From Mark F. Sohn’s book titled Hearty Country Cooking, we have some wonderful recipes treasured by Southerners and all people who appreciate Southern, country, and mountain cooking.
“Red-Eye Gravy,” says Mark, “is as Southern as Andrew Jackson, who some say gave the gravy its unusual name. It is a broth or strong bouillon, made with country ham* and water. If you know a French dip or beef au jus, you know something about red-eye gravy. Did our seventh president name this gravy? Perhaps. Some say he taught a drunken red-eyed cook to prepare the gravy! Others say that during the Jackson presidency, red-eye gravy was a favorite at the White House.” *Country ham is not the same as regular ham with which you may be familiar. It is salt-cured, usually hardwood smoked.
Hearty Country Cooking has another treat for us: fried apples. Mark says they aren’t really fried; they are braised. They are not candied or glazed, and you do not caramelize the sugar or thicken it with long, slow cooking. Using a cast-iron skillet, mountaineers steam-fry their fried apples, seasoned with bacon or sausage grease, butter, or margarine, or lard. Much of the moisture evaporates, which heightens the apple flavor. But be careful: if you choose a soft apple or if you cook them too long, they will get mushy, like applesauce. Serve these warm for breakfast, with pork chops, country ham, sausage, gravy, grits, eggs, biscuits, and Hot Sorghum. Add orange juice, milk, and coffee.
He says, “We use the short and simple term grits for the ground hominy grits our mills make from white corn hominy. Consider the differences among old-fashioned, quick, and instant grits. While this recipe calls for old-fashioned grits that cook for twenty to thirty minutes, our mountain markets today sell two other kinds of enriched and precooked grits: quick grits cook in five to seven minutes, and instant grits “cook” as soon as you stir them into boiling water. Old-fashioned grits are stone-ground, whole kernel grits (such as Callaway Gardens Speckled Heart Grits). Having undergone less processing, the old-fashioned grits are more robust, fuller, coarser, and less smooth than quick grits.”
Mark says, “I can’t guarantee that this recipe for Country Biscuits will yield a biscuit like those you grew up with, but I hope it will get you started down the right path – the path of homemade biscuits. Use this master recipe for your special biscuits and modify it with variations. He rates this recipe as Easy, with only six ingredients. And he adds, “You may be surprised how fast you can make these biscuits.”
RED-EYE GRAVY
(Country Ham and Red-Eye Gravy)
From: Mark F. Sohn’s
Hearty Country Cooking
Ingredients:
1/2 to 3/4 pound country ham
slices
3/4 cup black coffee (or Pepsi
or water)
Yield: 2/3 cup gravy and
enough ham for 4 servings.
Steps:
In a skillet over medium to high heat, brown the ham on both sides, allowing 2 to 3 minutes per side. Place the ham on a serving plate. Add the liquid to the frying pan, and bring to a boil. Using a spatula, loosen particles from the pan and scrape until clean. Stir. Boil 3 minutes and serve. If there is a lot of fat, pour it off and discard.
For a classic country breakfast, serve with Country Breakfast Grits, Buttermilk Biscuits, scrambled eggs, and Fried Apples. For a special treat, offer Angel Biscuits and a mountain honey: honey locust, sourwood, or linn (bass-wood) honey.
FRIED APPLES
(Fat-Free Fried Apples)
From: Mark F. Sohn’s
Hearty Country Cooking
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups peeled and sliced Granny Smith apples
3 cups peeled and sliced Rome Beauty apples
Yield: 8 servings
Steps:
In a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon, stirring until the cornstarch is fully distributed. Arrange the apples in a casserole dish and cover with the sugar mixture. Cover, and microwave on high for 5 minutes, or until the sugar is melted. Stir and cook, uncovered, another 4 minutes, or until the apples are soft through to the center. They should be fork tender. Stir and serve.
COUNTRY BREAKFAST GRITS
From: Mark F. Sohn’s
Hearty Country Cooking
Ingredients:
4 cups water
1 cup old-fashioned grits
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt
Milk or water, as needed
Yield: 6 servings
In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil and whisk in – don’t dump them in all at once – the grits gradually. Then add the butter and salt. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook, covered for 20 minutes. Add water or milk as needed. The grits should have the stiffness of mashed potatoes. To avoid sticking, stir often.
Healthy Choice Alternative: This dish is an example of healthy old-fashioned mountain country cooking. If you need to, you may reduce the salt and butter.
MASTER RECIPE: BISCUITS
From: Mark F. Sohn’s
Hearty Country Cooking
Ingredients:
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 tablespoons butter or lard, softened
1-1/2 tablespoons butter or lard, chilled
1/2 cup milk
1) Place the oven rack in its lowest position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups of the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut the chilled butter and the softened butter into the flour until the mixture forms crumbles the side of rice grains. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the milk. Stir lightly until mixed. Turn out onto a cold, floured surface, and knead five times. Do not over-knead. 2) Sprinkle some of the remaining 1/4-cup flour over the dough and pat out the dough to a 1/2-inch thickness, using the extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Fold the dough in half and pat it out to a 3/4-inch thick thickness. 3) Using a 2- to 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits and place them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Press the scraps of dough together, pat out the dough, and cut until all the dough is used. 4) Bake for 10 minutes. When the biscuits are cooked and the bottoms are brown and crusty, broil the tops to brown them.
Yield: 8 biscuits or 6 servings
Alternatives:
Buttermilk Biscuits: Replace the milk with 1/2-cup plus 2 tablespoons fat-free cultured buttermilk.
Ham Biscuits: Also called Filled Biscuits. Cut 8 slices of country ham or Canadian bacon and put 1 slice inside each biscuit after baking.
Sausage Biscuits: Fry 8 patties of pork sausage; fill each baked biscuit with 1 sausage patty. Serve with Fried Apples or add several slices of Fried Apples to make a fried apple-and-sausage biscuit sandwich.
Ginger Sorghum Biscuits: To the Master Recipe, add 1/2-teaspoon ground ginger and 1/4-cup 100-percent pure sweet sorghum syrup. Reduce the milk by 3 tablespoons. Baste the biscuits with melted butter. This biscuit does not rise very high, and the top breaks like a sugar cookie. Serve with Sorghum Butter or Hot Sorghum.
Cheese Biscuits: In one variation of this biscuit, we roll the dough out as if we were making a cinnamon roll or jelly roll, spread cheese over the dough, roll, cut, and bake.
In another variation, we cream butter and cheese, use an equal volume of flour and cheese, and add no liquid. No liquid! This dough melts together, and it comes from the oven rich and cheesy.
More often we add cheese to the biscuit dough. To the Master Recipe, as you stir in the milk, add 1 cup (4 ounces) coarsely shredded or diced sharp Cheddar cheese or a mixture of Cheddar and Swiss cheese.
