The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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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...
