR diced pitted prunes
1 apple, peeled and shredded
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup nuts, chopped (your choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Using a medium saucepan, simmer together the sugar, coffee, shortening, raisins and apple for 10 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, all the spices and the nuts. Pour the cooled sugar mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour batter into a greased 13x9x2" baking pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes OR until cake tests done.
Source: Grouprecipes.com



Corn Chowder

2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
2 (15 ounce) cans whole kernel corn
1 large white onion, diced
3 cups diced potatoes
2 (12 fluid ounce) cans evaporated milk
1/3 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, corn, onion and potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, until potatoes are just tender. Stir in evaporated milk and butter until butter is just melted. Season with salt and pepper and serve at once.
Source: Allrecipes.com



Hard Times Coffee

Mix well 2 qts. wheat bran and 1 pt. yellow corn meal. Add 3 well beaten eggs and 1 cup sorghum molasses. Beat well, spread on pan and put in dry oven, on very low heat. (Wood stoves were kept warm at all times.) Take great care to stir often while browning. A handful is enough for two people.



Hardtack

5 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 to 1 2/4 cups water

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine ingredients. Add water until you can form a firm ball. If the dough gets sticky, add more flour. If it gets too dry, add more water. Roll out on a well-floured surface, using liberal amounts of flour to keep dough from sticking to roller. Roll to approx. 1/2" thickness. Cut dough into 3" x 3" squares and poke with holes. Place on cookie tin and put into preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes (until lightly browned).
Source: Angelfire.com



Blackberry Tea

Pick the blackberry leaves and dry them. When you want to make tea, just crumble a couple of teaspoons of leaves to one cup of boiling water. Steep for five to ten minutes, and you have blackberry tea.
Source: Angelfire.com



Sweet Potato Biscuits

16 oz.cooked mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup water or 2% milk
2 1/4 cups southern buttery biscuit mix
1/4 tsp allspice (if desired)

Peel and cook sweet potatoes, set aside to cool. Mix together sweet pototes, Brown Sugar Biscuit mix , and water or milk. Combine ingredients thoroughly. The mixture should be moister than regular Biscuits. Flour table. Roll biscuit mix to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with 1 1/2 inch cutter or a wine glass. Place on a greased sheet pan. Bake in a preheated oven @ 350 degrees for 17 min. This mixture does not allow the biscuits to rise much. Its good to have a timer to let you know when they are done, so not to over cook. Serve with Fresh Butter or Land of Lakes sweet Cream. Also very good with Sauage Patties.
Source: Chuck McMurray, Chesapeake, Va on Cooks.com



Creamed Peas On Toast

1 can green peas
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup milk
buttered toast
salt & pepper

On stove in small pot melt butter and add flour slowly to thicken it. When it is almost like a paste add the milk and stir. Continue stirring on low heat until the mixture thickens. Add the drained can of peas and stir for a few more minutes. Pour hot mixture over a buttered slice of toasted bread, add salt& pepper to taste.
Source: Recipezaar.com



Creamed Chicken Over Biscuits

1 cut up chicken
1 1/2 qt. water
1 tsp. salt
1 onion
2 stalks celery
3/4 c. flour

Cook chicken, water, onion, celery and salt for 1 hour or until tender. Lift chicken out of broth and debone. Set aside. Thicken broth with paste of 3/4 cup of flour and water. Add cut up chicken and serve over biscuits.



Potato Soup

4 large potatoes, rinsed, peeled, cubed
Water
salt & Pepper
4 Tbsp plain flour
butter

Cook potatoes in water until overdone and falling apart. Take some of the broth in a coffee cup. Add the flour and wish with fork until smooth. Pour into the potatoes and stir. Add Butter and serve.



Yankee Rice

Cooked white rice
Milk
Sugar
Butter
Cinnamon

Add some milk, sugar, butter, cinnamon to white rice and serve warm.



Poke Salad

Pick the young leaves of a poke plant and boil them in salted water for about 20 minutes. Drain and discard the water. Boil in fresh water again for 20 minutes. Drain and discard the water. Boil a third time in fresh water and drain. The greens should be ready to eat. Butter is good on them.
Source: http://sharonscrapbook.blogspot.com/search/label/poke%20or%20polk%20salad



Dandelion Greens
http://www.evitamins.com/healthnotes.asp?ContentID=1737004

Pick the newest dandelion leaves, wash and boil like any other green. Serve with salt and butter.



Dandelion Salad with Cooked Dressing

4 slices bacon, cut in small pieces
approximately 2 c. chopped new dandelion leaves
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced or chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped onion
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. cream or milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1/4 c. cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. flour

Toss together chopped dandelion, chopped onion and fried bacon pieces. Set aside. In skillet warm butter and cream until butter melts. Beat egg and then add salt, pepper, vinegar, sugar and flour. Blend the egg mixture into the slightly warm cream mixture. Increase heat and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Pour hot dressing over the greens and toss gently. Add eggs before tossing. Serve at once. Gather the dandelion leaves early in the spring before the plants flower or they will be bitter.
Source: Seedsofknowledge.com



Cream of Dandelion Soup
4 cups chopped dandelion leaves
2 cups dandelion flower petals
2 cups dandelion buds
1 Tbsp butter or olive oil
1 cup chopped wild leeks (or onions)
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water
2 cups half-n-half or heavy cream
2 tsp salt

Gently boil dandelion leaves in 6 cups water. Pour off bitter water. Boil gently a second time, pour off bitter water. In a heavy-bottom soup pot, sauté wild leeks and garlic in butter or olive oil until tender. Add 4 cups water. Add dandelion leaves, flower petals, buds, and salt. Simmer gently 45 minutes or so. Add cream and simmer a few minutes more. Garnish with flower petals.


Welsh Rarebit

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Dash of cayenne
3 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/3 cup butter
3 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
Sliced tomatoes

Combine flour, salt, dry mustard and cayenne. Add 1 cup milk gradually to form a paste. Mix in remainder of milk and Worcestershire sauce. Melt butter in a couble boiler. Add milk mixture. Cook and stir over hot water until thickened. Add cheese and stir until melted. Lay tomatoes slices on top of toast. Spoon rarebit over toast and tomato slices. Option: You can substitute beer for the milk.
Source: recipegoldmine.com


Sources & Resources:
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/1388298,FOO-News-depress21.article
http://www.backwoodshome.com/index.html
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yeager115.html
The Great Depression in America: A Cultural Encyclopedia By William H. Young, Nancy K. Young
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_04.html
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/588371
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-great-depression-can-teach-us_04.html
http://www.42explore2.com/depresn.htm

Fall Recipes

Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup crushed saltines
1/3 cup ketchup
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 pound ground beef
2 large acorn squash

In a medium bowl, combine the first nine ingredients. Add beef; mix well. Cut squash in half; remove and discard the seeds. Fill with meat mixture. Place in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Cover and bake at 400 degrees F for 1 hour or until squash is tender. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes.

Source: Susan Reynolds, Allrecipes.com


Stir Fried Kale and Broccoli

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
7 cloves garlic, sliced
1 chile pepper, chopped (optional)
1 head fresh broccoli, chopped
1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, cut in thin strips
juice of 2 limes
salt

Heat olive oil in a large wok or skillet over high heat. Stir in garlic and chile pepper; cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in broccoli; cook 1 minute. Add kale, and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes. Pour in lime juice, and season with salt to taste. Toss well.

Source: Allrecipes.com


Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (16 ounce) container cream cheese frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, pumpkin, eggs and oil for 3 minutes using a mixer on medium speed. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool, then frost with cream cheese frosting. *Note* You may want to add a little pumpkin spice to draw out the pumpkin taste.

Source: Aleta, Allrecipes.com

Fall Recipes

Fall Recipes





This is a great Spinach, Pear, Bleu Cheese Salad. I put the recipe in an earlier posting but here it is again:

2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pear, cut lengthwise into 15 slices
8 cups spinach, torn
1/4 cup red onions, thinly sliced

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place the pear slices in a large bowl. Spoon 1 tablespoon dressing over pears; toss to coat. Add the remaining dressing, spinach, and onion; toss to coat.

Source: Recipezaar.com

*Note*I didn't have dijon mustard or red onions. So I used regular mustard and Vidalia onions. It was still great! I used Bosc Pear and a real good bleu cheese. Stan loved it.