In our neck of the South, stuffed peppers mean mild, fleshy bells filled with a mixture of rice and meat or seafood, usually ground beef or shrimp. A vegetarian version with beans is wonderful as well.
Select peppers that are globular rather than oblong, slice off the top, and remove whites and seeds; a lot of people parboil the peppers, but don’t. For a stuffing mixture, use a 50/50 blend of rice/meat or beans in a light tomato sauce seasoned with black pepper, sage, and basil.
Crowd into a casserole, baste with more sauce and place in a medium (300) oven until peppers are cooked through. Baste again with sauce, top with dry white cheese, and toast.
The authentic, die-hard, you-will-go-to-hell-if-you-don’t-do-it-this-way recipe from Syracuse demands new russet white potatoes (grade B), not red nor sweet (an interesting option), but Yukon Golds, a variety developed in southwest Ontario–in spitting distance of upstate New York–do just fine.
Bring two quarts water to a low boil and stir in two cups salt. Likely not all the salt will dissolve, depending on the softness or hardness of your water (soft water will hold more salt). The potatoes sizzle while boiling as the moisture leaches out. Once the potatoes are done through, remove them with a slotted spoon into a colander and let them dry. A salt crust will form on the skins. Serve hot with melted butter for dipping.
With Roffignac, on one hand, you have an effete, fruity cocktail, on another, the roguish oysters Roffignac.
Both recipes are from the most popular restaurant in antebellum New Orleans, which occupied the corner of Royal and St. Peter Streets. Howard Mitcham says that oysters Roffignac was the first baked/broiled oyster dish in New Orleans, and if Howard says so, it’s so.
You’ll not find many oyster recipes that use red wine, and fewer using paprika for actual flavor as opposed to a color accent, but it’s a robust combination. Add this dish to your repertoire as a hearty alternative to that sissy Bienville.
For four servings: 2 dozen fresh oysters in their shells 1/2 lb. peeled boiled shrimp (about a pound raw in the shell) A half dozen scallions, finely chopped About a dozen small button mushrooms, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 stick butter 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1 tablespoon paprika A dash of cayenne About a half cup of dry red wine
Clean oysters of mud and hangers-on, shuck, and reserve liquid. Heat butter, add scallions, garlic, shrimp, mushrooms, and seasonings. Cook until done through. Dissolve cornstarch in about ¼ cup water, add wine and oyster liquor, and drizzle into hot mixture until thickened. Cool before spooning over oysters and broiling.
We call counterfeit coins slugs; this sandwich filling is a culinary counterfeit posing as a burger. During the Great Depression, a lot of diners in the American South stretched patties of ground beef or pork with potato flour. These were deep-fried, giving them crispy exteriors and juicy insides, topped with mustard, slid between buns, and sold for a nickel, which back in that day were also called slugs.
John Weeks brought this recipe from Chicago to Corinth, Mississippi, in 1917. Weeks had his hamburger meat ground to specification by local butchers, which included potato flakes and flour. Originally called Weeksburgers, in the Fifties, soy grits replaced the potato and flour. Patties of the mix are fried in canola oil and served with mustard, dill pickles, and onions on a slider bun.
Slugburgers are very much a thing in Corinth, surrounding north Mississippi, and Alabama. Each year people from across the continent descend on Corinth for the annual Slugburger Festival, which began in 1988. For three weekend evenings in summer–its in July this year–the town celebrates the local culinary icon with music, a carnival, and The World Slugburger Eating Championship
For slugburgers, add two cups potato flakes and a cup of flour to one pound of ground beef, add a tablespoon each salt and pepper. Use your hands and mix very, very well. Form into patties, on the thin side. Some people—me included—dust the patties with flour before deep-frying in canola oil. Serve on a bun with mustard, pickles, onion, and a side of French fries or onion rings. This makes about 8 burgers.
Lay three slices of rye bread out on a cutting board. Smear two of them with a tablespoon each of yellow mustard. Smear the last one with mayonnaise. Top one of the mustard smeared slices of rye bread with 4 slices deli ham, 2 slices American cheese, 2 leaves of iceberg lettuce, and four slices bologna. Top the second mustard-smeared slice of rye with 4 slices salami, a half dozen pickle chips, 3 tomato slices, 4 slices turkey, 2 slices Swiss cheese, and the third slice of rye bread, mayonnaise side down. Stack this unit on top of the first mustard smeared slice. Secure the sandwich with toothpicks skewered through pimento-stuffed green olives.
First time I asked Nan for her roll recipe, she put me off, saying she did not know where the recipe was when I knew damn well she had it on an index card in that little Colonel Rebel recipe box she kept on top of her refrigerator.
She kept that up until I got tired of it, called her up one night when I was drunk and talked her into getting her butt off the couch. As she read it to me, I could just see her wagging a finger.
It took her twenty minutes, swear to God.
“Dissolve one package yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. When yeast begins to work, add 1/2 cup sugar, another 1 1/2 cup water, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and 2 teaspoons salt. Blend until sugar is dissolved, add 3 large eggs and beat well. To this mixture, add 2 cups plain flour and blend until smooth. Gradually add enough flour (up to 4 or more cups) and mix well to make soft dough. Cover dough and refrigerate for at least eight hours. When ready to bake, form dough into balls, place in a jelly roll pan or pie plate and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, bake for 15-20 minutes until brown. The dough will keep for up to four days covered in the refrigerator.”
Sarepta was originally called Zarephath, meaning “a workshop for the refining and smelting of metals.” It was a small Phoenician town, near present-day Surafend (or Sarafend), about a mile from the Mediterranean coast, almost midway on the road between Tyre and Sidon. It is mentioned for the first time in the voyage of an Egyptian in the fourteenth century B.C. Sennacherib captured it in 701 B.C. (Schrader, “Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament”, 1883, pp. 200 and 288).
Despite its relative insignificance, Sarepta has the distinction of being named in both the Old Testament and the New. We learn from I Kings, 7:8-24, that it was subject to Sidon in the time of Achab and that the Prophet Elias, after having multiplied the meal and oil of a poor woman, raised her son from the dead. The charity of this widow was recalled by Christ (Luke 4:26). It was probably near this place that Christ cured the daughter of the Chanaanite or Syro-Phoenician woman whose faith He praised (Mark 7:24-30).
Sarepta is mentioned also by Josephus (“Ant. jud.”, VIII, xiii, 2); Pliny (Hist. natur., V, 17); the “Itinerarium Burdigalense; the “Onomasticon” of Eusebius and St. Jerome; by Theodosius and Pseudo-Antoninus who, in the sixth century calls it a small town, but very Christian (Geyer, “Intinera hierosolymitana”, Vienna, 1898, 18, 147, 150). It contained at that time a church dedicated to St. Elias. The “Notitia episcopatuum” of Antioch in the sixth century speaks of Sarepta as a suffragan see of Tyre (Echos d’Orient, X, 145); none of its bishops are known.
Some titular Latin bishops are mentioned after 1346 (Eubel, “Hierarchia catholica medii aevi”, I, 457; II, 253; III, 310; “Revue benedictine”, XXI, 281, 345-53, 353-65; XXIV, 72). In 1185, the “Green Monk” Phocas (De locis sanctis, 7) found the town almost in its ancient condition; a century later, according to Burchard, it was in ruins and contained only seven or eight houses (Descriptio Terrae sanctae, II, 9).
Sarepta was erected into a bishopric by the Crusaders, who raised a chapel over the reputed spot where Elijah restored the widow’s child. In the twelfth century it seems to have been a fortified city with a port and some stately buildings. Today, Sarepta is known as Khirbet Sarfend, between Tyre and Sidon, on the seashore; the ruins show that the town extended 1800 metres north and south, but that it was not very wide.
Most recipes call for rice with chicken livers and/or gizzards. Some people use ground meat or game; onions and peppers typically round out the dish.
A bone of contention with dirty rice comes between those who cook the rice with the meats and vegetables and those who cook them separately and mix them with seasonings before serving. I belong to the cook-separately-and-mix faction. I do the same with jambalayas. I’ve been called to the carpet for that more than once, but I stood my ground. I like the texture better.
For dirty rice, first cook your gizzards. You can go to the trouble of trimming the membranes if you want, but I’ve found that if you stew gizzards for a very long time they’re going to end up as tender as can be, easy to mince, and the resulting broth is a thing of beauty.
Sauté trimmed livers with a little garlic and minced white onion until just done through. Add chopped meats to cooked rice with whatever sautéed vegetables you like with a little oil to moisten.
Season to taste. I like an Italian herbal blend with a little black pepper. Keep warm in a covered container, and add chopped green onion before plating.
