Category: Food and Cooking

Posted on

A Proper Fool

Some people make a fool with yogurt or (Lord help us) instant pudding, but to make a proper fool, you must make custard.

For six servings, scald two cups milk. Cool and add a blend of two well-beaten eggs with a half cup sugar and a teaspoon vanilla. Pour into a double boiler. As it begins to thicken, add a tablespoon of corn starch blended very well in a tablespoon of milk. Once very thick, refrigerate until firm.

To two cups sliced fruit, add a quarter cup sugar and macerate for at least a half hour. Stir if you can think about doing so. Layer drained fruit and custard, top with stiff cream. Chill and garnish–a dust of nutmeg is a nice touch–before serving.

Posted on

Stir-Fry Gizzards

Trim one pound gizzards, poach in unsalted water until tender, and drain well. (Save that beautiful gelatin-laden broth for any number of sauces and gravies, even those pâtés you’ve always wanted to try.)

Heat sesame oil in a wok or large sauté pan until very hot, add garlic, sliced peppers–poblanos and  sweet bananas are a suggestion–and gizzards. Toss and stir with a little soy until peppers are cooked to your liking .

Serve with rice and Dixie kim chee.

Posted on

How to Make a Slugburger

Add two cups potato flakes and a cup of flour to one pound of ground beef. Mix in a quarter cup each of 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. This recipe makes 8-10 burgers.

Posted on

Hangtown Fry

Crisp three slices thick bacon in an 8-in. skillet. Remove, drain and crumble. Beat four eggs very well, add a half dozen shucked, drained oysters with chopped onions and mild peppers. Helps to stir it a bit. Reheat skillet and add another tablespoon or two of oil to the bacon drippings. When hot, pour in egg/oyster mix and pop into a hot oven until lightly browned. Top with bacon, chopped scallions, and grated hard cheese. Serve with sourdough toast.

Posted on

Spatched Cornish Hen

This dish is a magical, grilly-fresh single serving for an outdoor evening, Rinse bird with salt water and pat dry. Remove wing tips and backbone with shears. Turn the hen breast side up, spread it open, and whack it a time or two with your fist to flatten it out. Tuck the wings under the hen, slather with oil, and season with pepper and a dusting of sage. Place rosemary, garlic and sweet peppers in the bottom of a skillet, lay the bird over them, and pop onto the top rack of a hot oven (350) until legs wiggle lose.

Posted on

How to Make a Dagwood

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 wooden skewers with jumbo pimento-stuffed green olives.

Posted on

Kale and Potatoes

This simple, hearty recipe is a perfect side for pork. The Irish call it calcannon, but you don’t have to.

Use two large starchy potatoes  to a packed cup of raw, chopped kale. Cut potatoes into chunks, boil vigorously until soft through, and whip with milk and butter., salt and white pepper. These don’t have to be perfectly smooth; in fact, they’re better a little lumpy, if you ask me (and I know you didn’t).

Stew greens, drain, and toss with a melted butter. Mix potatoes and kale, adjust salt and pepper.  Some people cook onions with the kale, but they’re better as a garnish.

 

Posted on

A Southern Curry

This typically fussy vintage recipe for Country Captain comes from Winifred Green Cheney’s wonderful Southern Hospitality Cookbook (1976).

Winifred informs us that she copied it from Mildred Williams, food columnist for a Virginia newspaper, but the original recipe came from Mrs. W. L. Bullard of Warms Springs, Georgia, who often served her famous dish to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“And once, when there wasn’t time for General George Patton to stay for dinner, he is said to have wired Mrs. Bullard to have the Country Captain waiting for him in a tin bucket at the train.”

2 frying-size chickens
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 clove garlic, chopped
1⁄2 cup olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 bell pepper, sliced
4 3/4 cups canned tomatoes
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon powdered thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1⁄2 cup water
1 cup seedless raisins
2 1⁄2 cup toasted almonds
Melted butter
2 cups hot cooked rice
Fresh parsley (optional)

Cut chicken into frying-size pieces; split the breast, separate leg and thigh, and use the wings. Save bony pieces for stew. Flour chicken by shaking in a paper bag containing flour, salt, black pepper, and paprika. Make garlic oil by adding chopped garlic to olive oil and letting it stand until flavor is absorbed from garlic. Use 1⁄2 cup of hot garlic oil to brown chicken on both sides in a large skillet over high heat, turning pieces often so that it is golden but not dark.

Remove chicken to roaster and cover. Add onion and bell pepper to drippings in skillet; cook over medium heat until they are limp but not brown, stirring constantly. Add tomatoes, parsley, curry, thyme, and cayenne pepper; cook slowly about 5 minutes until blended. Pour over chicken, rinsing out skillet with water.

Cover and bake chicken in a preheated 325° oven for 45 minutes or until chicken is tender. Add raisins the last 15 minutes of cooking. Split blanched almonds in halves; brown lightly in a little melted butter. Arrange chicken in center of a large heated platter, pour sauce over it and pile cooked rice around edges. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top and garnish with fresh parsley, if desired. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Posted on

Roast Shoulder of Beef

Brown a  3 lb. blade-in beef shoulder with onion and garlic. Cover with water by half. Add a pound of potatoes and cup each of  chopped celery and carrots. Salt lightly, flavor with black pepper, thyme, and bay. Cover and cook in a slow oven (300) until meat is tender. Save some broth for gravy.