Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
For the most part, I've made the best of my re-location to Colorado, but as they say, you can take a gal out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the gal!
I remember growing up on my grand-pappy's farm just east of Blue Grass Country. I would listen in amazement when my Daddy described plowing the fields with a mule and stripping them huge tobacco leaves, then hanging up in the tobacco barn. Dang! That smelled so good!
My Granny used to make us the best food I've ever eaten to fuel the men working the tobacco leaves (our CASH crop), and we women from about age 5 on. canning vegetable and making jams or jellies.
They don't have grits out here - oh, yeah, they have a sort of fake grits, but they don't amount to much. Same with poke salad. Same with green beans (Kentucky Wonders, of course)! Same with a good slab of ham or chicken and dumplings with the chicken killed about 10 minutes before it went into the pot!
Can someone out there in my lost Kentucky home, give me some recipes that will work, even for this Southern expatriot, longing for home?
For the most part, I've made the best of my re-location to Colorado, but as they say, you can take a gal out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the gal!
I remember growing up on my grand-pappy's farm just east of Blue Grass Country. I would listen in amazement when my Daddy described plowing the fields with a mule and stripping them huge tobacco leaves, then hanging up in the tobacco barn. Dang! That smelled so good!
My Granny used to make us the best food I've ever eaten to fuel the men working the tobacco leaves (our CASH crop), and we women from about age 5 on. canning vegetable and making jams or jellies.
They don't have grits out here - oh, yeah, they have a sort of fake grits, but they don't amount to much. Same with poke salad. Same with green beans (Kentucky Wonders, of course)! Same with a good slab of ham or chicken and dumplings with the chicken killed about 10 minutes before it went into the pot!
Can someone out there in my lost Kentucky home, give me some recipes that will work, even for this Southern expatriot, longing for home?
Thanks, ya'll!
I'm now in Dallas, but lived 17 years in Kentucky. You can still get real grits--from Kentucky, too. Now I do NOT eat white hominy grits except on rare occasion. I prefer yellow corn grits, the way my grandma made them down in Louisiana.
Midway, Kentucky has a small company called Weisenberger Mills, Inc. (Midway, Ky 40347). They make stone ground yellow grits. DO NOT MICROWAVE stone ground grits. It won't work. Directions call for four cups of water brought to a boil on the stove, add one cup of yellow stone ground grits, reduce heat and cook 20-25 minutes, stir occasionally (they will stick to the bottom of your pot if you don't). Salt to taste. Weisenberger Mills grits are milled from yellow corn grown in Shelby County, Ky at the Gallrein Farm, so you are getting real Kentucky grits.
For a real treat, try a double batch in a big pot using two times everything but add an extra half cup of water. When done, pour the contents into a greased casserole dish, mix in shredded cheese and a touch of sour cream. Heat your oven to 350F and bake for about 30 minutes. Watch them to make sure they don't start to burn on top--if so, remove immediately and let cool for two or three hours. It should harden enough that you can cut the grits like brownies and heat them slightly in a microwave. Leftovers can be covered and kept in the refrigerator about five days. It's also good for a quick heat up in the morning with an egg or two.
If you are lazy, as I frequently am, then go on the internet to Bob's Red Mill to order some of their corn polenta (yellow) grits. Cereals :: Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods. I like them because I find I can microwave three tablespoons with 3/4 cup of water in three minutes. Be sure to stop at two minutes and stir. We order a case shipped to us containing four 24 ounce bags.
Bob has a lot of recipes and customer reviews.
Grits are a carbohydrate food and don't offer much nutrition other than some fiber. But then again, we all need comfort food now and then!!
Good luck, Colorado Rambler. We are headed back that direction (lived there 14 years) in April when the wife retires. Probably headed for northern CS to be closer to the son and his family in Parker.
During the monthly community breakfast our church puts on a couple Saturdays ago, one of the church ladies was making cheese grits. I told her there is one way I like my grits. On somebody else's plate! I aint eatin' that stuff! lol
During the monthly community breakfast our church puts on a couple Saturdays ago, one of the church ladies was making cheese grits. I told her there is one way I like my grits. On somebody else's plate! I aint eatin' that stuff! lol
That is exactly what the folks here in Chicagoland said when I told them that I was making my cheese grits for the church dinner. That is until the pastor came back to me and asked me if I could make another batch as they were running low.
For the most part, I've made the best of my re-location to Colorado, but as they say, you can take a gal out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the gal!
I remember growing up on my grand-pappy's farm just east of Blue Grass Country. I would listen in amazement when my Daddy described plowing the fields with a mule and stripping them huge tobacco leaves, then hanging up in the tobacco barn. Dang! That smelled so good!
My Granny used to make us the best food I've ever eaten to fuel the men working the tobacco leaves (our CASH crop), and we women from about age 5 on. canning vegetable and making jams or jellies.
They don't have grits out here - oh, yeah, they have a sort of fake grits, but they don't amount to much. Same with poke salad. Same with green beans (Kentucky Wonders, of course)! Same with a good slab of ham or chicken and dumplings with the chicken killed about 10 minutes before it went into the pot!
Can someone out there in my lost Kentucky home, give me some recipes that will work, even for this Southern expatriot, longing for home?
Thanks, ya'll!
Well, bless your heart...I thought you was coming home anyway.
No Country ham? You might have to order ye one from Harpers (I think it's Harpers). I like to boil Country hams. Country ham and cheese grits...num num
My wife makes dumplins with chicken broth she buys at the store. I roast the chicken in the roaster this time of year. She just makes the dough as if she was making biscuit's, just thinner, then just cuts them out and drops them in the boiling broth and then adds a can of cream of chicken and cream of celery soup. That's right celery soup... I know it don't sound right but it is.
Poke is just a weed more or less...I don't think we can find it at the store.
During the monthly community breakfast our church puts on a couple Saturdays ago, one of the church ladies was making cheese grits. I told her there is one way I like my grits. On somebody else's plate! I aint eatin' that stuff! lol
That is exactly what the folks here in Chicagoland said when I told them that I was making my cheese grits for the church dinner. That is until the pastor came back to me and asked me if I could make another batch as they were running low.
Ha Ha...you have to watch them preachers, they like to eat...Baptist? I like to eat to.
In my family cheese grits go with a fish fry, like fried catfish, hushpuppies, cheese grits and slaw, with maybe some shrimp or oysters. I like plain grits for breakfast with a little butter and pepper...hmmmm.
l like hominy grits for a "porridge" type dish with butter, salt and pepper. Of late, I like it in baked casseroles, and for shrimp and grits, but we never had it that way. The cornmeal version was reserved for "fried mush" and served at our house often. Fried mush is a great breakfast topped with a pat of butter and salt/pepper. My favorite.
As for a slab of ham, we never really referred to it as that, or served it that way. Ham was city ham or country ham. The latter, old ham, is far superior. My grandparents cured theirs for no less than 18 months, up to two years, and it was the best. I can't get a ham like that anymore, even if I ship old ham from Kentucky to Texas. Maybe there's one available with a longer curing process, I don't know, but it makes a difference in the taste and texture. The process was to scrub the ham and boil it in a lard can, wrap the can in a blanket overnight, then bake and slice it as thin as possible, served with beaten biscuits. Heaven. Or, a slice of it fried and served with red-eye gravy, which I've never mastered.
Anyway, try fried mush. Recipes are on the internet and fairly standard.
As for green beans, shell-outs were my favorite. Kale, my favorite greens. Great meal...kale, mashed potatoes, fried cornbread "pancakes" with butter/salt and pepper and sliced tomatoes from the garden. We ate well, and we ate healthy. I never canned anything, but watched my grandmother and mother can plenty, and admired the stocked pantry afterwards.
Also watched the tobacco housing process. All I remember about the smell was the dirt floor in the barn. lol But the rafters filled with tobacco were a thing of beauty. Lots of work.
Well, if you're gonna have ham, how bout some red eye gravy to pour over some freshly made home made biscuits? I bet 90% of Coloradoans ain't ever heard of red eye gravy.
You oughta turn your friends & neighbors out there on to that hillbilly staple.
Man, I done got hongree.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yellow grits superior to white grits! :)
I like to eat to.
