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Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Welcome to the double-wide, chicken-fried, Southern food thread! There used to be a southern food thread but it went away and now here is a shiny new one! This OP is very much a work in progress, so if you have any ideas/contributions of your own, please tell me about them!
The cuisine of the Southeastern US is a creole cuisine formed from the melding of the food traditions of white Europeans, Native Americans, and the enslaved Africans transported to the region. It is not a homogenous cuisine, with many local specialties and traditional dishes-the food of Appalachia looks very different from the food of Louisiana or Charleston-but there is plenty of common ground. Until the last 50 years or so, much of the south was quite poor and agricultural, and so meat was often an accompaniment to or seasoning for vegetables, rather than the main event. Wheat doesn’t grow especially well in much of the south, and so corn became a staple starch in the diet. American corn, squash, beans and tomatoes combined with European wheat and dairy and African cowpeas, okra, peanuts and so much else, to form a cuisine all its own. Because of the Great Migration of African Americans out of the south in the early 20th century, Southern food has spread widely to the upper Midwest, northeast, and West coast as soul food and reached a wider audience and means southern ingredients are at least somewhat available outside the south.


I’m not a food historian, but this Wikipedia page is pretty decent:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_the_Southern_United_States
I would also very highly recommend Michael Twitty’s The Cooking Gene. Food history people, I would love any additions or contributions you may have here!

To me, if there is a unifying element of southern cooking, the equivalent of katsuobushi in Japanese food, soy sauce and the wok in Chinese cuisine, the chile pepper in Mexican cuisine, or olive oil in the eastern Mediterranean, it is pork, usually cured and smoked. It is eaten for breakfast as sausage and bacon, used to season countless vegetable dishes, the lard is used to fry anything and as shortening in the ham biscuits we eat after a funeral. Hog killing time in the late fall was always a holiday in the south, and there’s plenty of big cast iron scalding and lard boiling tubs full of flowers out in front yards in the rural south to this day.

The south is a big place, and regional (and ethnic) traditions vary widely. Many local specialties-low country shrimp and grits, Mississippi Delta tamales, Nashville hot chicken, chicken and waffles-have gone national, but most of those dishes aren’t really all that common throughout the entire south. Don’t be surprised if you ask for chicken and waffles in Montgomery and get a funny look. The way you grew up eating it may not be the way someone else grew up eating it, but I bet it’s still good- let’s share and discuss, and not tell anyone they’re wrong!


Books/websites
[to be continued-accepting recommendations, especially if you have a blurb about it!]
I have mostly learned about this cooking through doing it, eating it, and watching other cooks do it, so I don’t have a ton of southern cookbooks except out of print local Junior League/church cookbooks. I would love to add any recommendations anyone might have here!
I can recommend:
The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis

The Cajun/Creole food thread is great for Louisiana stuff:
https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3570811
Barbecue is also an important part of southern food that I don’t know anything about (except to eat-Eastern NC/VA vinegar style for me please!), but you can go argue about it here:
https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3460953


Recipes
Beans
Greens
Beans
Cornbread
Grits
Biscuits
Gonna try and link to recipes that get posted in this thread here so people can find them. Post a recipe so I can put it here!

Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Apr 9, 2020

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Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Beans
Man in the south we love our beans and peas. My local Walmart has more varieties of frozen peas/beans than anywhere I’ve ever seen and I love them all- blackeyed peas, purple hull peas (my favorite), pink eye peas, field peas, crowder peas, zipper peas, white acre peas, butter peas, purple speckled butter beans, green butter beans, pinto beans etc etc etc. Most are some variety of cowpea or cream pea/butterbean/baby lima. I prefer frozen ones (or fresh in the summer when I can get them) because I’m not very organized and you don’t have to soak them (and the flavor is a little better) but dried ones are widely available too if you can’t find frozen ones locally. Dried beans need to be soaked overnight, and may take a little longer to cook than fresh/frozen. Pretty much all of the above can be cooked this same way.
Get some stuff:

Purple hulls, chicken stock (water is okay too), chop up half that onion, and then the real star in the middle

Jowl Bacon. Don’t smoke it and call it guanciale and it’s $15/lb, but call it jowl bacon and it’s $3/lb and half the price of normal bacon and it is the perfect thing for seasoning long-cooking vegetables.
I slice it up about ¼” thick and throw all the slices in a bag and freeze them so it’s easy to grab just a few pieces at a time.
Anyway throw the chopped onion and jowl bacon in a pot:

Awww look, it :love: loves you!
Dump those peas on top, cover with chicken stock.

Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for an hour or more, depending on how you like your peas. Season to taste with salt and pepper, of course.
I like mine like this:

You can overcook peas and if you do they will still be delicious, but maybe mushy. They also like gelatinize overnight in the fridge, but they reheat fine.
Okay how about Zipper peas, a pretty delicious kind of cream pea?
First, get 2 slices of jowl bacon, from the freezer, half an onion, and some chicken stock

Sound familiar? It is. The same thing works just fine! Butterbeans are good without bacon, just some chicken broth and olive oil and S&P.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Greens
There aren’t as many flavors of greens, but they are just as delicious. Collards, turnips, and mustard greens are pretty traditional. Collards are fine, but they can be a bit tough and bitter, especially if you get them fresh. My favorite is a mix of mustard and turnips best, but mustard greens are kind of seasonal and only available fresh. Collard greens and turnips are available fresh (prewashed in the bag are nice, but they have a lot of stem sometimes) and frozen. Fresh greens not in the bag are dirty and gritty as hell and you really need to rinse them very thoroughly. You could probably use kale too I guess. I actually prefer frozen collards and turnip greens-freezing seems to help tenderize them and they cook quicker, not to mention being clean and easy. So let’s cook some greens.
Get some greens, a smoked pork product, half an onion, and some chicken stock or water and a pot. In this case we have a bag-o-fresh-turnips and a smoked pork hock.

Hocks have a lot more gelatin in them than bacon, and they are delicious. I usually keep one or two in a bag of in the freezer.
Chop that onion, throw it in a pot with the ham hock and some water, and bring to a boil. Throw a few red pepper flakes in too.


There is no way in hell that big-rear end bag of greens is gonna fit in that tiny-rear end pot

Alright well magically they did. Let those simmer for an hour or so, or more. You literally cannot overcook greens. Salt and pepper to taste towards the end of cooking when you know how much the pork has salted the pot.

For added deliciousness, pull that ham hock out, get the meat out and chop it up:

This was not a very meaty hock.
Toss it all back in there

Man those look tasty. This is what is known locally as ‘a whole dam mess uh greens.’ Turnip greens seems to have an umami kind of taste that I’m not sure other greens really have.
All that juice is delicious pot likker and it is the perfect thing to sop up with your cornbread or biscuit (you did make some cornbread, right?)
Many restaurants in the south have little bottles of vinegar with green peppers in them on the table-greens are a great place to splash that stuff if you like them spicy, and a dash of acid like apple cider or malt vinegar can help with some of the bitterness too.

You don’t actually have to cook greens forever-you can saute them with garlic and olive oil like spinach and they are perfectly good too. I would use fresh though, not frozen. Mustard greens are especially good sautéed.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Cornbread
Lot’s of people say they don’t like cornbread. I think those people have only have bad cornbread, cold cornbread, or didn’t put butter/pot likker on it. If you have had good, hot, buttered cornbread and you still don’t like it, well bless your heart. I grew up with crunchy savory white cornbread, always cooked in screamin’ hot cast iron, but that cakey yellow stuff from the jiffy box has its place too, it’s just like, corn cake or something. Cornbread is very very easy to make because you just use this mix and it’s honestly perfect.

I was making half a recipe, so only one egg. Use the recipe on the bag:

See that part about getting the skillet/mold really hot? That’s important. You want a crunch crust and that’s how you get it. I like a higher crunch/bread ratio, so I like these little cup things from lodge. The little molds shaped like ears of corn are nice too. Throw whatever you use it in the oven when you start preheating and it will be ready when the oven is hot.
When it’s really hot, mix up your mix (use buttermilk, full fat if you can get it) with a whisk to get the lumps out. Take the skillet/mold out, and rub it alllllll over with a stick of butter.

Pour batter in:

Bake until golden brown and delicious, 20 min or so for this little mold thing:

Butter liberally, and consume hot. Cold cornbread is kind of bad imo, and cornbread doesn’t keep all that well. 2 days on the counter, maybe 3-4 in the fridge. Cold cornbread mashed up in buttermilk used to be breakfast for many southern children and, it’s actually not terrible.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Grits
Grits are much maligned, but grits are actually delicious when cooked right. Again, call it polenta and everyone loves it and it costs twice as much, but polenta=grits. Grits really need salt, and also fat, and most places you might have ordered grits probably didn’t put enough salt in them and you didn’t know you were supposed to add salt and butter.
We’re going back to the back of the bag here again:

Start with as much salt as they tell you, but it’s nowhere near enough-you’ll season to taste later.
Pour grits into boiling water (slowly and with the stove off-they make the water explode and boil over sometimes) while whisking to keep lumps from forming.

Whisk it again pretty good again in a few minutes after it comes back to a simmer.
Cook them until they are done, and then add whatever the hell you want. Salt and butter is fine for plain grits-they might be kind of stiff. I like salt, pepper, paprika, milk, and sharp cheddar (‘rat cheese’ as my grandfather used to call it). Cream cheese is good too. If they get too runny, put some heat under them again and cook off some liquid until they are the texture you like. Plop 2 eggs on top, cut them up in the grits and let the yolk go everywhere.

This is super comfort food for me and is a nice easy supper or a big breakfast. Good with sausage cut up in there with the eggs too.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Biscuits
Good biscuits are delicious. Plenty of southern mothers used to bake biscuits every single morning, and I’m sure some still do. I’ve tweaked my biscuits recipe/technique quite a bit over the years and this is what I’ve settled on. They get good reviews. I have always used White Lily self-rising flour. I literally do not know how to make biscuits without it. The recipe on the back is, again, a pretty good guide for proportions etc. but I just do it by eye/feel. Martha White self-rising is probably fine too, but you want a southern flour. They are made with a lower protein wheat that makes a more tender biscuit.

After much experimentation, I have settled on a three fat method of biscuit making. For a long time I just used all Crisco and that makes a good biscuit. I think an all butter biscuit gets tough, but the butter flavor is nice. I added some lard a while ago and it’s stuck-it just gives a certain something that makes it all better. It’s about equal portions of each. They don’t need to be chilled or anything.
Put the fat on the flour, and cut it in. This is just like making pie dough.


You could use the food processor but omg that thing is hard to clean and I think it chops things up too fine. Get a pastry blender if you don’t have one.


When it starts looking like little peas, grab a handful and squeeze.


If it pretty much sticks together like that, and breaks apart like this:

Then you’ve got enough fat in there. If it doesn’t stick together, add a little more fat.
Next add the buttermilk, a little at a time:

This is the tricky part. Too much buttermilk and the dough gets too sticky and for some reason it makes tougher biscuits. Not enough and the dough won’t come together and you get dry biscuits. Adding more milk is fine, but you don’t want to work the dough too much, because that will make tougher biscuits, and I like tender biscuits.
When the dough comes together, turn it out on a floured surface, and roll or pat it out 3/8” thick or so.

Fold it back on itself like a wallet or quarters or whatever. We’re just trying to get some layers in there. This dough was a little sticky and difficult to deal with.

Do that again, then roll out ½” thick and cut with a biscuit cutter. Oh yeah and you should have been preheating a skillet in the oven like with cornbread (or not-they work fine on a cold sheet pan too)

Brush with some melted butter, and toss in the oven until nicely browned.

Mmmmmmm

There’s a million ways to make biscuits. My great-aunt is from Kentucky and grew up eating beaten biscuits, someone told me the best biscuits they ever made were just heavy cream and self-rising flour and I keep meaning to try that.

Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Apr 9, 2020

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Alright that's some photodump basics I've cooked over the last week or two to get started-what've y'all been cooking?

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through
Great post!!

I'm glad you like your biscuits but I honestly I don't like using lard in biscuits or pie crusts; the tradeoffs in flavour, for me, aren't worth it. If you keep your butter ice cold and minimally work the dough, I don't find they get tough, but to each their own.

There are lots of ways to approach biscuits (some use cast iron, etc), but I have settled on a simple method that's quick to pound out for weekend lazy breakfasts, most of the time:

2c flour
6 - 8T butter (depending)
3tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
1c buttermilk
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425F or 450F.

Mix dry, cut in the butter. Like with pie dough, the key is to keep the butter cold while you work. If you like fluffy biscuits, bring the dough together, pat it out into a rough rectangle, and cut it into 8 squarish pieces. If you like really layer-y biscuits, add more butter and do a few laminations like you might with viennoiserie dough. Then proceed as above. If you like drop biscuits, add another half cup of buttermilk and scoop up rough tablespoons that you push off onto a baking sheet.

I find that biscuits are pretty sensitive to working the dough (especially because I end up using canadian AP flour most of the time, which is pretty hard), so once the dough barely comes together, I turn it out and pat it into a rectangle, then cut. For maximum lift you can trim off a millimetre from every edge but honestly most of the time I don't bother. If you do, you can combine the edge into a single mutant biscuit (using round is traditional but then it leaves you with all this extra dough you have to handle in order to make more biscuits, so I stick to squares).

If you like red lobster like biscuits, make the drop biscuit variant, add a cup of shredded cheese, a half teaspoon of garlic powder, and some chopped herbs.

mediaphage fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Apr 9, 2020

I. M. Gei
Jun 26, 2005

CHIEFS

BITCH



I declare this a good thread.

Croatoan
Jun 24, 2005

I am inevitable.
ROBBLE GROBBLE
Your greens are fine but I really like a vinegary pot likker. I use my instant pot and cook kale greens with country ham pieces and a few glugs of vinegar and cook them for about 4 hours. It helps break down the cellulose and makes the pot likker super green and tasty af. A ham hock is probably cheaper but I like the little bits of ham you get from the country ham.


You should try stone ground grits. I've recently switched over to them over my Jim Dandy quick grits. It only adds maybe 10-15 minutes and the texture is way more robust and creamy.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Croatoan posted:

Your greens are fine but I really like a vinegary pot likker. I use my instant pot and cook kale greens with country ham pieces and a few glugs of vinegar and cook them for about 4 hours. It helps break down the cellulose and makes the pot likker super green and tasty af. A ham hock is probably cheaper but I like the little bits of ham you get from the country ham.


You should try stone ground grits. I've recently switched over to them over my Jim Dandy quick grits. It only adds maybe 10-15 minutes and the texture is way more robust and creamy.

I wonder if I can find hominy up here; I’ve been thinking of grinding my own for a while and I think my mill can do it

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Croatoan posted:

Your greens are fine but I really like a vinegary pot likker. I use my instant pot and cook kale greens with country ham pieces and a few glugs of vinegar and cook them for about 4 hours. It helps break down the cellulose and makes the pot likker super green and tasty af. A ham hock is probably cheaper but I like the little bits of ham you get from the country ham.


You should try stone ground grits. I've recently switched over to them over my Jim Dandy quick grits. It only adds maybe 10-15 minutes and the texture is way more robust and creamy.

I will have to try more vinegary greens. Sometimes I splash a little vinegar on them on the plate. I don't have a pressure cooker, but they would definitely be a perfect candidate for that.

There is a tire store here where the owner is a crazy grits purist and grinds his own and sells them in ziplock bags and they are in fact pretty good! They're definitely better when I have them, but I tend to goop my grits up so much I don't mind regular old jim dandy.

Dinner tonight:

Smothered pork chop with turnip greens, zipper peas, and leftover biscuit.

SSJ_naruto_2003
Oct 12, 2012



I made Nashville hot chicken (first time I've ever deep fried anything) and it was extremely crispy. Probably the best chicken I've ever had. Had to leave half of it un-sauced though because my wife thinks Dr pepper is too spicy.





Broke down those chicken quarters and chucked the backs into the freezer for stock later.
That bread was homemade too, next up is the pickles.


Strained the majority of the oil and stuck it into the fridge for when I fry some more chicken and then spilled the rest on my house shoes. Those went directly into the garbage lol

I am trying to make some chic fil a type nuggets soon and will post the recipe and pictures if successful

SSJ_naruto_2003 fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Apr 27, 2020

Resting Lich Face
Feb 21, 2019


This case of an intraperitoneal zucchini is unusual, and does raise questions as to how hard one has to push a blunt vegetable to perforate the rectum.

SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:

I made Nashville hot chicken (first time I've ever deep fried anything) and it was extremely crispy. Probably the best chicken I've ever had.

recipe?

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:

I made Nashville hot chicken (first time I've ever deep fried anything) and it was extremely crispy. Probably the best chicken I've ever had. Had to leave half of it un-sauced though because my wife thinks Dr pepper is too spicy.



That looks very good. Did you dredge in buttermilk before frying?

Last few times I've done fried chicken I did a buttermilk marinade and it did give a great crunchy crust but then I decided it was too much crust and next time I fry chicken I think I'm gonna just season and flour the chicken and skip a liquid step for a lighter crust.

SSJ_naruto_2003
Oct 12, 2012



Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

That looks very good. Did you dredge in buttermilk before frying?

Last few times I've done fried chicken I did a buttermilk marinade and it did give a great crunchy crust but then I decided it was too much crust and next time I fry chicken I think I'm gonna just season and flour the chicken and skip a liquid step for a lighter crust.

I seasoned heavily with salt and left in the fridge on a baking rack for a day.

Yeah I wanted a very thick crispy crust so it was flour, buttermilk, flour.


I'll type it up when I'm on PC but I just watched Joshua weissman and Sam the cooking guy and combined the two. Mostly the same recipes honestly

Suspect Bucket
Jan 15, 2012

SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR
Oh thank god. The Fiance picked up a bag of Collard Greens from Stop And Shop because it was the only green leafy vegetable left. I don't even know how they got here, this is New Jersey. Who eats collards up here? Despite living in the south for ten years, I never got the trick of making good collards (only really tried twice, something was very swampy and sulfurous about them). Do you have to boil them? We really like stir fried greens, mostly cabbage or spinach.

empty sea
Jul 17, 2011

gonna saddle my seahorse and float out to the sunset
Ham hocks are good. When I was a poor Southern kid, we made a soup with 2-3 smoked ham hocks, a pound of dried black-eyed peas, a chopped onion and some chicken broth or water to fill up the crock pot. Let it simmer for about 8-10 hours or until the meat fell off the bones and about half the peas were soft/falling apart.

It's a very simple, filling soup. The ham hocks we got had plenty of meat, plus the collagen dissolved into the sort of mushed peas, creating a rich, almost creamy broth. I like it with lots of garlic and some hot sauce. The smoked ham hocks are salty af, so I usually never have to salt it. Serve with buttered corn bread for a cheap, easy meal.

I've roasted pork neck bones before, but they are just way too much work for the meat IMO unless you're broke. They're cheap but goddamn the amount of wrestling with the tiny bones doesn't make it worth it.

Wungus
Mar 5, 2004

Suspect Bucket posted:

Oh thank god. The Fiance picked up a bag of Collard Greens from Stop And Shop because it was the only green leafy vegetable left. I don't even know how they got here, this is New Jersey. Who eats collards up here? Despite living in the south for ten years, I never got the trick of making good collards (only really tried twice, something was very swampy and sulfurous about them). Do you have to boil them? We really like stir fried greens, mostly cabbage or spinach.
Cut the ribs out, cut into chunks, then pan fry for a bit in some garlic/onion/bacon (if you do meat, otherwise don't worry) then pour in like a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar, some red pepper flakes, then stick a lid on the pan for about 15 minutes. That's how my mother in law here in NC taught me, and it's done me great.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Suspect Bucket posted:

Oh thank god. The Fiance picked up a bag of Collard Greens from Stop And Shop because it was the only green leafy vegetable left. I don't even know how they got here, this is New Jersey. Who eats collards up here? Despite living in the south for ten years, I never got the trick of making good collards (only really tried twice, something was very swampy and sulfurous about them). Do you have to boil them? We really like stir fried greens, mostly cabbage or spinach.

Yeah you don't have to boil collards but they are the toughest of the greens IMO. Taking the ribs out like Whalley suggested helps alot, and the bagged ones are usually younger/tender and chopped up anyway.

I like them with garlic and olive oil like spinach, but add a little water and cover and cook a little longer than you might spinach or kale.

feedmegin
Jul 30, 2008

Suspect Bucket posted:

Oh thank god. The Fiance picked up a bag of Collard Greens from Stop And Shop because it was the only green leafy vegetable left. I don't even know how they got here, this is New Jersey. Who eats collards up here?

I gather there are black people in NJ :shobon:

Notahippie
Feb 4, 2003

Kids, it's not cool to have Shane MacGowan teeth
On the greens question, a trick I picked up from a restaurant in Texas is to stir-fry greens just enough for them to start to wilt, then drop about 1-2 tablespoons of pico de gallo in and keep it on the heat just a minute or so until the pico juice evaporates a bit. It makes amazingly flavorful greens, as long as you've got good fresh pico on hand. It works best with tender greens like spinach or baby kale, rather than stewing greens like collards or mustard.

Croatoan
Jun 24, 2005

I am inevitable.
ROBBLE GROBBLE

Suspect Bucket posted:

Oh thank god. The Fiance picked up a bag of Collard Greens from Stop And Shop because it was the only green leafy vegetable left. I don't even know how they got here, this is New Jersey. Who eats collards up here? Despite living in the south for ten years, I never got the trick of making good collards (only really tried twice, something was very swampy and sulfurous about them). Do you have to boil them? We really like stir fried greens, mostly cabbage or spinach.

If you have an instant pot it's a whole other game than what they're saying. The quick and easy in a pan trick is great but you won't get any pot likker. IMO that's where it's at. If you do, do not cut out the ribs and throw them in with about 6-8 cups water, a ham hock or country ham pieces, some salt and minced garlic, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and let it rip for 1-4 hours depending on how green you want your pot likker.

Also, this is mandatory:

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Croatoan posted:

If you have an instant pot it's a whole other game than what they're saying. The quick and easy in a pan trick is great but you won't get any pot likker. IMO that's where it's at. If you do, do not cut out the ribs and throw them in with about 6-8 cups water, a ham hock or country ham pieces, some salt and minced garlic, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and let it rip for 1-4 hours depending on how green you want your pot likker.

Also, this is mandatory:


Are you pressure cooking collards for 4 hours???

Croatoan
Jun 24, 2005

I am inevitable.
ROBBLE GROBBLE

mediaphage posted:

Are you pressure cooking collards for 4 hours???

Yes. I have and they're really good. Well, actually I use kale but you seem to be pearl clutching at the time regardless. No it does not atomize the greens.

Croatoan fucked around with this message at 12:40 on Apr 29, 2020

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Croatoan posted:

Yes. I have and they're really good. Well, actually I use kale but you seem to be pearl clutching at the time regardless. No it does not atomize the greens.
My buddy does a big thing new years day and cooks his greens and black eyed peas for like 2 days and they are goooooood. He uses neckbones in the the greens and I think he just crumbles up a pound of jimmy dean sausage in the peas for seasoning.


empty sea posted:

I've roasted pork neck bones before, but they are just way too much work for the meat IMO unless you're broke. They're cheap but goddamn the amount of wrestling with the tiny bones doesn't make it worth it.
I did a braised neckbone gumbo once and it was reaaaaaaally good, but I can't find the recipe. Neckbones kind of stink, but they got better when they'd simmered in roux and stock for 3 hours.

e:
recipe found!

George Graham - AcadianaTable.com posted:

PORK NECK BONE FRICASSÉE

Recipe by: George Graham - AcadianaTable.com
INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups diced yellow onion
2 cups diced green bell pepper
2 cups diced celery
2 tablespoons minced garlic
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 pounds pork neck bone, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 pound chopped andouille sausage
1 pound smoked pork sausage
12 cups chicken stock, plus water if needed
½ tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon Acadiana Table Cajun Seasoning Blend, see recipe here
1 cup dark roux, plus more if needed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Dash of hot sauce
8 cups cooked long-grain white rice, such as Supreme, for serving
1 cup diced green onion tops
INSTRUCTIONS
In a large cast-iron pot with a lid over medium-high heat, add the oil. Once sizzling hot, add the onion, bell pepper, and celery. Sauté until the onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and parsley, and stir until combined. Add the pork neck meat and sauté just until the pork and the vegetables begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add the sausages. Add enough chicken stock to the pot to cover all the meat and vegetables, and scrape the bottom to loosen the brown bits of flavor.
Season with cayenne and Cajun seasoning and stir to combine. Add the roux and stir. Bring the pot to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and let it cook for 2 hours.
Uncover and skim the surface of any excess oil. Taste the gumbo and if you prefer it thinner, add more stock or water. If you prefer it thicker, add more roux. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes longer.
Sample the finished dish and add a dash of hot sauce if you like it spicier. Ladle the stew into large bowls over a mound of rice and garnish with diced green onion tops.

Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 13:01 on Apr 29, 2020

Croatoan
Jun 24, 2005

I am inevitable.
ROBBLE GROBBLE

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

My buddy does a big thing new years day and cooks his greens and black eyed peas for like 2 days and they are goooooood. He uses neckbones in the the greens and I think he just crumbles up a pound of jimmy dean sausage in the peas for seasoning.

Yeah the 4 hours under pressure may seem excessive but it mimics a greens recipe I've used for years where they simmer for 24 hours.

empty sea
Jul 17, 2011

gonna saddle my seahorse and float out to the sunset

Croatoan posted:

pot likker

Also, this is mandatory:


Pot liquor and Trappey's, gently caress that's some good poo poo. Greens aren't worth it without the broth, I swear I could just drink it all day.

As for grits, the only grits I've had that were really good were from some creole restaurant that I'm sure dumped a huge amount of butter, cheese and creole seasoning in them. They were like good mashed potatoes but somehow even better.

I want to make good shrimp n grits one day.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Croatoan posted:

Yes. I have and they're really good. Well, actually I use kale but you seem to be pearl clutching at the time regardless. No it does not atomize the greens.

I was surprised, not pearl clutching. I don’t think there’s anything I pressure cook for much more than an hour. Stop being so insulting when there’s no goddamned need.

Suspect Bucket
Jan 15, 2012

SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR
The Fiance comes from a land where it is not uncommon to cook greens for hours. Stuff like spinach and cabbage. I was appalled at first, but it's usually really good. I just ask that he not cook the cabbage to death.

I'll ease myself in with fried collards. Should be good with a pork chop :p

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Suspect Bucket posted:

The Fiance comes from a land where it is not uncommon to cook greens for hours. Stuff like spinach and cabbage. I was appalled at first, but it's usually really good. I just ask that he not cook the cabbage to death.

I'll ease myself in with fried collards. Should be good with a pork chop :p

I like some collards now and then, but I am not a fan of spinach cooked to death.

I've actually been into dehydrating greens a lot, later. Not like, in a dehydrator, but in the microwave. It's an interesting change of pace.

Suspect Bucket
Jan 15, 2012

SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR

mediaphage posted:

I like some collards now and then, but I am not a fan of spinach cooked to death.

I've actually been into dehydrating greens a lot, later. Not like, in a dehydrator, but in the microwave. It's an interesting change of pace.

It's weirdly not cooked to death, it's cooked to death and somehow zombified into deliciousness. Also, I think the spinach over there isn't English leaf type, but a different green entirely. But it works.

Notahippie
Feb 4, 2003

Kids, it's not cool to have Shane MacGowan teeth
My great-grandma was born in central Texas in 1899 and made the best drat black-eyed peas that I ever ate.

After she died (in 2006 no less), I told my grandma that I kept trying to make black-eyed peas and couldn't make them as good as Muddie did.

She replied "She put a pound of bacon in the pot."

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Notahippie posted:

She replied "She put a pound of bacon in the pot."

Pretty much the answer to making any good bean

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Is there an appetizer/snack with a better effort:delicious ratio than cream cheese and red pepper jelly on crackers?

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

Is there an appetizer/snack with a better effort:delicious ratio than cream cheese and red pepper jelly on crackers?

I prefer using proper cheese but generally agree. Especially on a ritz (but it’s still good with saltines).

empty sea
Jul 17, 2011

gonna saddle my seahorse and float out to the sunset
Red pepper jelly is good for pbjs, too. Or habanero peach jam. Makes it spicy, it's a nice change.

Resting Lich Face
Feb 21, 2019


This case of an intraperitoneal zucchini is unusual, and does raise questions as to how hard one has to push a blunt vegetable to perforate the rectum.
Pepper jelly is bitchin for stir fry too. But then that's not really southern.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Resting Lich Face posted:

Pepper jelly is bitchin for stir fry too. But then that's not really southern.
Delicious knows no borders and no boundaries!

I hadn’t thought of that, but what made me think of red pepper jelly was actually some sambal olek in stir fry. It’s a lot hotter of course, but some sweetness elsewhere in the stir fry with it just made me think red pepper jelly. (And then I got a jar and block of cream cheese at the store)

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Resting Lich Face
Feb 21, 2019


This case of an intraperitoneal zucchini is unusual, and does raise questions as to how hard one has to push a blunt vegetable to perforate the rectum.

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

Delicious knows no borders and no boundaries!

gently caress yeah I'm down with this sentiment!

That said, I actually learned of the use of pepper jelly from a Southern Living recipe anthology issue.

https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pbj-steak-stir-fry
I can attest to this being pretty good. Especially if you toss some gochujang into it.

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