October 9, 2009

Clean thoroughly and scrape it. Put it into a stove-pan with sufficient cold water, a pod of red pepper and salt. Baste frequently to make it crisp. Cook well done. Serve cold.
—Church of the Epiphany (Danville, Va.). Key to the Pantry: Choice, Tried Recipes. Danville, Va: Boatwright Bros, 1898.

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 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.