We’re in the sweet spot of the growing season right now. For the next two months, the land will be giving up its bounty. Each week will bring us something new. This past week at the Farmers Market, zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots made an appearance. One vendor had fingerling potatoes. Cucumbers, new potatoes, and summer squash will soon be arriving. The spotlight this week, though, is on blackberries.

The blackberries this year are spectacular. The weather this spring was perfect for this gift from Mother Nature. The bushes are loaded with plump, juicy fruit. Some of the clusters are so ripe and sweet that all it takes is a little shake and they fall into the basket. No picking necessary. Blackberry cobbler and syrup, maybe even another attempt at making jam, is in our near future.

Wild blackberries abound in Wythe County. Find a spot and pick yours before the birds do.

For several years now, I’ve been researching the food of Appalachia. Traditional mountain cooking has never really been codified nor is it available in restaurants because it is a cuisine that relies heavily on wild game: deer, rabbit, wild turkey and other game birds as well fresh fish like trout, perch, and catfish from the rivers, streams, and lakes. Health Departments tend to take a dim view of ingredients that have not been raised according to Federal guidelines and officially inspected. I doubt hot biscuits and squirrel gravy has ever appeared on a commercial menu. Fresh vegetables come from family gardens and are canned for the winter months. Foraging for nuts, berries, wild greens, and mushrooms also help fill the larder.

If I had to point to one meal that says mountain cooking more than any other, it would be pinto beans and cornbread. Nothing hits the spot on a frigid winter day like dried pintos slow cooked with onions and smoked pork to a delicious creaminess accompanied by a plate of hot cornbread and butter. Traditionalists would wash it down with fresh buttermilk or sweet tea. Real old-timers might even have sassafras tea or coffee made from wild chicory.

Unfortunately, this style of cooking is rapidly disappearing and will probably be gone in twenty years or so. With each passing generation, more people lack the knowledge and skills necessary to process and cook wild food and have turned to fast or processed food for their diet. Pinto beans come out of a can, and cornbread from a mix. You have to know someone who knows someone to obtain venison sausage. Unlike other areas in this country where regional foods are making a comeback and are being preserved, here in Appalachia, that’s not happening.

Sadly, once this style of cooking is gone, it will be gone for good.

The origins of the dish are a bit murky, but most food historians agree that the first recipe for a pudding featuring bananas was printed in Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book (1902) by Sarah Tyson Rorer, considered America’s first dietitian and founder of the Philadelphia Cooking School, in a section she called “Hawaiian Recipes.”

The following year, 1903, Mary Harris Frazier published The Kentucky Receipt Book, which contained the following recipe:

Banana Pudding

Take a half dozen bananas, peel and cut in pieces an inch thick, put in baking dish and pour over custard made in the following manner:                   Custard-one pint of milk, 3 eggs, beat the yolks light, add milk, also two tablespoons of granulated sugar. Have the milk boiling, add the eggs and let it cook until it thickens; when cool pour over the bananas. Make a meringue with the whites and granulated sugar, put on top of custard, set in oven a few minutes to brown.                                                                                                                      Serve at once.

The Woman Suffrage Cook Book, (edited by Mrs. Hattie A. Burr, c. 1886) contained the following recipe by a Mrs. B. M. Frazier for vanilla wafers:

Ingredients

1 cup (200 g) sugar

2/3 cup (170 g) butter

4 tbsp (60 ml) milk

1 egg

1 tsp (3 g) cream of tartar

1/2 tsp (2.3 g) baking soda

1 pinch salt

1 tbsp (15 ml) pure vanilla extract (or better, vanilla paste)

5 cups (600 g) flour (or as needed)

The original instructions do not specify the exact amount of flour, they just say to add enough flour to roll the dough very thin. Begin by adding 4 cups (454 g) of flour and then add as much as needed to make a supple dough that is easy to roll. Adding too little flour will make the dough too soft and sticky, adding too much will make it dry and brittle–in both cases it will be very difficult to roll. If you realize you added too much flour, add some more milk (1 tbsp at a time), until the dough is again supple and easy to handle.

Preheat the oven at 350°F (180°C).

Cream the butter, then add the sugar and mix well. Add the egg and beat until well incorporated, then add the milk and vanilla and mix well. Sift 4 cups of flour with the

salt, the cream of tartar and the baking soda, and add these to the butter mixture. Mix well and then add enough extra flour until the dough holds together and is firm and supple, easy to roll.

On a very lightly floured surface roll the dough very thin (1/8 inch–3 mm), and cut with a cookie cutter. Using a thin metal spatula transfer the cookies to a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake for about 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden. Transfer the cookies on a rack to cool–they will be soft just out of the oven but will become crisp as they cool. Keep in an airtight container.

No one knows for sure who the first culinary genius was to marry banana pudding with vanilla wafers, but by 1901, the National Biscuit Company was marketing their brand of the tasty little cookie, and soon thereafter put a recipe on the side of their box of Vanilla Wafers (changed to their trademarked Nabisco Nilla Wafers in 1968) that has become the standard for banana pudding by which all others are judged.

Original Nilla Banana Pudding

Ready in: 60 mins.

Layers of Nilla wafers, creamy pudding and fresh banana slices
are the stars of this American classic.

3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Dash salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
45 NILLA Wafers, divided
5 ripe bananas, sliced (about 3 1/2 cups), divided
Additional NILLA Wafers and banana slices, for garnish

1. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, flour and salt in top of double boiler.
Blend in 3 egg yolks and milk. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water,
stirring constantly for 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened. Remove
from heat; stir in vanilla.

2. Reserve 10 wafers for garnish. Spread small amount of custard
on bottom of 1 1/2-quart casserole; cover with a layer of wafers
and a layer of sliced bananas. Pour about 1/3 of custard over
bananas. Continue to layer wafers, bananas and custard to make
a total of 3 layers of each, ending with custard.

3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; gradually add remaining
1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff but not dry. Spoon on top of
pudding, spreading evenly to cover entire surface and sealing well to edges.

4. Bake at 350°F in top half of oven for 15 to 20 minutes or
until browned. Cool slightly or refrigerate. Garnish with
additional wafers and banana slices just before serving.

Makes 8 servings

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION per serving
287 calories, 6 g protein, 50 g carbohydrate, 7 g total fat,
2 g saturated fat, 117 mg cholesterol, 134 mg sodium,
1 g dietary fiber.

Preparation Time: 30 mins.
Cook Time: 15 mins.
Cooling Time: 15 mins.
Total Time: 60 mins.

So what could make this classic of the South even better than it already is?

Peanut Butter.

Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches have been a childhood staple since who knows when. We know for sure that Gladys Presley used to make them for her baby boy, Elvis. As an adult, the King was known to eat forty at a time, fried in butter with the crusts removed. They could be one of the reasons his colon was the size of Sara Palin’s  ego when he expired, sitting on a toilet, straining for a movement.

A couple of weeks ago, I was fooling around in the kitchen and decided to make a banana pudding following the classic recipe, but making the first layer of wafers out of peanut butter and vanilla wafer sandwiches. Folks, I’m here to tell you, when I took that first bite, I could hear Elvis say, “Mama, why didn’t you think of this?”

Now, I’ve done a Google search, and can find no recipe that matches the one I came up with. There are those that combine peanut butter and bananas in various pudding recipes, but none that do it totally my way. So I guess this gives me naming rights. What with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, and more importantly, January 8th, Elvis’ Birthday, I dub this creation the Presley Puddin’ (TM). The Queen of Southern Puddings is now fit for its King.

Bon Appetit!

]]> http://www.wythenotes.com/wp/2010/11/19/a-puddin-fit-for-a-king/feed/ 3 http://www.wythenotes.com/wp/2010/11/04/back-to-our-roots/ http://www.wythenotes.com/wp/2010/11/04/back-to-our-roots/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:26:51 +0000 Ron Dees http://www.wythenotes.com/wp/?p=3017 The killing frosts are on their way, and we’ve come to the end of the growing season, with a few exceptions. Root vegetables are the glory of the fall.

The ones pictured above include heirloom radishes, baby turnips, and scallions from the Artist George Krause, purple potatoes, baby carrots, fresh rosemary and thyme from our garden, and red and white new potatoes from the Wytheville Farmer’s Market.

I did a really simple preparation for these. Toss them in some melted butter and olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and the chopped herbs. Roast them at 375 degrees for an hour, then turn the heat up to 425 degrees for fifteen minutes. They’re done when the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Each of the vegetables retains its own individual flavor when done this way. I served them with a pot roast made from Mike Cassell’s grass fed beef and a bottle(s) of excellent wine from West Wind Farms. There wasn’t a better meal served that night in all of SW Virginia.

The other night, I made an excellent dinner with ingredients from the Market and our garden: Braised lamb shanks with red rice and root vegetables.

I don’t use exact measurements when I cook. Use this as a general measurement. One lamb shank per person, 6 baby carrots, 4 baby turnips, 3 whole and 3 sliced small okra pods per person.

Cover the bottom of a preheated pan large enough to hold the shanks with olive oil. Salt and pepper the shanks and dust with flour to prevent sticking . Add shanks to the oil and brown evenly over medium high heat. When the shanks have browned, remove them and add the carrots, turnips, and whole okra pods. Remove the vegetables when the carrots start to brown. At this point you may have to add a little more oil. Add half a large onion cut into chunks. Stir and saute until onions begin to caramelize. Add a teaspoon of flour and cook for 3 minutes stirring the whole time. Return the shanks to the pan along with 3 or 4 cloves of garlic cut into quarters, the sliced okra, and some fresh or dried thyme, a tablespoon of the former or a teaspoon of the latter. Stir for a minute and add enough canned beef stock to reach 3/4 of the way up the side of the shanks. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen anything that sticks. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and simmer on low for an hour. Remove the lid and add the vegetables back to the pan. Cook for an additional half hour until the liquid has reduced to sauce consistency and the shanks are falling off the bone. Adjust the seasonings, add two tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley and serve with rice cooked with half chicken stock and half tomato juice.

Bon appetit!

Thanks to Mike Cassell of Cassell Family Farms for the lamb shanks, the Artist George Krause for the baby turnips, and Suzanne Capone of Omega Lane Farm for the garlic. The okra and baby carrots came from our garden.

See you at the market tomorrow.

A Little Housekeeping

I’ve made a few changes to the blog roll. West Wind Farm and Vineyard has been replaced by Martha Holder’s blog. Martha and her husband operate Lazy Bee Farm. Matty is a farmer, a teacher, an artist, a writer, and my egg lady. Her blog is a window into the trials and tribulations of a small farmer and the wonderful mind of a true Renaissance woman.

Ann Barrett, author of Having It Y’all, an insider’s guide to life southern style, describes it as The Pod of the Gods. Here in the Mountain Kingdom and the rest of the U.S. of A., we call it okra.

Okra is one of those “super vegetables,” so called because of its beneficial food qualities and its multiplicity of uses. 40% by volume of okra seeds can be extracted as oil, second only to sunflower seeds at 60%. Though I’ve never had it, okra oil is described as, “(a) greenish-yellow edible oil (with) a pleasant taste and odor, and is high in unsaturated fats…” Okra oil is also being tested as a bio-fuel and is said to have medicinal purposes, especially as a diuretic.

In this area, and much of the South, okra is battered and deep fried. It is also prevalent in stews such as gumbo, and it makes a really good pickle.

I prefer the baby pods lightly sauteed in butter and olive oil served with steamed rice, black-eyed peas, and chopped raw onion. Hmmm…throw in a little cucumber salad and some roast chicken and a biscuit or two, and we got dinner. Bon appetit!

**********

Your Basic “Oh, Shit” Moment

I took the following pictures in Shallotte, North Carolina, during our recent vacation:

Yessir….it was the winning entry. Except for one thing. When I arrived at the library just before 2pm Saturday I was a little late. The Taste Off was Friday.

Clogging at the Market

The Southwest Virginia Cloggers from Rural Retreat entertained the patrons of the Wytheville Farmers Market Saturday with a demonstration of clogging and flatfoot dancing. The performers covered a wide range of ages and skill levels, but shared an infectious enthusiasm for the traditional dances.

Definition of Adorable

Yesterday was cooking demonstration day at the Wytheville Farmers Market and I got to be the Ol’ Rock’n Roll Chef one more time. Folks, I had a blast. I’d like to thank all of you who stopped by to say hello. It is truly gratifying to meet my readers.

I’d also like to thank Louise Bennett, who acted as my sous chef. Louise is a Personal Chef from Rural Retreat. She cooks, bakes, shops, and does meal plans among her many talents. This lady really knows her stuff, and I couldn’t have done it without her. If you could use her services, give her a call at 276-686-5031. Louise had to leave around 11:00am, and my lovely and talented wife Anne stepped in.

I decided to make omelets, and I was able to buy all the vegetables and eggs I used from the vendors at the market. I hope those of you who got to taste the samples we gave away enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Purchasing organic veggies from Marcie Krause as Dave Richert looks on from the next stall

Turnin' and Burnin'

Long of leaf, tender of stalk, and beautifully of green,
I rinse your stems with reverent hands
Before chopping and adding to the steam.
A few cups of water, a chunk of country ham, bring it all to boil.
Add some honey and cider vinegar when the liquid starts to roil.
Louisiana Hot Sauce, good sea salt and cracked-black to your taste,
Twist a top, simmer them down, now’s not the time for haste.
From this point ’til they’re done, you’ve got three whole hours to waste.

GETTIN’ BACK MY COUNTRY

For the last week or so, Hank, Jr.’s song, A Country Boy Can Survive, has been playing over and over in my head. Whereas I was born and bred in the briar patch, nearly 40 years of living in the Washington, DC, suburbs beat the country right out of me. This spring (35 days and counting) will mark the 6th year we have owned our humble little cottage on Galena Creek, and I’m finally learning how to be a human being again.

Here’s a little test to determine how long someone has lived in the country:

You open your sugar and find it crawling with ants.

1 – 2 years: You throw away the sugar and buy another bag.
3 – 4 years: You sift out the ants and use the sugar.
5 years or more: “Ya ever notice them sugar-coated ants are tasty                               little suckers?”

Now I’m not suggesting country folks eat bugs. . .well, most of them don’t. There was that kid, Booger Johnson, who I was in grammar school with. My point is: country folks don’t waste anything if they can help it.

THE FARMER’S ALMANAC

If you’re new to country living and only read one publication, let the Farmer’s Almanac be the one. Founded in 1818 and available both in print and online, this original “green” periodical is the bible of country living. It only took me a few minutes perusal to learn something I didn’t know that will save me money. (Here’s a hint: It’s a common sense way to conserve gasoline.) Online membership is free and entitles you to a wide range of benefits.

ROADKILL RECIPES

Some folks think squirrels are cute. Some folks think they’re the spawn of Satan. A lot of the old-timers around these parts think they’re just plain good eatin’. Here’s my recipe for squirrel gravy:

• 1 squirrel cleaned and dressed and cut into pieces [I don't recommend a PSD (Poor Squirrel Decision) off the highway unless you run over him yourself.]
• 1/2 cup each of roughly chopped onions, carrots, and celery
• a half dozen sprigs of parsley, a dozen peppercorns, and a bay leaf
• bacon grease, vegetable oil and flour
• 1 qt cold water
• salt and pepper to taste

Salt and pepper the squirrel pieces and roll in flour. In a Dutch oven, saute in hot bacon grease until lightly browned. Remove the squirrel pieces and add a little vegetable oil. Cook the vegetables until the onions begin to brown. Add enough flour to make a roux and cook stirring for 3 minutes. Slowly add the water, whisking to prevent lumps and then return the squirrel to the pot. Add the parsley, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Bring the liquid to a boil then reduce to a slow simmer. Cook for 45 mins or so until the squirrel is falling off the bone. Remove the squirrel pieces and strain the vegetables out. While the squirrel cools, reduce the broth to gravy consistency. Shred the meat and return to the gravy. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon over hot biscuits and serve. If you prefer a lighter colored gravy, stir in some heavy cream or half and half with the shredded meat.

SPEND LOCALLY

Don’t forget to visit our local merchants first, especially restaurants. Wythe County has precious few restaurants that aren’t one of the national chains or part of the fast food industry. If you haven’t visited West Wind Farm Vineyard & Winery or it’s been awhile since you’ve been there, now is an excellent time.

David and Jason Manley and staff are ready to welcome you to one of the best boutique wineries in Virginia. Go out and taste some terrific wines and tour the the facilities. The first three wines you taste and the tour are free. As you can see from the pictures below, the scenery is beautiful.

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