I’d mentioned earlier that I’d purchased a book last week called “Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, and Scuppernong Wine.” It’s about Appalachian cooking, and lore.
I’m really, really enjoying this book. It has a little of everything in it. I got a kick of one old man talking about a neighbor of his had been out admiring his cornfield.
The neighbor stated how good the man’s cornfield looked this year, and how much did he expect to produce from it this year, per acre?
The man looked at him and replied, “Oh, I reckon bout a hundred gallons!”
I thought that hilarious. But this book is full of such. I’m telling you all now, if you like to cook old style Southern cooking, and like to read about the way it used to be, and get a laugh or two in the process…then this is the book for you!
Once more, I’m loving it, and again the title of the book is, “Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, and Scuppernong Wine.”
These two Recipes today are from this book.
Sausage With Apples:
This is a recipe supposedly a favorite of the people of the Appalachian Mountains.
- 1 pound ground sausage
- Red pepper
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1 apple
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
Mix sausage, sage, salt and red pepper and fry until lightly brown. Take apple, core it, and slice into rings. Put the rings into the sausage drippings, and fry at a low temperature for 6 minutes, turning as needed. Spread the brown sugar over the apples and keep frying until they are tender. Place apple on platter with sausage for serving.
Bean Cakes:
This recipe was a typical Cherokee Indian recipe.
- 1-1/2 cups dried beans
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- ¾ cup of milk
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2-1/2 tablespoons bacon drippings
Beans should be soaked 12 hours in cold water. Rinse and place in cooking pot, along with enough water to cover. Boil for 1-1/2 hours, or until tender. Drain off water and set aside. Mix together the milk, eggs, salt, and cornmeal. Add the beans and form into palm-size patties. Place bacon drippings or oil substitute in skillet and fry at medium temperature until light brown.