Cast-Iron Cooking

No country kitchen is complete without cast-iron cookware. These durable and efficient cooking utensils have been around since the Chinese first made them around the 4th century BC. In China they were used to evaporate salt. George Washington's mother loved her cast-iron so much that she even made special arrangements in her will to bequeath it to someone who would appreciate and care for it.

Most of our cast-iron cookware is very old and has been recycled from generation to generation. In the picture above, item number one is one a newer piece bought at Lodge Manufacturing. It is a griddle used to make pancakes or grill hamburgers. Item number two shows our favorite skillets. The small one makes great cornbread for just two people. The next size is great for frying sausage or bacon. Item three is larger and great for frying chicken due to the fact it has a lid. This skillet has spouts on the side to pour off grease, and the lids have protrusions covering the pouring spout, thus keeping in heat. Item three shows several cast-iron trivets such as an owl and butterfly. Item five shows two types of cornbread pans. The one on the right makes triangular shaped pieces of cornbread while the  one on the left makes the shape of an ear of corn. The most used piece of cast-iron cookware is the Dutch oven (#6). This can be used on the stovetop or in the oven. We use it to cook chili, roasts (both pork and beef), and stew. The lid on the Dutch oven is taller and has a deeper dome shape. On the inside it has small protrusions inside. When steam rises, it will drip back to the pot and self-baste.

Cast-iron cookware is made of iron, carbon, and silicon. The molten metal is poured into molds made of pressed sand.  In America cast-iron cookware was first made in 1619 and was used mostly in fireplaces and hearths before the advent of the stove. Today Lodge Manufacturing in South Pittsburg, TN is the only major manufacturer of cast-iron cookware in the United States. They have many new products that you can view on the great website. Check it out!

The ability of cast-iron to retain heat is a characteristic property of the material. Caring for cast-iron is not as difficult as some may think. All you need is soapy water and a sponge. You can use a fine wire brush or wire brush on an electric drill to remove any rust. Clean well and and dry. To season your cast-iron piece, pour a spoonful of vegetable oil and rub it completely over the piece. Do not  use too much oil. Place aluminum foil on the rack of the stove and turn the piece upside down in the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Turn off the oven and let it cool inside the oven. Wipe away all the excess oil. Some people suggest you do this at least once a year. Over the years burnt on grease builds up the outside of the skillet reducing the ability to equally transfer heat. Periodically this may need to be removed. One way is to burn it off in a very hot fire, use a sand blaster, or a wire brush.

The American Dietetic Association conducted a study showing the ability of cast-iron to leech out significant amounts of dietary iron into the food. The amount of iron depends on the type of food and how long it is cooked. However, we should note that people with hemochromatosis should not use cast-iron. People with this condition store excess amounts of iron causing serious effects on the body. They simply do not need the extra iron found in cast-iron cooked food.

Country Solitude

"I came to the woods because I wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,

 and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die,

 discover that I had not lived."

Henry David Thoreau

Finding solitude in today's world can often be difficult and in some cases almost impossible. Making time for solitude can cleanse the soul, cheer the heart, and bring an inner peace. Many do not know how to deal with solitude, with time to oneself. Being alone for even a short time frightens some people for then they might have to think. Our world today is full of technology which entertains the mind without really having to think. Children are growing up never having to entertain themselves with their mind, without taking time to look at the clouds, to smell the sweet smell of honeysuckle, or sit quietly and watch the power of a thunderstorm. Solitude can help us learn who we are, what we want to be, and how we want to live. Solitude reminds us where we came from and helps us see where we want to go. In our beautiful countryside one should not deny themselves the opportunity 

to experience times of solitude and contentment.

Free Rangers

Even though our chickens have a pen the size of a basketball court they decided to make an escape and scavenge the yard. They were so happy we decided to give them a furlough for the winter. At first they stayed away from the house, but as all our animals do, they eventually ended up at the backdoor. It has been very difficult to teach chickens proper scavenging etiquette such as staying off the porch, out of the flower beds, off the truck hoods, and out of the cat food bowl. In the picture you can see they are being tricked into returning to their pen with the leftover biscuits; one of their favorite foods. Despite the fact that their egg production dramatically increased while free, they have been banished back to their pen.

Chicken Pot Pie and Dumplings

Cooking is usually a messy endeavor at best, so it only makes sense to fix several meals at once rather than having to clean the kitchen twice.  Saturday morning is a biscuit making day here in South Coon.  It involves pulling out the pastry board and getting flour everywhere.  As the kitchen would already be a mess, today would be a good day to make homemade potpies and dumpling.

While preparing breakfast it doesn't take much time to put a whole chicken in a pot to cook.  Once cooked and cooled, it is time for the least enjoyable aspect of preparing meals- picking the meat from the bones of the chicken.

For the pot pies make up batch of pastry. The recipe consists of two cups plain flour, two-thirds cup shortening, one teaspoon of salt, and ice water. Only use enough water to make mix the dough completely. You don't want it too wet.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                         

Roll out the dough and place in small aluminum pans. (We like pastry on the bottom of our potpies.) To make the filling put your diced chicken in a bowl. Next, add a can of cream of chicken soup, and a can of mixed vegetables to the chicken. Sometimes you might want to add peas or other vegetables. Mix together all the ingredients and place in small aluminum pans to make individual servings. Take your extra pastry and cut strips to place on the top. Now they are ready to bake at 350 degrees or cover with foil and freeze for later use.

To make dumplings take the rest of the chicken and broth from cooking the chicken and put in a pot. My biscuit recipe makes great dumplings but you use  broth from cooking the chicken instead of buttermilk to moisten the flour and shortening. Once the dumplings are ready, heat up the chicken and broth. Roll out the biscuit dough and cup into small pieces. You can make them as thick or thin as you like. Once the broth and chicken mixture is boiling slowly place pieces of dough into the liquid. At this point turn down the stove to medium heat and cover with a lid. Don't stir the pot at this point but you might use a spoon to make room for more dumpling. Once all the pieces are in, cover the pot with a lid and let cook for 5-8 minutes. If some of the pieces on top still seem doughy, push them down into the liquid. Remove from heat and leave the lid on as it cools. 

As you can see, one chicken can provide two delicious meals.  The dumplings will be eaten for dinner while the potpies will be frozen and saved for a cold winter's night when you are really tired. Even better you may save them to share with a sick family member or friend.

Becky's Breakfast

With our son and his fiancé at home this weekend we moved from the bar to the dining room table for breakfast. We had our usual Saturday breakfast of bacon, homemade sausage, grits, biscuits, fresh free-range eggs, strawberry freezer jam and coffee. Breakfast has always been one of our favorite meals of the day and for years duck season brought a huge crowd to the house. Hunters knew breakfast was served at 9:00 because Becky didn't get out of bed until then.

One duck hunting story told and retold involves two very competitive golden retrievers. On one very cold morning the dogs were allowed to come into the house to "thaw-out". They soon found their way under the dining table and began fighting for a dropped biscuit. Everyone had to clear out and break up the fight before finishing breakfast. Now that's a "country breakfast".

Recently, we were entertaining some young couples from church and served them coffee from our old percolator. We were amazed that they never seen coffee made that way. In fact they thought it was better coffee than what they got at Starbuck's. We ended up making several pots to satisfy their curiosity. We tried other coffee makers and they were good, just not as good as the percolator.

If you want a good country breakfast you will need some fresh stone-ground grits, free-range eggs, and homemade jelly or honey. We get our sausage and bacon from Dobbins' Grocery at North Sand Mountain (near the high school). We have been told that they make one ton of sausage a week from hogs they raise themselves. People come from all over the southeast just to buy meat at this store. Now check out our blog on making biscuits, and you will have all you need for a great country breakfast.

Turnip Green Soup

Occasionally you run across a recipe that may not look very tasty but is truly delicious. If you like beans and turnip greens then "Swamp Soup" is one of those dishes you really should try. You might even decide to call it, "Turnip Green Soup".

Here is the recipe if you are interested. First, cook your turnip greens until tender and drain. Saute a large onion in a small amount of olive oil. In a large pot add two cans of chicken broth, the onions, and about a quart of finely chopped turnip greens (You may add more or less of the greens to suit your taste). Take a can of great northern beans, pinto beans, red beans, and black beans and drain away the liquid. Place the beans in with the turnip greens. Add 1-2 cups of chopped ham. Every summer I make pepper sauce with vinegar and hot peppers. I now chop up some of the hot peppers and add to the mix. I also pour in about one quarter cup of the hot pepper sauce. Add pepper, salt, and about a half teaspoon of garlic powder. You may need to add some water if the soup is too thick. Lastly, I add a dash of Tabasco sauce. Be very careful with the Tabasco sauce. Add a small amount at a time and sample it until you get the correct amount for your taste. Cook for about an hour.



Now all you need is a pan of cornbread to go along with the soup. Serve this up on a cold winter's day and you will not only have a satisfying meal but a healthy one, too. Hope you enjoy it!

Preparing For The Cold

To build a good fire you must the right ingredients just like any recipe. We start with a little newspaper and small kindling. The small kindling is waste from making oak shingles. (See earlier blog on shingle making). The pieces of kindling are about the side of a pencil. As I split the shingles I  put them in peach baskets and keep them in the dry until needed. If I don't have any shingle scraps, I use a hatchet to split red cedar in splits. 

After the kindling begins to burn, we add small limb wood or split wood no bigger than two to three inches in diameter. After this fire is burning well, you can add your regular size logs. When we have a really good bed of coals, we add a backlog (large log) to burn through the night. All of our wood is cut in the spring so it is well seasoned by winter. 

We have two fireplaces in our house, but this fireplace produces much more heat than the first one we built. It was built by a master rock mason by the name of Larry Bain. Larry built over twenty fireplaces for me in the different houses I have built over the years . He wasn't just a rock mason but an artist in stone. Unfortunately, Larry passed away a few years while in his 50's.

 The hearth of this fireplace is about 12 inches off the floor with a 36 inch damper. The damper allows us to control how much heat escapes up the chimney. If you keep a fire burning for several days, the sandstone rock will heat up and radiate a great deal of energy into our thirty-two foot sunroom. The stone in this fireplace was reused from a family homesite built in the 1830's. In our home we incorporated stone from over forty house places from here in Yucca Valley. With the temperatures dipping down into the single digits, we will keep a roaring fire for several days. In a couple of days you can warm yourself in front of it, but you won't stand there long. There is no warmth in this world like the warmth from a good fireplace, or the peace that the flicking flames bring you on a cold and dark night.

Homemade Deer Jerky

Even though we are duck hunters, we do like deer jerky. Fortunately we have friends that provide us with fresh deer meat from off our own farm. This year, Daniel and I were given the backstrap from a young buck. The backstap is the muscle on each side of the backbone. The tenderness of the meat makes it great for jerky.

The first thing we do is cut off the silver skin (connective tissue) from the meat as well as trimming off any fat. We then cut it into one quarter inch strips. It is important to cup across the grain of the meat. Next, we soak the meat in Dale's steak sauce and sometimes add extra black and red pepper. Different seasonings can be added to suite your individual taste. We just prefer Dale's, a produce made in Birmingham, AL and distributed widely across the South. We marinade it for at least two hours and may soak it overnight.  

 

















We use an American Harvest Snackmaster Dehyrator 2400 that we have had for many years. It has an adjustable thermostat. The deer jerky is dried at a temperature of 145 degrees for about six hours. Any longer and the meat will be too crisp for our taste. We like ours chewier.  (We also use the dehydrator to dry fruit in the summer.) To store the jerky, we put it in quart baggies and freeze. Usually there isn't enough left to freeze as it is such a great snack to take hunting. You can also use this same method to prepare beef jerky.