@Saro Some old Appalachain foods oh boy The good thing about this kind of food is that because the area was historically impoverished and isolated, the food is pretty local and really cheap to make. Most of the recipes are gonna need either pork, corn/cornmeal, beans, or a combination of the three. (also if you need clarification on anything just hmu I'll be glad to help! Spoiler: Good ol classic soup beans and cornbread WARNING the beans take a longass time to cook but they're low-effort and cheap. This is pretty much a staple in any kitchen around here. You can order it in a drive-thru at like 5 different restaurants. We have them almost every week at my house. Beans: -package of pinto beans -salt -bacon or a ham bone to flavor -water -pot with a lid Go through the package of beans and pick out any bad or shriveled ones, filling a pot up about 1/4 of the way (one pound of dried beans makes about 5 cups cooked beans!). Rinse them a couple of times, fill the pot with enough water to cover the beans by at least 3 or 4 inches, add a metric shit-ton of salt, plop in your meat, and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. After they've been boiling hard for 5 minutes, reduce the heat to low and let them simmer for 1-3 hours while covered, stirring occasionally. Make sure to check them after an hour to test them! (we always use a pressure cooker, but it's exactly the same except it takes about 20-30 minutes less) Cornbread: -2 cups cornmeal (or 1 package Martha White sweet yellow cornbread mix plus an extra cup of cornmeal) -1 cup milk or buttermilk -1 egg -a lil sugar if thats how you roll Preheat oven to 400F, grease a skillet or 9x9 pan (I always use Crisco but you can use butter or veg oil), mix up all the ingredients and immediately put it in the pan and into the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The top should be golden-brown. It's fantastic fresh out of the oven with a bunch of butter or molasses, and you can put it in your beans to make bean-cornbread-mash, which I highly recommend. I could make this in my sleep tbh I've been in charge of making cornbread since I was 8 years old. Spoiler: BISCUITS AND GRAVY THE FOOD OF MY SOUL MY FAV Lemme tell you growing up when I woke up on a saturday morning and there was biscuits and gravy I knew it was gonna be a good day hoo boy. I love them, I love biscuits and gravy and I hope everyone gets to try some good old-fashioned kind at least once in their life. The directions are honestly more 'suggestions', there's not an exact way to make it so feel free to change it up a bit. Bear with me though it's gonna take a bit of prep: Needed for gravy: -BIG skillet -meat -flour -about 4 cups milk, probably in a bowl -salt -pepper First, fry some meat. Sausage patties or bacon, preferably, because that makes some of the best-flavored gravy, but I've known people to use country ham, pork brains (eugh), bear meat, hell I've had it with made with rabbit meat before it just has to make some grease. Get the meat out of the skillet (unless you like meat in yours, then leave it in) and put some flour in the grease while its hot (about a 1/3 to 1/2 cup should do but add it a little at a time. If you run out of grease to absorb it, don't add any more!). Stir the flour and grease together and fry it for a bit, until the flour has dissolved in the grease (about 1-2 minutes stirring constantly). After that, SLOWLY pour the milk into the skillet and begin stirring. You have to stir it constantly with a spatula to keep it scraped off the sides and bottom or else it'll scorch. Keep stirring until it boils and gets thick. Add salt and pepper to taste. Biscuits: -flat surface -clean cup -rolling pin -2 cups self-rising flour -1/4 cup Crisco -appx 1 cup milk or buttermilk -small splash of vinegar Preheat oven 450-500F. Mix the flour and Crisco together with your hands until it looks like the consistency of cornmeal and there are no lumps of Crisco in it. Add the milk and mix it as quickly as humanly possible (you'll probably end up using your hands for this too, it gets really thick really fast and sticks to itself). Sprinkle a dusting of flour on your flat surface, making sure its dry, and roll the dough out to ~1/2 inch thickness. This is where the cup comes in: press it down into the dough (jiggle, don't twist!) and place your biscuits on a baking sheet. Try to cut them as close together as you can and don't mess with the dough for too long. Just work fast, or else the dough gets tough. When you can't cut out any more biscuits, gather up the scraps into a lump and bake it, too. (I always make mine into funny shapes like a turtle or a something. Waste not want not). Bake for 8-10 minutes. It makes about 10-12 biscuits. Slap some butter and jelly on those guys and you're good to go! Personally I make some scrambled eggs, mix them with a crumbled biscuit, pour gravy over it, and get a glob of jelly for dessert, but it's your call, I can just make suggestions ;) Spoiler: Fun with toxic plants! You can eat anything if you're dedicated enough and apparently the good ol Appalachian hillfolk were as dedicated as they come because they absolutely found a way to eat this toxic damn plant despite being completely aware that it was toxic. Idk where all this shit grows but it's called pokeweed and it looks like this: The first time I ate this I was 10 and my mamaw fed me some then told me what it was and i honest to god thought she was trying to kill me. Anyway it's totally safe if you cook it right and it's not half bad! The stem is kind of like a mix between okra and onions and is p good if you fry it. The leaves can be made into poke sallet. If you pick it, stick to shoots under a foot or so tall with not much red in the stem. Also, cut them about an inch from the base because the root will totally kill you if you eat it lmao. For the leaves, you boil them once for 5 minutes, take them out, change the water and boil for another 10-15. They're good if you panfry them in bacon grease after that, too! NEVER EAT THEM RAW. For the stems, you peel them, blanch them, and fry them. I coat them in cornmeal before frying but that's just my preference. I'll post more later (such as "bologna adventures" and "the forest is full of free food") but I'm tired rn and just wanna get these out there aayy
ok the way you describe making gravy it sounds like a white sauce made with bacon fat, and I'd never considered that as a possibility - my awareness of gravy is 'meat juices thickened with flour, sometimes has oil floating on top'. this is revolutionary. I now have a reliable use for excess bacon fat someone mentioned upthread that adding salt to dry beans lengthens the cooking time because it toughens the skins. it might be possible to cut the cooking time in half by adding salt at the end instead excited for this!
@Jojo I am craving all of those recipes right now. Thank you! Pokeweed grows in the back parking lot of our apartment building, like a ton of it. I have to admit, I'm a bit scared to try it!
has anyone had a pawpaw they are these fruit that grow on trees round my nanny's and they are kinda yellow and they look like they should be in a jungle instead of the forests of west virginia. idk how spread out they are, they might just be around her house cause someone planted them a butt-long time ago.
googled it and they're actually native! neat. can be toxic tho so i guess don't eat the leaves. apparently very similar to a banana in taste, which means i never really tried them since bananas are not one of my happy foods. i would post a picture but I'm not good at that, so
If you're referring to these guys, then apparently they taste like custard apple, which is P much what it sounds like in terms of flavour - fruity, a little bit mango-apple in flavour, but very soft and increasingly custardy in texture. I like custard apples best a little before they turn to total mush, and the seeds are large and easy to spit out XD Meanwhile, DOES ANYONE KNOW ANY GOOD MARROW RECIPES THIS IS IMPORTANT ^^;;;;
Hilariously Inauthentic but Delicious (and Easy) Fajitas: cook onions in a pan on medium/medium low until they're a little caramelized or at least see through throw in chopped bell peppers (mushrooms, tomatoes, and canned artichoke bottoms are also great in this, but not necessary if you're low on money/ingredients) and cook on medium/medium high throw in a meat of your choice (I honestly just use canned chicken a lot of the time because quick and cheap) if you're using raw meat, cook until that shit's cooked when the pan starts to get a bit dry, pour any brand of italian dressing over the mix, enough to coat sprinkle a layer of jamaican or carribbean seasoning and mix cook for like five more minutes, stir a couple times, and you're done! I like eating these with flour tortillas, sour cream, and "guacamole" (thawed frozen avocados with a bit of lemon juice and season salt) they're ridiculously tasty, and even though my veggie chopping skills are a bit slow, it takes me twenty minutes tops to make the entire dish tldr: just try seasoning a vaguely mexican stir fry with italian dressing with jamaican seasoning, you won't be sorry
Going to a pot luck for my uncle who likes more fancy, exotic foods? Any suggestions for a good dish to bring?
Are you looking for something like a side or appetizers or? Because i know a few cuban dishes you could do.
I lost the recipe for these from a family friend so here's one from a cookbook we had -_- Spoiler: Ham croquettes Spoiler: Ingredients 1/2 stick salted butter 1 cup all purpose flour 2 cups room temperature milk 3 cups finely chopped fully cooked ham 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 3 tsp lime juice 1 tbsp fresh parsley ( use half as much if dried) 2 cups very fibe bread crumbs 1 large egg Vegetable or peanut oil (whatever you use for frying) Get out a large skillet and over low heat melt the butter. When it gets bubbly add flour, you're basically making a roux. Gradually add milk while mixing till it looks like a very thick sauce. Dont overcook it or it'll get lumpy Add ham, salt, pepper, lime juice, and parsley. Continue cooking on low heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Scoop that stuff into a bowl or a pan or whatever you want cause it's gotta cool. Wait till its room temperature then stick it in the fridge for at least like... Half an hour? You want it to be pretty chilled cause your gonna fry it and it'll fall apart if it's not cooled enough Beat the egg in something with a wide enough rim you can easily dip into. Put the breadcrumbs in a similar container. Grab some ham mix (about like... 1- 1 1/2 tbsp) and shape it into a cylinder. You want it to look kinda like a mini hot dog in shape. Dip it in the egg and then roll it in the breadcrumbs. The book says if you want to wait to fry you can finish shaping the croquettes and keep them in the fridge overnight, so you dont have to do everything in any rush. In a heavy bottomed skillet or deep fryer over medium high heat, heat 2-3 inches of oil until a drop of mix sizzles when it touches it. Fry 5-6 at a time until golden brown on all sides, turning with a slotted spoon ( or tongs i guess, thats what my mom uses but its a bit harder), transfef them to a plate with paper towels or napkins when done. This makes about 45-50 ( damn!) Croquettes. They're super good though so people may eat lots. Should roughly look like this: Spoiler: Croquetas de jamon If that seems too labor intensive/doesn't sound good you could do tostones (tastes salty) or platanos (tastes sweet). Just get 2-3 ripe plantains with black skin ( for platanos) OR 2-3 plantains with green skin (for tostones). Remove the peels and Slice the plantains at an angle about 1/2 inch thick (for platanos) OR regularly about 1 1/2 inch thick (for tostones). Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan on medium heat, add plantains when a drop of water pops in the oil when you test it. For platanos: fry slices 5-7 at a time until both sides are golden brown, and the edges caramelize. Remove to paper towel or napkin covered plate. Both sides should take about 5ish minutes each. Will look like this: Spoiler: Platanos For tostones: fry slices 5-7 at a time for 2 minutes, flip, then 2 minutes, then remove onto a paper towel or napkin covered plate. Let cool a bit til you can touch them easily. If you dont have a plantain press, get a brown paper bag and fold it in half. Stick the part fried slices in the middle and smash them flat ( til theyre about half as thick as before). Fry them again til both sides are golden brown. Remove to plate and salt generously. Will look like this: Spoiler: Tostones The problem with doing plantains though is they dont taste as good after sitting there a while ( like an hour and a half). If you dont want to fry you could make picadillo. Its got a unique flavor. Spoiler: Picadillo Spoiler: Ingredients 1 pound ground chuck 3 tbsp bacon fat 1/4 pound ground ham 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 tbsp minced garlic 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper 1/2 tsp oregano 1 1/4 tsp ground cumin 2 tbsp tomato sauce 1/2 tsp vinegar 1 potato chopped in 1/2 inch cubes 1/4 cup raisins 1/4 cup olives with pimentos 1 tsp capers Cook chuck in bacon fat til it begins to brown, seperating til no chunks remain. Drain off all excess fat. Add ham, onion, garlic, and bell pepper and cook til onions are translucent. Add oregano, cumin, tonato sauce, and vinegar to meat and mix well. In a seperate pan fry potato pieces until brown and add to meat along with raisins, olives, and capers. Serve with white rice or on it's own. Should look similar to this: Spoiler: Picadillo Edit: oh shit the picadillo only serves 4 so maybe double or triple the recipe if you use it?
Used @Vast Derp's pumpkin amazingness recipe to bribe an entire improv troupe to love me one of them keeps asking for the recipe, and she refuses to believe that it's literally two ingredients gosh dammit (I made cupcakes, and holy SHIT they keep shape super well??? like all the little peaks and valleys and shit. Buttercream frosting on top too, then orange sugar, then fall leaf sprinkles)
@Jojo this is probably a silly question but when you're making the beans with bacon, should the bacon be cooked beforehand?
@inna its not silly! Honestly, it just depends on the person. It doesn't have to be cooked before putting it in (I never do bc Effort) but I've known people to cook the bacon and put the grease and crumbled bacon bits in the beans, though! (Especially with green beans holy crap, so good.)
