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Traditional foods

Started by scgargoyle, November 11, 2006, 04:20:17 PM

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scgargoyle

Nowadays folks buy all their food at the supermarket, but some of us like to play at making some old-time traditional foods. People think I'm really out there when I serve homemade bread or sausage! It really cracks me up that they now have stores where you go and cook the food (they 'pre-prepare' it!) and then you bring it home to the family. Anyhow, I'm curious what y'all make at home that city folks don't do anymore. My partial list includes smoked meats, jerky, sausage, breads, pies, all kinds of canning, and real baked beans. On Thanksgiving, I do pretty much all of the cooking, from the smoked turkey and fresh cranberry sauce to the homemade pumpkin pie (from fresh pumpkin, NOT canned!).
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

thecfarm

I myself don't cook much.I do some grilling,but that's about it.My wife cans alot of veggies.She makes a soup stater in gallon jars.Just add potatoes and meat.We have raised broilers and a couple pigs.Most of what she cooks come from scratch.Not much comes from a box in this house.That's why I married her.She does pickles,jams jellies.We have a root cellar to store our veggies in.She cooks all kinds of pies and cakes.Bread she does at times.If she didn't keep me so busy,I would dress out at about 350 pounds.All the guys envy my lunches at work and I can see why from most of the food they bring in.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

CALSAW

I too am blessed with a wife who is a fantastic cook. We really enjoy gardening and fishing together. There are times when everything on the table is from the labor of our hands. Those meals are satisfying in a way that cannot be described. digin1
BTW tonight I had Dungess crab for dinner, followed by that homemade pumpkin pie, the crab was the gift of a customer, today is opening day of the crab season.  ;D
Matt
Lucas 827 w/ slabber

Paschale

Now this should be a fun topic.   ;D

I'm with you on making stuff at home.  Lately, I've been on a huge bread baking kick, trying all kinds of sourdough bread.  I made sourdough starter using one of my favorite unfiltered beers, isolating the yeast at the bottom of the bottle to get the bread going.  Tasty, tasty stuff! 

I've just begun trying my hand at smoking meats--made some pulled pork the other day that was a huge hit at a party.  I've made my own hard cider and beer, and have done some canning of all kinds of things, including some crabapple jelly which was pretty tasty.

Haven't tried my hand at sausage, but that's on the list, as well as smoking the ham for Christmas.  Want to practice that some before then though, so there should be some good eatin' between now and then. 

I'm a DanG good baker too, and make a mean pie.  I never met a cookie I didn't like, either, and it shows!   ;D

I'd have to say though, the most satisfying thing for me lately has been making honest to goodness artisan bread at home.  There's something incredibly satisfying for me to pull a great tasting home baked loaf of bread out of the oven that's 50 times better than anything you'd ever find in a store. 


Y'all can pronounce it "puh-SKOLLY"

Norm

I've been known to make or grow a thing or two for us also.  ;D
Patty's hens help out with fresh ingredients.



We grow a big garden with an emphasis on stuff we can store through the winters.



But fresh items in the spring are some of it too.



We butcher and raise plenty of our own meat. As our day job has gotten busier we don't do as much of it as we used to but I'm looking forward to some semi retirement in the future to get going on it again.

Roxie

Hmmmmm.....Paschale, that looks wonderful!!  Now, what ya need is some jelly from Norm and Patty's strawberries.   :)

Cowboy Bob and I grow our own beef.  We get chickens, eggs and a lot of vegetables from the Amish farmers (I consider them the original organic farmers).   The item we most enjoy, however, is raw milk.  Not pastureized or homogenized, just fresh whole milk.  The cows are hand milked and spend all day in the pasture.  The milk is combined from one Ayershire and two Guernseys and one Jersey, and it's awesome.  I also get yogurt and butter from them.  The first time I tried the yogurt I wondered where the 'water' went.   :D  The ingredient list is: milk, gelatin, culture & vanilla.  I use a spoon of real maple syrup to flavor it, and it's incredible. We also get homemade bread from the Amish.  My favorite is cinnamon raisin bread.  

Our "from scratch" procedures can cause an occasional uncomfortable moment when my sons are visiting with their wives.  Last week, I made a roast chicken with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and lima beans (frozen from the garden).  As we were eating, my youngest son said to his wife, "THIS is stuffing, the real thing."  His wife kind of sniffed and said, "Well, I like Stovetop....to each his own."   ::)  Later, I took my son aside and told him that I was really happy that he liked my cooking, but I didn't cook like this when I was his wifes age and to be certain to encourage her.  

There are other things that I like to make "from scratch" and they are:  macaroni and cheese, lasagna, spagetthi and meatballs, and soup (especially cream of cauliflower).  
8)
Say when

Patty

I enjoy baking. Nothing better than a warm  apple pie made from apples that you just picked, or a pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin, or cherry jelly from your own cherry tree. As Norm mentioned, we harvest a big garden every year, so we enjoy our own potatoes (yukon golds are pretty GanG tastey), squash, peppers, tomatoes, etc. Charlie has shared his "Slap your Momma Salsa" that uses lots of fresh vegetables from the garden.

It is indeed very satisfying  to feast on all the foods you have grown or baked yourself.  :)
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

rebocardo

I make home made bread, pie, pizza, calzone, roasted pumpkin seeds, etc. The only thing I regret is I have to buy tomato sauce because fresh tomatos are so expensive by the pound and when you use 15 pounds to make a good 5 pound pizza sauce it hurts.

I guess sooner or later I am going to hunt deer and make my own smoked sauages.

 

asy

Well, upon reading this thread, I've come to a conclusion...

I NEED A WIFE.

Or, failing that, Puhskolly would do...  :o

Not sure what Andy would say about that thought, I suspect he'd be OK with the former, not so OK with the latter!

Anyway, I grew up in a house where to buy food in a box was considered insanity. Never did we get pre-made stuff, my grandparents lived next door  8) and they had a cool Cellar. Both houses had HUGE veggie patches and everything that wasn't eaten immediately was preserved and cellarred. My Babushka made the most magnificent preserved plums and apricots ever, with just a hint of cinnamon. I have one jar of preserved plums left that she made, and she passed away in 1985, I just can't bring myself to open the can. I did have one tin of Apricots too, but I opened those last year, as I waited until my children were old enough that they'd remember them. They were as good as I remembered, even over 20 YEARS after they were made.

I love cooking, mind you with the diet I'm on there's not much that happens at the moment, but I'll be back to cooking next year. I'm planning two kitchens in the house we're building, one indoor kitchen, and one out on the deck, which is the 'cooking kitchen' so I don't fill my house with heat and steam. I can't wait.

I'm really looking forward to having a good veggie garden and orchard. Hmmmmm  :D

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

mike_van

My grandmother used to make doughnuts - Big balls of breaddough, had to rise just right, then into boiling oil,  they got dried some in paper bags & we ate 'em - Buy I miss those  doughnuts.  :(
I was the smartest 16 year old I ever knew.

Chris Burchfield

Okay, I grew up a fireman's son. Dad had his garden and enjoyed grilling, family and friends.

An apple don't fall far from the tree. Most firemen & firewomen cook in the engine house. Some cook in self defense. Cause some claim they can cook. Besides firefolks make good guenipigs (?).

First I could grill hamburgers, hotdogs sausage or steaks. Well "extra crispie" to rare, knock the horns off with an eighth inch of sear on each side and she's done for me.

Started out with cathead scratch buttermilk biscuits, progessed to homemade fried peach and apple pies from dried fruit in Crisco and a black iron skillet. Both were an impression of my grandmother's and a level to be achieved. I have the family blessing, they are there. Later had to alter the fried pies fruits to include Splenda instead of sugar, wife turned type II on me. They are within her blessings.

Same thing happend with my Oatmeal cookies including rasins and chopped pecans. Sugar to Splenda.

Gas or charcoal pork fat rules. Shoulder, butt or ribs (country cut, St. Louis, spare or baby back.) I precook the sauce on the stove and smother ribs after they are done. All get the 30 minute aluminum wrap prior to eating sauce or not.

Shrimps! Bubba Gump just thought Bubba had all the recipies. Shelled, devained, loaded with dry rub, wrap on a skewer starting w/cheap bacon at room temp for streaching, tail to head on skewer, include 1/2 a bay leaf long ways wrapping to the end. Two or three depending on size to skewer. Cook till shrimp are done on grill ( 2 - 3 minutes). The intent is to cook the shrimp not the bacon. Bacon goes to the dogs, shrimp are ready to eat. No grill - same as before with the dry rub, melt 1/2 to 1 stick butter in a black iron skillet arrange shrimp in a pin wheel depending number of shrimps and size of skillet, shake on a little Country Time Powder Lemonade. Broil 3 to 4 minutes. Their done.

I enjoy any kind of greens including cabbage as long as you include smoked meat, and hot green pepper. Cornbread can go with the green or white beans. I also enjoy a mexican cornbread with onion, jalapeano, corn and sharp cheese. Green butterbeans go with fried chicken. Speckled butterbeans go with a vegetable meal. Purple hull peas go with any cornbread and raw onion. But Grits are forever with any meal.

Deep fried turkey with your favorite seasoning injected to the family special - salt pork shaved, onion chopped, course red pepper to taste staring with two heapin table spoons around and in the cavity. An inch of water in the roaster topped with a lid slow cook 5 - 7 hours depending on size. Gravy or drippin go on rice and split open cathead biscuits. Rest of the turkey day stuff goes with em too.

Sirloin tipped roast, the whole knuckle split into three as to fit in gallon zip lock bags. Include Diet Coke (6 oz. min.), Terriaki, garlic cloves busted and Wishtishire sauce. Gas, coal or oak, low and slow for 4 - 6 hrs. Let cool then lay her up on a Hobart 12" Commercial. So fine.

No bake oatmeal peanutbutter chocolate cookies.

Wife's working on Chicken Pot pie as I type. Looking forward to the other post.
Woodmizer LT40SH W/Command Control; 51HP Cat, Memphis TN.

beenthere

Quote from: mike_van on November 13, 2006, 07:21:48 PM
My grandmother used to make doughnuts - Big balls of breaddough, had to rise just right, then into boiling oil,  they got dried some in paper bags & we ate 'em - Buy I miss those  doughnuts.  :(

mike_van
That was a powerful reminder of my grandmother too. Wow, those doughnuts were good (as were the holes).   :) 
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

ohsoloco

I like this thread  ;D

That talk about homemade doughnuts brought back some memories.  Every year on Fat Tuesday my grandmother would make homemade doughnuts.  Simple, plain doughnuts with coated with granulated sugar.  If I didn't manage to get to my grandmother's that day, my dad would bring an oil soaked paper bag home with him  :)

My dad's side of the family has always been into making homemade things.  Every since I was little I helped dad grind venison, mix in the seasoning, and press sausage in an old cast iron sausage press.  We smoke our own bologna, did some ham hocks for seasoning soup, and just love to smoke cheese. 

About a month ago dad and I made sauerkraut with cabbage that we raised in the garden.  We don't really talk much while we're making it, but it's so nice to spend time together.  He was at the sink cleaning and quartering the heads, and I manned the slaw cutter, the salt, and the stomper.  That is the tastiest sauerkraut I've ever had.  That store bought stuff ain't got nuthin' on our kraut  ;)

Got a cider press to make cider from homegrown apples, and I like to dabble in beer and wine making.  A few weeks ago I made a huge pot of borsch, as is brings back lots of memories of my semester in Russia.  Wish I had more people to cook for, cuz it's hard to cook for yourself. 

This year split half of a beef with a friend of mine.  One of my co-workers raises beef, and it's just great to pick out a nice steak, and grill it up.  I use my hardwood slabs to cook on.  Make a little pit with cement blocks, and burn a bunch of slabs down to coals.  Mmmmm, mmmmm.

I guess I get the urge to cook from my dad.  Mom had always made the daily meals, but dad makes the big, elaborate ones. 

  8)  Last night was halupkie night at the folks' place  8)

Paschale

You sound like a man after my own heart, ohsoloco!   ;D

How's the homemade cider?  That's on my list of things to make and do...someday.   ::)
Y'all can pronounce it "puh-SKOLLY"

ohsoloco

The homemade cider is great.  Unfortunately, we rarely get around to spraying the apple trees, so the bugs really hit the apples hard.  I don't really care since they're just getting pressed, but this year they all dropped really early.  By the time I was ready to press, there wasn't much left on the trees, and the dropped ones were rotten  :(

I like to keep a mug on hand while I'm pressing for quality control purposes ;D

Now if I can only make a decent batch of hard cider, Paschale   ;)

Roxie

Oh wow....homemade donuts brought back a memory. 

When I was a teenager, I was sent to Binghamton New York to speak to a youth group there.  An elderly lady had volunteered to house me for the night and bring me back to the church in the morning.  She was a lovely person, sweet and soft spoken.  We talked alot.  I slept well that night in a bed with hand embroidered sheets and pillow cases.  When I stepped into the kitchen in the morning, she was already up and the most incredible aroma known to man was in the air.  She was making homemade donuts.  I simply could not believe how wonderful they tasted.  She gave me a recipe book from the church ladies that had her donut recipe written down.  I've treasued and kept the book all these years because she gtave it to me, and because it isn't like any cookbook I've ever owned.  There are no oven temperatures mentioned (it's either hot or moderate or low), and very often no times given.  The book is dated 1951 which means it's older than I am!   In honor of her memory, I will share the recipe exactly as it is written:

1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons shortening
2 eggs-salt
1 teasoon vanilla and nutmeg

Put all in a bowl and beat.  Then add alternately 2 cups buttermilk, 1/2 teaspoon soda and 4 teaspoons baking powder sifted with 3 cups flour.  Add enough more flour to make a dough you can roll on board, cut and fry in hot fat.  Makes about 3 dozen.


I think I'm gonna make some donuts on Thansgiving morning......thanks for the memory!   8)
Say when

Patty

Ahhhh!  Reading this thread makes my mouth water. Roxie, the donut recipe looks wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing it.  :)  We made a killer Swedish tea ring over the weekend. Both of us like to bake breads and cinamon rolls, so the tea ring was a nice compromise. musteat_1 Since we will be traveling to Gramma's house for Thanksgiving, perhaps the tea ring would be a nice addition to the day's feast. Thanks for inspiring me, Roxie!

I actually bought a chocolate cheesecake awhile back. It was so bad nobody would eat it.  :-X   I was shocked that folks would actually pay money for such a taste. I had to throw it out for the chickens.....after I scraped all the chocolate off!  ;D
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

sawguy21

 :D :D :D I grew up on home made most things too. My mom and aunt were great cooks even though mom never believed in her abilities. I still won't eat store bought canned vegetables. Yech.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

KGNC

My wife and I come from long lines of cooks so we do a lot of traditional foods. She's just not fond of butchering anything.
I was in Chicago about two weeks ago and had a Chicago Style deep dish pizza. I came home and decided I would try my hand at making one. I've tried twice so far and I'm not there yet. On the 2nd one the crust was about right but I'm using some home canned tomatoes and the sauce just isn't working yet. The kids seem to enjoy it but they did not have the really good one that I had in Chicago.

SwampDonkey

I don't buy anything in a box except a pizza and dried pasta and crackers. I can make my own pizza dough, that's not the problem. Just sometimes I will 'try' to enjoy a pizza from a  box.  ::)

But, anyway I cook fresh or frozen veggies, some from my garden some from father's. Never had a garden this year.  ::) I don't bake bread as I don't eat a lot of bread. I have made home made beans, but I can get good baked beans from the can too. Not all brands of canned beans are the same. I like soldier or yellow eye beans. I have cooked my own beans, it's more of a winter thing for me to bake beans. I do make my own corn bread and add raspberries. I like them better than store bought muffins, which have become nothing but cupcakes it seems, and are getting expensive. I can get a whole sac of corn meal for the price of 6 prepared muffins.  ::) I also cook up apples when they are in season to make sauce. I never buy those microwaveable boxed dinners, not fit to eat. (neither is the boxed pizza but...). I cook store bought meat, they can raise and butcher it cheaper than I can. ;) I'm not going to knock the superstore grocery down, just some stuff makes more sense to prepare on your own. Like why buy graded coleslaw fixings if your making a lot of it, just get a cabbage, carrots and such and maybe buy the dressing.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

I love Pascale's sour dough  and Norm's veggies, especially his squash and strawberries. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

ohsoloco

SD, I agree about making something yourself if you can, especially if it tastes better than what you could buy (and it almost always does).  It's not only the finished product that I enjoy, but the entire process...especially if you're making it with family & friends  :)  I take back what I said earlier about my dad being my reason for cooking so much.  When I was little my favorite place to be was sitting on the counter while my mom was cooking.  She'd set me up there so I could be right in the thick of it.  I started cooking at a young age, mainly baking...she helped me figure all of that stuff out  :)

For Thanksgiving a bunch of us are getting together (brother, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) and I've been elected to bake a pie.  I'll make one of my hickory nut pies.  After I get home from work at night I sit in the living room and crack nuts while I'm watching TV.  It's a lot of work to crack hickory nuts, and my thumb and thumbnail get chewed up pretty good, but I'm rewarded with this:



;D



Thanks for the doughnut recipie Roxie  8)

crtreedude

We have cooks, plural. My wife is actually a very good cook - but she is too busy working for the company to cook so we have cooks. We have one up at our place and another down at the office. I get 3 home cooked meals a day. This is why I commute to work on a mountain bike - otherwise I might get too big to get inside!

One of the things I really like down here is the batidos - think fruit smoothies. One of my favorites is some kind of tropical fruit with leche agria (mild buttermilk) - man that is good! I am not fond of things too sweet - so this is just about perfect.

This morning we had too much cheese so the cook made empanadas - fresh corn bread type things stuffed with cheese and grilled in butter. Yummm!

I just bought 5 sheep - they should be afraid, very afraid...
So, how did I end up here anyway?

Paul_H

Yer Sheep nervous Fred? :P
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Patty

 :D :D :D  Good one Paul!


Oso, you can do that same recipe with black walnuts too, for something different. I had a customer who used to always order black walnut pie. Your hickory pie looks delicious!
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

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