storyteller

Fall ….and the recipe books come out of hiding and are dusted off.  Everyone is looking for new ways to help get rid of the Squash, Zucchini,  Pumpkins, Apples, and other assorted goodies that are left from the growing season. Or they are starting to plan ahead for that Thanksgiving Dinner they are going to be preparing soon.   I had a limited childhood, as far as vegetables go, the only things we ate were what the stepfather liked.  Now don’t get me wrong it was a pretty good selection, but as an adult I found a wider range of items.  I never knew how to cook things like Squash because we never had it. I also knew nothing about how to cook soup beans, or navy beans.  Somehow I did not know they grew in feilds and were harvested, that they actually had to be picked and dried.  Dried beans I  never knew how good this could be. 

 And lets not even mention that I did not know you could make a concoction of pan drippings (usually  from sausage or bacon) add  flour and milk and make a creamy good sauce to put over a biscuit!   It is a white sauce not the red kind.  Oh and may I say that while I was growing up and helping in the Kitchen, I thought a biscuit came from a box with the name of Jiffy Mix.  Or they came out of a cylinder with the name of Refrigerator on them.    I am from mainly an Italian household if that helps to clarify anything, if it didn’t  have a sauce on it we didn’t have it.   My mother would try to accommodate her tyrant with Meat and Potatoes cooked in variations of Italian marinades.   And there was always the old standby of stew w/ puffy dumplings, Chili, Soups, Pot Pies, and  always room for Turkey w/ Stuffing.  

Sometimes she would lie about it and say to all 5 of us children, “You’ve had this before, I just haven’t made it in awhile.”  We always knew when she said that we were in trouble, she was trying out a new recipe on us the scapegoats!  We knew, but we never let on that we knew, because she may have found a good recipe this time.  Do not get me wrong, my mother was a good cook, she made killer potato salad and macaroni salad and was into baking, cakes, and frosting, pastry and so on.   And that could have been attributed to her father Bill, my grandfather.  He was a pastry chef, and owned a couple of Bakeries.  I remember he was a great cook, and I still use some of our family recipes like  Lasagna, and Baked Ziti, and also his recipe for Italian Butter-cream Icing.    But there really is such a variety out there that women everywhere should have access to all there is, and never be afraid to ask for help.  I didn’t ask because she would have nothing nice to say to me about wanting to get away from the Italian (her) way of cooking. 

It was when I met my now ex-husband that I was exposed to the Country cooking through his mother.  And that woman could cook!  She taught me a whole new world of ways  to fix all kinds of items.  I learned about Biscuits (Cat Head Biscuits) and Red Eye Gravy, Soup Beans and Cornbread served with a chunk of Onion. Chicken n’dumplings, Grits, and  How to make country ham.   Then I was introduced to her relatives and  they all cooked, and had great recipes, and they shared from a group called Easter Star.  OMG!!  I found out about the world of information that wasn’t even on the Internet back then.  I am talking this was 20-25 years ago.  And It is all inside my head, all of it !! there are a few recipes that are on paper, but I can reference them when needed. 

I was one of these people who could watch and learn or so I thought I could.  My ex-husband at the time being newly wed was a good sport….he was a good man.  I tried one night to make country ham, biscuits and gravy and other things,  the other things was easy.  But let me tell you about my poor try at the rest!  It was funny now that I think about it.  The biscuits looked like hockey pucks, and they were actually flat and black. If I had thrown one I would have killed someone!  NOT Kidding.  The gravy ended up lumpy and resembled wall paper paste, actually the spoon stood up in it .  And that country ham, I later found out that you have to soak that stuff in cold water for a bit to take the salty taste out of it……If you don’t it is like opening up the salt container and just chug-a-lugging it….I kid you not!  

I know the man loved me because he ate it!  I took a bite and thought to myself I just wanted to die….eating that meal would have done it. I made him stop eating it, and we went out……and so did the meal.  It took me a good year of try and try again, with the help of his mother to master gravy and real from scratch biscuits.  I am good at it a real pro now  20 years later, I even know how to make chocolate gravy, so practice helps.

It must be true what they say ”The way to a mans’ heart is through his stomach” because every time I make food to take to some function I always get a proposal.  I guess I will worry when I do not get any proposals anymore.  By all means get out a favorite recipe and share it with others…..It might bring a new friend into your midst, or it may make its way into a newspaper, or just into an acquaintances recipe box.  But you will never know how much that recipe is worth, if anything it may mean the world  to the person receiving it.   Hope you had a giggle, and have a good  day!

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