The Library

[mabel1015j]

The Library Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is  always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not). Let the book talk begin here!

Suggestion Box for Future Discussions

I was told Pepsi was what wld grow hair on your chest, AND clean your car engine, and a few more things of that sort. We were largely a Pepsi family, rather thsn coke. When my sister and her family "came into town" on Sat nights to buy groceries they then stopped by our house and a typical snack was ice cream, pretzels and pepsi before they left to go home. I liked Sat nights!:) Sometimes, if somone in the family had "got a deer" that deer-hunting season, we'd have venison bologna also as part of the snack..........jean

[MaryPage]

That was my job, too!  We had lived (my grandmother & family) on a large farm that is now a subdivision.  When I was small, it was mostly leased out, and we just had 1 cow, several dozen chickens, and 3 hogs.  We moved into town in August 1941, and had a large enough lot we could take our hogs with us (but not the chickens or the cow;  Grandma was really done with animals, except for our dog and cat, but the hogs were a big investment in family eating).  That butchering, in October 1941, was our last.  We never had our own hogs after that.

I can remember sitting out in the carriage house behind the house at a metal table with a meat grinder set in the end of it.  A bushel basket to my left was full of the clean guts, and I would hold an end on to the grinder and grind until it was time to twist, and so on and on.

Everyone in my family was fond of "blood pudding," which we only got at butchering time.  I did not like it.

The butcher would make a date with everyone who kept hogs, and would show up on the appointed day.  I can remember Mama putting her hands over her ears to shut out the squealing.  I was 12 that last year we butchered.

[CallieOK]

I have no experience with making or eating scrapple.  But I do know about "chitlin's" from my Mississippi born-and-bred husband's family.  The packaged Pork Rinds aren't really the same but do remind me of chitlings; I like both.

Someone mentioned molasses.  There was a sorghum mill on some of our farm property in southeastern Oklahoma.  When the sorgum cane was ready, it would be cut and then crushed on a big grindstone powered by a mule walking in a circle.  The cane syrup ran down a trough into big kettles and was then cooked over a fire until it thickened into sorghum molasses.
I remember sticking my finger in the trough to get a sample of the syrup.

My Dad taught his grandsons to poke a hole in the side of a biscuit and fill it with butter and molasses that had been mixed on a saucer.  We never had a name for the mixture, but when #1 son automatically did that at the home of his future in-laws (I hope he didn't use his finger!), they were delighted that he knew how to make "Stir-Stir".  They came from northeastern Missouri and had made sorghum molasses there

It's hard to find pure sorghum molasses any more. Some of it is as good or better than Iron Tonic!   There's a country store near my hometown in s.e. OK that sells it - and Wewoka, OK has a Sorghum Festival every year.

[Frybabe]

I once had scrapple made with the whole hog - talk about rich and heavy and oh, so heavenly. Don't forget the shoo-fly pie Jean. Callie reminded me of it. Where in Cent. Pa, Jean? I grew up in New Cumberland and Mechanicsburg.

[rosemarykaye]

Well, this is all absolutely fascinating - we in the UK (or maybe I should just say "I") know virtually nothing about US culture apart from what we see on TV, and I am aware that vast swathes of the country are a mystery to me.  I have just started reading Ladies of Covington as well, so now I am becoming increasingly keen to find out more about the south.  I'm afraid US history for me began and ended with the War of Independence, studied briefly for O-level History.  I would be glad to have recommendations for more novels that might broaden my view.

Although I have never had any of the foods mentioned, some of them did sound vaguely familiar.  I have an old cookery book called Farmhouse Fare, which is a collection of recipes "from country housewives collected by Farmers Weekly" - it includes a whole section on "Pig Curing and By-Products", with recipes for how to make Brawn, black pudding, "oatmeal and pigs liver pudding", "pigs feet and parsley sauce" and the preparation of tripe.  It also has a "market day savoury" that can be "left cooking on the stove while you go to market" - it consists of pork chops, pigs' kidneys, onions, potatoes, apple, sage and tomato sauce.

I too like MK Fisher - I love the "impressionist" feel of her writing.  I used to re and re-read a library book by James Beard, about his childhood in Oregon - I imagine he was well known in the US.  In the UK, I like some writers because their recipes work - Delia Smith and Mary Berry come to mind - but others because I just enjoy reading them - Nigel Slater, Constance Spry.

MaryPage, you write like an angel.  That post ending "that was the last year we butchered" was like a short story - I could see the scene so well.  It made me long to hear more about your childhood, which must have been so different from mine.  I don't even know what a carriage house is.  More please!

Rosemary

[mabel1015j]

Is sorghum molasses  and blackstrap molasses the same thing? My Dad used to swear by b.m. As a tonic for just abt everything.

Frybabe - Shippensburg, right down the road...

Jean

[MaryPage]

Thank you, Rosemary.

A carriage house is like a garage.  Our house was built in 1832, long before cars, and the owner kept a carriage.  There was plenty of room in the back acreage for a horse or two.  Our carriage house was built of red brick, just like the house, and had an attic with a pull-down ladder.  It matched the house in style.  Imagine a city block.  OK, cut the block right in half through the middle.  That whole half of the block was ours, with the house right on the corner of the Main Street.  The carriage house faced the side street, and was about half the way down the side block from the house.

After my grandmother died in 1962, my aunt, who took over the house and lived there until 1986, tore down the carriage house!  Blew everyone away!  The house is now the museum for the town, and the curators  heartily wish the carriage house remained.  Aunt Hilda also sold off some back lots for building lots, and one by one, about 4 families built homes, so the museum does not sit on as big a lot.

Read ACROSS FIVE APRILS by Irene Hunt
LEAVES OF GRASS by Walt Whitman
and the set of books together called THE AWAKENING LAND
by Conrad Richter:
The Trees, The Fields, and The Town.

Then you will own a stong sense of us as a people. 

[mabel1015j]

From wikipedia- "Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey".[1] The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet, the amount of sugar extracted, and the method of extraction. Sweet sorghum syrup is known in some parts of the United States as molasses, though it is not true molasses."

and

"Sulfur dioxide, which acts as a preservative, is added during the sugar extraction process. Unsulfured molasses is made from mature sugar cane, which does not require treatment with sulfur. There are three grades of molasses: mild or barbados, also known as first molasses;
dark, or second molasses; and blackstrap. These grades may be sulfured or unsulfuredUnsulfured molasses is made from mature sugar cane, which does not require
treatment with sulfur."

 

In any case, it tastes AWFUL!

Jean

[CallieOK]

Jean, I don't know which category Oklahoma molasses would fall into - but I'm sure it's unsulfured and it's very sweet.  It's definitely not syrup.
 We use it for pecan pie (lots of pecan trees in Oklahoma and we pronounce it pee-KAHN - not PEE-can, which is something else entirely LOL) and other baking.   
During sugar rationing in WWII, my mother won a newspaper prize for her Molasses Sponge Jelly Roll.  I still make it - and it's delicious.
It's also good in baked beans.

[mabel1015j]

My perception growing up was that molasses and syrup were the same type of thing and i used the words interchangably........more recently, my perception was that molasses was thicker and stronger in flavor than syrup........i can't give you an explanation of why for either perception......that's just the way it is! ..................i say pee-KAWN, also.......jean

[kiwilady]

We have golden syrup from cane sugar and its very light more like a maple syrup texture. Its popular on pancakes or on things like apple and banana fritters. Many people put it on their porridge ( oatmeal) at breakfast.

Our breakfasts here since I was a child have been simple. Cereal or oatmeal and toast with jam  marmalade, marmite or peanut butter.  Not many of us eat donuts or pancakes for breakfast unless its a weekend treat. Sunday breakfasts at home often can be bacon and eggs with tomato and mushroom. Its not a daily thing for the average person. I personally mostly have smoothies with three fruits, yoghurt and ground flaxseed. Banana is always one of the fruits.

This week I sampled some of the new Just Juice veggies range my daughters company has just started producing and promoting. Its truly delicious. There are two fruits and two vegs in every bottle. I have beetroot and carrot with mango and apple this week and next week I have pineapple passionfruit carrot and brocolli with an apple base. Nicky and her family have one with pumpkin in to try. My new breakfast drinks!

Yesterday I read a romance novel. It is the first I read for years. Of course it ended up happily ever after. It was a welcome relief from all the bad news we have had here lately.

[mabel1015j]

I still can't always differentiate between "romance" novels and others. Some authors i have read i have later seen named as "romance" that i didn't categorize that way. Some i think of as historical novels, or as suspense, may be categorized at the library as romance. (The same thing happens w/ "mystery classifications. Some librarybooks i wld classify as mystery are on the "fiction" stacks.).......  Yes, there was some remance and there was a happy ending, but that's true for most if the books i have read in my  almost 70 yrs. So, like people, i have stopped categorizing books, in my mind at least,
and just read what looks or sounds interesting........jean

[roshanarose]

Rosemary, I hope Crapple is Cranberry and apple? Instead of what it sounds like?


GinnyYou are right - it is Cranberry and Apple Juice.  Awfully nice.  I think that I would enjoy scrapple, it's a pity I know what goes into it now.  

MaryPage and RosemaryMy Dad used to love eating "black pudding".  I used to have a taste and loved it.  Only later I found out it mostly consisted of blood.  Dad the Vampire!

RosemaryI thought of you whilst watching the new last night.  Some ghastly snowfalls over your way.  I hope you're not caught up in it.  Och Aye- I can see them snowy blizzards fairly whitening art those wee bonnie braes, lassie. (Do you think my Scottish accent is improving).  I think Scots have one of the most captivating accents in the world.  Not because of Sean Connery either.  I am not a fan.  Just all the Scots I have met, here, in Australia.  They all seem to have lively senses of humour as well - slightly self-deprecating.  In other words, they can take the p....

Ummm - Has anyone read "Her Fearful Symmetry"?  I asked this in my last post here.

[bellemere]

Bibles, molasses, and rum!  Rosemary, that is shorthand for early US history.  The bibles went out from New England to West Africa, bringing the blessings of religion to the people there, while their sons and daughters were loaded onto slave ships.  Then to the Caribbean , where the sugar plantations employed the slaves, growing sugar and processing it into molasses.  From there, the ships carried the molasses back to Boston to be made into rum.  the rum accompanied the bibles on the next trip to West Africa, to help persuade the chiefs to sell their people to the slavers.
"Bibles, Molasses and Rum" is a show stopping song in the musical "1776"  sung by the South Carolinian Rutherford to John Adams who tried to lecture him on the evils of slavery. The chilling last lines: "Here's Boston.  Here's Charleston.  Which stinks the most?"\
 The route was known as the golden triangle, so much money was made from the slave trade.
Medford Rum was also a staple supply on all seagoing ships.  Even today, the Medford (a suburb of Boston) basketball team hears the jeer, "medford, Medford, rummy rummy Medford!" from opposing fans.
I believe it is the Civil War, not the American Revolution which most clearly depicts the forces that shaped US history.
Back to regional food.  Last winter I had my first "Poutine"  Let's see who can guess what that is.  Note: Canadians are disqualified.

[MaryPage]

We had a big discussion about poutine several years ago somewhere in here.  Or in SeniorNet.  Seems to me it was Eloise telling us all about it, but it may have been someone else.  So, Virginian though I am, I am going to disqualify myself.

Yes, I think it was more than several years ago.  When was the Montreal Bash?

I agree with your observation that the Civil War most defines us.  That is why I listed 2 books about that war for Rosemary to read:  Across Five Aprils and Leaves of Grass.

[mabel1015j]

Never heard of poutine and didn't cheat and look it up......jean

[roshanarose]

Poutine sounds a bit like Poucine - fuzzy memory here, but isn't poucine a very intoxicating brew made by the Irish of potato skins?

A fuzzy memory is guaranteed after drinking a few cups of this drink.  Nice to have an excuse.

"Poteen or Poitin (pronounced putcheen) is Irish moonshine whiskey and it is said that it has been produced in Ireland since the first potato was harvested there. Usually high in alcohol, it has a dry, grainy taste, but sweeter aftertaste."

[Steph]

O h scrapple.. I grew up in central Delaware. Lots of Amish.. Lots of scrapple to this day. When I go visit, I eat scrapple every day. The frozen stuff is not very good... Needs to be fresh. Central Delaware dialect... How about.. Amongst you.. As in I will live amongst you..
We raised pigs, chickens, etc when I was young and butchering day was exciting.. It was my job to feed the pigs all year and they were miserable animals. I loved all the rest of the animals, just not the pigs or chickens.. Well, the geese were not my friends either come to think of it..
I like the thin and crispy scrapple.. Yum.. But after all the years in the south, I now like grits and especially am fond of South Carolina in some areas. They make grits, put in a loaf pan, get cold and then slice and fry.. Marvelous..
The Awakening Land.. I second this for a series of books that will tell you about early America..It was an early TV series and I can remember it to this day. The little girl who wandered too far in the woods and we last saw having a tea party under the tree. Oh me,, A tear to this day.

[MaryPage]

We're awakening some memories here.

I remember visiting a friend in Pennsylvania and hearing about how they would "red" up a table (set a table for a meal) and about how they "daressent" (I have no idea how to spell either!) do this or that (dare not do a thing).

When I was quite young, heaps of people still had animals that now no one has and no one can have without a license!

The vast majority of people owned no transportation of any kind and rarely left their home counties.  Local ways of speaking were so different, you could tell where someone new was from or, at the least, that they were a stranger "from away" and not native to "these parts."

I was an "Army Brat," and, apart from spending a lot of time at my grandmother's place, did a lot of traveling.  I often rode up and down the East Coast in the rumble seat of a Ford, seeing the countryside as it was truly then and memorizing all of the Burma Shave signs.  Daddy taught at West Point for 4 years, so I particularly knew the area between there and Washington, D.C. and Winchester, Virginia.  You would think it would be miserable, with the wind blowing, etc.  It was not.  I felt the breezes, but we drove on two-lane roads, some of which were unpaved, and at 35 miles an hour tops.  There was no interstate highway system.

[Babi]

 The only farm I recall from my childhood was a visit to my great-grandfather..the only time I
met him.  He raised goats, and I remember being awed when this tall, thin old man reached out
a calmly stopped a playful goat that was trying to butt us, but simply placing a firm hand on it's
horns.  Oh, and an aunt/uncle/cousins also had an orchard in the Rio Grande Valley, but that was
more modern times.  My aunt did make scrumptious jellies and preserves. Later, when I was
grown, she was producing and selling those goodies for the market.  Her cactus pear preserve
was truly notable.

[bellemere]

MaryPage is "getting warm" with the Montreal reference about poutine.  Nobody else had ever had it? Irish whiskey is way off, sorry.
For the past two years I have gone to Montreal with a couple of friends to hear some of the chamber music festial  always wonderul.

[JoanP]

Poutine!  There is an artery-clogging snack if there ever was one.  Popular in Canada, I know, though I can't believe the French, with their gourmet sensitivities, would ever get past a mouthful.  Bellemere, you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong - but as I recall, it was a serving of French Fries, smothered in melted cheese, LARD and another main ingredient I can't think of right now.  (Could it have been gravy?)  

I came in this morning to ask you all again to come over the Holiday Memories Open House -and share some of the recipes  and memories you've been talking about here.  On closer reading, that might not be such a good idea. -  though Ginny's squash recipe and Callie's mom's Molasses Sponge Jelly Roll sound interesting.  It would be great if you could share those reipes with us today...HERE.

[pedln]

Babi, I'm like you in my farm experience. Not much.  As a kid I spent summers in a very small town in central Wisconsin and would frequently ride the handlebars as my summer best friend biked us out to my great-uncle's farm.  Paradise.  They had no kids and just let us run wild. I loved the honey from the comb, and picking berries -- it's the only time I've ever had black raspberries.  They'd let me try to milk the cow, but goofy uncle first made me pump the tail. Then he explained the teats -- milk, cream, whey,  and buttermilk.  Of course I presented that information to my new third grade class and got into great trouble with the teacher, who thought I was trying to be the class clown.

[bellemere]

Okay, you got it!  Poutine is a serving of french fries, smothered in brown gravy and topped with cheese curds.  Artery-clogging indeed, but if it were freezing out side and I was starving, I might make a dent in a plate of poutine.  the other Montreal delicacy, "smoked meat" just tasted like bologna or even spam to me.  The real French Canadian treats are pea soup and tortiere, the seasoned pork pie, also smothered in brown gravy. Of them all, I guess only the pea soup has real nutritional value.

[maryz]

I have no farm experience whatsoever - town people on both sides of my family for several generations.  But split pea soup is a long tradition.  I make a huge pot of it with the ham bone left from Thanksgiving (it's in the freezer now, waiting).  I put it up in quart zipper bags, and we have it all year long.  Plus the girls always grab a bag or two to take home when they're here.  

I think I'll pass on the poutine, though. 

[Tomereader1]

a spinach pie made made with layers of those thin filo sheets.Ah, Spanakopita (?sp).  A restaurant nearby with Greek owners used to have that on the menu once a week, unfortunately, not anymore.

[MaryPage]

There is a small Greek restaurant, The Parthenon, near where I live.  It is what you would call a "neighborhood" restaurant:  out of the way for Annapolis's year round deluge of tourists, but well loved and attended by natives at this end of town.  Your favorite is still on the menu, and most excellent.  Come on along!

[Frybabe]

One more note on scrapple - I rarely buy it anymore - Too many processors skimping on the pork by adding too much cornmeal. IMO.

I loved those Burma Shave signs. It was a sad day when they discontinued them.

[Tomereader1]

What a wonderful place to visit, called "The Library"!  Here you can learn about things like poutine, every kind of molasses, rum, scrapple, Civil War, cultural differences in vernacular, and oh, yes, Books!  Talk about a journey!

[mabel1015j]

An ex of the tidbits of info - i'm going to have to go find out where "tidbits" came from- in Kurlansky's Food is : the Grand Central Oyster Bar is one of the few restaurants in the FWP that us stillinoperation today. It was partof the original Grand Central Terminal opened in 1913 as the largest, most luxurious train statiion in the world. Among oth features were ramps instead of stairs and a hair salon in the women's waiting room. NYC had been famous for centuries for the oyster beds of the harbor and other city waterways. The shores of all five boroughs werecovered inoyster beds and the land was marked by ancient piles of discarded shells. One has been carbon- dated to 6950 B.C.

Jean

[bellemere]

Spanikopita, moussaka, gyro sandwiches, baklava, and some jet fuel drink called ouzo; all available here in Mass. My neighbor, of Greek descent, flies the Greek flag and a lot of weddings play that theme from the old Anthony Quinn movie Never on Sunday and everyone ,but everyone, dances up a storm. Opa, opa! 

[mabel1015j]

O.k., we've defined scrapple, the other food that was "panned" and then sliced like scrapple and fried was "mush"! Anybody besides me have that for breakfast?......jean

[rosemarykaye]

Thanks everyone for all this information - it is truly fascinating to someone like me whose life has been so different.  When I was a child the only thing I knew about America was the Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Later I watched The Waltons avidly - but of  course I have no idea how accurate that was.  MaryPage - thank you for the book suggestions, I have found the Whitman book in the library reserve catalogue, so i will try to get it out tomorrow.

It seems to me that so many of you have farming backgrounds, whereas in this country most people don't.  That is perhaps less true in Aberdeenshire - where I lived for for about 10 years before moving into the city; there are still lots of farming families out there, but I don't think their diets are as interesting as yours.  The nature of the climate up here means that most vegetables would have been unavailable to rural families until the advent of deep freezing and supermarkets - the staple diet would have been mince, "tatties", "neeps" (swede, in Scotland called turnip) and maybe cabbage.  But the people I grew up with and went to school with in suburban London would never have been near a farm.  My mother's and father's families had lived in inner London for generations.  I always wanted to move to the country (and although I now live in the city, i still hanker after moving back), but my mother loathes it and can't see one single good thing in living outside London.

I'm very much enjoying Ladies of Covington.  I know it's all a bit pie in the sky - and, as in so many books, just so handy that someone happens to come into some money at the right moment! - but it's a lovely gentle story and the descriptions are lovely too.

Rosemary

[Tomereader1]

But, jean, if you have fried "mush" you have to fry it in bacon grease or it doesn't count!  I've never eaten it that way but had a relative who did, and he also dripped the bacon grease over the top of it when it was served, yuk!    He lived to be about 90+ so the grease didn't get him!

Also, a current fancy foodstuff is "polenta", which is nothing more than cornmeal mush (IMHO).

[rosemarykaye]

Roshanarose - sorry, I wasn't ignoring you!  I haven't read Her Fearful Symmetry, but I do have a copy on that ever growing TBR pile, and I've heard that it is good.  Are you enjoying it?

Rosemary

[kiwilady]

Agriculture is our main export earner yet less than 25% of the population work in the industry. That is why some people think we are all sheep herders. Actually the sheep thing is out of date. We are more into dairy now although we do export a huge amount of lamb particularly to the Middle East.

The only old fashioned traditional fare I can think of is our roast lamb with mint sauce Sunday dinner tradition ( now lamb is so expensive thats gone by the board). A good lamb roast has both white and sweet roast potato, roast pumpkin, carrots and beans or peas. Gravy is always provided if you want it but the mint jelly is always there as well. My mother was fond of serving "murdered cabbage" probably because it was cheap. Mum was very decorative to look at but a terrible cook. Granny gave us wonderful meals so I learned to cook from her.

Probably weetbix or oatmeal would be traditional kiwi breakfasts when I was  a kid. Other cereals were a luxury. Scones and Pikelets were staple morning and afternoon tea fare.

Carolyn

[CallieOK]

Carolyn,  I've always thought it interesting that you use pumpkin as a vegetable side dish with a meal.  I've never heard of it used as anything but a dessert or in a quick bread.
How do you season the pumpkin?

[bellemere]

kiwilady, I remember hearing one of my Australian students calling cross the lawn to another, "Gary! Mum has sent me some veggie-mate!" When I asked what that was, I was appalled.  Tell us if you are still eating it!

[Gumtree]

Well of course, Aussies still have Vegemite - the health food of the nation - or so the jingle goes. It's great on hot buttered toast.

Sunday roast lamb was a regular for Australian families too just as Kiwilady described it but generally with mint sauce rather than mint jelly. Although it is expensive now roast leg of lamb still features in my kitchen - I think lifestyles have changed so much that cooking a roast for Sunday midday dinner would interfere with family activities. We usually have it for an evening meal but rarely on a Sunday.

I've never been able to take to pumpkin used for sweet dishes - it's great roasted - doesn't need seasoning except for a little salt and if steamed a little butter as well. Butternut pumpkin makes a great soup as do other varieties. I also use pumpkin for salads - just cooked 'al dente' with almond or walnut and sultanas or raisins and a light vinaigrette. Occasionally I make a pumpkin bread and more often the ubiquitous Aussie pumpkin scones.

[pedln]

DIL is of Greek heritage and every so often fixes things like spanokipita.  I tried her recipe – once. It took two hours to wash all the spinach, the recipe said it would serve eight, and four of us ate it up in 30 minutes.  Delicious, but I’ve never made it since.  When I told my DIL she said “we always fight over who has to make the spanokipita because nobody wants to do it.”  I’ve tried some of the little frozen ones you see in the stores, but it’s not like the real stuff.

MaryZ, split pea soup is a favorite of mine, but I rarely fix a ham big enough to have a bone in it.  However, the Honey-Baked Ham franchise in town sells ham bones very reasonably, when/if they have them (not always).  Ham and beans soup is good too.

My f2f group discussed The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo today, and much of the discussion centered on the life of author Stieg Larsson as well.  There are some amazing stories, rumors, etc.  He wrote 2 ½ books before he even sent them to a publisher. And he just assumed they’d be published and would be a good retirement fund.  All I could think of was, what a loss.  Is this the literary story of the decade?  He starts writing in 2002, dies in 2004, book sales (worldwide) are in the millions.  And who’s going to get the money?

Am currently reading Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson.  British village life, from the point of view of a 68 year-old man, in our modern day times – young ruffians stand in the doorway of the village grocery store and shout “Pakis go home.”  Simonson was born and raised in the UK but has lived in the US for two decades, currently in DC area.