Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Down South Recipes


My recent travels have me overwhelmed back here in the homeland. Yesterday was a 13 hour day, today might be the same, especially since I have family coming in tomorrow afternoon… So instead of getting creative, I’m just going to put up a couple recipes. I promised Diane the secret to easy Brunswick Stew. Enjoy!

The picture shows a couple gallons of stew cooking on a camp stove (in a 5 gallon pot). The recipe below is for a traditional sized crock pot.

Brunswick Stew

Cooked boneless chicken (somewhere around a pound of meat. I like to cook a whole chicken, save the broth for soup, but if you’re in a hurry, get a large can of boneless chicken. You can also use pork)
Cup of broth
28 ounce can of stewed tomatoes (sometimes I’ll also add a small can of tomato paste)
Package of frozen corn
Package of frozen lima beans
A couple diced up potatoes
An onion, sliced thin

Add a couple bay leaves, some (or a lot) hot sauce (or Worcestershire sauce), salt and pepper

Mix the above together in a crock pot and cook it 8 or so hours on low.

Hush Puppies

Contrary to popular opinion, we Southerners do not feed these little morsels to our dog (but occasionally I’ll let Trisket sample one).

Heat oil in a heavy pan or deep fat fryer.

In a large bowl, mix together:

1 ½ cup cornmeal (most Southerners use white, but often yellow often all that is available up here)
½ cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 egg (beaten up real good)
1 finely chopped onion
1 cup buttermilk
1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper (optional)

Form the hushpuppies with the edge of a spoon, rolling the dough up into a blimp like shape. Keep them small! Drop dough into oil and stick spoon into a glass of water (to clean the dough) before going to the next puppy. Turn puppies in oil, till both sides are a light brown, remove from oil with slotted spoon and place on paper towels to cool. Eat when they are still warm. Some folks eat with butter or honey, but when they’re warm, they’re great without any condiments.

14 comments:

  1. I miss my brother's hush puppies whenever he is visiting from the deep south. Now that I know the secret, I'm going to have to try them out. I like my plain or along side some spicy yellow rice under fried fish topped with crawdad sauce.

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  2. Invite me, will you when you cook those next time?

    *grin*

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  3. I once went to a party at a fishing camp in Belhaven. They had hired a chef from a local restaurant to cook hush puppies. He manned the deep-fryer, outdoors over an open fire all night and as soon as a batch came out of the fryer, they were snapped up and another batch ws cooked. They were the best I've ever had!

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  4. Hey Sage, this great! I'll pass the recipes along to the cook...

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  5. I see that since the last time you attempted to share a receipe, you are a including more of the important details. I only have one question:

    1. How hot do you heat your oil? 375?


    I have a feeling you don't know but I had to as for us detail-oriented people in the crowd.

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  6. I got one more...how many hushpuppies does this recipe make?

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  7. Yum!!!! thanks for the recipes, Sage - I'll let you know how I do, but they sound pretty easy and very, very tasty.

    What size spoon do you use to shape the hush puppies?

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  8. Ed, let me know how yours turn out.

    Gautami, I'll invite you, but you gotta invite me for some Indian crusine

    Kenju, was the fryer over a fire? I use a large BTU camp stove, you can also use a deep fryer

    Maggie, let me know who well the cook does

    Murf #1: I suggest using the finger test to check the temperature. When the oil is hot, I stick the tip of an unwanted finger in the oil for 10 seconds. If it comes out with a second degree burn, heat it up some more, if it's a first degree burn, you're ready to go.

    Murf #2: it depends on the size of the hushpuppies :) (I'll make about 20 out of a batch)

    Diane, I use a tablespood, but don't fill it all the way with dough, only about 1/2 way. Try to roll the dough off the top to get well formed puppies.

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  9. I've never made hush puppies, but I know exactly which places around here have the best. Mmmm mmmm good!

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  10. Mmmmmmmmm... huspuppies....

    (I'm secretly saying mmmm about the brunswich stew too. My mom's recipe is very similar to yours. But I'll have to find a veggie version now. I wonder how it'd work with tofu?)

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  11. My hushpuppies never turn out worth a crap but I love those babies. Actually I try to avoid them as much as possible. I didn't know how lucky I was as a kid to be able to gobble them up without worrying about fat and cholestrol!!!

    I am lazy and have only attended others Brunswick Stews....Martin loves it so much we even buy the grocery canned kind to store in the pantry! I'd love to try your recipe, thanks!

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