November 23, 2008

Stew your cranberries in a covered saucepan till soft, then pulp them through a hair sieve, return them to the saucepan, with equal weight of good brown sugar, and a spoonful of butter. A little water should be added, or the sauce will be too thick. To be served hot.
—Mary Ann Bryan Mason, The Young Housewife’s Counsellor (sic) and Friend: Containing Directions in Every Department of Housekeeping, 1875.

November 21, 2008

Joint chicken or cut in joints, dip in sweet milk, dredge with white corn meal instead of flour ; salt and pepper. Fry in boiling hot fat. (I preferred lard and butter mixed.)
Make a cream gravy. Serve with corn fritters made of canned or fresh corn. For three to four, one can of corn or six ears cut. Make a batter same as for hot cakes; put corn, salt and sugar to taste. Pour out of end of spoon into boiling fat. Cook a golden brown and serve.

—Mrs. J. E. Buckley, Echoes Of Southern Kitchens. Compiled and published by the Robert E. Lee Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy No. 278, Los Angeles, 1916

What foods did colonists eat at Jamestown, the first English settlement in the New World, and why did they nearly starve to death in a land of plenty?

Jamestown, Virginia was settled in 1607 by a group of English adventurers who were tasked with founding a permanent English colony in the New World and finding gold as the Spanish had done in their expeditions to South and Central America and Florida. Following this mission too closely almost caused them to starve to death in a land of plenty.

When they dropped anchor in the James River on May 13, 1607, the colonists brought with them stores of dried beef, salt cured pork and fish, in addition to pigs, chickens, and cattle to serve as breeding stock. They also planned to heavily supplement these provisions by trading with the local Indian tribes as the “Lost Colony” had done during their failed attempt at settling North Carolina in 1587.  The colonists had no way of knowing it, but this plan had been torpedoed about a month before they got there.

A month before the settlers arrived, a shaman had predicted to Powhatan, the chief of the local tribe, that a mighty nation would rise up on the banks of the James River and defeat him. Needless to say, the settlers met with a cool reception, and within two weeks arrows and musket balls were flying.

Raids by the Powhatans, a late start on planting and the worst drought to hit North America in eight hundred years took their toll, and by September, nearly half of the original one hundred four colonists had died of disease, accidents or Indian attack. There was little food in the larder for the small group of survivors as the fall of 1607 faded into winter.

Archaeologists have determined that the colonists survived that first winter by eating fish (especially sturgeon), turtles, rays, gulls, snakes, herons, oysters, raccoons, and anything else they could find. When spring arrived, they were able to make an uneasy peace with the Powhatans and trade iron tools for corn and meat.

John Smith wrote that by the fall of 1608,“The rivers became so covered with swans, geese, ducks, and cranes that we daily feasted with good bread, Virginia peas, pumpions (pumpkins), and putchamins (persimmons), fish, fowl, and diverse sorts of wild beasts as fat as we could eat them.”

But another meager harvest and the arrival in August of 1609 of a second wave of ill-prepared colonists with precious few supplies brought the population of Jamestown to over two hundred and caused the colony’s food situation to reach the desperation stage.

The winter of 1609 -1610 was known as “the starving time.” Relationships with the Powhatans had deteriorated to an armed siege, and as winter fell, the colonists couldn’t leave the fort to hunt or fish without being attacked. When the colonist’s animals ran out, they ate their horses, dogs, cats, and rats. In a final act of desperation some colonists resorted to cannibalism to survive. When the next supply ship arrived in May 1610, only sixty of the colony’s two hundred fourteen original settlers were still alive.

As more settlers arrived, the Jamestown colony grew stronger, and other English settlements soon followed. By 1650, there were fifteen thousand Englishmen in Virginia, and direct Spanish influence on Southern cuisine was destined to be limited to Florida and the lower Gulf states. English foodways would be the foundation on which Southern food would evolve.

November 18, 2008

• 1 large turkey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon browned flour
• 1 pod pepper
• 1 loaf bread
• 1 pt water
• 50 oysters
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1/4 large onion
• 4 pieces celery
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup minced mushrooms
• 1/2 teaspoon minced parsley

Make a dressing by chopping together bread, mush-
rooms, oysters, salt, pepper, onions, celery, parsley and
hard boiled eggs, then fry about 15 minutes in butter; put
this in turkey and rub with oil, flour, salt and pepper.
Put in pan, add water, baste frequently and bake, allow-
ing 20 minutes to the pound.
—Mrs. Martha Pritchard Stanford, Old and New Cook Book, 1904

November 17, 2008

“Ground nut” is an early term for peanuts; this soup is a delicacy in some parts of the South, particularly in Virginia.

Modern recipes nearly always call for peanut butter, which makes a much thicker soup than the original recipes (if you use peanut butter, replace the 3 cups peanuts with 2 cups of unsweetened peanut butter).
This recipe is faithful to the originals in use before peanut butter became a staple. It is based on a recipe by Rufus Estes, who wrote one of the first cookbooks published by an African American, Good Things To Eat, As Suggested By Rufus, published about 1911.

Estes was born a slave, and after emancipation became Executive Chef for the Pullman Railroad Car Company in Chicago.

Yield: 6 servings

• 3 cups unsalted peanuts
• 2 quarts water
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 stalk celery, finely diced
• 1/4 cup sweet onion, finely diced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mace
• 1 cup heavy cream

Soak peanuts in water for at least eight hours.

After the nuts have soaked, add bay leaves, celery, mace and onion to water.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer slowly for four and one half hours, stirring frequently to keep from burning.
Strain soup and rub softened peanuts through sieve or puree in food processor and return to soup mixture.

Return soup to burner and simmer to heat through. Whisk in cream to thicken, adjust seasonings and serve hot with croutons.

November 14, 2008

This would have been a typical Thanksgiving menu for a wealthy Southern family in the late 1800s.

From Mrs. Charles H. Gibson’s Maryland and Virginia Cook Book, published in Baltimore by the John Murphy & Company, 1894.

Oysters on Half Shell. Sherry.

Mock Turtle Soup. Sherry.

Wild Turkey Roasted, Cranberry Jelly. Champagne.

Baked Ham, in American Champagne or good Cider.

Sweet Potatoes.

Cauliflower.

Baked Tomatoes.

Macaroni.

Lettuce Salad, with Toasted Crackers and Cheese.

Mince Pies.

Pumpkin Pudding.

Black Coffee.

Creme de Menthe Cordial.

November 10, 2008

This is a classic recipe from the 1950s that came into my family by way of the late Marcia Gabriel Saunders of Charlotte, North Carolina. They are always found on the table at Christmastime.

Yield: 12 to 14 servings

• 8 medium potatoes
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
• 8 ounces sour cream
• Paprika, salt, and pepper to taste

Peel, cube, and boil potatoes until tender. Beat cream cheese and sour cream together. Add drained, cooked potatoes and beat until smooth. Add remaining ingredients (except paprika) and mix to combine. Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish and dot the top with more butter. Sprinkle the top with paprika for a festive touch, or Parmesan cheese if you prefer. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serves 10.
Can be made ahead and frozen or refrigerated before baking.

Source: www.chefrick.com

November 9, 2008

Black-eyed pea soup was probably a fixture in slave cabin cookery prior to the Civil War, but doesn’t show up in Southern cookbooks written by whites until the late nineteenth century.

1 cup dried black-eyed peas
2 tablespoons bacon drippings
1 small yellow onion
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon flour

Wash and pick over peas. Place peas in a 4-quart mixing bowl, cover with water and soak overnight.

Discard remaining liquid. In a 6- to 8-quart Dutch oven over medium heat, sauté onion until tender. Add peas, salt and cayenne; cover with 2 quarts water and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat and simmer until peas are tender, about 45 minutes. Check cooking liquid; if it hasn’t reduced by one half, increase heat and cook until approximately one quart of liquid remains. Add flour and stir to thicken. Serve with hot corn bread.

November 6, 2008

It’s appropriate on many levels that the first post for Hushpuppy Nation be titled In The Begining, as it not only begins a new blog, but also looks at the origins of Southern foodways.

To understand where Southern food came from, it’s necessary to take a trip back to the 1400s. Columbus had just “discovered” the New World while trying to find an easy way to the spices of Asia. So, the very reason for Europeans being here was food-related. As soon as he noticed that the natives had lots of shiny gold jewelry, Columbus claimed the New World for Spain, setting off a power struggle between the French, Spanish and English for control of the New World and all that gold.

The Spanish established a settlement at St. Augustine, Florida in the late 1560s, prompting the English to make several attempts to colonize Virginia, culminating with the settlement of Jamestown in 1607.

The Melting Pot

Southern cooking is a unique blend of European, African and Native American foods and cooking techniques that is also influenced by geography and the nationality of the people who settled that particular piece of Southern real estate.

Louisiana is a good example of the geographic divisions. In south Louisiana, French and Spanish influences flavor the Cajun and Creole cuisine; in the rest of the state, the cuisine is the English-based, traditional Southern cooking.

Native Americans and Africans also played an important role in the development of Southern cooking. Native Americans gave us corn and grits, as well as showing the English how to effectively hunt wild game. Africans brought their skill at cultivating rice, deep fat frying and cooking one dish meals to the mix.

The role of Europeans, Native Americans and Africans will be covered in detail in future posts…