The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Did you know that the third largest household expense is for Food? I think the two largest are housing and transportation. I cannot help you with where you live and how you get about, but I have touched upon, in past articles, ways to save on food. Keeping a well-stocked pantry and purchasing fresh local fruits and vegetables are not just money saving practices but also healthier. I have stressed upon reading the fine print in the ingredients list hidden on the back of the food packaging. After...
You are ready to try a new dish. You went to the market and bought the freshest items you could find, and they were from a local farm. You get home and open the cookbook and the instructions are as complicated as the startup guide to your weather radio. You cannot plug it in and hope it knows where you live and which NOAA radio station covers your area. There is food you should not be eating if the instructions are as simple as "Heat and serve”. Likewise, if they are too complicated the "joy of...
To decide on the subject for my column, I do a great deal of research. I search through cooking websites, magazines, recipes I developed or modified from my chef days, recipes that were given to me, newspaper clippings friends and relatives have given to me. I have used my phone to video a TV show that showed how to cook something I wanted to try, so I could then write the recipe for it. In addition, I do a lot of shopping and I like to go out to eat. I started collecting recipes from the days...
I just got back from a trip to Texas after seeing friends, relatives, and seeing how the places where I use to live and hung-out have changed. My friends and relatives have grown older but they have not changed much. The places where I use to live have changed greatly. And in my opinion, the cities I visited have not changed for the better. They seem to have lost their character; they are no longer fun to be in. The roads are always under construction and the traffic is so bad that the roads...
I was doing my usual “surfing the net”, thumbing through old recipes, thinking of a restaurant I want visit, and watching cooking shows, trying to think of a topic for this month’s article. It came to me when one of our granddaughters opened the refrigerator, and commented about the amount of butter, cream cheese, and eggs on the shelves. She wondered why we had 2 pounds of butter, four packages of cream cheese, and two dozen eggs. Moreover, she wondered why we had six mason jars of soup. Good...
Even when I thought winter would never come, I did wish that it would come gently into the night. As I write this, I was wondering what happened to the gentle part. I wake up one morning and it is warm, 70, and the usual muggy. Then a breeze started up and the temperature started down. The temperature dropped 35 degrees and I still had shorts and tee shirts as my wardrobe. I was happy, in a way, for the change. It is supposed to be winter. I was looking forward to trying some new, heartwarming...
If you mark out every passing day on your calendar, you will notice there is not much left to mark out. The year 2016 is coming to a close and what a year this has been. In the culinary world, Sous Vide cooking is becoming mainstream and affordable for home preparation. Southern Cuisine is still popular and has the attention of the up and coming chefs trying to put their mark in the restaurant world. Putting attention on making dishes healthier and using locally source products. This is my...
I believe that Thanksgiving is one of the last bastions of family traditions in this country. A celebration when the different generations of a family gather for a meal that has been part of the landscape of America since the Pilgrims. A time to give thanks for the bounty that has been bestowed on use and a time to strengthen the ties that bind a family together. The stories, adventures, mishaps, and good fortune that are shared and retold every year. And this bond in some families is so strong...
I just returned from one of my "Escape the Summer Heat Tours." This time the escape was to Iowa. Even though it is further north than Alabama, they can have hot and humid summers but at least this time of year you don't have to worry that a blizzard will keep you from getting there or keep you trapped there. This trip was warmer than expected, highs in the low 80's, but low humidity and usually a good breeze. So coming from central Alabama it was cool and comfortable. Nothing compares to...
I packed my lunch for work this morning. It would be the usual mix of leftovers from a dinner my wife and I had earlier in the week or something my wife and I made to have for lunch for the week. My lunch came from me opening the icebox and putting together a meal from the leftovers. This time it was a pork loin that I stuffed with fruits that were grown in our yard. I made the stuffing from pears, frozen and dried figs, apples, and peaches, chopped into small dice of about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. I pu...
I downloaded a brochure from the luxury RV manufacturer, NEWMAR, titled "50 Plates in 50 States." A listing of their favorite regional dishes. I was curious just what dishes they picked from Southern states. And of course, the first state listed was Alabama. The dish was Fried Green Tomatoes from a cafe in Irondale. The next Southern state was Arkansas with Fried Catfish from Fayetteville. Then Florida, with a dish of Conch Fritters from Fort Meyers Beach. From Georgia, Brunswick Stew from...
I am sitting in the kitchen, looking outside and wondering how hot is. It doesn’t make any difference. I know it’s hot. My phone says its 97 and feels like 101. It is time to water my garden. I have to water much more than I did just two weeks ago. The plants are larger and require more water and it’s hotter than it was two weeks ago. I need more water! The tomatoes, basil, and blueberries need a good amount of water. The Carolina Reapers, the Ghost Peppers along with the Habaneros, Jalap...
Sign in a restaurant. I don't know where except I bet below the Mason Dixon Line. It reads, “ ALL OUR FOOD IS SEASONED. CUZ WE'RE IN THE SOUTH AND WE LIKE IT THAT WAY.” I admit that I'm a hot sauce-aholic. I put hot sauce on almost everything. I don't use hot sauce because I think the food tastes bland or under-seasoned. I just like that extra kick. As some chefs say, “that extra dimension to the flavors.” What ever that means. There seems to be a general increase in the “heat” that is put in f...
No, I did not misspell great, I meant grate. I saw that sign below another sign that said “Ban Pre-shredded Cheese.” This is as far as I am going to comment on the political season we are now in. This is a much better season, Spring. This is the time to get out of the house, go to a farmers market, work in your garden and when you harvest the fruits of your labor, you will feel great. Let’s start right off with dispelling another myth. You do not have to soak your dried beans before you cook...
I like the month of April. It is a great month to celebrate FOOD. April is National BLT Sandwich Month, National Grilled Cheese Month and National Garlic Month. The week of April 12th to the 18th is National Egg Salad Week. Just think of all the meals that can be fixed celebrating these items. And don’t forget the food that has placed Southern Cuisine on the map. April 13 is National Peach Cobbler Day. National Pecan Day is the 14th. Pineapple Upside-Down Cake day is the 20th and two of my f...
I was reading about Southern cooking traditions, the standards that define a Southern kitchen and a Southern cook and realized that the knowledge on how to fix these staples, these meals, these time tested dishes, is slowly passing away. It is becoming a lost art in homes everywhere in America not just the South, where the children are not learning the basics of cooking, let alone, the traditional meals that bind generations. You have seen lists before, that tell that you have lost your...
We made it through the Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, with the stuffing, dressings, casseroles and too many sweets. We ate until we were going to burst and then we ate the leftovers. We spent hours in the kitchen cooking and then hours cleaning up. We also spent time with relatives and friends, which was a good thing. But now is the time to spend with just one other person, your significant other. The holiday this month is about love. If you are inclined to go out to a restaurant for a...
The word of the day is Compendium. The definition of compendium is; a collection of detailed information about a particular subject. The particular subject here is Southern Cuisine and cooking in general. With the “cooking season” of Thanksgiving and Christmas behind us, now is the time to reflect on the daunting tasks you had before you and how you overcame the obstacles. Some problems we have in preparing large meals are logistical. Where do we cook the turkey and heat all the sides when the...
We made it half-way through two of the biggest holiday meals. Thanksgiving is the holiday when the meal is the showcase and the time to show off your skills to the family and friends that are gathered. The next meal at Christmas is secondary to the reason for the holiday. But the Christmas dinner is still important and it is another time to show off your skills as a cook. Besides just the holidays themselves, I like cooking this time of year. There is a nip in the air and sometimes it gets downr...
October and Halloween are over and everyone has had their fill of Candy Corn, Jell-O Shooters, Mummy Hot Dogs, Skull Cheese Balls, "Boo"nana Pops, and Green Slimed Popcorn. Now is the time for some serious eating and more importantly, some serious cooking. And I do mean some serious cooking. This Thanksgiving you will be focused, organized and have pride in what you prepare for your family and friends. No more burning down the garage trying to deep fry a frozen turkey. No more opening a can of s...
I missed International Bacon Day, which is observed on the Saturday before Labor Day. I don’t remember what I was doing that day, but since it was a Saturday, I was probably eating bacon anyway. So, I won’t miss a time to celebrate eating something again, I downloaded a food celebration calendar. This comes in handy if you don’t know what to fix for a meal. Just look at the calendar and your menu is set. A side note is that everybody and his or hers uncle can declare a day as a Celebrate (Food...
It was August and I was hot, so I decided to do something about it. I couldn’t change the humidity, the temperature or the dew point here in Alabama, so I decided to change my location. I wanted to go somewhere dry, cooler and where I could try new menu items at some new restaurants. Since I am writing about food, I have to keep up my research. Tough job! So I am in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Cooler, with the mornings in the 50’s, and drier days with the dew point below 60 most days. New Mexico is...
I have to get started early in the morning if I am going to work outside. I can build up a tolerance to the heat as it rises throughout the morning but around 2 o’clock in the afternoon I am toast. There are always chores to do when you own a 185 year old house. And since it is August, I have to be out checking my vegetable garden and my fruit trees. My vegetable crop is just tomatoes and peppers of some sort. I do have cucumbers this year but they will be gone next year. My fruit trees are p...
Community cookbooks have a head start on the community based web sites such as PINTEREST and Food52 and the gazillion sites that inhabit the blog universe. For as far back as I can remember these spiral-bound gems were the go to source for everything from recipes, stain and spot removal and advertisements for local businesses and the history of the organization that published the book or for a local charity. NPR in an article on their web site says most began as a way to raise funds for a common...
Recipe: A series of step-by-step instructions for preparing ingredients you forgot to buy, in utensils you don’t own, to make a dish the dog wouldn’t eat. Author Unknown. You should try to minimize how true this statement is. There are lists of ingredients that are common to everyday cooking and what can be substituted for that item you forgot. It does works most of the time, but the original ingredient in the recipe is the best way to go. There are times you just have to go to the store. This c...