http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm Food journalism out of Austin, Texas. en-us Fri, 24 May 2013 10:36:35 -0700 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:03:00 -0700 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss russell@scrumptiouschef.com russell@scrumptiouschef.com russell@scrumptiouschef.com no http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2013/4/19/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-7-How-To-Make-Fred-K-Schmidts-Hot-Brown Kentucky Derby season is in full swing as natives of the Commonwealth lay in big supplies of bourbon for mint juleps; cured meats for biscuit-stuffing; sacks of walnuts for Derby Pie-making, and critters from the hardwood forests to construct mammoth kettles of Burgoo. There are plenty iconic dishes in Kentucky but perhaps none more so than the Hot Brown. Putatively, a simple sandwich consisting of only a handful of ingredients, the dish has taken on a mythos over the near century since its invention, and now food pilgrims travel from all over the globe to sample this delicacy. Southern Cooking Recipes Kentucky Recipes Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:03:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2013/4/19/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-7-How-To-Make-Fred-K-Schmidts-Hot-Brown http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/10/6/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-6-How-To-Make-Chocolate-Gravy Kentucky is gravy country. Alabama is gravy country. Texas is gravy country. As you traverse the upper end of the South, make your way down into Dixie and then head out West to the Great State, you'll find dozens of regional variations on this simple, humble sauce. We pour it over our chicken fried steak, we fry up Jimmy Dean sausage and make a gravy that's perfect for our biscuits; and a bowl of mashed potatoes served without gravy? That might just find the cook on the business end of a rusty shank. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:38:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/10/6/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-6-How-To-Make-Chocolate-Gravy http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/9/19/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-5-Brains-And-Eggs Growing up in the Cumberland Highlands region of Eastern Kentucky our family practiced nose to tail cooking before Fergus Henderson had unlatched his mouth from his mother's breast, and long before it became chic for line cooks to blow a week's pay on pig tattoos for their forearms. We didn't like letting good meat go to waste. Durog hogs were the breed of choice on our family's farm. The big beasts are gorgeous creatures, notoriously hardy and grow to unfathomable sizes ranging upwards of a half a ton on the hoof. They are also delicious. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:36:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/9/19/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-5-Brains-And-Eggs http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/9/Hatch-Chile-Hickory-Smoked-Bacon-Project-Part-Three-Recipe-Technique-Smoking-Slicing-And-Eating We take our inspiration where we find it. After being served lousy bacon at Cochon in New Orleans we wondered how a restaurant that made its reputation on the pig could serve such lousy pork? We didn't wonder long. We decided to procure a pork belly and submit it to the cure for a week or so then throw it on the smoker in the back yard and see what came out of the process. Solid country gold. Recipes Kentucky Recipes How To Make Your Own Bacon Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:53:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/9/Hatch-Chile-Hickory-Smoked-Bacon-Project-Part-Three-Recipe-Technique-Smoking-Slicing-And-Eating http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/9/23/Eat-A-Biscuit-Today-September-Is-National-Biscuit-Month--Recipe-Follows- Is there a greater pleasure than a finely wrought biscuit from the pan of an old granny woman? Not from where we sit. Cornbread has its acolytes and it is a fine southern quick bread but it pales in comparison to the biscuit. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:49:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/9/23/Eat-A-Biscuit-Today-September-Is-National-Biscuit-Month--Recipe-Follows- http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/8/4/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-FourSweet-Batter-Pudding-With-Fresh-Blackberries Growing up in the Cumberland Highlands of Eastern Kentucky means when July rolls around it's time to hit the strip mines with a big plastic jug and go blackberry picking. When we say strip mines, we are speaking of what's left of a mountain top after the coal company has ripped the side of the mountain free, stripped all the coal out, planted a few trees, installed a silt pond and called it a day. Kentucky Recipes Dessert Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:39:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/8/4/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-FourSweet-Batter-Pudding-With-Fresh-Blackberries http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/4/14/In-The-Spring-A-Young-Mans-Fancy-Lightly-Turns-To-Thoughts-Of-Burgoo Once a year I hit my backyard in the French Place neighborhood, build a big fire out of Oak and Hickory, turn up Johnson County's own Jim Ford and his landmark album "The Sounds of Our Time" and begin the three day process of knocking out 12 quarts of Burgoo. For the uninitiated Burgoo is a Kentucky woodsman stew filled with all the game traditionally hunted in the forests of the Bluegrass state. Deer, elk, rabbit, squirrel, hog, possum, raccoon, pheasant, mutton, grouse, catamount....damn near anything can go in a vat of this heavenly dish. Kentucky Recipes Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:37:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/4/14/In-The-Spring-A-Young-Mans-Fancy-Lightly-Turns-To-Thoughts-Of-Burgoo http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/3/30/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-3-Classic-Kentucky-Recipes-White-Chili With that utterly brutal Austin Winter finally behind us we can now turn our hearts and bellies away from the hearty chilis and stews that were the only things that allowed us to maintain life on those frigid evenings when it dipped down into the 50s. As Texans though we still have to eat chili, it just needs to be a somewhat lighter chili. Like a white chili that features smoked chicken, Great Northern beans and cooling, refreshing crema Salvadorena. In other words, we have to turn our bellies toward the great state of Kentucky for guidance. White chili is one of the quintessential Kentucky dishes. In the Bluegrass State we eat it year round at church socials, family gatherings or anytime we have a few quarts of chicken stock and a pantry holding a couple pounds of Great Northern beans. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:39:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/3/30/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-3-Classic-Kentucky-Recipes-White-Chili http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/1/27/A-Guide-To-Making-The-Best-Popcorn-You-Will-Ever-Put-In-Your-Mouth There is an arc of popcorn in my life that began when I was a just a farm kid growing up near Redbrush Kentucky. My parents gave my sister and I some popcorn seeds and we grew a few popcorn plants to test our green thumbs. Being sequestered on a farm in the Appalachians meant this activity was pretty exciting [there wasn't anything else going on]plus we got to eat what we grew, setting in motion a lifelong addiction to the stuff. I loved sitting in my bedroom when I was a kid eating popcorn hot out of a Joe Namath popcorn machine and listening to the Kentucky Wildcats on my Sharp am/fm radio set. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Vegetarian Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:32:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/1/27/A-Guide-To-Making-The-Best-Popcorn-You-Will-Ever-Put-In-Your-Mouth http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/7/18/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-2-Classic-Kentucky-Recipes-Soup-Beans The backbone of a good country kitchen in the great state of Kentucky is the pinto bean. It's transformed into Eastern Kentucky's household staple dish: Soup Beans, on a nightly basis in thousands of rural households across the Highlands. A few restaurants in the state carry Soup Beans but typically this is something you get only if you're fortunate enough to eat Kentucky homecooking, not restaurant food. I've eaten hundreds of gallons of soup beans since I was a kid. Most native Kentuckians have. They're cheap, delicious and easy to make. My dad Russell Reeves' recipe is the gold standard as he's one of the great country cooks in the state. He can effortlessly knock out a kettle and also put out the best pone of cornbread you ever put down your gullet. Russell Reeves Soup Bean Recipe in his own words. "Well you get you a big kettle and you fill it up about 3/4 of the way with water from the tap. Throw a couple pounds of pinto beans in there along with a big, ol hamhock and bring your kettle to a boil. Let 'er boil for a couple hours then lower it down to a simmer for a couple more hours. Once your beans are soft they're done" It's been awhile since I made Soup Beans this way. I fancify my recipe a bit because I love an excuse to make homemade stock, pork stock to be precise. So here's the way I make the very same dish. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Sun, 18 Jul 2010 11:43:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/7/18/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-2-Classic-Kentucky-Recipes-Soup-Beans http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/6/16/Nellie-Sullivan-Knew-How-to-Cook-Northern-Beans My grandmothers Sunday dinner feasts are a thing of legend. I suspect they're still a regular topic of discussion in Southeastern Kentucky to this day, over 20 years since her passing. . Sunday morning is a busy time in the big 5 bedroom farm house my mamaw calls home. Breakfast must be prepared for 6 or so hungry eaters, dinner dishes must be started so they can simmer all morning long and then of course a nice dress must be donned in time to make morning service at Keck Baptist Church a few miles down the road. After a good 2-3 hours of worship [depending on how loquacious the good reverend Damon Helton is feeling] mamaw comes home to put the finishing touches on the feast. While country hams, pot roasts, chicken and dumpling and a half dozen or so vegetables from the nearby garden are coveted by most of the family, I'm happy to have a big bowl of her amazing Northern Beans. I reckon I must have gotten her bean gene as I love them in all their configurations but the Northern is still my favorite. I use it as the base for my Kentucky classic dish White Chili but my typical preparation is much simpler.It's a mimic of Nellie Sullivan's version and it couldn't be simpler. A handful of ingredients, love of the people you're cooking for and patience are all you need. Here's my homage to cooked down Northern Beans a ala Nellie Sullivan Recipes Kentucky Recipes Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:10:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/6/16/Nellie-Sullivan-Knew-How-to-Cook-Northern-Beans http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/6/7/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-I-Classic-Kentucky-Recipes-The-Fried-Baloney-Sandwich Eastern Kentucky cuisine has a few iconic dishes {Soup Beans, Chili Buns, Corn Bread, Fried Catfish, Hot Brown, Burgoo et al} but perhaps none approaches the importance of the fried baloney sandwich. I use it as a barometer when I'm traveling through the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky, hitting the roadside diners and gas stations in search of sustenance. If the joint offers this dish then you know there are are some dyed-in-the-wool, old-school Kentucky cooks working thereabouts. A good fried baloney sandwich must incorporate several elements in its construction. They are as follows: White bread: Sure there are some fancy lads out there who crow at dawn for whole wheat bread but they are far removed from the sensible country folk who know that white bread {Kerns bakery?} is THE foundation of a good fried baloney sandwich. Mayonnaise: My family split into two camps on this important issue. The maternal side {good people one and all except for this} championed Miracle Whip a vile substance that serves as a material comrade in arms with equally disgusting ketchup. The paternal side loved the wholesome goodness of a well-made mayonnaise. Eggs, oil, perhaps a little salt. None of the weirdness I've come to associate with the factory of horrors issue; miracle whip. Sweet onion: A yellow onion, raised on southern soil, sliced just right is an essential component of the fried baloney sandwich. That's it. Yes, you may put cheese on a fried baloney sandwich but it turns into a different beast altogether. More on that later. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:41:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/6/7/The-Kentucky-Kitchen-Part-I-Classic-Kentucky-Recipes-The-Fried-Baloney-Sandwich http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/4/19/Slow-Difficult-Recipes-Part-2-Authentic-Kentucky-Burgoo-Recipe Growing up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky meant a steady diet of lots of creatures of the woods: Rabbit, Deer, Quail, Grouse maybe the occasional Groundhog...all fair game and often, depending on the preparation, delicious. One of the hallmarks of Kentucky cooking is Burgoo, a rich hunter's stew chock full of game and whatever vegetables happen to be on hand at the time of the cookdown. I only make Burgoo once a year. What our Kentucky forbears intended as a huntsman's dish to accommodate the plenitude of game roaming the meadows and forests has, for me, a city dweller, devolved into a once a year dish involving driving all over town to procure a rough simulacrum of what a skilled hunter might accumulate in his game bag in a couple sessions in the woods. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:36:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/4/19/Slow-Difficult-Recipes-Part-2-Authentic-Kentucky-Burgoo-Recipe http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2009/12/14/Doll-Reeves-Made-Ice-Cream-From-Snow My grandma Doll is a cipher to this day. Her dying before I was born doesn't help matters any.Whereas I have a big collection of my mom's mom's recipes I have nary a one of my dad's mother. I've been meaning to rectify that and this is the start. Back in the 60's when my dad was a young buck the winters in Kentucky were quite a bit different than they are today. It snowed. A lot. Up in the Billy holler that meant one thing;time to make some snow cream. I grew up eating it myself and as it was snowing in Austin last week it set me to thinking.How many people have eaten or even heard of snow cream? The ingredients are simple.So simple any kid can make it.Good milk,sugar,vanilla and a giant bowl of freshly fallen snow are all you really need. Unless you're Grandma Doll. She made a stovetop custard for her snow cream and incorporated chocolate into it for a sort of rural Neiman Marcus-esque luxury version. I've been plumbing the cobwebs out of my dad's recollections recently and have now assembled a recipe for snow cream Grandma Doll style.While it's not truly her recipe since we have the same blood flowing I reckon it'll serve just fine. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Dessert Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:49:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2009/12/14/Doll-Reeves-Made-Ice-Cream-From-Snow