#8
September 1, 2026#15
September 1, 2026
Searchable issue transcript
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$6.95 $6.95 Food of the Foothills Food of the Foothills foothills foothills Digest Digest Display Until 6/20/21 Display Until 6/20/21 I I ssue XIV ssue XIV Fo o d Fo o d N atur e N atur e A r t A r t H ist or y H ist or y C ultur e C ultur e Paint w ith P aint w ith B ob T imb erlake B ob T imb erlake 100+ 100+ Recipes! Recipes! Cookin’ w ith C ookin’ w ith T he K r uger B r others T he K r uger B r others
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That’s where our 2021 Patient Safety score ranks among 4,542 hospitals in America. We are here for you, and we are committed to your safety. Top 2% in the Nation. During this pandemic, our team has continued to earn a place among the highest performing hospitals. Patient Safety — and the safety of all who work here and enter our facilities — will continue to be our number one priority. We are COVID-safe and we are grateful that you place your care in our hands. Covid-19 Highest Safety Rating
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On the Cover: Cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet made by blacksmith Matthew Shirey of Shira Forge in in Sylva, NC. The art on this page is “Still Life of a Basket of Strawberries” by Bob Timberlake. You can visit his gallery at bobtimberlake.com.
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4 LISA BREWER Co-editor Writer CONTRIBUTERS Calvin Reyes Bob Timberlake Donna Steele foothills Foothills Digest PO Box 2670 Lenoir, NC 28645 Spring 2021 Phone: 828.475.1323 E-mail: editor@foothillsdigest.com Website: foothillsdigest.com Stock by Adobe Stock PRINTED IN USA PARTNER COMPANY: ECKARD PHOTOGRAPHIC EDITORIAL CARMEN ECKARD JON ECKARD JOEY OSBORNE Editor in Chief Principal Photographer Partner
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6 Emergencies Don’t Wait When an emergency strikes, go to the place where your healthcare heroes are ready to care for everything from broken bones to chest pain. We have been working hard to ensure our hospital—including our Emergency Department—is safe for everyone. Every minute matters in an emergency. You can have greater peace of mind knowing the right care is close to home when you need it. #YourHealthOurHeroes. Learn more at MyFryeRegional.com
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7 Letter from the Editor: I don’t know about you, but when it got boring being stuck at home, I started cooking, then I started experimenting in the kitchen. That led me to ask a lot of questions, and I started to ponder our connection to our food here in the Foothills. This region is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, but it isn’t the best climate for many types of crops. Pork and corn have reigned here for a long time, and you can see their importance in our recipes. Perhaps the most “Foothillsy” food of all is livermush. It’s hyperlocal to our region, and most of the world’s livermush is made in Shelby. It’s a mix of pork and corn meal, and we’ll tell you how to make it! We packed about 140 recipes into this issue, and each is time-tested and delicious. We think that we did a good job of selecting the region’s most quintessential meals. I hope you’ll keep this magazine as a reference and get to know all the culinary treats that are popular here. Some of these meals sent me waltzing down memory lane. I remember my grandma teaching me how to make banana pudding with meringue. “Wait a minute-we didn’t use any pudding mix!” My grandma chuckled at me, and I imagine she cringed inside at the thought of instant pudding. I’ve been chasing those perfect peaks of meringue ever since, and I hope you also love this recipe. If this issue has inspired you, we’d love to see your recipes! Share them to our Facebook group, or to social media with the hashtag #foothillsfavorites! I also want to take a moment to wish a happy 100th birthday to my favorite club, the Hickory Rotary Club. Being a Rotarian is an honor and it adds value to my life in many ways. There are Rotary clubs in most communities in the Foothills, and I encourage you to join your local club. It’s hard to make a big difference when we go at it alone, but when we join forces, we can help to create real and necessary change. That’s what Rotary does, and I love being part of that.
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3 Timberlake Art 7 Letter from the Editor 11 The Whole Hog 24 Feral Swine 26 Corn Grows Here 34 Apple Pickin’ 44 The River House 46 Foraging in These Hills 68 How to Roux 70 Mayonnaise Magic 72 Pimento Cheese 74 Carolina Style 76 Cheerwine 84 Audacious Aspics Table of Contents
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Getting into Jams 90 Pickling 94 Charcuterie 96 Southern Classics 98 Three Sisters 114 The First Strawberries 116 Paint with Timberlake 118 Eat in Style 122 124 Kitchen Playlist 126 That Good Ol’ Mountain Clay 128 Food Notes with the Kruger Brothers 132 Restaurants of the Foothills 136 Making Molasses 138 Venison 143 Recipe Table of Contents
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11 In the 1500s, Spanish explorers brought hogs to the Southeast. They made their way to western North Carolina and flourished here. Settlers raised pigs on their farms, and they also hunted the swine that ran free in the woods. They developed methods of preservation and recipes that worked to waste no part of the hog, and slaughtering days were always a celebration. Our menus today still reflect these culinary roots. The Whole Hog
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13 Foothills folks have an undeniable love of pork. It’s entirely sensible, since pork is delicious and has traditionally been the most readily available meat. In an oral history interview in 1982*, old timer Wayne Durrill remembered that hogs ran wild in the woods, and that just about every small family farm had a few pigs. He says, “As soon as the first frost came, that was the time to slaughter pigs and hogs. They would render their own lard; they’d make their own soap; they’d make their own sausage; they’d cure their own hams. Every house had a smokehouse. They’d burn hickory logs to cure the ham, and that ham was salted down along with the other. The sausage was put up in corn shucks. And you talk about something good to eat.” It’s no wonder that our cooking traditions still lean heavily on lard, hams and smoked meats. Regional chefs have elevated cooking pork to an art form, and they pair the meat with vegetables and herbs that are traditionally found here. The pork at left was served in a balsamic reduction with turnip greens and fresh greens with quail eggs. To Pan Fry a Pork Chop: You’ll want to let your chops rest for 20 minutes or so at room temperature. Be liberal with your seasonings. A thick layer of seasoning will form a delicious crust when you pan fry a pork chop. Get a cast iron skillet, drizzle olive oil, and when it is sizzling hot, add your pork chops. Don’t move them around. Sear for 4-5 minutes on medium high heat. It should release from the pan when it’s ready to turn. Repeat on the other side. Let it rest for 5 minutes or so before you eat it. Country ham is important around these parts as well. It is a large piece of *Oral History Interview with John Raymond Shute, June 25, 1982. Interview B-0054-1. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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ham that’s packed in a mix of salt, sugar and spices for quite some time. Sometimes it is smoked afterwards. This process can take months and results in very salty and dry meat, similar to prosciutto. It’s often used to flavor beans or greens, and sometimes it is sliced thin and eaten on a biscuit. But perhaps the best way to eat country ham is served up with Red-Eye Gravy. Red-Eye Gravy • 1 lb country ham steak • 2 tbsp butter • 3 tbsp all-purpose flour • 1 cup beef bone broth • 1/2 cup brewed coffee • 1/2 tsp sugar • 1 pinch salt Cook the ham in a pan, then remove it and keep it warm. Add butter to pan and let it melt. Make a roux by whisking in the flour. Cook that for about 5 minutes, until it darkens.
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Slowly whisk in the bone broth, then the coffee. Sugar and salt the gravy to taste. Bacon is a favorite pork item in most households. It’s a savory, salty treat that’s satisfying to eat. There are a lot of different ways to cook bacon to get that perfect crunch, but they all have their downfalls as well. Our favorite method is very simple. To Fry Bacon: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay your bacon directly on the parchment paper and put into the hot oven. Cook until the bacon is as crispy as you desire, usually between 18 and 24 minutes, depending on how thick it is. This method offers easy cleanup and the bacon is delicious, since it cooks in its own rendered fat. Pork fat has gotten a bad rap, and that’s mostly thanks to an early advertising campaign by the makers of Crisco. But I’m here to tell you that pork fat is healthier than many other fats, including Crisco. Lard has 20% less saturated fat than butter, and it has a very high smoke point. Lard is also rich in oleic acid which is the acid that makes olive oil healthy. It also has only one third of the cholesterol of butter. In short, it’s a good choice for your health, and the best choice for making fluffy pastries and biscuits. Lard Biscuits • 1 cup lard • 4 cups all-purpose flour • 2 cups buttermilk • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon baking soda • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar • 4 teaspoons baking powder Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Mix the flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar and baking powder. Cut in the lard. Once you have small crumbles, slowly add the buttermilk. Turn it out onto flour and roll out until one inch thick. Cut out circles with a glass. Place them on parchment paper lined pan and bake for 12 minutes.
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Eating has always been a social event, but this is especially true when you are talking about North Carolina barbecue. Our grandmothers got together with their neighbors over a barbecue plate, and so did their grandmothers. And honestly, the menu hasn’t changed much over the years: slow- cooked pork, hush puppies and coleslaw. If you’re ever invited to a proper pig-pickin’, don’t turn it down. Even better, throw one yourself! Pig Pickin’ Directions: Get a dressed pig then split it down the backbone and butterfly it. Sprinkle the cavity with salt and allow it to dry overnight. Then add charcoal to your barbecue pit and get it hot. Add your pig, skin side up. Close the lid. Your pit should rise to 250 degrees and stay there. After 7-8 hours, turn the pig over (skin side down) and add copious amounts of barbecue sauce. Cover and cook for an additional hour. You can chop up the meat or invite guests to cut meat off themselves.
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18 The biggest argument in North Carolina is over barbecue sauce. On the eastern side of the state, they swear by a vinegar and pepper based sauce. In Lexington and beyond, a tangy tomato sauce is a requirement. Our South Carolina neighbors use a mustard based sauce. Which is best? We’re far enough away from the action that we can make our own choices; we’re including a recipe for all three kinds! The eastern sauce is generally served with white slaw and the Lexington style is served with red slaw.
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19 Eastern Sauce • 2/3 Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar • 2/3 Cup of White Vinegar • 1 Tbsp of Paprika • 1 Tbsp of Molasses • 1 Tbsp of Salt • 1 tsp of Minced Onion • 1 tsp of Ground White Pepper • 1 tsp of Red Pepper Flakes In a medium pot, bring all ingredients to a simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool completely. Lexington Sauce • 1 Batch of East Carolina BBQ Sauce • 2 tsp of Soy Sauce • 1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar • 6 oz of Tomato Paste In a medium pot, bring all ingredients to a simmer for about 1 minute, or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool completely South Carolina Sauce • 1 Cup of Yellow Mustard • 1 Cup of White Vinegar • 2 Tbsp of Molasses • 1 Tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce • 1 Tbsp of Soy Sauce • 1 Tbsp of Chili Powder In a medium pot, bring all ingredients to a simmer for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool completely. Crockpot Pork Shoulder • Pork shoulder • Spices to taste Season the shoulder with dry spices liberally and place in crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours then let rest. Hand pull it or chop it up. You don’t need liquid in the crock pot.
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Seared Bone-In Pork Chop with Apple Cider and Mustard Reduction By Calvin Reyes • 2-4 1/2 pound bone-in-pork chops • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil • Salt • Pepper For Sauce: • 1/2 cup hard apple cider • 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard • 1 teaspoon garlic powder • 1/4 cup vegetable stock • 4 tablespoons butter WHAT IS DEGLAZING? Deglaze is a fancy word that intimidates some folks. Don’t worry! It just means that you’ll pour cold liquid into a very hot pan that you’ve used to cook meat. What’s left in the pan is very flavorful and some of the world’s best sauces start with deglazing. You’ll add the hard apple cider and vegetable stock, cold, to your pan and stir. Be sure to unstick the bits of meat and cooked goodness clinging to your pan. Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper and allow pork chops to come to room temperature before cooking. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add oil. Once it’s hot, place porkchops in pan and press down firmly. Don’t touch or move them again for about 6 minutes, when the searing process is complete. The meat should release from the pan, and you’ll know it is time to flip them. Flip and sear the other side for 4-6 minutes. Once complete, make sure you let the meat rest for 6-8 minutes before you serve it. For the sauce, return the skillet to medium- low heat. Deglaze the pan with hard apple cider and vegetable stock. Add butter, mustard, and garlic powder and whisk to incorporate. Reduce until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Plate pork chop and drizzle sauce on top.
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23 It is likely that if one food had to be selected that best represented the spirit of this region, it would be livermush. It’s made of pork liver and pork shoulder as well as a healthy dose of cornmeal to stretch it out and sage to make it delicious. The dish gained in popularity during the Great Depression, where it proved to be a cheap protein source. There are only a handful of livermush producers in the world, and all of them are in western North Carolina. You can find livermush in practically every refrigerator in the Foothills of North Carolina, but you can also find it served up on charcuterie trays in the fanciest of restaurants around the world. If you aren’t living in the foothills right now, you might have a hard time finding livermush at your grocery store. But you can easily make your own! Livermush • 1 pork liver • 2 pound pork shoulder • 1 cup chopped sage • 4 tablespoon salt • Pepper • 1 1/2 cup cornmeal • 1 1/2 cup flour Trim the liver and shoulder and cut into small cubes. Put them in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil then simmer for 3 hours. Cool, and strain, saving the water. Grind the meat then return it to the water, with the sage, salt and pepper. Return to boil. Slowly add the cornmeal and flour. Let it cool then pour it into loaf pans. Let it cool for one hour then refrigerate over night. There are a lot of ways to eat livermush, but the most popular way will always be served simply, on a biscuit, perhaps with mustard. We asked folks how else they liked to eat their livermush, and we heard recommendations for sandwiches, and suggestions to serve it uncooked on a charcuterie, but the most interesting recommendation was a Shepherd’s Pie. This is an Irish meal, and it makes sense that we would eat it here, because many Irish people settled here in the 1700s. By the Civil War, tens of thousands of Irish people had resettled here. Livermush Shepherd’s Pie • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 2 chopped yellow onions • 1 package of livermush • Rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, parsley • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce • 2 garlic cloves -minced • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour • 2 tablespoons tomato paste • 1 cup beef broth • 1 cup mixed peas & carrots • 1/2 cup corn kernels • 2 cups of mashed potatoes • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese Cook the onions in the oil and add the livermush. Break it up and add the spices. Cook for 6 minutes and add Worcestershire sauce and garlic cloves. Cook one minute then add the flour and tomato paste. Stir well then add the broth, peas, carrots and corn. Simmer for 10 minutes. Spoon into a casserole dish and cover with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
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24 Feral Swine Feral swine are problematic. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission says, “Feral swine cause significant damage to plant communities and wildlife habitat during rooting activities while they search for food, and directly impact native species by preying on ground nesting birds and white-tailed deer fawns. On agricultural and developed lands, feral swine cause an estimated $1.5 billion per year in damages to crops, landscaping, and cultural sites across the U.S. Feral swine also carry a variety of diseases that pose substantial risk to livestock, wildlife, humans, and pets. Due to these factors, they are considered invasive and undesirable as free-ranging animals on North Carolina’s landscape. Illegal releases continue to supplement the growing population, making control of these destructive animals challenging.” Because of this, feral swine are considered “nongame animals” and hunting them is encouraged. There is no closed hunting season on private lands and no bag limit. All persons hunting feral swine at any time must have a valid hunting license or must be exempt from having a license. Trapping the swine is encouraged, but releasing them from the traps is illegal, as is transporting or releasing them. Both of these things can carry a $5,000 fine. Because feral swine can contain diseases, it is a good idea to take advantage of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s testing program. To receive a free feral swine disease test kit, contact the NCDA&CS Veterinary Division at 919- 707-3250. Find out more here: www.ncwildlife.org/Learning/Species/Mammals/ Feral-Swine
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27 Corn Grows Here When the first European settlers arrived in North Carolina, they saw the native people growing and eating corn, which they called maize. They were very impressed, and explorer John Lawson said: “The Indian Corn, or Maiz, proves the most useful Grain in the World.” He also noted that there were places in North Carolina where you could go 100 miles and see nothing of sustenance except for corn. Cherokee and Catawba Indians grew two varieties of corn. There was a hard type which was used to cook with and a softer type that they ground into flour, by hand, with a mortar and pestle. They boiled, roasted, baked, steamed and dried corn, and they had recipes for corn bread, popcorn, soup, and a drink. If you think a drink is odd, consider that corn syrup is a main ingredient in almost all modern sodas. The type of corn that was grown here in the past is hard to find now, but some farms are growing heirloom versions of Hickory Dent Corn. Dent corns are better suited for milling than eating fresh, which is why our diet is so rich in cornmeal. Today, Iredell, Wilkes, Yadkin, Alleghany, Randolph, Haywood, Buncombe, Guilford, Henderson and Alamance counties all grow a great deal of corn, and as in the past, this corn is used primarily for milling or for animal feed. Turning corn into corn meal by hand, as the indigenous people did, is a laborious process. Many communities sprouted up by rivers, and the water in a river can be harnessed using a waterwheel. Many communities had grist mills. These were set up on the river with a giant waterwheel which would crank and power a corn grinding operation. These sites also tended to turn into social gathering spots. The mill ponds became the “watering hole” people gathered around. Several communities have done the hard work of preserving these grist mills, and you can visit many of them. Some are even still working!
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28 Dellinger’s Mill Dellinger’s Mill is a water powered/stone ground grist mill. It has been in the DelIinger family for over 150 years, and was restored by Jack Dellinger. He is the great- grandson of Reuben Dellinger who built the mill in 1867. He says, “I currently grind mountain grown corn into cornmeal, grits, and polenta using the same waterwheel, granite/quartz millstones, and associated pulleys, gears, and line shafts, using the same time honored techniques and methods my ancestors used and taught to me.” To set up a visit, email Jack at jdellinger0601@gmail.com or call (828)688-1009. Linney’s Mill Linney’s Mill is a traditional grist mill in the northeast corner of Alexander County on Rocky Creek that was built in 1790 by Richard Cook. The mill has changed hands over the years, but it is still operational. The company sells corn meal, grits and a variety of other items, including buckwheat pancake mix. The remote nature of this mill makes it a natural choice for camping, and the Linney family offers camp sites for rent. To visit, call (704) 592-2075. Historic Yates Mill County Park This historic mill shown in the photograph on this page, still in working condition, is now part of a sprawling 174-acre wildlife refuge and an environmental research center. Most years there are guided tours available where costumed actors make the experience seem very realistic. These are cancelled during the pandemic but should return soon. Murray’s Mill This mill is located on Balls Creek in Catawba County. It was run by three generations of Murrays before the Catawba County Historical Association took over operations. The historical organization has preserved the 1913 mill, the
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29 1890s Murray & Minges General Store, the 1880s Wheathouse used as an exhibit gallery, the 1913 John Murray House, furnished to the period, and numerous outbuildings. The addition of these other preserved spaces makes a visit to Murray’s Mill feel like a immersive h i s t o r i c a l e x p e r i e n c e . Mingus Mill Mingus Mill is at the far western edge of our state, near Cherokee. This mill was built in 1886 and it uses a water turbine instead of a water wheel. A miller works on site during regular business hours, and he will be happy to show you what he does. While you are there, visit the Mountain Farm Museum as well, and be sure to keep an eye out for elk! There truly aren’t many grist mills left in North Carolina, but they were of vital importance to the settling of our region. In fact, to encourage more settlements, North Carolina passed a law in 1715 that gave 50 acres of land and exemption from taxes and service in the state militia to gristmill and sawmill operators. That’s quite a job perk, and we can see why people would have wanted to take advantage of that. Mill operators were valued members of the community and enjoyed high standing. Today, we are thankful for the mark they have made in the culinary world, and corn meal graces some of the South’s most quintessential dishes.
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31 Perfect Grits • 4 cups water • 1 1/2 cups stone-ground corn grits • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1 stick of butter • 1 cup heavy cream Put the water on to boil and add grits and salt. Allow to boil then immediately remove from heat and cover quickly. Let it sit for 15 minutes. Uncover and bring to a boil again, and cook over medium high heat for about 20 minutes. Stir so it won’t clump or burn. Cut your butter into pieces. Remove the grits from heat, stir in the butter and cream then salt and pepper to taste. You can also replace the water with chicken or beef stock or milk. This will impart the flavor of the liquid into the grits. You can even use 3 cups of water and one cup of heavy cream for some truly creamy and delicous grits. Some folks use sugar instead of salt in their grits, and I don’t want to say they are wrong, but they ain’t right, either. Corn Bread • 1 cup yellow cornmeal • 1 cup all-purpose flour • 1/4 cup sugar • 4 tsp baking powder • 1/2 tsp salt • 1 cup milk • 1 large egg • 1/4 cup cooking oil Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Use a cast iron skillet if you have one but you can also use a glass pan or a muffin dish. Really though, use your cast iron skillet. Coat it in some fat- butter or oil. Either is ok but we mostly use butter for this. We recommend warming your cast iron, with butter in it, as you preheat the oven. Then mix your cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt well. Combine your milk, egg and oil. Mix this with the the dry mix, but don’t overstir. Lumps are ok. Then you just pour this into your cast iron skillet or baking dish and bake until it’s golden!
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32 Fried Okra • 1-1/2 cups sliced fresh okra • 3 tablespoons buttermilk • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour • 1/4 cup cornmeal • 1/4 teaspoon salt • Pepper and seasoning to taste • Oil for frying You can slice your okra, as is traditional, or skip that step, as shown at left. Make sure your okra is dry, then soak your pieces of okra in buttermilk. Combine the flour, cornmeal and seasonings to taste. Pull the okra out of the buttermilk and dip into your dry mix. Immediately deep fry until golden. Add a little extra salt and pepper at the end. The okra shown is served with a homemade ranch dressing. You can use storebought but why would you when this is so easy? Ranch Dressing • 1/2 cup mayonnaise (use homemade!) • 1/2 cup sour cream • 1/2 cup buttermilk • 3 teaspoons of parsley • 1 1/2 teaspoons dill • 1 teaspoon garlic • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon pepper • 1 teaspoon cayenne • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, or pickle juice. Mix this all together. It works best if you mix it in a food processor. Hushpuppies • 1 1/2 cups stone-ground cornmeal • 1/2 cup flour • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda • 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar • 1/2 small yellow onion, diced • 1 egg • 1 cup buttermilk or goatmilk • Oil for frying. Peanut works great. Combine the dry ingredients. Separately, add the egg and onion to the buttermilk and stir it into your dry mix.
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33 Let it rest for 15 minutes and let your oil get hot in a pan. Once your oil is hot, use a melon baller to drop small scoops (only 5-6 at a time) into the oil. Turn them as they cook. Each set should brown in about 4 minutes. Put on a paper-towel lined plate to drain. Fried Green Tomatoes by Calvin Reyes • 2 large green tomatoes, sliced • 1 1/4 cup flour • 1 cup cornmeal • 1 tablespoon garlic powder • 1 tablespoon oregano • 1 tablespoon salt • 2 eggs • 1 tablespoon pepper sauce • Oil for frying Heat your frying oil to 350 degrees. Gather 3 large bowls for making the batter. In the first bowl, place one cup of flour. In the second bowl, place 2 beaten eggs and pepper sauce. In the third bowl, mix cornmeal, garlic powder, salt and oregano. Dredge tomato slices in bowl 1, then 2, then 3. Fry no more than 3 tomato slices at a time, and flip once until golden brown on each side. That takes about 3 minutes per side. Remove from oil and salt to taste. The tomatoes shown at right are served with Pumpkin Seed and Arugula Pesto. Pumpkin Seed Pesto • 1/3 cup Pumpkin seeds, hulled • 1/2 cup halved pecans • 1 shallot • 2 handfuls of argula • 3 tablespoons of oil • 1 tablespoon of salt • Water Toast pumpkin seeds and pecans in a skillet and allow to cool. Place all ingredients into a blender or food porcessor and blend until smooth. Add water a little at a time until you reach the right consistency.
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35 Apple Pickin’ Apple Pickin’ In western North Carolina, apples are a big deal. Did you know that over 300 varieties of heirloom apples grow in Wilkes County alone? The altitude here provides excellent growing opportunities for apples, and the clay soil is a sturdy base that holds water well. Growing apples in western North Carolina tends to be a family affair, with some farms staying in a family for up to six generations, and counting. There’s also a spirit of friendly competition among the locals, each proud of the uniqueness of their apples. The apple selection locally is truly a perk of living here, and we recommend that you immediately stop buying apples at the grocery store and visit an orchard. Here are some of our favorites. Sugarloaf Orchards This is a fifth-generation apple and peach farm between Taylorsville and Wilkesboro. They sell at least 24 kinds of apples and have been designated by the State of North Carolina as a Century Farm. Their store also carries traditional food from across the foothills. Call them at (828) 635-7477. Deal Orchards This is a third-generation apple farm also located between Taylorsville and Wilkesboro. This is the foothills of the Brushy Mountains, and it’s an ideal place to grow apples. Be sure to visit their old-fashioned farm store. You can call them at (828) 632-2304. Perry Lowe Orchard This is a sixth-generation farm in Wilkes County. They grow over 30 varieties of apples in their orchards and usually have at least 15 kinds for sale and offer pick-your-own tours. Visit www.perryloweorchards.com.
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36 Grandad’s Apple N Such At this farm in Hendersonville, you can pick-your-own or shop at the store. With 20 varieties, you’ll have lots of options. The store also features many old-fashioned treats, and if you visit on the weekend, several family-friendly activities are offered. Check www.grandadsapples.com for hours. Justus Orchard This farm is also located in Hendersonville, NC. The fourth-generation orchard grows 19 different apple varieties. Pick apples and sample different varieties and other goodies at the store. This is a great place to take children and offers many things to entertain them. Visit online at www.justusorchard.com. Sky Top Orchard At this Flat Rock Farm, you can pick your own or buy prebagged apples. But what secured this orchard a place on our list is their amazing apple cider donuts. Guests watch as the scratch made donuts are fried up in front of them. Free samples of apples and cider are also available, but do make sure to try a donut! You can find out more at www.skytoporchard.com. The Orchard at Altapass This farm is located in Spruce Pine and grows 40 varieties of apples, including the Yellow Transparent, which is quite hard to find. The farmers at this orchard are also dedicated to preserving the history of our region, and they offer free music and dance performances on a regular schedule. They also have a storytelling hayride that features tales of our Appalachian history. Don’t miss it! See www.altapassorchard.org.
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37 Attract new customers by catching their eye and holding their attention. We can help! We’re the team that brings you this magazine and we can help your business bring in new customers by helping you tell your story. We know the power of images, and we can help you harness that power! 828.475.1323
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38 A A pple pple Recipes Recipes With all these apples around, it’s no wonder we have dozens of recipes for them. Perhaps the most classic dessert is the apple stack. In the past, making a stack cake was a neighborly activity. Several ladies would all make one or two stacks and come together to make one cake. Nowadays, you’ll probably want to make the whole thing yourself. Apple stack cakes always use dehydrated apples. Apple Stack Cake For Filling • 1 pound dried apples (4 to 5 packed cups) • 1 cup brown sugar • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • 1 teaspoon ground ginger • 4 cups water For Batter • 5 cups all-purpose flour • 1 teaspoon baking soda • 1 teaspoon b. powder • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • 3/4 teaspoon salt • 1 1/2 sticks butter • 1 cup sugar • 2 large eggs • 1 cup dark molasses • 1 cup buttermilk Cook the apple filling on the stovetop for about 5 minutes after boiling. Set it aside to cool. Combine dry batter ingredients, except sugar. Set aside. Cream the butter and add the sugar, beating until it’s light and fluffy. Add the eggs and molasses and then beat until it lightens up. Now you will add a little flour mixture as you beat, then a little buttermilk, then flour, then buttermilk, until all is mixed well. Put in small bowl and chill for 30 minutes. During that time you’ll put your apple mixture in a food processor so it gets pretty smooth. Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Now lay out some parchment paper and a circle about 9 inches across. Put this on a baking sheet and fill the circle with your dough. It feels like half cookie dough, half batter. Press it down pretty thin. Bake it for 12 minutes, and do this at least 6 times, to use all your batter. To assemble, place one layer of cake, then cover with apple mixture. Alternate until the top, which should be a cake piece. Wrap it all in saran wrap and WAIT 24 HOURS to eat it.
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40 Apple Walnut Scones By Beth Rogers • 2 1/2 cups flour • 2 tablespoons brown sugar • 1 tablespoon baking powder • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 8 tablespoons butter, grated like cheese • 1 egg • 3/4 cup heavy cream • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract • 2 honeycrisp apples, chopped • Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter and toss with the flour. Add the egg, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix until just combined, being careful not to over mix. Fold in the chopped apples. You won’t find your dream home in a magazine but you’ve found me and I can help make your dreams a reality. Call me to set up your complimentary consultation.
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41 Turn the dough onto a floured surface and then pat into a 1 inch thick circle. Cut the dough into 8 wedges and place the pieces on your baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Brush with buttermilk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake until golden, about 15- 18 minutes, rotating your sheets half way through. Candied Apples • 12 apples (unwaxed) • 12 sticks • 3 cups sugar • 1/2 cup light corn syrup • 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring • 1 cup water Wash your apples and insert sticks into them. In a pot, combine the sugar, and corn syrup with the water and bring it to 300 degree (hard crack stage) exactly. Use a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and carefully stir in the food coloring. Gently dip each apple into your mixture and place on parchment paper to dry.
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42 Apple Pie with Cheddar Crumb Topping By Beth Rogers For Filling • 8 cups of apples, sliced • 1/4 cup of sugar • 2 teaspoons of cinnamon • 1/4 teaspoon of ginger • 3 tablespoons of flour • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract • Pinch of salt Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss together the apples, sugar, flour, vanilla, salt and spices. Set aside. Roll out the pie crust and fit into a 9 inch pie dish. Pour the apples into the crust and arrange evenly. In a bowl, combine the flour and brown sugar. Stir in the grated cheese and butter until pea-sized crumbles form. Sprinkle over the top. Bake on a low rack for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and move the pie to the middle rack for another 30 minutes. Turkey Apple Melt By Beth Rogers • 2 slices of sturdy bread • Deli turkey • Sliced havarti cheese • Apple slices • Spicy honey mustard Apple Salad By Beth Rogers • Apples • Spinach • Onions • Pecans • Crumbled Bacon • Goat Cheese Apple Dressing By Beth Rogers • 2 tablespoons of olive oil • 1 1/2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar • 1 tablespoon of minced shallots • 2 teaspoons of dijon dressing with whole mustard seeds • 2 1/2 teaspoons of honey • Salt and pepper to taste For Topping • 1 cup flour • 1/2 cup of brown sugar • 1 stick of butter, grated • 3/4 cup of grated cheddar cheese Use purchased pie crust or flaky pie crust recipe on page 113. Spread mustard one one slice of bread, layer with turkey, apple and then cheese. Top with second slice of bread and lightly butter (or slather with mayo) the outside. Grill with a panini press or in a pan. Slice the apples and onions. Place spinach, apples, onions and pecans in a large bowl. Sprinkle Crumbled Bacon on top. Add the goat cheese. In a mixing bowl, combine all the liquids with a whisk. Add the spices until the mixture is smooth. Toss your salad in this dressing. You can also substitute different vinegars and mustards for interesting variations.
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44 By Lisa Brewer Photography provided by The River House The River House in Grassy Creek, North Carolina, is the destination to choose when you want to leave your problems behind. Once there, you’ll be faced with only the happiest dilemmas: which abode to make your own for the weekend, the Carriage House or the Chicken Coop? Which gourmet entrée to select: the filet of beef with herb butter and vegetable mélange, or the lobster risotto with braised spinach and mushroom ragout? Perhaps most importantly, which story will you ask proprietor Gayle Winston to share? The time she borrowed money to fly to Rome to ask Charles Boyer to act in her upcoming play, and had dinner with him every night for a week? The time she and her playwright auditioned Charlton Heston for a role, but turned him down? Or the time a cashless Bobby Kennedy took her out to dinner in California, and she had to vouch for his check? “It was that time in New York,” she said modestly in a recent interview. “I was extremely lucky. I knew everybody…I met everybody.” The tenth-generation Ashe County Glenna Gayle Hamby Winston has done a little of everything, and she has done it extremely well. She has been a fashion model, a trainee with TIME magazine in national affairs editorial research, a play producer, cattle farmer, and caterer. Most North Carolinians know her as the former proprietor and gourmet chef of a number of properties: the Glendale Springs Inn, the Old Salem Tavern, and since 1984, The River House. Winston is always full of enthusiasm for her current project, working harder than seems reasonable for a lady of nearly 92. And no matter how many people are awaiting her undivided attention, she is the personification of calm and elegance. What’s her secret? “We have the nicest guests and best friends,” Winston said without hesitation. “The only thing I have better than anybody else in the world is friends.” Gayle winston of the river house
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GAYLE WINSTON writes a recipe section on riverhousenc.com. You’ll love both her conversational tone, and her recipes. Give this one a go! A Tomato Salad “As we all know, remove from the core, make a shallow X on the bottom, drop for a few seconds into boiling water, remove, peel and slice. Sprinkle slices with finely chopped shallots and leave for an hour or two or three. At serving time, drizzle with a bit of sherry vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, salt lightly and reassemble carefully core-side down, so it will sit. Top with a teeny salad of microgreens or a basil leaf and a quenelle of herbed goat cheese. One guest commented, ‘So that’s what an eight-dollar tomato looks like!’ And just think if you alternated slices of red and yellow!” This writer has been a guest at her properties for the past 32 years. When I asked her to drop some names of famous River House guests, she immediately responded, “You’re sitting in the very chair where Ricky Skaggs sat!” She added that Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau had held a reunion with some of his Yale classmates at the Inn. Musical artists from luthier Wayne Henderson to GRAMMY winner Tim Stafford of Blue Highway have performed at the Inn. The truth is, Winston treats every guest like a celebrity. Once responsible for doing all of the cooking herself, she now employs talented chef Joshua Miller at the River House. “He’s the only chef we’ve ever had who never went to culinary school,” she said. “He can’t leave! We have a chain around him!” With Miller assembling the superb dishes and Matt and Julie Milunic assisting in management, Winston has more time to create the ambience of the River House: elegant, laidback, and always fun. One year, her Valentine’s Day menu featured a course called “Flirtation” rather than “Appetizers.” Following dessert, she served chocolate cigarettes. “I think about food all the time,” Winston smiled. “If I don’t sleep, frequently I’m thinking about this.” Should you find yourself relaxing over dinner at the River House, or greeting the new day with a sumptuous breakfast, make it a point to speak with Gayle Winston. Ask her about the 1,400 first course and dessert servings she created for the opening of the Stevens Center. Or the night she had dinner with both Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier. Braver types might inquire about the chores she handled personally as a cattle farmer. Quiz her on her latest culinary project, the Red Dog Bar and Bistro in Piney Creek, North Carolina. And do ask her to complete her long-awaited memoir, if she can slow down long enough to do so!
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46 Foraging Foraging in these hills in these hills
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47 Our earliest eating habits as humans were based on foraging. People ate what the land offered them as they moved about. Our foothills ancestors farmed the land, but they foraged as well, because these hills have always had a great bounty to offer those who look closely. These mountains are one of the most biodiverse places on earth. There have been times in our history where food was not readily available, because of famine, war or depression, and knowing how to forage has aided the survival of our communities. Elvis Presley brought some attention to the practice in his song Poke Salad Annie which tells the story of a girl he knew who foraged for poke sallet, often incorrectly called “poke salad.” He said, “Used to know a girl lived down there and she’d go out in the evenings and pick her a mess of it, carry it home and cook it for supper because that’s about all they had to eat, but they did all right.” There are so many different plants and mushrooms that you can find on a good walk through the woods, and we can’t cover them all, but we are sharing information about ten common and useful plants, including the poke sallet to which Elvis referred. Many of the plants we mention can be found in your own backyard, but you may also want to explore hiking trails. Check local rules, but the Blue Ridge Parkway allows a person to collect one gallon of edible plants/fungi per trip. Of course, if you are on public lands, you must be respectful and avoid climbing trees or trampling plant life. Foraging on National Forest lands requires a permit and they consider foraging without a permit to be theft. This is particularly true if you are foraging for ramps, galax or ginseng, and the penalty can include prison time and a $5,000 fine. Disclaimer: this is intended as a very brief article about foraging. Please be responsible in your foraging and your identification. We have only included “beginner plants” that are hard to misidentify, but we encourage you to pick up a guide book or a good app. Please remember: misidentified or mystery mushrooms can absolutely kill you, so be sure to harvest only when you have a sure identi- fication.
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48 Phytolacca americana is known by many names: pokeweed, poke sallet, and dragonberries are most common. This plant is markedly poisonous, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a delicacy, even gracing some of the fanciest plates in New York City. Southern food expert Michael Twitty explains the practicality of this historical food. “Back in the old days, you had a lot of people who walked around barefoot, in animal feces, all the time. Most of our ancestors from the Depression backward were full of worms.” It turns out, this plant is a vermifuge, meaning it kills those pesky worms. This meant that poke sallet has worked as an excellent tonic, making people feel better, and it’s reputation reflects that. It’s full of vitamin C, iron and calcium and contains a unique antiviral protein that can inhibit the growth of some viruses, like Herpes and even HIV. It also flushes the lymphatic system and can relieve poison ivy. To enjoy poke sallet, it’s very important that you follow every traditional step. Eating poke sallet, much like eating raw oysters or eggs, is a measured risk that we think is worth it. If you can, you’ll want to gather your plants before they have grown the purple berries that make them easy to identify, because they will be much more tender, but a plant with berries is still edible. To Prepare: 1. Set 1 small pot of water and one large pot of water to boil. 2. Chop up the leaves and stems of the poke sallet. 3. Put the poke sallet into the small pot of boiling water. 4. Cook for two minutes. 5. Discard the water from this pot. Pour boiling water from your second pot over the poke sallet and set to boil again. 6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 at least twice, and up to 4 times, depending on the potency you desire. 7. Add bacon grease and molasses and cook for flavor. 8. Add a splash of vinegar and serve. Poke Sallet Poke Sallet
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50 HICKORYROTARY.ORG
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51 This plant was first cultivated some 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt as a medicinal plant. Ancient cultures like the Greeks and Romans used the leaves in salads. It was brought here with European settlers and is now considered a weed in most places. Chicory is most well-known for its relationship with coffee. The root is often ground and added to coffee to enhance its flavor profile, and during the Civil War, it was used as a coffee substitute. If you visit New Orleans, you’ll likely find chicory in your coffee. But we think chicory is most valuable as a leafy green, packed with potassium and magnesium. These nutrients are often depleted from our familiar store-bought vegetables, and our bodies really appreciate the boost. The greens are also known to help regulate blood sugar, making them particularly helpful to people with diabetes. Chicory is a bitter green, like kale, arugula and dandelion, and it works well in salads or sautéed. You’ll find it growing along roads, but it’s best to avoid heavily trafficked areas when foraging. To Saute: 1. Boil chicory for 4 minutes. 2. Heat oil and spices in saucepan. Alternately, add chopped anchovy. 3. Saute for 4 minutes until the chicory begins to wilt and serve. chicory chicory For Salad 1. Add chicory, another leafy green of your choosing and pear slices 2. Crumble a blue cheese and chop some pecan 3. Use a vinaigrette dressing or warm bacon drippings mixed with maple syrup
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52 The chanterelle mushrooms found in western North Carolina are a safe and delicious mushroom. They are also an excellent mushroom for the novice forager. That’s because there are very many species of poisonous mushrooms, and many look similar to edible varieties. It is wildly dangerous to eat unidentified or misidentified mushrooms, but there are no poisonous look-a-likes for chanterelles. Chanterelles can sell for up to $50 a pound at specialty stores, but in the spring, it’s likely that you can find a good many yourself. You’ll find them growing near oak or other hardwoods, and their bright gold color is very recognizable. They have a creamy white solid flesh and they smell a bit fruity, almost like peaches or apricots. They have false gills and irregular shapes, as shown here. They grow on the ground, individually. You’ll find many of them in close proximity, but they do not grow in a clump. Select mature, firm mushrooms and leave the babies and the older mushrooms alone. Cut them at the base. Once you find a good patch, you can come back each spring to harvest them. Chanterelles have a lot of water in them, and it’s easy to prepare them in a way that makes them slimy. Avoid those problems by following these directions. To prepare: 1. Heat a pan without oil. 2. Wash your mushrooms and add to the pan. 3. Let the water cook out of them then remove from pan. 4. Heat oil and spices. We prefer a bit of garlic and salt. 5. Saute the mushrooms in your heated oil. 6. Alternately, you can slice the mushrooms very thinly and let them dry for future use. Begin with step 4 if using dried mushrooms. chanterelles chanterelles
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55 This plantain is not related to the fruit that shares its name. Instead, it is a common weed with edible seeds and stems. It’s also known as one of the best remedies for bug bites and bee stings. One of its common names is “White Man’s Foot.” This name stuck because the plant arrived with settlers from Europe, “following the white man’s footprint.” Broad leaf, narrow leaf and rattle snake plantain are all very common in North Carolina, and it’s likely your yard has a patch of this plant, waiting for you to discover it. Old timers here will tell you plantain is more effective than penicillin, and they make it into a tincture that is used to cure many ailments, like staph and strep infections. They swear that if you get stung and spot plantain nearby, a simple “spit poultice” will stop the pain. Just pick a leaf, chew it up, then put it, spit and all, on your wound. In addition to the notable medicinal properties, plantain is nutritious and delicious when prepared as a leafy green. To prepare: 1. Boil water and blanch the leaves for 4 minutes. This will tenderize the leaves and remove the bitter taste that older plants exhibit. Do not blanch the seed stalks, which taste a bit like asparagus. 2. Heat oil, garlic and salt in a pan. 3. Add leaves and stalks and saute for several minutes. 4. Alternately, you can cut the seeds off the stalks and sprinkle them on salads. Plantain Plantain
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56 Kudzu is an invasive and problematic plant in the Southern United States. However, in Asia, this isn’t so, although it grows just as well. The only difference is that in Asia, kudzu is a valued plant and is gathered for food. There, it is also used to treat dysentery, allergies, migraine headaches, diarrhea, fevers, colds, intestinal problems and to help with the digestion of food and reduce blood pressure. The leaves, roots, flowers and vine tips are all edible and nutritious. The only inedible part, in fact, are the vines and seed pods. Our grandmothers didn’t prepare kudzu, but we’re sure that if it grew here abundantly in those days, they would have, and we should as well. A kudzu patch can provide you with food all year long. In the spring and early summer, pick young leaves. In late summer, harvest the purple flowers, which smell like grapes. In the fall and winter, when the green foliage has died off, the roots are at their most nutritious. We do want to remind you to stay away from busy roads, because the kudzu won’t be as clean, and be careful of poison ivy, which often grows along with kudzu. The leaves can be eaten many ways, including raw, in a salad. You can also cook them down as you would collards, with a good slice of fat back, or even deep fry them. They are said to taste similar to snow peas. The flowers of the kudzu plant are sweet and delicate. Although they smell like grapes, they don’t taste like them. You can eat them raw, in a salad, or pour boiling water over them and steep for 4 minutes, making a delicious tea. The flowers can also be pickled to make a syrup. Kudzu root makes an excellent thickener. Collect some roots-you’ll find small surface roots that you can peel like a sweet potato, and large roots further down that you can cut up and dry. You’ll turn these roots into a ground powder once dry (about 3 months). You can use this powder to add to sauces, soups and gravies. Kudzu Kudzu
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57 The Adventure Begins... • Private mountaintop setting with unobstructed views • Lovely indoor and outdoor ceremony options • Accommodates up to 200 guests • Modern, comfortable, all season climate controlled venue • Fully handicapped accessible • Nicely appointed bride and groom quarters • Well equipped caterers kitchen • Wedding day coordination available by Blue Mountain Wedding Services • Call or email us for much more information about our various packages and amenities (336) 372-7312 winterwoodweddings.com info@winterwoodweddings.com Jodi Gray Photography Bonita Loggins Photography Photography by Elizabeth Anne Jodi Gray Photography Dianne Personett Photography 67 Winter Wood Lane Sparta, NC 28675
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58 • NC CCW (concealed carry) • Fl/Va Non-Resident CCW • Pistol, Rifle Shotgun • Church Security • Personal Protection • Active Shooter • RSO/CRSO Certs We use the LASR system and Smokeless Range System in conjunction with SIRT Pistols in order to perform dry-fire practice, saving you hundreds of dollars in Range and Ammunition fees. NRA Certifications available: 105 Main St, Hudson, NC 28638 (828) 221-2900 corneredhillft.com
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59 Home Owners Associations hate them, but children love them. What other common weed gives you the opportunity to make a wish and watch seeds fly? But did you know that dandelions are absolutely packed with valuable nutrients, including Vitamin A, E, K, B6, B2, B1, and C and zinc? Dandelion is more nutritious than spinach and kale. It is said that the Ancient Roman hero Theseus ate a dandelion salad after killing the minotaur, and the plant has been eaten as long as it has been cultivated. People carried dandelion seeds from one land to another long before written history and for most of history, it was considered a “delectable garden vegetable.” Dandelion greens are bitter, like chicory and endives. The plants are abundant, reliable, and easily identifiable. The greens can be cooked like spinach or eaten raw, while the buds can also be eaten. A strong tea can be made by drying and grinding the roots. The roots can also be peeled and roasted. But most closely tied to our Appalachian roots is fried dandelions, also called fritters. This recipe uses the flowering head of the plant. To Prepare Dandelion Fritters 1. Rinse dandelion buds in water with a bit of lemon juice added. Make sure you remove the green parts. Use soon after you pick them, while they are still open. 2. Mix a batter of cornmeal, flour, milk, egg, chili powder and salt to the thickness of pancake batter. 3. Heat Oil in a pan. 4. Dip each bud into the batter and pan fry until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Dandelion Dandelion
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60 Morels are the rock stars in the world of mushrooms. They are delicious, with a meaty, nutty flavor, and they are prized. In the spring, the black morels (Morchella angusticeps) appear first, followed by yellow morels (Morchella esculentoides, Morchella diminutiva, and Morchella virginiana). They are hard to find, but in western North Carolina, you’ve got a real shot at it. Look for groves of ash, hickory, tulip poplar or American Elm, then head to the outer edges of the groves. If you see downed, rotting trees or rotting stumps, pay extra attention there. You may also have luck if you follow small streams. As with any mushroom, you must be very careful to avoid misidentification, but fortunately morels have a distinctive look. Once you cut into a morel, they are always hollow. False morels will not be hollow and may have a reddish tint. You’ll do your best hunting when the ground is moist, like after a rainstorm. They grow best in cool weather as well, but they get much larger as the season progresses, so don’t start too early. When you gather morels, cut them off at the base with scissors or a knife. To Prepare: 1. Cut off the dirty ends then slice the morel in half lengthwise. 2. Sear them in oil over high heat until they brown (don’t use butter for this part). 3. Turn down heat and add sliced shallots and garlic and a large pat of butter. Cook for 2 minutes. 4. Add a tablespoon of good quality, gluten free soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of beef broth and a splash of lemon and cook for 3 more minutes. 5. Add chives or other green herbs, along with salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes and serve. Morel Morel
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63 Red Clover is found all over the continental United States. Strangely, it belongs to the legume family, which is the family of beans and peas. The flowers of the clover contain calcium, chromium, magnesium, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, thiamine, and vitamin C. Traditionally, it’s been used to counteract breathing issues like asthma, to strengthen bones, and to ease the symptoms of menopause. Red clover contains phytoestrogen, which mimics estrogen. The medicinal benefits can be quite strong, and if you are pregnant or nursing, you shouldn’t consume red clover. You can eat the young leaves and blossoms just as they are, or you can collect them for many different types of recipes. In April, eat the leaves, but May through September, the flowers are delicious. We doubt that clover greens will ever top anyone’s lists of favorite foods. If you want to eat the greens, we recommend mixing them with scallions, garlic, potatoes and beef broth for a healthy soup. We’d prefer to encourage you to experiment with the flowers. To prepare Red Clover Jelly: • 4 Tb (1 box) pectin • 2 cups packed clover, blossoms only • 2 1/2 cups boiling water • 1/4 cup lemon juice • 4 cups sugar 1. Pour boiling water over the blossoms and allow to steep for 8 hours. Strain. 2. Sterilize your cans and prepare water bath for canning. 3. Mix water, lemon juice and pectin over high heat until boiling, then add the sugar. Boil for one minute then remove from heat. 4. Fill jars then process in water bath to can, or eat right away. Red Clover Red Clover
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64 Elderberries are having a moment, and it seems that people across the nation are excited about the immune system benefits the berries of the elder plant provide. You can buy elderberry syrup, elderberry tea and elderberry gummies to help strengthen your immune system, and we are tickled that people are taking advantage of what the berries have to offer. While the elderberry craze is based on the plant’s medicinal qualities, the berries also taste delicious. Long before people ate them to avoid getting sick, people ate them for their delectable flavor. The berries aren’t the only parts of the elder plant that have value! Elder flowers have been eaten and used medicinally for hundreds of years. The leaves, stems and roots, however, should be avoided and may even be toxic. You can dry the flowers or make a tea out of them. Elder is rich in bioflavonoids, mostly flavones and flavonols, which are known to have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Elderflower tea and elderberry syrup are wonderful remedies for a cold or flu. When working with the berries, it’s important to cook them before you eat them and that you do not include anything but the berries. Ignoring this could lead to a cyanide buildup in your body. The most popular way to process these berries is to make a syrup, and most recipes call for dried elderberries. Since you’ll be picking them fresh, use this method: 1. Remove stems from 2 pounds of elderberries by freezing the berries on the stem in a plastic bag, then banging it on your counter. Pluck off stems. 2. Simmer the berries in water for an hour. Strain and press the leftover to remove all juice. 3. Peel a 2 inch piece of ginger and grate into mix. Simmer at low heat for 30 minutes. Remove from heat then strain ginger. 4. Add one cup of honey and stir well. Store in refrigerator. Elder Elder
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67 Chickweed is a cool weather plant that followed settlers from Europe and took root in yards all over the United States. It likes moist soil and partial sun and features delicate white flowers. Chickweed does have some look-a-likes. An important clue is that chickweed does not have a milky sap. If it looks like chickweed but does have a milky sap, leave it alone. Chickweed tastes excellent, like corn silk, but its nutritional content puts spinach to shame. It is packed with vitamin C, as well as vitamins A, D and B. It’s also got iron, zinc, calcium and potassium, making it a true nutrition powerhouse. Chickweed has many traditional medicinal uses, and notably, weight loss is one of them. Chickweed can help you feel full by eating fewer calories. Chickweed is a noted anti-inflammatory, and it’s been used to help rheumatism, arthritis, and menstrual cramps. You’ll want to cook or eat your chickweed soon after you gather it. It doesn’t like a refrigerator, which is the only explanation for it not being consumed more widely, even though it was a very popular food in the 1800s. The best way to eat chickweed is raw, either in a salad or by itself. But you will get good results substituting it in any recipe for spinach. You’ll find it tastes better and is just as easy to work with. To prepare chickweed pesto: In a food processor, blend: • 1/2 cup walnuts, cashews, or pine nuts • 2-3 cloves garlic minced • 3 cups chickweed loosely packed • 1 Tbsp lemon juice • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil • 1/2 tsp salt • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper • 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Chickweed Chickweed
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68 H ow - t o A roux (pronounced “roo”) is a mixture of flour and fat, and once you’ve mastered the art of making a good roux, the culinary world is at your fingertips. So many gravies, soups and sauces are at their base, a simple roux. Even macaroni and cheese requires a roux. There are three types of roux, categorized mostly by how long you cook them. First is a white roux. This only gets cooked 2-5 minutes, and it has a lot of thickening power. Second is a blonde roux. This one is cooked for about 10 minutes and takes on a nice caramel color. Last is a brown roux, which is cooked for up to 30 minutes. You’ll want to make sure you stir it constantly so it doesn’t burn, but this is the most flavorful roux. But more important than the length of time you cook the mixture are the ingredients. The fat you choose lies at the heart of your roux. Any good meat or poultry gravy begins with the fatty drippings from a cut of meat that you’ve cooked, but butter is also a very common fat for this process. If you’re making a “cream of” soup, you begin by sauteeing the vegetable, mushroom or meat in butter. It’s also common, especially in the south, to add milk to your roux, as you do when making gravies.
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T urkey grav y C ream of mushroom sou p S ausage grav y • Saute minced onion and garlic in butter until soft. Turn up the heat and add mushrooms, then cook until they release their moisture. • Use a little sherry to deglaze the pan. • Sprinkle flour over the mushrooms and butter, stirring as you go. • Add about 2 cups of a liquid of your choice and cook until the mushrooms are tender. • Slowly stir in heavy cream and milk until the soup is the consistency you desire. If you are using this in a recipe, it should be thicker than if you are eating it as is. • Garnish with fresh herbs and sautéed mushroom. • Cook a turkey and reserve all drippings. Pour into a container and use the fat that rises to the top. Reserve the rest. • Heat it on medium, then sprinkle flour into mixture, stirring as you go. Cook for 4-5 minutes. • Add the (hot) drippings, stirring as you go. • Add heavy cream (or milk) until it’s the texture you desire, then salt and pepper. • Cook ground sausage in a pan. • Sprinkle in flour, stir and cook for 5 minutes. • Slowly add in cream or milk until the gravy is the right consistency. Stir vigorously as you do this. • Add salt and a lot of pepper. • Serve over hot biscuits.
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Mayonnaise Magic Learning to whip up a batch of mayonnaise will give you a real step-up in the kitchen, and you’ll be amazed at how easy it is, provided you have a food processor. It does use a raw egg, but as long as you’re buying eggs, this is actually statistically very safe. Into your food processor add one raw egg, a teaspoon of mustard powder, a teaspoon of salt and a splash of oil. The less flavor an oil has, the better it will taste in mayo. Don’t use olive oil, but vegetable oil works fine. You have a lot of freedom in selecting your oil. Food process this mixture until it turns pale yellow. Now you are going to add one cup of oil, but the trick lies in doing it slowly, just a few drops at a time. Once you’ve added all the oil, squeeze half a lemon into the mix and give it one more blend. It’s also so easy to turn your mayo into a delicious sauce or dip. You can be creative, mixing herbs, oils and substituting flavored vinegar for the lemon. Once you’re making your own mayo, you’ll want to use it much more often than you did before, and you can use it in all sorts of recipes. Have you ever put it on the outside of a grilled cheese sandwich before you grilled? We like the following additions to our mayonnaise. • Mix in a tablespoon of grated horseradish for a spicy update! • Add 1 tablespoon of honey, a tablespoon of mustard and a tablespoon of lime for a tangy, sweet honey mustard mayo. • Add chopped chives, minced garlic and crushed pepper for a savory chive mayo. • Use your own blend of herbs, including oregano, tarragon and chives, basil, dill, parsley, onion salt, or others. • Replace half your oil with sesame oil and add a splash of good soy sauce for a dip that pairs well with Asian-inspired meals. • For a cocktail mayo, add a little sherry, sugar, basil and tomato paste. • For chili mayonnaise, add turmeric, orange zest and chili powder. You might also substitute lime juice for the lemon juice. • To make bacon mayonnaise, you replace the oil with bacon grease, then store at room temperature. • For fruit salads, mix at even ratios with homemade whipped cream. • Add half a cup of chutney per cup of mayo.
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73 Perfect Pimento Cheese Classic Style • 2 cups extra sharp cheddar • 1 cup of mayonnaise • 1 jar of diced pimentos • Garlic salt Grate the cheese and stir in the mayo, pimento and garlic salt. For best results, let it get to room temperature w h e n y o u a r e c o m b i n i n g . Variation #2 • 2 cups extra sharp cheddar • 1/2 cup cream cheese • 1/2 cup greek yogurt • 1 jar diced pimentos • Spices to taste Grate the cheese together and stir in the yogurt and pimentos. Add spices to taste. Variation #1 • 2 cups extra sharp cheddar • 1 cup of cream cheese • 1/2 cup of mayonnaise • 1 jar diced pimentos • Cayenne pepper to taste Grate the cheeses together and add the mayo and pimentos. Add your pepper and other spices to taste. Variation #3 • 2 cups extra sharp cheddar • 1 cup American cheese • 1 cup mayonnaise • 1 jar diced pimentos • Spices to taste Grate your cheeses and mix in your mayo, pimentos and spices to taste. Pimento cheese is a top ten food in most southern homes. To any of these recipes you can add diced jalepenos to spice it up. Pimento cheese is served best on freshly baked white bread, but there are lots of other things you can do with it as well! Here are some suggestions: • Add a scoop of pimento cheese to your scrambled eggs. • On crackers or as part of a charcuterie tray, it can’t be beat. • As a burger topper, melted, or even better, stuffed inside of your patty before you cook the burger. The result is melted, bubbly and delicous. • Fold pimento cheese into your grits. • Melt on top of french fries. • Stuff chicken breasts with pimento cheese then fry them. • Make pimento cheese cookies using a cheese straw recipe modified with pimento cheese. • Add pimento cheese to your devilled egg mix!
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74 Carolina Style In North Carolina, you don’t have to wonder how to dress your burger or your hot dog. We’ve got an established list of condiments that we think do the trick. “Carolina Style” means your dog or burger will be served up with chili, slaw and diced onions. Our columnist Granny Eckard makes some of the best chili and slaw we’ve tasted, so we asked for her recipes. Chili: • 1 pound of lean ground venison or lean ground red meat • 1 Tablespoon olive oil • 2 Teaspoons of chili powder • 3 Tablespoons of vinegar • 3 Tablespoons brown sugar • 1/2 Teaspoon salt • 8 Ounce tomato sauce w/ 1 Teaspoon cornstarch • 1/4 Cup water Brown meat in olive oil. Then add other ingredients one at a time, excepting the tomato sauce, which is mixed with the cornstarch first. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve.
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75 Blender Slaw: • 1/4 head of cabbage • 2 stalks celery • 1 medium sweet onion • 4 baby sweet peppers • Large handful of baby carrots • Small bunch of broccoli Blend each vegetable in a blender with enough water to cover. After each blending, drain the vegetables, using THE SAME water to cover the next vegetable. Once all vegetables are blended, drain and press out the water. Discard water. Add to veggies: • 1 Teaspoon salt • 1/4 Cup mayonnaise • 1/4 Cup vinegar • 3/8 Cup sugar Add diced onions. Mustard is some- times added to Carolina style hot dogs and hamburgers, but most North Carolinians prefer it with just the three ingredients. Also note that no cheese is served on the burger or dog.
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77 In 1917, America joined World War I. Food was scarce around the world, and American troops needed much of the meat and sugar that our nation produced. “Food will win the war” became a popular slogan, and citizens were encouraged to reduce their consumption of meat and sugar. It was against this backdrop that L.D. Peeler created Cheerwine, in the town of Salisbury, North Carolina. He’d been looking for a way to make soda with less sugar and he bought a wild cherry soda recipe from a traveling salesman. This recipe evolved into the recipe for Cheerwine. The name was chosen because the drink had a burgundy red color and “cheery disposition.” The drink became an instant hit. By 1920, the company had switched from paper labels to bottles imprinted with their name, and production was in full swing. You can view one of those early bottles at the North Carolina Museum of History. It is quite an honor to have an artifact in that collection, and it’s a testament to how important Cheerwine is to our North Carolina culture and history. So what is it that makes Cheerwine so important to the quintessential North Carolinian experience? Mostly, it’s the taste. As far as sodas go, Cheerwine is unique. It’s much more carbonated than the average soda, for one thing. That’s what makes it feel “cheerful” and lifting. It also has heavy notes of wild cherry, which allow it to lean away from cloying sweetness. It’s the kind of taste you don’t quickly forget, and you do want to get more. In 1926, the brand was trademarked, and the company experienced many successes, even r e m a i n i n g q u i t e profitable during the Great Depression. They were good stewards during the Second World War, and they donated old pieces of promotional materials made of metal. Some soldiers said that they could make out the faint outline of the Cheerwine logo on the hull of the USS Intrepid. The company also got a bit of a boost in the 1950s, when President Dwight Eisenhower tasted a Cheerwine. It’s said that his response was, “Ike likes!” The company stayed abreast of changes in the industry, offering their first vending machine in the 1950s, followed by the production of cans in the 1960s. Diet soda came in the 1970s and plastic bottles in the 1980s. Through it all, Cheerwine has continued to be produced by the same family. The family of L.D. Peeler is still at the helm, producing this iconic soft drink to exacting standards, without fail.
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78 In 2018, the company introduced the slogan “Uniquely Southern.” We tip our hat to the marketing team behind this choice, and we agree that there is something truly uniquely southern about this drink. It is steeped in a sense of place. That “place” is Salisbury, a town drenched in celebrated history. The town hosts an annual Cheerwine Festival. It began as a centennial celebration but it was so popular that the organizers knew they had to bring it back. The last live festival had over 50,000 Cheerwine fans, and the 2020 online version was award-winning, honored with the Innovation award from the North Carolina Recreation & Park Association. The 2021 Festival is slated for September 18th, but certainly check their website before you head that way, since times are still a bit uncertain. You can visit cheerwinefest.com for more information. As valuable as Cheerwine is as a delicious drink, it’s also very handy as an ingredient. We went straight to the source and asked the company about their favorite recipes. They had so many to share, and it was impossible to pick a favorite, so we’re including a solid handful. We hope you’ll try all of them! 1: Cheerwine Gelatin • 2 cup Cheerwine • 1 box unflavored gelatin • Whipped cream • Cherries Soften gelatin by sprinkling it onto 1/8 a cup of COLD water. Once it is absorbed, add 1/8 a cup of boiling water and stir. Pour Cheerwine into your glasses and then split your gelatin mix between the cups. Stir. Drop in cherries and chill. Serve with whipped cream.
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2: Cheerwine Brownies • 1 box brownie mix • 1⁄2 cup Cheerwine • 1 tsp almond extract • Dark chocolate frosting of your choice Prepare the brownie mix as directed on the box, substituting Cheerwine for the water. Add almond extract and stir. Pour into a 9×13” greased pan and bake as directed. Frost thickly once cool and enjoy. 3: Cheerwine Ice Cream • 4 eggs • 2 cups milk • 2 cups sugar • 2 ½ cups Cheerwine • 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk • 1 (13 oz) can evaporated milk • Milk (as needed) Put eggs and milk in double boiler and heat until steaming hot throughout. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat; add sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Chill; add Cheerwine. Put mixture into 4-quart ice cream freezer container and add enough milk to bring mixture to fill line. 4: Cheerwine Bourbon Slushie • 2 bottles of Cheerwine • Ice cube trays • Bourbon • Lime wedge for garnish Pour Cheerwine in ice cube trays and freeze overnight. Pop 2 cups of ice cubes into blender and add 2 oz bourbon and blend until slushy. *Add additional Cheerwine in place of bourbon or to make more slushy if more liquid is needed. Garnish with lime wedge and enjoy! 5: Cheerwine Bourbon Glazed Ham • 2 (12 oz) bottles of Cheerwine • 1 (10-12lb) bone-in spiral cut ham • 1 cup bourbon • 1/3 cup sorghum molasses • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar • 1/3 cup Dijon mustard • 1/2 cup dried ginger • Salt to taste Preheat oven to 275°F. Place Ham on parchment paper coated pan. Pour bottle of Cheerwine over ham and cover with sheet of aluminum foil, crimping edges down securely. Bake at 275°F for 10- 12 minutes per pound. Meanwhile, in a stockpot combine 12oz of Cheerwine, bourbon, molasses, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, ginger, salt to taste and simmer until glaze thickens. Remove Ham from oven and preheat oven to 425°F. Drizzle glaze over heated ham, separating the slices as you pour. Bake at 425°F uncovered for 8-10 minutes. Serve and enjoy. 6: Cheerwine Bundt Cake • 3 cups sugar • ¼ tsp salt • ½ cup vegetable shortening • 2 sticks butter (room temp) • 1½ tsp baking powder • 5 large eggs (room temp) • 3 cups all purpose flour • ¾ cups Cheerwine • 3 tsp almond extract • 1 10 oz jar of maraschino cherries • 4 cups powdered sugar • ½ cup melted white chocolate • ½ stick butter • 4 oz cream cheese Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour Bundt pan (use a lighter color Bundt pan or angel food tube pan). Beat the butter, shortening, and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs in one at a time, beating with each addition. In a separate bowl, mix salt, baking powder and flour. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with half of the Cheerwine. Beat only until the batter is smooth after each addition. Quickly beat in 2 tsp almond extract and ½ jar of crushed maraschino cherries. Pour into greased pan. Bake 1 hour and 15-30 minutes. Cool cake on wire rack. Meanwhile, make frosting. Mix powder sugar, white chocolate, butter, cream cheese, ½ jar of crushed maraschino cherries and 1 tsp almond extract until smooth. Once cake has completely cooled, frost cake.
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81 7: Cheerwine Hot Wings • 12 chicken wings • salt and pepper to taste • Cheerwine 12 oz can (reduce by ½) • 1 tsp minced garlic • ½ cup Texas Pete hot sauce • 1 tbsp olive oil Preheat the deep fryer to 375 ⁰F. Pour the 1 can of Cheerwine into a small sauce pot along with the garlic and reduce by ½ at medium heat. Remove from heat and add the ½ cup of Texas Pete hot sauce along with the olive oil and mix well. Carefully place the chicken wings into the deep fryer and fry them for approximately 10- 12 minutes or until golden brown, crispy and fully cooked with an internal temperature of 165 ⁰F. Remove them from the fryer and drain well. Season wings with salt and pepper and place them into a large mixing bowl. Toss them with the spicy Texas Pete and Cheerwine glaze. Serve immediately. 8: Cheerwiggles • 2 cups Cheerwine • 1 cup white rum • 1/2 cup triple sec • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons) • 1/3 cup sugar • 1/3 cup water • zest from 1 lemon • 5 packets (10 oz.) unflavored gelatin • Sugar sprinkles for garnish Combine rum, triple sec, and lemon juice in large bowl. Slowly sprinkle in the gelatin, stirring constantly. Allow the gelatin to bloom for 10 minutes. Meanwhile combine water, sugar, and lemon zest in a medium pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to low simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the solids from the syrup and return the syrup to heat along with the Cheerwine. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. Pour the hot Cheerwine mixture into the bowl with the bloomed gelatin. Mix thoroughly and ensure all gelatin is dissolved. Pour onto a sheet pan for cookie cutter shapes, into individual molds, or into ice cube trays. However you choose to shape your Cheerwiggles, set them for at least one hour in the fridge or until jiggly. Makes 24 shots.
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82 9: Cheerwine Donuts • 2 cups flour, sifted • 1 tsp baking powder • 2/3 cup sugar •1/2 tsp salt • 2 eggs • 1 tsp vanilla • 2 tbsp canola oil • 3/4cup Cheerwine Cheerwine Glaze: • 4 tbsp butter • 3 tbsp Cheerwine • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (have extra on hand, just in case) • 1/2 tsp salt Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and lightly grease the doughnut pan. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl or measuring cup, whisk to break the eggs. Add the vanilla and canola oil. Add this to the flour mix, then pour over the Cheerwine. Carefully stir to mix everything together. Avoid over-mixing. You’re looking for everything to be just combined. Spoon the batter into the baking pans. They’ll rise a little, so don’t fill each hole completely. Bake until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer pan to a wire rack to let cool for 5 minutes. Tap the doughnut pan against the counter a few times, then flip it over to slide the doughnuts out. This goes faster than pulling them out by hand, and often times ends up a bit prettier as well. Cheerwine Glaze: Melt the butter, but let it cool enough to be comfortable to handle. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the Cheerwine and salt, stirring to get rid of the fizz and make it easier to work with. Working with 1/2 cup at a time, whisk in the powdered sugar. Working quickly (the glaze will set in about 15 minutes), pour, spoon, or pipe over the doughnuts. Let the doughnuts rest for the glaze to harden, then enjoy!
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10: Cheerwine Punch Pops • 2 7.5-oz mini cans of Cheerwine • 2 7-oz. cans of pineapple juice • 1 mini can (7.5-oz) of ginger ale Combine ingredients and pour into Popsicle molds ¾ of the way to the top. Set popsicle sticks in place and store in freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight until frozen. Popsicles are ready to enjoy! ***For an adult treat – add one of these pops to a glass of Prosecco. Cheers! 11: Brown Sugar Cheerwine BBQ Sauce • 1 (12 oz) can Cheerwine • 5 oz molasses • 6 oz brown sugar •10 oz prepared, tomato barbecue sauce • 2 oz distilled white vinegar • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper • ¼ tsp black pepper • ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes • 1 oz Liquid Smoke Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour into a container and refrigerate until ready to use.
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85 audacious audacious aspics aspics
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Gelatin is a superfood and it also happens to work culinary magic. For the last several decades, gelatin has been mostly reduced to Jello. We don’t have anything against Jello, but we can’t say enough positive things about gelatin. It falls into the superfood category because it’s made almost entirely of protein, specifically, glycine. Glycine is important to brain health, and gelatin is mostly glycine. It’s also tremendously good for your skin and hair. Traditional diets, like those of our ancestors, are much higher in gelatin content than are ours because they used “nose to tail” eating, not wasting any part of the animal. This meant they ate a lot more cartilage than we do, and we render gelatin from cartilage. We need to replace the gelatin we’ve lost in our diet because it is very healing to our guts. It also protects our joints, and maybe most importantly, helps us sleep. Gelatin also does fancy tricks. It can suspend fruits, vegetables and meats, preserving their freshness, and it can stablize whipped cream so that it forms perfect peaks and stays that way for days. “Aspic” is the word we use to describe savory food that is suspended in gelatin. Meat aspics date back to prehistory, when the gelatin was used to preserve food. Tomato aspics, like the one on the previous page, were present at just about every potluck our grandmothers went to. Aspics have mostly fallen out of favor, in modern cuisine, except in the world of high- end restaurants, where chefs use gelatin as a very handy tool in their tool box. But we think you might love a tomato aspic. If you enjoy a good V-8 juice, or even a Bloody Mary, there’s not much to dislike. Tomato Aspic • 2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin (2 packets) • 1/2 cup hot water • 1/8 cup cold water • 3 1/4 cups tomato juice • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce • Poppy seeds Pour 1/8 of a cup of cold water in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Once it soaks up, stir in the hot water until all gelatin is dissolved. Then, add tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and poppy seeds. Pour in mold and let set for at least 3 hours. We also think you’ll make good use of the recipe for stablized whipped cream. So many people resort to cool whip because their whipped cream won’t hold its shape, but this is the solution to that problem! Stabilized Whipped Cream • 4 teaspoons water • 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin • 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream • 1/4 cup powdered sugar • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Pour the water, cold, into a bowl and sprinkle on the gelatin. In food processor, or with a mixer, whip the cream until it forms peaks. Add sugar and vanilla. Then microwave the gelatin water for 8 seconds or so, just until it melts, then slowly add it to your whipped cream, as you are still whipping. Use as normal! Unflavored gelatin is clear and takes on whatever flavor the liquid you use carries. This makes it an ideal way to showcase vibrant berries and fruits. You can make a simple fruit gelatin without having to use Jello!
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88 Fruit Gelatin • 2 Tablespoons of unflavored gelatin • 2 cups of 7-up or sugar water with a shot of lemon juice • 1/8 cup cold water and 1/8 cup very hot water Pour the cold water in a bowl and sprinkle on the gelatin. Once it dissolves, stir in the hot water until the gelatin melts, then add the 7-up. In molds, place sliced fruit, then gently pour your mixture. Chill. In the above recipe, you can substitute most any liquid you’d like. There are a few things like fresh pineapple, kiwi and papaya that will not allow the gelatin to set, so you’ll want to use canned versions of those fruits. These days, we mostly put sweet fruit into our gelatins, but that hasn’t always been the case. The oldest reference to aspics historians have found dates back to the 10th century. It was a ruby red fish aspic recipe made with fish heads and a good many delicious spices. As far back as the middle ages, cooks developed many aspic recipes, and in America, they gained prominence in the 1950s, before fading again, as if only a fad. But when looked at through the lens of history, aspics are most certainly not a fad, but instead a culinary tradition from which we could all draw inspiration. Try one and we think you will agree! A simple chicken and vegetable aspic is a great way to start experimenting with gelatin, but this is a great vehicle for creativity. Chicken Aspic • 2 whole chicken breasts, cooked and shredded • 1/4 cup water • 4 cups of chicken broth • 2 carrots, cooked and sliced • 2 sprigs rosemary • 1 tsp. salt • 2 tbsps. unflavored gelatin • Garlic powder Pour water into a bowl and sprinkle unflavored gelatin. When it is absorbed, mix in 4 cups of hot chicken broth, with your salt, garlic powder other spices, to taste. In your molds, place 3 carrot slices, then a mound of shredded chicken. Fill with your broth and gelatin mixture. Chill. Garnish with rosemary. Once you have the general technique of using gelatin down, you can change up your ingredients. You can use sashimi grade
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89 tuna, encase it in an aspic and top it with wasabi, for instance. Truly, the choices are limitless. Additionally, if you use enough gelatin, you can make gummies. Since gelatin is unflavored, there really is no limit to flavors of gummies...any liquid can be gummied. Gummies • 1/2 cup of fruit juice • 1 tablespoon honey • 2 tablespoons gelatin • gummy bear molds Pour the fruit juice into a saucepan and add the honey. Once hot, add gelatin then pour into gummy bear molds. Chill for one hour. Truly, gelatin offers endless possibilities. We recommend using it to thicken your soups, sauces and stews as well. We hope you enjoy experimentation with gelatin! The Olde Hickory Station is the historic train station in the center of Downtown! Restored and operated by Olde Hickory Brewery, this restaurant and market offers seasonal, regional and imported specialties. 828.322.2356 OLDEHICKORYSTATION.COM 232 Government Ave SW Hickory, NC
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90 G etting into Jams Everyone loves a good jam and there’s no better way to preserve the sweetness of fruit than to make a jam. There is an endless combination of flavors for jams, and once you understand the basics of the recipe, you will feel free to experiment. The words “jams,” “jellies,” and “preserves” are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings, based on the form of the fruit used in the recipe. Jams use crushed fruit or pulp, while jellies use juice. Preserves get their fruit in the form of syrups or gel, with chunks of fruit in it. All of these use pectin and sugar to firm up something, usually fruity, although you can certainly make savory jams, like bacon with peppers.
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92 When you are making a jam, the key is to use good quality fruit, a nice sugar and bottled lemon juice. Most recipes need pectin but certain slow-cook jams do not. All jellies will need pectin to set. The general recipe is as follows, and we will use strawberries. You can replace the strawberries with most any kind of fruit you’d like, but be ready to adjust your sugar to taste. Strawberry Jam • 2 quarts strawberries, cut and chopped to yield approximately 5 cups • 7 cups sugar • 1⁄2 teaspoon butter • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • 1 box pectin (SureJell) Put the crushed berries into a pot with lemon juice and stir the SureJell into the them. Add butter and bring this to a rolling boil. Add sugar and return to boil for exactly one minute. Remove from heat and skim off any foam with a spoon. Spoon your mixture into precleaned and heated glass jars. Place heated lids on glass jars and close tightly. Place in a waterbath canner for 5 minutes. Waterbath canning is a process in which you submerge your cans into boiling water for a specified amount of time. Acidic foods can be canned this way, but many other foods require a pressure cooker to can, like green beans. The process for jellies is a little different, since you are working with liquid instead of pieces of fruit. Our key recipe uses muscadine juice, but you can substitute juice you’d like. Muscadine Jelly • 5 cups of fresh muscadine juice • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice • 6 cups of sugar • 1 box pectin (SureJell) Bring the juices to a rolling boil then add 1 box of pectin. Add all sugar at once and cook for exactly one minute. Skim the foam and pour into hot jars, using hot lids to close the jars and place in a waterbath canner (in a large pot, covered with boiling water) for 15 minutes. Preserves are also a little different, and our key recipe will use figs. Figs are a great thing to make preserves with, mainly because
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93 figs produce two fast harvests and if you have a fig tree, you are likely overwhelmed with figs twice a year. This recipe doesn’t even need pectin. Fig Preserves • 6 pounds fresh figs • 6 pounds granulated sugar • 3 lemons (very thinly sliced with seeds removed) Clean and destem the figs. Put in a pot and cover with the sugar. Leave overnight. In the morning, cook it over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Stir constantly. Reduce the heat to low and then add the sliced lemons. Cook on low for 3 hours. Sterilize and heat your jars and lids, fill and then submerge your jars in boiling water for 15 minutes. Watermelon is a special treat in the foothills and it’s a great jelly souce. Use the muscadine jelly recipe, but replace the muscadine juice with fresh watermelon juice mixed with 1/3 cup of white wine vinegar. The best way to get the watermelon juice is to food process watermelon chunks then strain the mixture, discarding the pulp. To make a great jalepeno jam, you can use the strawberry jam recipe and replace the strawberry with a pureed mixture of 2 jalapeno peppers, 3 medium green peppers and 1-1/2 cups white vinegar. Add some cayenne pepper as it cooks, and some green food coloring if you feel like it. To make bacon pepper jam , you’ll use the strawberry recipe, replacing the strawberries with 3 peppers, 2 small onions, and 4 cloves of garlic, the butter with bacon grease, add some brown sugar and maple syrup, and then near the end you’ll add pieces of bacon. Be sure you don’t skip the steps of sanitizing your jars, and be sure to keep your jars in the waterbath long enough. Happy jamming!
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94 There are two basic types of pickling. The first uses acid, generally vinegar, to lower the pH of a food to prevent spoilage. The second uses a salty brine mix that encourages fermentation. The good bacteria growth involved in fermentation discourages the bad bacteria growth that spoils food. Our forebearers were skilled with both types of pickling, and you can tell because of how often we use bread and butter pickles and chow-chow. We have a few tips for either kind of pickling. First, always use fresh vegetables, and get them from your garden or from a farmer’s market. Grocery stores will use wax and that complicates things. Use pickling salt, NOT iodized salt. Aim for vinegar with approximately 5% acidity. And lastly, if you want crisper veggies, slice them up and then cover them in salt for the night. Rinse them off in the morning and start your recipe! You don’t have to stop with cucumbers. Pickled carrots are particularly delicious, but you can pickle most any food! Bread and Butter Pickles • 10 cups cucumbers, sliced • 1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced • 1/4 cup canning salt • 1 cup sugar • 1 cup water • 1 cup white vinegar • 1/2 cup cider vinegar • 3 tablespoons mustard seed • 2 teaspoon celery seed • 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns • 12 garlic cloves, crushed • 6 bay leaves Combine the cucumbers, onions and salt. Mix in a little ice. Wait 2 hours then drain, rinse and drain again. Mix other ingredients over high heat and bring to a boil. Fill hot and clean jars with your cucumber/onion mixture then fill each bottle with the brine you have boiled. After screwing on lids, process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Chow Chow • 1/2 cabbage head, shredded • 2 tablespoons salt • 1/2 cup diced yellow onion • 1/2 cup fresh corn • 1 cup diced tomato • 1/2 cup diced green pepper • 1/2 cup diced red pepper • 2 cloves garlic Put your cabbage in a large bowl and toss with the salt. Leave for 30 minutes then rinse. Vigorously press the cabbage to release any liquid. Now add the other ingredients to your bowl. Transfer this to jars, pressing down to get any air out that you can. Pour the brine over the mixture. All of the solid matter should be submerged into the brine. Cover the top with cheesecloth or a coffee filter and secure. Wait 4-5 days then it should be properly fermented. Serve, or put on a lid and put it in the fridge. Pickling
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96 2 2 1 1 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 13 13 A perfect charcuterie board is a mix of savory, salty and sweet, with crunchy elements, cheeses and spreads. This one contains products regional to NC unless noted. We got most of them from the excellent shop at the Olde Hickory Station. 1: Ridge Blue from the Blue Ridge Mountain Creamery in Fairview 2: Sweet Sopressata by Cheshire Pork in Elon 3: Golden raisins soaked in moonshine made by Mayberry Spirits Distillery in Mount Airy 4: Proscuitto from Edwards Ham in Surry, Virginia. 5: Creamy Classic Chèvre Log from Goat Lady Dairy in Climax 6: Bertie County Honey Roasted Peanuts 7: Black Label White Cheddar from Ashe County Cheese in West Jefferson. 8: Hot Sopressata from Cheshire Pork in Elon 9: Apples from Sugarloaf Orchard in Wilkes County 10: Cloister Honey from Charlotte 11: Horseradish Cheddar from Ashe County Cheese12: Elderberry Ginger Pecan Jam from Norm’s Farms in Missouri 13: Mack’s Livermush from Shelby 14: Homemade pickles (pg 94) 15: Rosemary and Garlic Crackers from The Accidental Baker in Beaufort. Charcuterie Charcuterie
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98 Southern Classics Fried Chicken • 2 tablespoons pepper • 1 tablespoon garlic powder • 2 teaspoons oregano • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper • 1 cup buttermilk • 1 egg • Salt • Chicken, cut into legs, wings, breasts, etc. • 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour • 1⁄2 cup cornstarch • 1 teaspoon baking powder • 4 cups of fat. This is usually peanut oil but you can use most fats, so long as they have a high smoke point. Mix your spices in a small bowl. Whisk the buttermilk with the egg and salt then add 2 tablespoons of the spice mixture. Put this in a gallon size Ziploc with your chicken and make sure all the chicken is coated. Let it sit between 4 to 8 hours, giving it an occasional flip. Then, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and the remaining spices in a large bowl and add about 3 tablespoons of the buttermilk brine from the bag and mix. Then, coat your chicken in that mix. Fry your chicken in hot oil for 6 minutes on first side and 4 on the next side, then transfer to 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until the thickest part of a breast is 150 degrees. Southerners have a tendency to know how to cook, and there are a handful of recipes that most every Southerner knows. We’re sharing our favorite versions of these recipes.
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99 F U R N I S H I N G H O M E S A R O U N D T H E W O R L D F O R 6 0 Y E A R S THE PERFECT RECIPE ALWAYS INCLUDES THE FINEST INGREDIENTS www.hickoryfurniture.com | 1-800-462-MART (6278) Proudly supporting our local craftsmen, manufacturers and retailers. Proudly supporting our local craftsmen, manufacturers and retailers.
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101 Veggie Soup • Ground venison or beef • 1 onion, chopped • 3 medium potatoes, cubed • 1 pound of mixed veggies • 14 ounces canned tomatoes • 1 can of red kidney beans • Salt and pepper • Spices to taste • 4 cups of broth • 3 cups of water First, you will heat some oil and carmelize your onion. Then, add the ground meat and cook. Add seasonings and salt. Add your broth and potatoes and cook for 30 minutes. Add the vegetables and tomatoes and water and cook for another 30 minutes at least. Serve with cornbread. Meatloaf • 2 Tbsp butter • 1 cup diced onion • 1 celery rib, diced • 1/2 apple, diced • 1/2 cup chopped green onion, with ends • 4 cloves garlic, minced • 2 teaspoon salt • 1/2 teaspoon pepper • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce • 2/3 cup tomato paste • 2 pounds ground red meat. Beef is fine. A mix of half bear and half venison is amazing. • 3/4 cup bread crumbs • 1/4 corn meal • 2 large eggs • Fresh herbs Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the onions until soft. Add in the celery, apple and garlic and cook for 4 minutes. Combine your cooked mixture with the salt, pepper, 1/3 of the tomato paste, one teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, the bread crumbs, the corn meal and 2 large eggs. Put in a baking tray and top with a mixture of 1/3 cup of tomato paste, fresh herbs and one teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. Bake for 45 minutes and sprinkle with fresh herbs.
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102 Chicken and Dumplings • 1 chicken cut into pieces • 1 onion • 3 large carrots cut into quarters • 3 stalks celery cut into quarters • 6 cups chicken broth • Salt & pepper or other simple spices For dumplings: • 2 cups flour plus extra for dusting • 1/3 cup shortening • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder • 3/4 cup milk • 1/2 teaspoon salt Additional Ingredients: • 4 tablespoons cornstarch • Parsley for garnish Cook the chicken in a pot with the vegetables and the chicken broth until the chicken is very tender. This will take a little less than an hour. While it is cooking, make the dumplings. Mix flour (all but one quarter cup), baking powder, salt and shortening with a fork until shortening is well mixed. Add milk until dough is soft. You may not need all of it. Knead the dough then roll it out, sprinkling flour as needed. When 1/8 of an inch thick, cut it into 2 inch pieces. Remove cooked chicken and vegetables from the broth. Discard bones and skin, save veggies for a side, and return the chicken meat to the pot, followed by the raw dumplings. Be gentle. Simmer 15-20 minutes. You can add the cornstarch to thicken and garnish with parsley, but neither of those steps is required. Macaroni and Cheese • 3/4 pound macaroni pasta • 1 stick of butter • Salt • Pepper • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour • 2.5 cups of milk • 2 cups of shredded cheddar Topping Ingredients: • 1 1/2 cups of panko or bread crumbs • 4 tablespoons of melted butter • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese Cook the pasta one minute less than recommended, drain and set aside. Make a roux by melting the butter then slowly whisk in the flour, salt and pepper. Stir for 4 minutes or so until the roux turns darker. Whisk in the milk and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add the cheese and cook until melted. Pour noodles into pan, stir in cheese sauce. Make topping by combining topping ingredients and sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
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103 Collard Greens with Fatback • A mess* (probably 2 pounds) of collard greens • 5 strips of fatback De-stem the collards then soak them in cold water. Stack about 4 or 5 leaves at a time and roll them up like you are making sushi or a cigar. Cut the roll every half inch or so, giving you strips. In your biggest pot, you need to render the fatback. Cook it on high heat until it begins to melt. You could also use hog jowl for this purpose but we like fatback. After it’s melting well, fill the pot halfway with water. Bring this to a boil then start adding your greens. They won’t all fit, so let them cook down, then add more. Once it’s all in there, season with salt and pepper, then bring it to a boil once more. Then, simmer for 1.5 hours. Serve with a splash of good vinegar. *”Mess” as an amount generally means whatever amount you need to feed your family. Sweet Potato Casserole • 4 medium sized sweet potatoes • 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted • 1/2 cup whole milk or whipping cream • 1/3 cup maple syrup • Teaspoon vanilla extract • Sprinkle of teaspoon ground nutmeg • Teaspoon of salt For Topping: • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened • 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar • 3/4 cup pecan, finely chopped • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon • Pinch of fine salt Bake the sweet potatoes in a 425 degree oven until soft. Reduce heat to 350. Scoop sweet potatoes out into a bowl. Add the butter, milk, maple syrup, vanilla, nutmeg and whip it together until it is creamy. Put the mixture into your casserole dish. Mix together all of the topping ingredients and spoon evenly on top of your casserole. Bake for 30 minutes.
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104 Rabbit Stew • 1 rabbit, cut up into pieces. • 2 medium onions, sliced in half, with skin on for color • 4 carrots, sliced • 2 ribs of celery, sliced • 1 whole garlic, separated into cloves • Fresh thyme • Bay leaf • 4 cups of broth • 4 cups white wine • 1/2 cup of flour • Salt and pepper • 1/2 stick of butter Dredge rabbit in flour then salt and pepper it. Melt the butter and gently brown the rabbit pieces. Add celery, onion, garlic cloves, salt, pepper, bay leaf, broth and wine then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for two hours. Don’t rush it. Add carrots and any other vegetables you’d like to include, then cook for 30 more minutes. If you’d like a thicker stew, mix 1/3 cup of cold water with 1/4 cup of flour until the lumps disappear, then slowly stir this into your stew. Roasted Radishes • 1 bunch of radishes • 1 tablespoon of olive oil • Freshly chopped parsley • Salt and pepper to taste Preheat your oven to 400. Slice your radishes and coat them in olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Roast them, face down in a pan. This will likely take about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the radishes. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and serve hot. Lettuce Or Creasy Greens with Green Onions • 1 head of lettuce • Small handful of green onions • Bacon and grease • 1/4 Cup of good vinegar • 1 TBS of brown sugar Cook bacon and set it aside to cool. Cut your lettuce. Alternately, you can use creasy greens. Cut up green onions and gently cook them in the bacon grease. Once they are soft, add the vinegar and brown sugar. Assemble the greens in a serving bowl and crumble bacon into it. Pour the hot oil mixture directly on the greens. They will wilt slightly. Serve immediately. Always delicious, but best when served with pinto beans and cornbread.
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106 Boiled Peanuts • 4 quarts of water • 1/2 cup salt • 2 pounds of raw (green) peanuts Boil 4 quarts of water with the salt, and then add the green peanuts. Heat to boiling again, then reduce heat and maintain a simmering boil for about 2.5 hours, depending on how soft you like them. You can soak in salt water overnight to reduce the cooking time. You can also add things like shrimp boil seasoning to your water, but a simple salt water boil will suffice. Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Maple Syrup • 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed • 3 tablespoons maple syrup • 4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2- inch pieces, cooked • Bacon grease • Salt • Pepper Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and coat your Brussels sprouts in bacon grease, maple syrup and salt and pepper. Stir the bacon into your mix and bake for 45 minutes. Pinto Beans • 1 pound dried pinto beans • 8 cups water • 1 smoked ham hock or fat back • 3 chicken bouillon cubes • 1 medium onion, chopped • Salt Soak your dry beans in water overnight. Add all ingredients to a big pot and cook on medium low for about 2 hours, or until soft. Remove the ham hock, shred the meat, and return it to the pot, if desired. Serve with onions or chow chow and cornbread.
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107 & BREWER BREWER 204 East Main Street, Wilkesboro, NC 28697 www.brewerandbrewer.com | 336-667-1441 Serving Clients for Four Generations Call Us For A FREE Consultation! • Traffic Offenses / D.W.I. • Divorce / Custody / Support • Workers’ Compensation • Serious Injury Accidents • Deeds, Wills, Corporations • Product Liability • Real Estate, Contracts • Criminal Law 2021 Sponsor of Carolina Bible Camp Bluegrass Festival and 2021 Sponsor of Merlefest Autograph Tent
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108 Standard Deviled Eggs • 6 eggs (plus a couple extra in case they don’t peel pretty) • 1/4 cup mayonnaise • 1 teaspoon white vinegar • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard • 1/8 teaspoon salt • Pepper • Paprika Hardboil the eggs. Carefully peel them and slice them in half. Scoop out the yolks and mix with the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. Fill the egg whites with this mixture and sprinkle with paprika. From Scratch Deviled Eggs • 13 eggs • 1 cup oil • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 2 teaspoons mustard powder • 2 Tablespoons of vinegar • Pepper • Paprika Hardboil 12 eggs. Carefully peel them and slice them in half. Scoop out the yolks and reserve. In food processor, place one raw egg, a splash of your oil, salt, mustard powder and pepper. Blend until it turns light then slowly add the rest of the oil as you blend. Add vinegar at the end, blending well. Mix this with your hard-boiled yolks then scoop or squeeze from a bag into the whites of the eggs. Deviled Egg Variations Sprinkle with hot sauce and poppy seeds (at right). Add beet juice and sprinkle with paprika and sesame seeds (at right). Add sriracha and fresh lime juice. Sprinkle with chili powder. Add pickle juice, sliced pickles, and a bit of dried dill to your yolk mixture. Add fresh bacon, ground pepper and a tablespoon of fresh herbs. Garnish with fresh herbs. Use the same recipe for the eggs, but use any variation of homemade mayonnaise. Our favorite for deviled eggs is the bacon mayonnaise variation you can read about in the mayonnaise article. Use lemon juice instead of vinegar and add curry powder. Use fresh avocado instead of mayo. Garnish with cilantro. Add broccoli and cheese. Add in capers, dill, and smoked salmon Add buffalo sauce, Greek yogurt and black pepper. Stir in chicken and cheese. Top with hot sauce. Add bleu cheese. Top with candied walnuts. Add soy sauce and wasabi. Top with sesame seeds. Add 1 tablespoon chopped basil, 1 teaspoon mustard and the juice of 1/2 lemon then stir in 8 ounces lump crabmeat. Add warm pulled pork and 2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce. Instead of mayo, use hummus and plain yogurt. Add sesame oil and top with sesame seeds. Skip the mayo and add red bell pepper, broccoli, celery, carrot, scallion and parsley plus cream cheese. Add cheddar and sliced, pickled jalapenos. Top with salsa. Add Ranch dressing and top with scallion. Add anchovies and garlic cloves. Top with parsley. Add truffle oil, parsley, chives, tarragon, and chervil. Top with a sprig of parsley. Mix onion dip and finely chopped chives or scallions and top with fried onions. Mix in horseradish and extra mayonnaise and top with thinly sliced rare roast beef. Tips Peel your eggs under cold, running water. Use eggs that are at least a few days old. Shock the eggs in cold water as soon as you take them out. Add half a teaspoon of baking soda to your egg water once it’s boiling. It will help the eggs peel easier. It’s easiest to use an icing bag to fill the eggs in the final stages. If you have an Instant Pot, this is when you want to use it. They make excellent boiled eggs. It’s hard to mess this up, so give yourself creative license.
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110 Spiced Pawpaw Cake WHAT IS A PAWPAW? It’s been called the American Custard Apple and the West Virginia Banana. It’s a fruit that grows here in the wild and it tastes like a mix of banana and mango. They are packed with magnesium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, potassium, and phosphorus and Vitamin C. While delicious, they don’t travel well, and so they’ve never become popular in grocery stores. When you can find some, grab them up! They are delicious chilled or in a cake like this one! Cake • 2 cups all purpose flour • 1 tsp baking soda • 1/2 tsp salt • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 1/2 cup lard • 3/4 cup brown sugar • 2 eggs, beaten • 2½ cups paw paw puree Crumbs • 1/3 cup leaf lard • 1/3 cup quick oats • 1/3 cup flour • 1/3 cup brown sugar • 1/3 tsp cinnamon • 1/3 tsp salt Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your Bundt pan. Melt the lard, then cool it to room temperature and beat in the brown sugar, then the eggs. Beat well then add the vanilla and pawpaw puree. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt and mix with the pawpaw mix. Don’t overmix. In a small bowl, mix crumb ingredients. Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan and then top with the crumb mixture. Bake between 60 and 90 minutes, or when a toothpick comes out clean. Pawpaw custard • 1 cup of milk • 1 cup of cream • 3 eggs • 3/4 c. sugar • 1 pureed pawpaw pulp • 1 tablespoon of allspice To your pureed pawpaw pulp, add milk, cream, sugar, egg and a tablespoon of allspice. Pour this into custard cups. Set those in a bread pan half-filled with water. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean.
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111 ADVANCE TICKETS $ 15 Jussi Syren and the Groundbreakers His & Hers BackPorch Bluegrass Featuring free kids’ activities – unique vendors – delicious foods classic car show – auction WWW.CBCBLUEGRASS.COM – Carolina Bible Camp 1988 Jericho Church Road – Mocksville, NC & BREWER BREWER SCYTHIAN Bluegras 9 Annual Carolina Bible Camp Festiva SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 th
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Banana Pudding with Meringue • 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour • 1 1/2 cups sugar • dash of salt • 3 large egg yolks • 3 cups of milk • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1 box vanilla wafers • 6 bananas • 3 egg whites reserved from above • 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar • 1/4 cup sugar • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a pot, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Lightly beat the eggs and milk together and add them to the pot. Heat over medium until thick, stirring constantly. Add the vanilla once thick. In your serving dish, line the bottom with vanilla wafers, then slices of banana, then 1/3 of the mixture. Repeat these layers to top of pan. Whip the egg whites with cold beaters on high speed. When it’s foamy, add the cream of tartar and slowly add the sugar and vanilla. Spread this over the pudding and bake for 25 minutes.
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113 Ginger Molasses Cake from Granny Eckard • 1/2 cup butter • 1 egg beaten • 1 1/2 cup molasses • 1/2 cup applesauce • 3/4 cup hot water • 2 1/2 cups sifted flours • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • 1 teaspoon ginger • 1/2 teaspoon cloves • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla Cream butter, egg and applesauce. Sift dry ingredients. Mix molasses with hot water. Add dry ingredients alternately with the liquid, a little at a time. Beat after last addition. Add vanilla. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and serve with applesauce. Pumpkin Pie • 12 cups pureed pumpkin • 1 cup cream • 3 large eggs • 2 tablespoons pure cane syrup • 1/2 cup sugar • 1/2 cup brown sugar • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt • 1/4 teaspoon cardamom • 1/4 teaspoon cloves • 1/4 teaspoon ginger For Flaky Crust • 2 1/2 cups flour • 1 tablespoon sugar • 1 teaspoon baking powder • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 cup cold lard, cut into 1⁄2-inch cubes • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar • 1/2 cup ice water • 1 large egg, lightly beaten • 2 tablespoons sugar Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut in lard using a pastry blender. Stir vinegar with ice water and drip this onto the flour mixture until it’s all holds together. Roll this out, flatten and fold over several times. Divide into two disks, wrap, and refrigerate over night. In the morning, shape these into pie crusts, and chill for 30 more minutes. Preheat to 400 degrees. Put a piece of aluminum foil and a pie weight or marbles and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more. To make filling, combine all filling ingredients. Put into pie pan cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and add a plop of marshmallow cream, bake for 10 minutes more.
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114 Long before white men arrived on the continent, a great many Native American nations worked the earth, and lived in harmony with the land. Western North Carolina was home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Catawba Indian Nation, among others. While each of these nations had very different ways of living, many of them used the same method to grow corn, squash and beans. This method was called “The Three Sisters,” and it offered many benefits to the plants. The different groups have different stories that they tell about the three sisters, like the following: There were once three sisters who loved each other very much, and they never wanted to be apart. They were each very different but they were only happy when they were together. The oldest sister was tall and graceful. She had golden hair and a pale green scarf, and her name was Corn. She loved reaching up to greet the sun. The middle sister was curious, and she liked to twine around her sister corn, like she was giving her a big hug. Her name was Bean. Their youngest sister was still young and liked to crawl on the ground around their feet. But she was very brave, and she protected her older sisters from danger. Her name was Squash. On warm summer nights, the three sisters would turn into young women who would dance in the starlight. All farmers know of how much these sisters love each other, and so they are always planted together. When these three plants are planted together, they support each other in concrete ways. The beans usually need to climb a pole as they grow, and the stalk of the corn works nicely. The beans provide the corn with the nitrogen they need. The squash provides cover for the ground which keeps it moist and shaded, and pests tend to stay away when these three plants exist together.
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115 To try the Three Sisters method yourself, follow these directions: • In early June, create mounds of earth to plant in, and separate your mound centers by about 4 feet. Each mound should be about a foot tall and two feet across. • Into the center of each mound, plant 5 or 6 corn kernels in a circular pattern. • After a week and a half or so, when the corn is about 5 inches tall, plant 7-8 pole beans in a circle, about 6 inches larger than the corn seed circle. • In a week, at the edge of your mound, plant 10 pumpkin seeds. • Once the plants grow, weed out the weaker corn plants, keeping only one or two, and also weed out the weak or small bean and squash plants. • The beans should grow up the corn stalks, and the squash should provide ground cover. • Enjoy your harvest!
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116 The First Strawberries A Cherokee Tale When time was new, the first man and the first woman lived together next to a beautiful, flowing river. They had everything they needed to be happy and safe, like plenty of meat, delicious berries, and clean, fresh water. For a long time they were very happy together. But then they began to quarrel. At first their arguments were small. The man spoke crossly at his wife when she picked flowers instead of making dinner, and this made her angry. As their arguments escalated, they grew more and more annoyed with each other. One day, after they had argued and thrown wooden spoons at each other, the woman had had enough and she decided to leave their home. She woke early and quietly walked away, toward the sun. She walked very quickly over the land, never once looking back, because her anger was so fierce. Her husband woke up and immediately noticed that she was gone, but he thought she would come home, so he waited. But she didn’t come home, and he was only wasting his time by waiting. He went to look for her, and he found her tracks. He followed them all day, but she had been walking much longer than he had, and he couldn’t catch up. He was terribly disheartened and he missed his wife. The sun was high in the sky now, looking down on both the husband and the wife. He could see that there was great unhappiness, and he wanted to help. The sun asked the man if he was still angry with his wife, and he replied that no, he wasn’t. He only missed her. The sun asked if he would like to have her back, and the man answered very adamantly that yes, he did. So the sun took pity on the man and set out to help him. As the woman walked along the path, the sun caused a huckleberry bush to grow in her path, but she was very determined, and did not even notice. The sun tried again, this time causing a blackberry bush full of plump berries to grow next to her. But again, she did not even notice. So the sun decided he needed to
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117 make something else-something to bright, fragrant and delicious that the woman simply wouldn’t be able to ignore it. And then the first strawberries grew in her path, right in front of her feet. And she did notice! She picked one and was amazed at the sweet, juicy fruit. Immediately, she forgot her anger and began to think of the sweetness of her marriage. She looked down at the half eaten berry and the heart shape reminded her of her love. She wanted her husband to try this new treasure! She stopped walking and gathered as many strawberries as she could, so that she could bring them home to her husband. This allowed him time to catch up with her, and he found her picking the berries with a smile on her face. He sat down quietly and smiled and she brought him some strawberries. They both realized how great their love was and they went home together, happy.
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Strawberry Cake • 1 box cake mix • 1/2 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen) • 1/2 cup water • 1 box strawberry jello • 1 cup oil • 4 eggs • 2 cups of powdered sugar • 1/2 cup strawberries • 1/2 stick softened butter Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients for cake and bake until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. *Don’t add additional frozen strawberries. It will make your cake will fall. When cool, ice. To make your icing, beat the powdered sugar, softened butter and 1/2 cup of strawberries until it looks good.
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123 E at in styl e By Donna Steele All chefs know a secret: presentation matters. Eating doesn’t only involve your sense of taste. It is an extremely sensory experience, and chefs take advantage of this fact by presenting their food beautifully and artfully. Interior designers and event planners also know how important presentation is, and they can help you! In your own home, you can enhance your dining experience by thoughtfully selecting beautiful tableware. The options are truly endless, so you’ll want to think about the look you are trying to capture. It’s a good idea to invest in dishes and glassware that are a neutral color. It’s easy to add color with flowers, linens and centerpieces. Most dishes will fall into one of these categories: • Porcelain China-delicate, durable and upscale. • Bone China-porcelain made with bone powder. Lenox is a good example. • Earthenware-affordable, glazed ceramics. • Stoneware-more durable than earthenware. Includes Fiesta and Pfaltzgraff. • Melamine-these are plastic and virtually unbreakable. • Vitrified Glass-glass that has been specially treated to be lightweight and hard to break, like Corelle. You’ll also want to be sure to find nice silverware and linens. We particularly like the napkins shown with embroidery featuring the words, " B on appéti t. ” Flower arrangements can set an elegant and light-hearted mood for a table. They provide another element to the sensory experience with their aroma. Individual flower vases invite one to interact with the blossoms. We believe in bringing artfulness to the dinner table, and we hope you will too.
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William Shakespeare was correct to observe that “music be the food of love.” This playlist might help you get the food to the table for those you love! Enjoy a sample of the musical artists featured in this issue of Foothills Digest , our food artists’ recommendations, and a few of my own favorites. Kruger Brothers, “Keep That Skillet Good and Greasy” from the album Carolina Scrapbook . The Krugers use this terrific tune as the theme song for their online show, Food Notes . Kruger Brothers, “People Get Ready” from the album Best of the Kruger Brothers . This soulful, hopeful song is sure to cast a happy mood over your kitchen! Kruger Brothers, “Up 18 North” from the eponymous album. Yes, it’s written about the gorgeous Highway 18 North in Wilkes County, NC. A Baker’s Dozen A Baker’s Dozen Kitchen Playlist Kitchen Playlist By Lisa Brewer By Lisa Brewer
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125 His & Hers, also known as Caleb and Sara Davis, do a terrific kitchen song called “Possum Pie.” Find it online at Muddy Creek Music Hall or on their excellent latest album, Family Land . Joe Mullins & His Radio Ramblers will make themselves warmly welcome in your kitchen! Don’t miss one of my favorite tunes, “Bacon In My Beans” from their CD For The Record . Joe Barksdale performs “Blackbird” from his collection, Sincerely . This former NFL offensive tackle-turned-guitarist and vocalist makes his home and his music in Austin, Texas. Joe Barksdale’s selection “Joy Bells” is from his CD Butterflies, Rainbows, & Moonbeams. The CD can be purchased from his website, www. josephbarksdale.com and trust me, it’s on every week in my kitchen. Featuring Rebecca Jade and the Ken Turner Gospel Choir, let this song serve as the call to your people to come gather ‘round for the blessing before the meal! Elvis is in the house! Don’t miss Editor Carmen Eckard’s article in this issue on foraging for pokeweed. But watch out for Poke Salad Annie! Jens Kruger, “Slow Lights” from the album Profile by Jens Kruger . So special! Clay Lunsford, “Just Us.” This is such a beautifully rendered tune! Frank Sinatra and the music of his generation are favorites of beloved River House proprietor Gayle Winston. We think Ol’ Blue Eyes’ “The Way You Look Tonight” from his album Nothing But the Best is the perfect nod to Gayle and her hospitality. Pianist Emile Pandolfi is a frequent guest performer at The River House. “Once Upon a Dream” from his album Once Upon a Romance is a perfect blend of Tchaikovsky waltz and background music for your dinner. Willie Nelson’s “Stay All Night, Stay a little Longer” (here, from his 1973 album Shotgun Willie ) has been used to close many a show. Insider sources tell us that Clay and Jean Lunsford have been known to play Willie Nelson songs in their kitchen!
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126 By Lisa Brewer Clay Lunsford plays guitar with the grateful heart of a man who appreciates his God-given talent, and the precision of an engineer who knows what to do with it. Many folks know him because of his blood ties to the most famous song ever written about an infamous homemade beverage. A retired district engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, he is renowned for playing both acoustic and electric guitar in the thumb-picking style. And he comes by his talent honestly. The Lunsford family name is well known in bluegrass music circles. Clay’s late great-uncle, attorney and cultural preservationist Bascom Lamar Lunsford, wrote the original 1928 version of the song “Mountain Dew.” The lawyer had frequently found himself defending clients who had been accused of making illegal moonshine, and he wrote the song about the experience. Legend has it that in the courtroom, attorney Lunsford persuaded the presiding judge to taste the evidence, asking, “Is it truly a crime for my client to manufacture the liquid you just partook?” Allegedly, the judge replied, “With liquor this good, it would be a crime not to!” In 1935, Lunsford’s friend Scotty Wiseman updated the verses to create the more familiar modern version, sharing royalties with the elder Lunsford. “Bascom was a lot of different things,” Clay Lunsford said in a recent telephone interview from his Iredell County home. “The University of Kentucky wrote a full volume biography of him that is interesting to read.” Clay’s life is just as interesting. As one of seven children born to musically inclined parents, he grew up with weekend musical get-togethers and the entertainment provided by a battery-powered radio. At age seven, young Clay was inspired That Good Ol'’ Mountain Clay Guitarist Clay Lunsford to take up the guitar. A friend and neighbor, an African- American sharecropper named Mr. D. Williams, would come to play and Lunsford would watch, fascinated.
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127 “Mr. Williams had such a smooth roll,” Lunsford recalled. “I can still hear him doing that. The fourth finger on his right hand had been cut off at the tip at the sawmill. But boy, could he play!” Lunsford grew up in the backyard of the Union Grove Fiddler’s Convention. It was there as a sixth-grader that he first heard Doc Watson and Don Reno play. He loved hearing guitarist Merle Travis on the radio and was strongly influenced by him and by Chet Atkins. A Fender Mustang electric guitar was Lunsford’s first powered instrument. He even stood alongside old-time acoustic music players backing them up on it. “Bascom had no problem with that,” Clay recalled. Lunsford served in the United States Army from 1965 to 1968. He was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. “Everywhere I went, I got involved with music,” he said. “It was a gift from God. In Germany, a bird colonel got us to play at a lot of events.” Throughout his long career as a Department of Transportation highway engineer and district supervisor, Lunsford found time for music. He and his brothers formed The Gospel Voices band, playing every weekend at churches and other venues. “We’ve been on the road for 53 years, every weekend since I got out of the service,” Lunsford said. Lunsford was tender as he pointed out that his wife, Jean, always greeted him after each and every gig – upwards of 10,000, he figures – with a smile. “She has always listened to my music here when I’ve been practicing. She’s never indicated it’s gotten old to her,” he said. “Today, at 74, it’s an everyday scenario when I get to sit down in my recliner,” Lunsford said. “I have a guitar, just tinkering with it. The joy I see in people’s faces, what the good Lord gave to me, I’m giving it away to them. It’s not about glory or your name in lights, not for me. I’ve been blessed. I have a good job and a good family and my music has gone hand in hand with that.” Lunsford feels similarly about his good friend and master guitar luthier Wayne Henderson, whom he calls, “the real deal.” “I asked him one time, I said, ‘Wayne, have you got any idea on these guitars, the thousands that he’s made, the joy over this world that you’ve given through that guitar that the performer plays for people to listen?’” Lunsford recalled. “All the different tastes that the good Lord has given to different musicians….” Lunsford said, trailing off in thought. Whether your taste runs to bluegrass, jazz, gospel, or even the Beatles, Clay Lunsford plays it and make it uniquely his. And for that, we’ll shut up our mugs! You can reach Clay Lunsford and order his CDs at guitar@yadtel.net. Bascom Lamar Lunsford performs his song, “Mountain Dew.” Merle Travis and The Cannonball Rag.
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128 By Lisa Brewer Herzlichkeit: (ˈhɛrʦlɪçkait/) (German) warmth, cordiality How many superlatives does human language have to convey the authentic warmth of brothers Uwe and Jens Kruger? Not nearly enough. The Swiss-born master musicians now call North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, their home. During a recent FaceTime interview to discuss their Food Notes YouTube series, the brothers’ faces, gestures, and lightly-accented English indicated their genuine enthusiasm for music, food, and life itself. “We are the worst actors,” elder brother Uwe the guitarist, said. We can’t fake having fun… and as an entertainer, this is what we owe our audience. “We let our humanity shine through,” he said. Although the COVID-19 global pandemic has halted live musical performances before in- person audiences, the Krugers’ legendary creativity found imaginative outlets to benefit everyone. Food Notes was one project. “I realized people had this stale bread,” Uwe said, “and I made a five-minute thing for bread dumplings [SemmelKnodel]. We had over 12,000 views! I started joking about doing a cooking show.” Banjoist Jens Kruger’s kitchen was “big enough” to get the job done according to Uwe, and the show began, featuring nourishing, economical and mouth-watering Swiss recipes. The program’s theme song? A traditional and catchy bluegrass tune called, “Keep That Skillet Good and Greasy,” of course. The cooking show features a perfect blend of the brothers’ food preparation, playful banter, and world-class live music while the dishes cook. All recipes are available on their website, www.krugerbrothers.com. On the day of the interview, Jens had been honored with yet another award: induction into the Banjo Hall of Fame. Fresh from playing with his grandchildren, he was ready to talk about the intersection of food, music, and joy. “Where there’s a Kruger, there’s a party!” Jens said. “When we play a show here in the kitchen, we know we’re not the best musicians in the world, but we can still create the atmosphere. We do the best we can to make people feel good.” The 2013 winner of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music (which means he is, in fact, one of the best in the world) believes musicians have a responsibility with their performances. “You’re taking people’s heartbeats away from their life, and you’d better use it in a way that benefits them. It’s an obligation,” Jens said. The brothers’ combined talents and achievements in music are fascinating, but it’s worth noting that they know their way around a kitchen, too. Uwe’s mother taught him to read when he was only three, and his grandmother handed him a brochure of recipes that had been delivered in a package from the American charitable group, CARE. Uwe was encouraged to learn to cook everything in the brochure, using items like rice, canned peaches, and corned beef in the package. His parents and grandparents had known what hunger was, and his grandmother didn’t want him to go hungry. “It shaped our attitudes toward food,” Uwe said, “We, as boys, were self-sufficient early on.” Jens, as the younger brother, “caught on a littler later” with culinary skills. Together, they grew as musicians.
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129 “Personally, I didn’t know if I wanted, until I was age 32, to be a professional chef or a musician,” Uwe confessed. I worked in a shopping center in a kitchen that fed 1,200 people every day. I started as a dishwasher, then butcher apprentice. I made line chef quickly.” Did the current global pandemic influence their choice of economic recipes for their YouTube show? “You have to understand, we’re musicians,” Uwe said quietly. “Until we became somewhat successful, I had a budget of $10.00 or $12.00 to last for a whole day’s food for two people, including cigarettes. I had to learn how to cook on a budget.” He added that he still finds its exciting to go to the grocery store and “see what’s on sale today!” Both brothers agree that something special happens with music, and with food. “I think it’s that we’ve been playing music for so long that it’s not only about the notes we play but the effect you can get with music on a general atmosphere,” Jens mused. “We always realized that music changes the way the room feels with the people. And I think we aim for certain happiness, certain hopefulness, certain ideal emotions that we can sort of help create through our music.” “But also food does the same thing, right?” Uwe interjected agreeably. “So it’s really the same thing when you cook a thing, it sets a mood.” In the kitchen with the Krugers, even restricted through FaceTime or YouTube, the mood is warm and genuine. The food is always comfort food when prepared by brothers Uwe and Jens Kruger. Every recipe is seasoned, authentically, with a generous dose of Herzlichkeit. Want to learn how to say Herzlichkeit? Use this QR code!
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130 828-324-6235 Oakwood Dental Arts is a full service dentistry firm based in the heart of Hickory, North Carolina in the historic Oakwood district. Our mission is to help you thrive in our town. Whether you have a troubled tooth that needs help or want to get that smile you’ve always dreamed about, we are here to serve. We will work with you to create a plan to achieve the best oral health possible. Let’s take the journey together. OakwoodDentalArtsNC.com mckinneydds@oakwooddentalartsnc.com
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132 Restaurants of the Foothills The foothills of North Carolina are stuffed full of excellent restaurants. There are a few, however, that we feel do an excellent job of embodying the spirit of this region. Julia’s Talley House (1) serves up family -style fried chicken like you can’t find anywhere else, just like they’ve been doing it for over 40 years. You’ll find it at 305 N Main Street in Troutman. In Conover, we love Sweet Tater’s (2), whose revolving menu of Southern classics keeps us checking their Facebook page. You’ll find them at 102 10th Street Northwest. Webb Custom Kitchen (3) is housed in a beautifully renovated historic movie theatre and their chefs demonstrate artistry with pork and beef. You’ll find it at 182 S South Street in downtown Gastonia. Old North State (4) is a winery and restaurant in Mount Airy. Their chefs are creative and bold. It’s at 308 North Main Street. The Old Hickory Station (5) is housed in a renovated train station in downtown Hickory, and their menu is always very connected to the culinary roots of this region. 1 1
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Cafe Rule (6) has a bright and fresh menu that plays with foothills traditions while experimenting with a great many gourmet techniques. It’s at 242 11th Avenue NE in Hickory. The Flat Rock Wood Room (7) at 1501 Greenville Highway in Hendersonville makes excellent barbecue, and the owner has won many BBQ competitions all over the country. You can check out all the trophies as you eat the perfectly tender brisket or pork barbecue. You’ll find BOCA (8) in a renovated mill and the menu is always exciting. Even though the menu has a worldly flair, the foothills flourish is obvious. If you go at lunch, be sure to try the Kobe Beef burger. It is located at 74 8th Street Southeast, in Hickory. Downtown Morganton is full of delightful spots, but our favorite is Root & Vine (9). This charming restaurant is downtown and serves up scratch-made food that’s sourced locally as often as possible. Their menu is seasonal, which means you’ll always be able to select something local, fresh and delicious. It’s at 139 West Union Street. Blowing Rock is home to one of our favorite choices: Timberlakes at Chetola Resort (10). The resort offers many trout fishing options, and you can order fresh mountain trout off the menu, as well as salads of mountain-grown spinach, pan-seared duck and roasted Carolina quail. We are partial to the decoration, because the beautiful and historic home has been renovated and covered in Bob Timberlake’s paintings. Truly, this list is just a jumping off place. We encourage you to explore the culinary landscape in your own town, and to ask for recommendations from your friends. Don’t be afraid to order the specials! You may have heard people say, “If it’s so good, why isn’t it on the menu?” But specials are where you’ll find the most seasonal fair, like locally foraged mushrooms and ramps! If you know of an excellent restaurant we’ve overlooked, send us a note at editor@foothilsdigest.com. 9 9 10 10 4 4
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136 Our Grandpa made molasses when we were young children. He built a furnace with field rock and turned the mill with his mule. The mill was a crusher with two iron cylinders about eighteen inches that rotated into themselves to crush the cane in order to release the juice. The mule walked round and round all day long. Occasionally Grandpa would unhook her from her trace and let her rest. We kids loved helping. It was a day of festivities. The adults would strip the fodder from the standing cane, cut it, then heap it in piles for us to cut off the heads. You wouldn't run the seeds through the crusher because of the trash (and we used the seed for next year’s planting and for animal/chicken feed). One harvest time when I was about ten, I was using daddy's pocket knife to cut the heads and I misjudged and cut a four-inch slit on the outside of my right thigh. I was so upset, not about the blood, but about cutting my only pair of Jeans. I knew the cut would heal but my jeans would be hard to mend. Of course, the scar is still there, but I don't remember what happened to the jeans. I suspect they went in the trash since we did not wear patched or holey jeans back in the day. When Grandpa turned the molasses-making over to our dad, he thoroughly enjoyed it as well. He built his own wood-burning furnace out of brick with a metal roof and a tall chimney pipe. He set his crusher to operate from the motor of his John Deere. He welded the copper boiler pan into four or five continuous sections with gates between each section. The pan nearest the end of the boiler had a hole with a plug. When the last pan was ready to run off, he removed the plug and pushed the finished product out with a wide wooden board on a long handle, into containers. Next he moved the juice in each section up into the next pan, then added fresh green juice in the first pan. As the fresh juice boils, it leaves a foamy green residue that must be skimmed off and discarded continuously. The neighbors came to help crush, feed the fire and watch the boiler. Occasionally, dad would complain, with good humor, that some of his help was running the finished product off too soon and we had some molasses that had a dark green color and a slight bitter taste. He said it had to be a certain syrupiness and bronze color. This furnace required a lot of wood and a person to feed it. You had to have a constant fire from morning till evening, or ever how long, because this was a process you could not stop and start over the next day. It all had to be run off regardless of the hour, or how sweaty, or how tired you were - on and on until all the juice was used. Our Dad was a man of numerous skills. He has passed away now, but in 1991, his friend, Don Dellinger, honored him by asking if he would participate at the new Belwood Antique Tractor & Engine Festival in Belwood. Dad manned the Molasses-making exhibit there for several years as long as his health allowed. He also ran the sawmill exhibit. This festival has been in continuous operation for 29 years. It’s a great place for you and your family to learn about old time local crafts. The festival is usually held the first weekend of September. There is a small entrance fee that benefits the Belwood Heritage Museum. Making Molasses by Granny Eckard
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This painting is by artist Arie Taylor, who happens to be my cousin. In the painting, you can see the cane, pottery to store the molasses, a horse who is crushing the cane and a furnace made of field rock. You can purchase this painting and others at her Etsy page: www.etsy.com/shop/jagartist.
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VENISON Even if you’ve never hunted a day in your life, living in western North Carolina means that someone neighborly soul might bring you a venison loin or a few packs of ground venison. If you do hunt, be sure to follow North Carolina regulations. You can find them online here: www.eregulations.com/northcarolina/hunting-fishing/deer-regulations/. Deer meat is tasty and healthy if you prepare it correctly, so don’t worry. Just read our tips and put on your apron! TIPS Venison is very lean. This means you need to be careful to not overcook it. Use a thermometer and get it to 135 degrees. It also means you want to add some fat when you cook it. Instead of oiling your pan, be sure to coat your whole piece of meat in oil or another fat. Warm it up to room temperature before you cook it. If you are cooking a large piece of venison, be sure to sear it at high heat to lock in the moisture and fats. Don’t be afraid to salt liberally. Don’t forget to let it rest before you cut it. Mushrooms and red wine pair remarkably well with venison. Chefs say that venison is best prepared medium-well. Betty Crocker says, “Follow directions for cooking beef. Baste the roast with red wine for a special touch. Wild Plum Jelly is a natural with venison.” She also says ”If you like the “wild” flavor, cook a shorter time with simple seasonings. If you do not, increase cooking time and add more seasonings. Never overcook! It becomes dry and unflavorful!”
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VENISON CHILI • 1/2 cup of bacon grease or lard • 1 onion, diced • 1 pound of ground vension • 2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder • 2 tablespoons ground cumin • 2 tablespoons sugar • 4 tablespoons tomato paste • 1 tablespoon garlic powder • 2 teaspoon ground black pepper • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper • 2 cups beef broth • 1 diced tomatoes • 1 can red kidney beans, drained • 1 can white kidney beans, drained • 1 can black beans beans, drained • 1 can tomato sauce • 1 cup coffee (optional) Cook the onion in the bacon grease until it begins to get transparent and then add the venison. Brown it and add the spices and sugar. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the tomato paste as you stir. Turn heat to medium low and add the other ingredients. Simmer on low for at least an hour. There are a lot of things you can add to chili, but we prefer to keep it simple. We do, however, always serve it up with a scoop of sour cream and some grated cheddar. You can also add some gelatin while you are cooking to make it a bit smoother and give it more body. To do that, you would pour a little unflavored gelatin into a bowl of cold water, then when the water soaks up, you add hot water, then pour it all into the chili.
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Foothills Digest PO Box 2670 Lenoir, NC 28645 Name: Address: Phone: Subscribe S u b s c r i p t i o n s a r e $ 27 per year and we publish quarterly. Shipping is $9. Please enclose a check or your credit card information. Cards are charged $36 one time. Card Number: Expiration: CVV Code: ROASTED VENSION LOIN • 1 pound Venison tenderloin • 2 teaspoons salt • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper optional Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Pat the loin with salt then put it in the oven. If you like a medium well loin, cook until it is 135- 140 degrees. If you like a well-done loin, cook it to 160 degrees. Let it rest once you remove it from the heat then cut it into slices. Serve with cream of mushroom soup. It is a simple roux you can make by following these steps: saute minced onion and garlic in butter until soft. Turn up the heat and add mushrooms, then cook until they release their moisture. Use a little sherry to deglaze the pan. Sprinkle flour over the mushrooms and butter, stirring as you go. Add about 2 cups of a liquid of your choice and cook until the mushrooms are tender. Slowly stir in heavy cream and milk until the soup is the consistency you desire. Garnish with fresh herbs and sautéed mushroom.
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Apple Dressing, 42 Apple Pie with Cheddar Crumb Topping, 42 Apple Salad, 42 Apple Stack Cake, 38 Apple Walnut Scones, 40 Bacon, 15 Banana Pudding with Meringue, 112 BBQ Sauce: Eastern, 19 Lexington, 19 South Carolina, 19 Cheerwine BBQ, 83 Blender Slaw, 75 Boiled Peanuts, 106 Bread and Butter Pickles, 94 Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Maple Syrup, 106 Candied Apples, 41 Chanterelles, 52 Cheerwiggles, 81 Cheerwine Brownies, 80 Cheerwine Bourbon Glazed Ham, 80 Cheerwine Bourbon Slushie, 80 Cheerwine Bundt Cake, 80 Cheerwine Donuts, 82 Cheerwine Gelatin, 78 Cheerwine Hot Wings, 81 Cheerwine Ice Cream, 80 Cheerwine Punch Pops, 83 Chicory, 51 Chicory Salad, 51 Chicken and Dumplings, 102 Chicken Aspic, 88 Chickweed pesto, 67 Chili, 74 Chow Chow, 94 Collard Greens with Fatback, 103 Corn Bread, 31 Cream of Mushroom Soup, 69 Dandelion, 59 Deviled Eggs, 108 Deviled Eggs Variations, 108 Elderberry Syrup, 64 Fig Preserves, 93 Flaky Pie Crust, 113 Fried Chicken, 98 Fried Green Tomatoes, 33 Fried Okra, 32 Fruit Gelatin, 88 Ginger Molasses Cake, 113 Grits, 31 Gummies, 89 Hushpuppies, 32 Kudzu, 56 Lard Biscuits, 15 Lettuce or Creasy Greens with Green Onions, 104 Livermush, 23 Livermush Shepherd’s Pie, 23 Macaroni and Cheese, 102 Mayonnaise, 70 Mayonnaise variations, 70 Meatloaf, 101 Morel mushrooms, 60 Muscadine Jelly, 92 Pan fried pork chop, 13 Pawpaw Custard, 110 Pig Pickin,’ 17 Pimento Cheese, 73 3 Pimento Cheese variations 73 Plantain, 55 Pinto Beans, 106 Poke Sallet, 48 Pork Shoulder, 19 Pork chop with apple cider reduction, 20 Pumpkin Pie, 113 Pumpkin Seed Pesto, 33 Rabbit Stew, 104 Ranch Dressing, 32 Red Clover, 63 Red-Eye Gravy, 14 Roasted Radishes, 104 Sausage Gravy, 69 Spiced Pawpaw Cake, 110 Stabilized Whipped Cream, 86 Strawberry Cake, 121 Strawberry Jam, 92 Sweet Potato Casserole, 103 Tomato Aspic, 86 Tomato Salad, 45 Turkey Apple Melt, 42 Turkey Gravy, 69 Veggie Soup, 101 Venison Chili, 139 Venison Loin, 141 Recipes Table of Contents
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