Pinto Bean Politics!

When I was growing up in a country store on Beaver Creek in Knott County Kentucky, we sold pinto beans by the pound, weighed from a galvanized barrel that sat under the main counter in the store. We bought the beans in 100 pound bags, dumped them in the barrel which also held a pretty nice blackjack carved from a piece of wood to a shape just like a miniature baseball bat, about a foot long with a nice handgrip and about a 3-4 inch circumference on the head which was drilled to about three inches down the handle to include a nice round cylinder of lead. To my knowledge the blackjack was never used in the long period my parents operated the store. Our customers came in, usually talked small talk for a short while, bought whatever they needed, maybe even a pound or two of pinto beans, and left without ever needing to be knocked out with the blackjack in the bean barrel. I no longer own that blackjack but in today's world of the most corrupt politics in the history of the nation, and the worst living example of a human being working on a daily basis from the White House to destroy the entire nation and our democracy, we sure need a good metaphorical political blackjack. On a recent check of the price of pinto beans, I found that WalMart is charging $14.94 for a 20 pound bag of pinto beans. That boils down to about 74.7cents a pound for bulk pinto beans. WalMart is now selling the one pound bag of pinto beans for a dollar. When I was often helping my parents behind the bean barrel, I don't think we ever charged more than 10cents a pound and we were making a decent profit in those days. The point to this focus on pinto beans is important because there are millions of Americans of all stripes and cultures who are eating pinto beans on a daily basis. Several different cultures are highly dependent on pinto beans as a staple source of protein. Most people of moderate to poor means in the American south depend on pinto beans as a major portion of their diet. That includes both Caucasian and African American citizens of the deep south. Most members of the various Hispanic cultures in America are also largely dependent on pinto beans. Frijoles, in many forms, are a common sight on Hispanic dinner tables. Nearly every person who ever grew up in Central and Southern Appalachia grew up, in large part, on pinto beans. We even had pinto beans once a week in the high school lunch room at Knott County High School at Pippa Passes, Kentucky, when I was a student there. Pinto beans may well be the answer to help us solve our ongoing attempted tyranny by TRAITOR Trump and the Right Wing Radical Repugnican party.

One of my favorite memories about pinto beans goes back to about 1992 when I was working for a short while, between human services jobs, at a horse farm in Central Kentucky. I was salesprepping several brood mares which were headed toward a November Breeding Stock Sale at Keeneland. The mares were actuallly owned by a man who was contracting for the sales prepping with the owner of a farm I was working on at the time. I was sent to the owner's farm to do the work. One day, the owner who was born and raised in Quito Ecuador, a Mexican immigrant blacksmith, and I were standing in front of a barn in a conversation and found ourselves talking about how we had grown up in three very different locations and cultures. We suddenly discovered that all three of us had grown up eating pinto beans, one in Mexico, one in Ecuador, and one in Eastern Kentucky. It was an educational moment for me for sure. What is the point to all this and politics? What the Democratic party needs to do to win all the next upcoming elections in this country is to locate, educate, register, and guarantee the turnout to vote of the great majority of the pinto bean cultures in America. If we do that we will be back in control of our country, our Democracy, and our future. We will no longer be facing the horrible situation in which we finid ourselves today. We can begin the next 25 to 50 years of necessary work in order to save our country after all the political, moral, and ethical damage which has been done over the last ten years by TRAITOR Trump and the other TRAITORS who facilitate most of his crimes against the government, the country, the world, and the planet. The answer is all about pinto beans.

"Sylvia's Soul Food" By Slyvia Woods and Christopher Styler, A Wonderful Soul Food Cookbook

In one of my frequent trips to what I call "junk stores", I found a wonderful little soul food cookbook called "Sylvia's Soul Food: Recipes From Harlem's World Famous Restaurant" by Sylvia Woods and Christoper Styler. Sylvia Woods either is or was the owner of a soul food restaurant in Harlem which has now morphed into a soul food empire according to their website. I have found what appear to be puffed descriptions of Mr. Styler which describe him as being a chef, writer, etc. but I suspect he wasn't much more than a ghost writer in this effort. The edition of the book which I found was a hardback printed by the William Morrow Company in 1992. The copies I find on the interet are very different from the plain red cover I found in a Goodwill store for $1.59. They all appear to be paperback with a gaudy photo montage on the cover. When I found the book, I scanned it and realized it has some very interesting recipes which are rarely found in cookbooks published anywhere. I have eaten and loved other people's versions of some of the recipes, never had a few others, and would love to try nearly all of them. This book is a little joy to behold and can be found fairly cheaply on most used book websites. However, if you order it from the used websites, be sure to know in advance if you are getting the hardback or the paperback versions. There is also a second cookbook from the restaurant which I have never seen. I'm surprised I never ran into it anywhere before, at least on the internet. The pork section of the book is a joy to behold especially if you grew up in the south or Appalachia. It contains a recipe for Backbone In Gravy and I have to admit I have never seen a backbone recipe in any cookbook anywhere, not even in one from some little southern church. I grew up on backbones and love them still today. But I have to admit that I almost totally eliminated pork from my diet about seven years ago when I realized that I had a totally blocked carotid artery and was facing a potentially life threatening surgery. As part of an effort to live as long as possible, I changed my diet drastically and took up daily exercise. But I can still exercise fond memories of grease and colagen up to my elbows and back to my ears on occasions. The cookbook also contains a recipe for Pigs' Tails. I have eaten a lot of pig tails in my time and love nothing in the world better than a large restaurant sized pot full of pig ears, tails, and feet cooked along with potatoes,carrots, and an onion or two. I also love that same large pot filled with organ meats at hog killing time. But I stopped that when it came to a choice of such foods or a coffin. But I did dearly love pork livers, kidneys, hearts, lungs or "lights", and spleens or "melts" as we called them when I was a boy. It is fun to find a cookbook and a big city restaurant which is proud of its pig tails, chitlins, and backbones. In this cookbook, there is even a recipe for Fried Chitlins. I have never seen a printed recipe for chitlins in my life. I also have to admit that I have never tried chitlins even though I spent years believing that "no hog should ever have to die in vain" and that we should "eat everything except the squeal". That recipe calls for the chitlins to be "thoroughly cooked to make them tender before they are quickly fried". I will say that in the right cook's hands I would try chitlins. But I have never been in a home where they were being cooked. A variant of the Fried Chitlin recipe is Chitlins and Maw which calls for 2 pounds of pork maw and 5 pounds of precooked chitlins.This is a boiled recipe and I can assure you that with 7 pounds of the two meats in the pot along with several vegetables it won't matter if an extra mouth or two shows up at the supper table. For those of you who don't know the term "maw" it is pork stomach or tripe. I have had tripe on a few occasions in a Vietnamese restaurant I love to visit and I like tripe a lot. In restaurants and butcher shops, tripe may have come from either cattle or hogs. The great recipes just go on and on in this book. The Beef section has Oxtails In Gravy and Grilled Beef Liver. All through my life I have eaten liver from beef, pork, and chicken; and, about two weeks ago I had chicken gizzards which can still be found on the menu of a local Lee's Famous Recipe. I have considered several times to buy an ox tail and cook it at home but never carried through with the idea In the Poultry section, there are recipes for Chicken And Dumplings, Turkey Wings And Gravy, and Roast Turkey. The book has a separate section devoted to Barbecue which has a great looking recipe for Barbecued Pigs Feet. I have eaten pig feet my whole life but never had the barbecued. This one is worth trying! The truncated Fish And Game section of the book is a disappointment after the great preceding sections on Beef and Pork. It only has six recipes but one of them is for Rabbit Flavored And Fried ang another for Hash Venison. But I must ask where are the recipes for alligator, muskrat, ground hog, elk, squirrels, bear, raccoon, and other wild game which many southern cooks are still cooking and eating regularly. The section labled Beans, Potatoes, Rice, And Salads has a recipe for Red Beans And Rice which uses a smoked ham hock instead of the andouille sausage which nearly all other such recipes for this dish use. It might be interesting done with the ham hock. It also contains another chitlin recipe called Rice And Chitlins Perlew which is worth investigating. This section also has recipes for pinto beans, butter beans, and lima beans. Nearly all of them use smoked ham hocks for flavoring. There is a separate section labled Vegetables And Greens which has the obligatory recipes for okra and collard greens. But it also has an interesting recipe for Collard Greens And Corn Meal Dumplings. I have never seen corn meal dumplings in my life and I'd love to try this recipe, or to try corn meal dumplings in the customary way that regular flour dumplings are usually made...like the BIG FLUFFY DUMPLINGS which my mother used to make. Yes, I know that it would be very hard to get fluffy corn meal dumplings since the nature of corn meal doesn't lend itself to fluff. The idea of corn meal dumplings is very intersting to me since one of my favorite occasional breakfasts is corn meal hoe cakes. A favorite supper for me is also fried cornbread and gravy which is made by slicing left over cornbread, frying it in bacon grease, removing the cornbread temporarily from the skillet before making the gravy, and then bathing the cornbread in the gravy. All in all, this book was one of best deals I have ever made for $1.59. If you like soul food, southern food, pork and beef innards and other southern, African American, or Appalachian foods, this is a great book to own.

"Remember Me? A collection of recipes from my years at the Courier Journal" by Alice S. Colombo

I have often said on this blog that I love cookbooks, especially local fundraising type cookbooks from Appalachia and I often buy them from Goodwill, Salvation Army, and and other independent "junk stores". Yesterday, February 14, 2025, I ran into a slightly different type of cookbook and bought it at Goodwill in Paintsville, Kentucky. The title "Remember Me? A collection of recipes from my years at The Courier Journal" is a bit odd for a cookbook. But this one was compiled by a former food writer at the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. Even though it was from well outside Appalachia, I bought it. It was compiled by Alice Colombo and contains many recipes she had been allowed to publish over the years by restaurant owners she had met in her work, some of her own recipes, and others from God only knows where. It was published by a company called Publishers Printing Company in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, and that company now appears to be defunct since I can't locate a website or anything about them other than one article saying they had moved several years ago to another location they owned in Lebanon Junction, Kentucky. The book is spiral bound, 8 1/2" x 11" and printed on high quality, heavy, slick paper. It does contain a note from the author saying that any of the recipes which carry the "Copyright" symbol had previously been published in the Courier Journal and are copyrighted. This is not either Appalachian or purely Kentucky in nature since it contains several recipes from restaurants the author had either visited in her professional writing days or during personal visits for other reasons and had obtained the owners permissions to publish them. The most interesting of these recipes are from the first three chefs at the famous Brown Hotel in Louisville and are there particular and progressive recipes for the famous Kentucky Hot Brown. They include the recipe of Laurent Gennari who was the first chef at the hotel and worked from 1923 to 1927 and presumably invented the Hot Brown. The next is labeled "The original Hot Brown by Fred Schmidt who worked at the hotel from 1927 to 1930. Although it is labeled "The original Hot Brown...", it is clear that if Mr. Gennari was using his own recipe in the preceding four years, Fred Schmidt didn't invent the Hot Brown and his recipe is not the original. The third Hot Brown recipe is credited to "Mr. Harter" who seems to have worked at the hotel from 1930 to some unknown date which Ms. Colombo reported by saying "Mrs. Clark didn't give the year Mr. Harter left the Brown." But considering the fame which the Hot Brown has achieved in Kentucky and elsewhere, it is nice to find these historic recipes of its development over the early twentieth century. For those of you who don't know about the Kentucky Hot Brown, it is a construction of sliced turkey, cheese, and bacon on white bread toast and is served all over Central Kentucky and several other areas since its invention by whomever, most likely Laurent Gennari, at the Brown Hotel in Louisville close to a hundred years ago. The three recipes in this cookbook don't agree on the spices and minor ingredients. But they show some combination of the following: butter, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, white pepper, and whipping cream. The book also contains recipes from famous or somewhat popular restaurants in Kentucky, Nevada, South Carolina, Indiana, North Carolina, Minnesota, New York, Louisiana, Florida, California, Ohio, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Illinois,Georgia, Missouri, Michigan, and Virginia. The book is broken into somewhat more sections than most cookbook authors bother to do. They include Appetizers and Beverages; Soups, Chili, and Stews; Salads and Salad Dressings; Breads, Rolls, Muffins, and Sweet Rolls; Vegetables; Grits and Rice; Dairy and Cheese; Sandwiches, Stuffings, and Dressings; Marinades and Sauces; Entrees; Seafood; Casseroles, Eggs, and Quiches; Pasta and Pizza; Nationality foods; Cakes; Frostings, Fillings, Sauces and Syrups; Fruits;PIes and Tarts; Cheesecakes; Cookies and Brownies; Desserts and Puddings; and Candy. Other than the Hot Brown, I have not found a particular recipe which stands out to me as one I would love to try. But the book is over 352 pages and I have to admit that I have not yet fully examined it from cover to cover. The information page of the book states that at the time my copy was published two printings had been produced, the initial of 1,000 copies and a second of 500 copies. Somewhere in a used book store, junk store, or yard sale, you might be able to find a copy. The book does list a website which works as of February 16, 2025, which has a page with a contact form for interested parties to fill out along with an e-mail address for the author. If the book interests you, take a shot at it and you might find a copy. There is also a list of businesses which were selling the book at the time of publication. But with the 2011 publication date, it is probably not a good bet that they are still holding unsold copies.

Buffalo Night At Jenny Wiley State Park, January 25, 2025

Yesterday, January 25, 2025, my wife Candice and I went to Buffalo Night at Jenny Wiley State Park. Historically, these events have always been held in the lodge dining room. In fact, we had the Thanksgiving Dinner there this past November. When we arrived at the park, we found that the event was being held in the convention center near the now abandoned amphitheater. I had been in that facility once or twice before including once, not long before the long running Jenny Wiley Summer Music Theater had been abandoned along with the amphitheater. At that event, we had gone to see the Jimmy Dean written musical "Big River". It got rained out and instead of offering rain checks the theater gave the performance in the convention center which had been a total bust. There is actually a large commercial kitchen in the convention center. But the room where this Buffalo Night was held is simply a large, windowless convention room set up with tables, all of which are designed for eight people doing work sessions in which they must face each other. That was a bit of surprise to be seated at a table for eight when, at brief times, the dining room door was left open and others, waiting to be seated for as much as half an hour, were able to look through the door and see two people seated at a table for eight. A windowless room is never a good site for anything other than a jail. Despite some bad weather in the last three weeks, the turnout was predictably large and the place was reasonably well staffed. But for these events, all of the state parks seem to schedule employees in the park system who have nothing to do with food service to work on event night and many of them have no experience in the areas in which they are working. We spoke to one woman who said she was working as a housekeeper in the lodge. We were seated at that large table conveniently in the front row near the buffet line which makes it a lot easier on Candice if she serves herself, or if I serve her and make two trips to the buffet for each of us to get a plate. The room was probably 40 feet wide and buffet was set up with the salad bar against one wall, the dessert table across the opposite wall forty feet away, and the main buffet line across the end wall at least fifteen or twenty feet away from the other two sections of the buffet. Thankfully, we had a young male waiter serving our drinks, napkins, etc. who was excellent, highly attentive, and robustly working the room all the time we were there. Ethan was a blessing in the middle of much that wasn't in other areas. In general, all of the staff, despite their sometimes being forced to work well outside their expertixe, are friendly, congenial, and nice. But it would be far better if other food service staff could be shifted from within the state park system for these high volume special events. The buffalo was served three ways, roasted and sliced on the line, presliced and cooked in deep hotel pans in boiling water, and as meat loaf. The roast was excellent and the female employee who served it was gracious, friendly, attentive, and experienced. The meat loaf was excellent, self service on the line, and made in the Eastern Kentucky style with catsup on top. The presliced and boiled was unappetizing looking and I niether of us even tried it. The vegetables were short sections of corn on the cob (over cooked but tasty); good, well made scalloped potatoes; green beans;greens with ham hocks sliced in them; and, there was also buffalo chili and fried catfish which Jenny Wiley usally serves as an alternative to the main meats at any special dinner. There were only two deserts, banana pudding in which I never saw a banana, and a berry cobbler. I happened to reach the dessert table after a cobbler had been demolished and left with only a thin skim of berries in the hotel pan. But I had manfully picked up one of their overly small, plastic (I assume disposable but maybe not) dessert dishes and was ready to settle for berries only (they appeared to have been mixed berries.) when a servers stepped up beside me and said, "I'm getting ready to set another cobbler down, would you like to wait." I had the pleasure of taking the first piece of that cobbler out of the pan to my table. I enjoyed some parts of the meal and the trip, was very appreciative of the waiter Ethan, and won't totally slam the event. But it did have some things lacking and could definitely be improved on before the next event. It is usually done far better at Natural Bridge State Park in Slade, Kentucky, where we also go regularly. Yes, I will probably be at the next special event dinner at Jenny Wiley, but I must insist that it be held in the lodge dining room.

Picking Roses In Eastern Kentucky On Thanksgiving Day 2024!

 

Yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2024, my wife Candice and I chose to travel to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, for the Thanksgiving Day Buffet at Jenny Wiley State Park Lodge rather than cook a Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us.  When we are away from the house and have the time, I nearly always try to walk or hike somewhere while Candice waits for me in van at a safe parking area and reads.  Since it was fairly cool and damp, I chose to not hike in the woods near the lodge. There are several fairly good hiking trails in the park and I have used them quite a bit over the last few years. We have also attended other holiday dinners at the lodge with members of my extended family over the years. I went to Big Sandy Community and Technical College to walk on their paved walking path near the Big Sandy River instead.  I have walked there numerous times and actually enjoy that walking path since it is mostly paved with an unpaved gravel loop around a grassy area near old US 23 or North Lake Drive.  The paved area is a big loop with one fairly good uphill which overlooks the river.  Between the river and walking path, there is also a fairly large, relatively flat grassy area which can also be used for walking if it isn't too wet.  There is also a consistent population of black squirrels in the trees around the walking path and along the river bank.  I only saw two squirrels yesterday while I was there and never clearly established that either of them was black since both were on the ground near trees and probably at least a hundred yards away when I spotted them and they immediately ran up the back side of the trees.  

 

I only saw one other walker while I was there yesterday and he only made one loop before disappearing.  He was wearing shorts and the temperature was only 40 degrees or so.  I suspect that he might  have not been enjoying the shorts.  But, to my amazement, I spotted a few late fall roses blooming on some plants which are situated at a little memorial rock garden between the college parking lot and the hiking path.  The rock garden is dedicated to some former employee whose name I don't remember.  There were also some beautiful flowers on several small shrubs at both the rock garden and near a swing which is situated at the opposite end of the grassy area in the center of the walking path.  Since it was already only forty degrees with a subfreezing forecast, I chose to cut one of the roses and several of the other flowers for Candice who was waiting for me in the van.  It was a pleasant surprise for both of us to learn that all these flowers were actually still in bloom on Thanksgiving day.  It also amazes me  how many people choose to totally ignore signals such as these flowers about the fact that global warming is very real and very dangerous for the planet.  

After my walk, we drove up old US 23 from Prestonsburg to Allen where I showed Candice some of what is left of Allen.  Then we returned to the lodge for the buffet.  It was acceptable but a bit overpriced.  There was ham with pineapple served in thin slices, fried cat fish which the lodge serves at nearly all of their major events, turkey served sliced and/or shredded, some turkey dressing which I chose not to try, some fairly good shoe peg corn and carrots, and banana pudding, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie for desert.  The lodge was fairly crowded with what was almost universally an older crowd. It was an enjoyable day all things considered. 

"Hungarian Recipes" Reflections On An Intriguing Cookbook From The Magyar Evangelical and Reformed Church in Elyria, Ohio, 1957

I love food.  I like to cook but I don't claim to be a good cook.  I also love cookbooks, especially interesting, odd, unusual cookbooks, and I have bought cookbooks which fit that description for many years at yard sales and discount stores such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.  I don't even remember when or where I bought this little cookbook but I strayed into it again and, due to the fact that it is a piece of work from a truly unique cultural group in America and contains a few odd, interesting, and unique recipes, I decided to write about it on this blog.  My copy is the 12th printing of the book with a copyright date of 1957.  It is, amazingly, available online in whatever the current printing may be.  In the copy I own, it labeled as being "Compiled by The Dorcas Guild of the MAGYAR EV. and REF. CHURCH 119 West River Street, Elyria, Ohio".  The copy available for sale on the internet today is labeled "Compiled by The Dorcas Guild of Community of Faith United Church of Christ (formerly Magyar UCC)".  My copy sold in 1957 for one dollar with shipping available for 25 cents extra.  The copy available today online is priced at $15.00 with standard US shipping.  Inflation has obviously had some effect on the cost of cookbooks.  Interestingly, the cover of the book is exactly the same plain green it was in 1957.  The only change is the address and name of the church.  It is said to be available until December 31, 2025.  One other interesting footnote to this story is that despite my not remembering where or how I came to own this cookbook, I used to have an aunt, uncle, and three cousins who lived in Elyria, Ohio.  The book is only 40 pages in a pamphlet form but it is loaded with recipes.  

For me, the most interesting recipes in the book would be the following: Liver Dumplings, Veal Heart And Lung Soup, and Kidneys With Rice.  There is also one recipe for Chicken And Rice which calls for "1 chicken--using bony pieces: neck, feet, wings, gizzard, liver".  The wording in that ingredient is taken verbatim from the book.  Many of the meat based recipes also call for generous portions of lard.  I am forced to wonder if the 2024 version of the book still calls for lard but I doubt it.  The book also has a large section of recipes for dessert items, cakes, pies, cookies, etc.  For those of you who might not know the term Magyar, it is defined as:

"a member of a people who originated in the Urals and migrated westward to settle in what is now Hungary in the 9th century AD"

 

Basically, Magyars are Hungarians.  For those of you who have spent your entire lives in Central and Southern Appalachia and wonder what connection there is between Appalachia and Magyars or Hungarians there was once a large community of Hungarians in Martin County Kentucky who were brought into the area to staff a large, cooperatively operated coal  mine near Beauty and Lovely on the Tug River.  This is a fascinating little cookbook and you can find your copy at the link above at a considerably larger, but currently standard level, price.  I would love to try the recipes I mentioned above but doubt that I ever will due to changes in my eating habits over the last 6 or 7 years. I was raised on organ meats and love to eat them but I just don't do that anymore.  If any of you readers try the book and recipes, please leave the rest of us a comment about what you learned from the experience.  

 

 

Muskrat For Supper, Ring The Dinner Bell!

 

When I was growing up in Appalachian Kentucky, my family ate nearly everything available with only two exceptions, muskrat and opossum.  We were always told that both were "nasty" and we shouldn't eat them.  Since then I have eaten both although it has been a long time since I ate either.  The firs time I ate muskrat was about 28 years old and working as the broodmare and yearling foreman on a Thoroughbred farm in Lexington, Kentucky, known as The Stallion Station. Our maintenance foreman was an African American man named Harvey "Bull" Jackson.  I will always remember Bull for a variety of reasons but one of the fondest memories I have of him involves the first time I ever ate muskrat.  Bull and I had to come in every Sunday morning with one man each to help us and do the bare minimum work on the farm.  My helper and I had to check on all the horses, do the feeding and turn out or put up whichever horses needed to be moved, and do any treatments for sick horses.  Bull and his helper had to check fences, water lines, etc. and do any necessary repairs.  We got in the habit of meeting for breakfast in the tack room at the foaling barn which had a good table, a hot plate, a sink, and hot and cold running water.  

 

One Sunday morning Bull came in with a big platter of meat all cooked up and set it down on the table and said "I brought breakfast.  Sit down and eat."  When I looked at the meat, I knew it was some kind of wild meat and thought it was probably groundhog which I love.  I've written about eating and cooking groundhog in more than one place on this blog.  I grabbed a leg, took a bite, liked it a lot but could tell that it wasn't groundhog.  "What is this, Bull," I asked.  He responeded, "Ruth cooked that.  Eat that.  It's good."  I finished the first leg, grabbed another and asked again, "What is this, Bull?"  I got the same answer, "Ruth cooked that.  That's good.  Eat that."  I knew Bull's wife Ruth and knew she was an excellent cook so I kept eating.  Finally, when he saw that I was enjoying the meat, he told me, "That's muskrat.  I went out last night to the ponds and shot some muskrats.  Ruth cooked them up for supper and we had that left over.  You like that don't you?"  I told him that I did like it and we finished the pan of meat.  I've been a muskrat lover ever since but I have not had the opportunity to eat a lot of it. 

In my recent blog post about eating groundhog, linked above, I made reference to a cookbook I have called "The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook" which had a couple of groundhog recipes which I mentioned in that blog piece.  It also has recipes for muskrat along with several other species of animals which most people don't eat but which I have found to be very good grub as we say in the mountains of Appalachia.  In their introduction to the section on muskrat the authors of the cookbook say: "In New Orleans and other eastern cities whose restaurants serve muskrat in season, this delicious meat is often listed as "marsh rabbit" to avoid the stigma attached to the word "rat".  It is a pity that the name puts off some people, for the tender, fine grained meat is excellent fare."  The authors of that cookbook are absolutely correct.  I have only been to New Orleans on two occasions and have never seen it on a menu where I have eaten.  I would love to try it in a commercial kitchen there someday.  I also know that in the Detroit, Michigan, area muskrat is commonly eaten and is generally thought to have been rooted in Catholic culture.  History says that in that area "tradition has it, it was during these early years of the 19th century that the humble pastor of Ste. Anne Parish in Detroit, Fr. Gabriel Richard, lobbied for a special dispensation to the region’s residents to consume muskrat throughout the Lenten season." I have also heard it told that in the Detroit area muskrat is commonly served smothered in sauerkraut or with sauerkraut as a side dish.  I've never been in Detroit in my adult years although I have spent several weeks in Michigan over the years in other parts of the state and have never seen muskrat on a menu in the state. I would love to attend the Lenten dinner described in the article linked above.  

My L. L. Bean cookbook has four recipes for muskrat.  The first describes oven roasting muskrat in much the same way Ruth Jackson cooked hers and similar to the way my family has often cooked both groundhog and raccoon.  Their second recipe is for "Marsh Rabbit" New Orleans Style.  They claim this recipe can be used equally well for rabbit, squirrel, groundhog, and beaver.  That recipe mentions "deglanding" the muskrats prior to preparation and I would agree with that idea.  Muskrats are so named because they have musk glands near their rectums and exude musk for purposes of defense, marking territory, and attracting mates and the musk can be quite strong in adult males.  Skinning of muskrats, beavers, or any other mustelids should be done with careful attention to removing those musk glands without damaging them and infusing the meat with the musk.  This second recipe contains several vegetables including carrots, onions, and green peppers. It also include a quarter pound of diced ham.  This recipe is also heavily spiced with a combination of red pepper seeds, cayenne, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, parsley, salt, and pepper.  It is intended to be simmered for 1 1/2 hours in a Dutch Oven or heavy casserole dish.  Between the many vegetables and the diverse collection of spices, it appears to me that muskrat should become so well disguised that it's distinctive natural taste could well be lost.  The third L. L. Bean recipe is much simpler and called Braised Muskrat.  The only additives are onions, thyme, 1/2 pound of salt pork, and a touch of salt and pepper.  It seems that this recipe would be much more natural in flavor and true to the real muskrat.  The last L. L. Bean recipe is called Basic Sweet-Sour Recipe For Braised Muskrat Or Other Furred Game.  It is reputed to good for several other animals including beaver, squirrel, groundhog, and raccoon.  I have a bit of an issue with any recipe for any product which makes any claim leaning toward its being universally applicable to anything that creeps, crawls, or flies too low over the supper table.  It also includes onions, green pepper, and lard for flavoring.  The spices are salt, pepper, theyme, 1/4 cup sugar, dry mustard, and vinegar.  Once again, this recipe seems to be attempting to mask the natural flavor of the muskrat.  

There are also numerous recipes available on the internet for muskrat ranging from braised and baked to stewed and fried.  If you love wild meat, muskrat should never be avoided.  It is good, pretty, red meat with a nice color and taste.  You can find a recipe which appeals to your individual taste and try it.  It is well worth eating.  Just ask any devout Catholic in Detroit.  

Ground Hog Day, Yum, Yum!

 

Tomorrow, February 2, 2024, will be Groundhog Day just as the second day of February 2 has been every year since February 2, 1887, which coincidentally was just 6 days before my father Ballard Hicks was born. It began in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and has slowly spread all over the nation.  Tomorrow, the mayor and various other public officials in Punxsutawney will be joined by a bevy of media reporters and photographers, and a small crowd of assorted gawkers to learn if their beloved groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, now likely in his 125th or so generation, will or will not see his shadow and will or will not predict six more weeks of winter.  It is a nice little piece of public relations for a relatively small town of roughly 6,000 which brings in a few hundred outsiders once a year to buy breakfast and maybe a tank of gasoline after having spent the preceding night in a local motel.  

But, in my childhood on Beaver Creek in Knott County Kentucky, groundhog day could come on any day of the year when the weather was warm enough for groundhogs to not be hibernating.  We had groundhog day anytime a member of the family was lucky enough to encounter, kill, dress, and cook a nice fat groundhog.  The primary event at our house on groundhog day did not involve standing around and waiting for the local officials to fish a pet groundhog out of its concrete burrow, hold it up in front of an adoring crowd, smile for the cameras, and expound on their interpretation of what that groundhog could not verbalize for itself about the weather.  Our version of groundhog day involved hearing the excited yells of whichever family member had actually bagged a groundhog and was yelling from the yard for the skinning knife and a dishpan in which the dressed meat could be brought into the house.  The primary event on groundhog day at our house was supper and, if we were lucky, groundhog day could happen several times a year.  It was also unlikely to be on February 2nd especially if it was a hard winter and the local groundhogs were still hibernating.  

Sometimes, we got lucky and spotted a groundhog minding its own business within range of a .22 rifle near the house.  Sometimes, our dog might just stray into a groundhog, alert the family, and drive it into its den which we would dig it out of with as few tools as possible.  If necessary, we might have to build a small fire or use a bee smoker to smoke it out of its hole if it was in a particularly rocky spot.  But, whatever the circumstances, when we spotted a groundhog it was lucky if it did not become the guest of honor at supper time.  You literally have not had a fine supper until you have eaten a groundhog baked slowly in the oven with black pepper and sage and surrounded it on the supper table with a pan of cat head biscuits, homemade butter,  shucked beans, new potatoes, and whatever else might be available from the garden, cellar, or among the pantry full of canned goods.  Baking with black pepper and sage was our favorite recipe for ground hog but I have seen many other variants on the best way to cook a groundhog.  

For many years, I have owned a copy of "The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook" by Angus Cameron and Judith Jones.  That book has two recipes for what they call woodchuck, the other prevalent name for the fat fellow we sometimes called Mr. Whistle Pig due to the sharply pitched whistle which they use as a warning cry if they spot or sense danger.  The L. L. Bean cookbook has one great sentence to begin their little section of recipes about groundhogs: "When one considers the number of woodchucks shot each year as varmints it is a pity that so few of them are eaten."  That is a beautiful sentence and sentiment. I have to admit that I have never actually tried either of the recipes in the book but they are both interesting.  The first is "Baked Young Woodchuck In Sour Cream And Mustard".  The second is "Oven-Barbecued Woodchuck Or Muskrat".  That is a wonderful sounding idea and I should have tried it long ago.  And, Yes!, I have eaten muskrat also and it is wonderful when it is prepared properly.  But that is fodder for a whole other blog post.  

A quick search of the internet produces a recipe called "A Groundhog Stew". Another is for "Braised Groundhog Tacos".  Another, under the label "How To Cook Groundhog" calls for a basic stew with vegetables much like a pot roast.  Yet another internet recipe calls for "Buttermilk Fried Groundhog" which could be very interesting with buttermilk made from Old Bossy's fresh milk prepared in grandma's churn.  There are several more easily found and readily prepared groundhog recipes to be found on the internet.  But I must also offer this one word of caution about killing and eating groundhogs.  Sadly, the widespread dissemination of coyotes all over the country has had a directly related reduction in the numbers of groundhogs in most areas.  But, at least once every one of you should try a groundhog for supper on groundhog day at your house.  But you should also consider doing whatever you can to help protect, preserve, and disseminate groundhogs in your area. 

Elk Night And Hiking At Jenny Wiley State Park, Saturday, September 16, 2023

The flyer for Elk Night at Jenny Wiley State Park, 2023 

On the afternoon of Saturday, September 16, 2023, my wife Candice and I traveled to Jenny Wiley State Park to engage in their annual Elk Night at the lodge restaurant and for me to hike on my favorite trail among those in the park which begins and ends just at the upper end of the lodge parking lot.  We have been there for Elk Night on several occasions and I have written about both Elk Night and Jenny Wiley State Park on other occasions.  One other of my blog posts detailed a previous hike on the Jenny Wiley Trail at the park which follows the ridge across the lake from the lodge.  On another occasion, I reviewed a short biography of Jenny Wiley by Floyd County author Henry P. Scalf who is, perhaps better known for his numerous genealogical works and his career as a reporter for the Floyd County Times in Prestonsburg, Kentucky.  Both Candice and I like the park a lot and it has been a part of my life nearly as long as I can remember.

My hike went well and shortly after I returned to our van to meet Candice we entered the lodge for the feast.  We got there about 3:30pm at a time when the dining room was not crowded which makes life much simpler in most cases.  We found elk roast actually being carved on the serving line, fresh fired catfish, hunter's stew, elk chili, and elk meatloaf.  The first elk roast we got servings from must have been on the line a bit longer than usual and was a bit dry but very nice in flavor and appearance.  But the return trip for seconds was great because a new roast had just arrived on the line and it was hot, juicy, tender, and everything  a good elk roast should be.  The elk meatloaf was great with the traditional Eastern Kentucky topping of ketchup and made from finely ground elk with just the right amount of spiciness.  The elk chili was robust, sufficiently meaty, and well flavored.  We did not try the hunter's stew but probably should have.  The most ordinary part of the entire all you can eat buffet was the salad and vegetable bar which was comprised of the usual suspects, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, etc. with nothing unusual or outstanding added to the bar.  The vegetables were fresh, crisp, clean, etc. but nothing about them was a cut above average at a good restaurant buffet.  

But the best was yet to come!  The flyer above, and more than one other I have seen from state park elk nights, advertised "Assorted Appalachian Deserts".  It has usually been my experience when I see that line in a flyer that the deserts will be some very ordinary, traditional offerings which you might find in any restaurant from Maine to California.  I have lived nearly my entire life in Central and Southern Appalachia and can make an argument, based on my education and publishing history, for being an expert on Appalachian Culture.  I have rarely, if ever, seen deserts in a state park lodge that I would say are "Appalachian Deserts".  I would also not say that the deserts that I saw on this particular evening were "Appalachian Deserts" but they were definitely among the best deserts I have ever eaten in any restaurant I have ever been in among the thirty-one US states I have visited or in which I have lived.  There was a fairly common looking chocolate pie which I did not try.  There was also a deep dish lemon pie with actual lemon slices garnishing the top and a genuine lemon flavor, without any disagreeable sourness, and a meringue which was quite deep, pretty to look at and tasty.  It was an excellent deep dish lemon pie.  But the best dish of the evening was yet to come, something of which I had never heard, and with a primary ingredient which I have eaten in several other presentations all my life.  That desert was Pinto Bean Pie, Yes!, Pinto Bean Pie!  And I don't mean some joke presented under the title Pinto Bean Pie in order to monopolize on the fact that pinto beans have been a part of life in the area of the lodge for the last one hundred years at least.  It was a real pie with a filling comprised of canned (presumably) pinto beans and with a top of crushed nuts of some kind or other. The entire offering was sweet, juicy, incredibly tasty, and clearly comprised in large part of pinto beans. I made a point of complementing the two staff members on the serving line for the entire meal after I finished eating and they told me that a chef in another state park lodge had sent them the recipe for Pinto Bean Pie and they loved it also.  I am attaching a recipe for the desert which I found on the internet but I cannot guarantee that it is the same recipe which was being used at Jenny Wiley.  I can only suggest that if you are interested in trying it that you should find one or two recipes which appeal to you and try them at different times before settling on your favorite.  But I can assure that if you have never had Pinto Bean Pie you should as soon as possible.  I can't wait to see what comes up next year at the Jenny Wiley State Park Lodge Elk Night. 

 

 

Visiting Jerry's Restaurant Paris, Kentucky!

 Yesterday, Monday, December 12, 2022, my wife Candice and I traveled from our home to Paris, Kentucky, to visit and eat in the Jerry's Restaurant there which is the last operational Jerry's Restaurant in the United States.  The same family has owned the restaurant since the original franchise and opening dates in 1961 and just last year they celebrated sixty years in operation.  The Jerry's franchise was invented and originated in Lexington, Kentucky,by Jerry Lederer who opened the first Jerry's in 1946 and began franchising the restaurants in 1957.  The Paris restaurant opened just four years after the franchising program began.  The company once had restaurants in nearly every medium sized city in both Kentucky and Indiana with other widely spread across the Midwest.  They functioned as middle class and working class dine in and carry out restaurants with a standardized menu of hamburgers, sandwiches, steaks, and desserts.  Their three best known items were the J-Boy, a large hamburger; the Champ Sandwich, a hot ham and cheese sandwich on a long bun; and the Hot Fudge Sundae which was composed of vanilla ice cream between two thin slices of chocolate sheet cake topped with warm chocolate sauce and a maraschino cherry.  These items were supported by a wider variety of hamburgers, sandwiches, and spaghetti based items.  The franchise lasted until about 20 or 25 years ago when it began to wither and die with one restaurant after another either closing permanently or changing names, menus, and operational identities.  My wife Candice had never been inside a Jerry's Restaurant despite having lived in Kentucky since 1992 before most of the chain had closed.  I suppose that is my fault.  

 

A few days ago, we had a conversation in which Jerry's came up and decided to travel to Paris so Candice could actually visit one of the restaurants.  I have quite a few positive memories of the restaurants in Prestonsburg, Lexington, and one or two other Kentucky towns.  We left home in time to reach Paris at about the end of the traditional lunch hour at 1pm and drove down the old Paris Pike from Winchester, Kentucky, which is a wonderful drive on a two lane road which begins near I-64 and wends through the persistently spreading high dollar suburbs of Winchester which have been steadily eating up some of the best cattle farms in Central Kentucky.  As you reach the edge of the bedroom community a few miles from Winchester you will see a few of what used to be wonderful old to ancient farm houses, now abandoned and waiting for those farms to also be developed.  Thankfully, the development has not spread all across Clarke County and a few miles from Winchester, the real cattle farms are still operational and you realize you have returned to the traditional agricultural landscape which has been the real bread and butter of Central Kentucky since about the early 19th century.  As you reach the Bourbon County line the view improves immensely because Bourbon County where the economy has been more supported by the Thoroughbred horse industry and government and the populace have taken far more interest in preserving the traditional agriculture based economy.  Shortly after crossing the county line, real Thoroughbred farms begin to appear and are the main use of land literally to the city limits of Paris.  

 

The Jerry's is located on US 68 at the southern edge of town where it has always been.   The historical sign still stands 61 years after being erected in the edge of the parking lot.  The sign on the front of the restaurant is still the historical sign and the two corners of the building constructed from hand laid stone still give the appearance which Jerry's Restaurants always showed.  We were amazed on a Monday, early afternoon, the parking lot was relatively full and the dining room was packed to the point we had to wait for fifteen minutes before being seated.  But inside the building the great majority of the original decor is gone and has been replaced by more modern signage furniture, and general appearance.  The wait staff are highly efficient, friendly, helpful, and give the wonderful impression of a small town restaurant where most of the customers are regulars and both the staff and customers know each other.  The menu has the aforementioned three items from the traditional Jerry's menu but is mainly the typical dine in restaurant menu you might encounter in a working class to middle class establishment anywhere in the Midwest or Southeast.  There is fried chicken, chicken livers, cat fish, pot roast, hamburgers, a few steaks, hamburger steak, salads, and desserts.  I had open faced pot roast which was acceptable but not exceptional, well done, appropriately served, and adequately portioned.  Candice had the hamburger steak which is the typical quarter pound of ground round, done to her specifications, served with her choice of several sides, and much like you would find it anywhere in America.  For dessert and for old times sake, we shared the Hot Fudge Sundae and it was just as I remembered it from sixty years ago, warm on top, cold in the middle, a great combination of ice cream, chocolate cake, and chocolate syrup topped with a maraschino cherry.  I honestly wish I had chosen the Champ Sandwich in order to compare it to my memories and I might well return there in the future to do that.  The trip was worth the time and money but just a bit short on fond memories.  The servers are professionals and worthy of respect for having survived the last three years in what had become a dangerous job.  The owners are to be commended for having found a way to survive when all their peers in the Jerry's business are now long moved on to either retirement of other enterprises.  If you have fond memories of a Jerry's anywhere in America, it would be worth your time to visit this last one in America.  

 

The photograph below is of the long defunct Jerry's Restaurant in Hazard, Kentucky, and is from the WSGS Radios Facebook Page.  This photo shows the typical standardized architecture of all Jerry's as they were franchised and built. 

 The photograph below is of the front of the Jerry's Restaurant in Paris, Kentucky, which stills shows that standardized architecture of all Jerry's construction.  This photograph is by the blog author, Roger D. Hicks. 

 The photograph below is of the traditional Jerry's Restaurant sign which is still proudly displayed by the Jerry's in Paris, Kentucky, and states the fact that the same family has owned the restaurant since its franchise date in 1961.  This photograph is by the blog author, Roger D. Hicks. 

Shrinkflation From Zesta Saltines Owned By Kellogs!

 

I was raised with Zesta Saltine Crackers, have eaten them all my life, and we always sold them in our country store when I was growing up.  I had always thought they were the best saltine crackers I had ever eaten and nearly always bought them unless a store I was in had none of that brand.  But this week, I got a serious surprise and another example of what is known as "Shrinkflation" and/or "Skimpflation" since major corporations began cutting back during and after the Covid pandemic on the goods and services they provide.  What happens is that packages get smaller, less comes in a container, prices go up, and the end stage customer is always the one who loses in the long run.  I have previously written about "Skimpflation" and "Shrinkflation" on this blog.  But I got a real surprise this week when I bought Zesta Saltine Crackers which are owned and produced by Kellog's.  

I brought home two boxes of the crackers and opened one last night to have a few as a snack before bedtime.  The boxes are the same size they have always been.  But when I opened the box, I was somewhere between surprised and shocked to see two and one half inches of free space between the ends of the sleeves of crackers and the end of the box.  Yes, I actually got out my tape measure and measured the empty space in the box.  I even opened the second box of crackers today to verify that it was also short on crackers and big on air.  It is!  The company didn't change the size of the box.  They just stopped filling it up to capacity with crackers.  The boxes are 9" x 4" x 4" for a total of 144 cubic inches of crackers.  When you multiply the missing 2 1/2" of free space at the end of 4 sleeves of crackers you find that you are paying for 40 cubic inches of crackers which you are not getting.  You are actually paying for 40 cubic inches of air which you can normally breath for free in most places in the world.  Believe it or not, that is 27.7% of a box of crackers which does not contain any crackers.  

This is, perhaps, the worst example of "Skimpflation" and "Shrinkflation" I have seen since the pandemic began.  It is definitely a shining example of what those two new aspects of corporate greed are all about.  Since the pandemic began, many major store chains, including Kroger, Wal Mart, Dollar General and others have decided to make their customers work for them without pay by installing self checkout lanes, getting rid of many of the employees who needed their  jobs the worst, and making record profits.  Gasoline companies and the store chains which sell their fuel have artificially driven up the price of gasoline products to rates never before seen in America.  And, you can bet your ass, they are already working on other ways to charge you more, give you less, and induce you to work for them for nothing while trying to convince you they are doing you a favor every time they use "Skimpflation" and "Shrinkflation" to steal money out of your pockets.  Anytime you see one of these things happening to you and every other customer in America, make a phone call, send an e-mail, tell your friends, confront corporate greed which is what all of this is about. 

Putting Up Peaches! Freezing.

 

For the past several years, I have bought fresh peaches from a Mennonite friend I know who travels with a truck and trailer to peach orchards in several states and sells peaches from his home in Crockett, Kentucky, in the Mennonite community in which I have so many friends and connections.  We freeze the peaches and use them during the winters for cobblers which are wonderful in cold weather.  We have also begun in the last year to fry peaches just as you would fried apples and they are also a great addition to a country breakfast and a nice flavor break from always eating apples.  Due to both the loss of quite a bit of food value and the extra labor involved, this year we decided to try freezing one half bushel box of peaches with the skins on instead of peeling them.  As a test, we made one cobbler with the first box of peaches we bought a few weeks ago without peeling them and it worked quite well.  I have always eaten fresh peaches skin and all and the idea of eating the skin has absolutely no negative connotations for me.   So yesterday, July 31, 2021, we decided to freeze our second half bushel of peaches with the skin intact.  The amount of waste, especially without hogs or chickens to eat the peelings, is incredibly smaller.  Where we usually have gotten seven bags of peaches, minus the few we eat, cook into a fresh cobbler, and a few to give to an elderly neighbor.  Without peeling the peaches, we got the same amount of eating, fresh cobbler peaches, and give away peaches, but had nine bags for the freezer.  That math makes a lot of sense.  I have to admit that we did not do any research about freezing peaches with the skin on before we attempted this which is not usually our first action.  This morning, after having already frozen the peaches, I have read a few articles on the internet from people who have regularly frozen them with the skin on and they all agree that they like it that way.  But one person said that peaches frozen with the skin on will shed the skin when they are thawed.  We will have to see how that turns out in a month or so when we eat our first bag of frozen peaches.  My niece in Kendallville, Indiana, who has frozen, dried, canned, and preserved food for many years in any way possible says that she uses a hot water bath with peaches to cause them to shed the skins before she freezes them.  We considered doing it that way but decided the extra labor with the hot water made it more attractive to just remove the pits, slice them, and freeze them.  Plus, there were two jobs when I was growing up which I hated with a passion and they were helping can beets and tomatoes because my mother used the hot water bath method to get the skins off the beets and tomatoes and that hot water in a three bushel tub was something that I never came to accept willingly.  I just did not want to repeat the experience with peaches.  

I can't wait until that first fall morning when we have fried peaches as a part of our breakfast. 

Eating Pickled and Jellied Foods!

 

I have to thank my Facebook friend Susan Maslowski, for the motivation for this blog post.  Susan insists that she is not a food expert but knows an awful lot about food and food writing. She describes her experience in this way: "I participated in a one-week cooking school at The Greenbrier in the 70s. I no longer write for the Sunday Gazette Mail, but I do a weekly column for their Kanawha and Putnam supplements". The comments on Facebook of one other person, Satine Bonet, who commented on Susan's post about Zeimni Nogi also brought some motivation to the topic.  Zeimni Nogi  is described as "a traditional Polish dish eaten during the cooler months, topped with a squeeze of lemon juice or served with some tasty horseradish". I suspect that in much of Eastern Europe, where rural poverty is widespread, this dish is eaten with far more horseradish than lemon juice since horseradish can be raised at home and lemons would have to imported at a price. I would be willing to try the dish both ways since I love both horserdish and lemons. Here are the succinct directions for making Zeimni Nogi according to Polish Foodies Traditional Recipes: "Polish pigs’ feet jelly is a type of aspic made by cooking root vegetables such as carrots, celery, and parsley with pork legs till it forms a jelly. This jelly is then refrigerated till it sets and is always served cold!"  I have to admit that I have never eaten Zeimni Nogi or even heard of it until today, July 31, 2021.  But I would love to try it.  It looks and sounds fantastic if you like pickled, jellied, or unusual pork based dishes.  Thank God, I grew up in a family where we "ate anything that creeped, crawled, or flew too low over the supper table".  I also grew up in a country store and was literally carried home from the hospital through the door of the country store since we lived in the same building.  I like to say that my parents carried me home from the hospital at three days old, set me on the counter, and told me to greet customers until I was big enough to do something more.  Growing up in the store and, later, being allowed to travel quite a bit, attend Upward Bound, and expose myself to many things, I learned to like a lot of foods and other experiences which many people avoid.  

We sold, frequently ate, and sometimes made a variety of either  pickled or jellied products including souse, pickled pigs feet, pickled bologna, pickled eggs,and pickled wieners. Let me also say here for the record that I know full well that Zeimni Nogi is not pickled.  It is jellied.  But several of the other foods, both pickled and not, which I am about to discuss are jellied. All these foods were brought to mind by my learning about Zeimni Nogi.  I still love all the pickled and jellied foods I was raised on to this day but rarely eat them anymore because of a well managed history of high blood pressure.  I also love to eat organ meats from hogs, especially what we call "lights" better known to the general public as pork lungs.  I used to love souse so much that for a year while I was working for a company called Vision Quest and stationed in Franklin, Pennsylvania, I had a souse sandwich once a week for lunch.  One of my assignments at that time was that one day a week I supervised a crew of juvenile offenders who were doing community service by helping the city maintenance foreman to pick up recyclables all over town.  The offenders' reward for their work was that they got taken, along with me, to the local grocery store deli for lunch.  I ate so many souse sandwiches there that I could walk into the store, head toward the deli, and one of the deli workers would open the door to the cold cut cooler and begin to slice souse.  I remember the best homemade souse I ever had which, sadly, was not made by my mother.  I was working as a salesman in Logan, West Virginia, and worked with a female friend whose best friend and surrogate mother was an 80+ year old African American woman who lived in Main Holden, an old coal camp near 22 Holden which was the scene of  a famous coal mine disaster.  This old woman agreed to make and share the souse if I would buy the hog heads which I did.  This old woman made incredible souse which I still remember nearly 30  years later and I only got to eat her souse once in my life.  I was also raised on pickled eggs which are best pickled in beet juice as are pickled bologna or pickled wieners. You add the boiled eggs, wieners or bologna to the pickled beet juice in a big mouth gallon jar and wait at least a week before you sample them.  They are awesome done that way and the longer you pickle them the better they taste.  But getting back to pork organ meats, they are all great but nothing is better than pork lungs, "lights", boiled with some kidneys, spleens or "melts", hearts, livers, and potatoes in a great big stock pot.   They are incredible. Then you throw in some fresh green onions, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, and cornbread and you have a feast. 

 In Western North Carolina, they  make an organ meat based food which they love and even have festivals for called Liver Mush which is made with pork livers and other organ meats along with spices and cornmeal.  Here is a simple recipe for Liver Mush:  "pig liver, pig head parts such as snouts and ears, cornmeal and seasonings". It is commonly spiced with pepper and sage. The meat ingredients are all cooked and then ground, after which the cornmeal and seasoning is added.  Then, as I understand it, the Liver Mush is placed in loaf pans to congeal, sliced, and later recooked on a grill.  The truly fascinating aspect to eating Liver Mush is that it is generally eaten in two ways, usually as sandwiches: 1) with mustard; and, 2) with grape jelly.  Now that is an interesting contrast and as, I understand it, just like Alabama and Auburn football there are devoted fans on both sides. It is also my understanding that North Carolina state law actually regulates the minimum percentage of pork liver which must be in Liver Mush in order for it to be legal to sell. By law in North Carolina, the product must consist of at least 30% pig liver. I can't wait to eat some good homemade Liver Mush and Zeimni Nogi. 

"Rosie Hicks and Her Recipe Book" by Donnie Henderson Shedlarz & Edited by Thomas Burton--Book Review

This is the official description of this book on the official website of the editor, Thomas Burton, who is the author or editor of roughly a half dozen other Appalachian books. 

"Rosie Hicks is the deceased widow of Ray Hicks, the internationally known traditional storyteller from North Carolina. She lived in the shadows of all the publications and publicity of Ray; nevertheless, she is an interesting person in her own right. Her life is an engaging story, both as an individual and as a representative of a culture that has for the most part passed away. And that story is told in this little book directly from a series of recorded interviews by Donnie Shedlarz. The book focuses on Rosie’s wonderful anecdotes of growing up in Beech Mountain, North Carolina, including her marriage to Ray; but it also includes the recipes that she kept in an old recipe book, as well as a number of family photographs."  Thomas Burton Website 

The person who conducted the oral history interviews on which this book is based was Donnie Henderson Shedlarz who died of some unnamed lung ailment and asked Thomas Burton, before her death, to finish the work on this little book.  Thomas Burton transcribed the interviews of Ms. Shedlarz and edited the book which was published by Landa Books in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  I am unable to locate an internet website for Landa Books and have to assume that it is no longer functioning or was a purely personal project of Thomas Burton or someone else associated with Ms. Shedlarz.  This book was produced in what must have been a self-publishing, or vanity press, effort and is quite difficult to locate.  I have previously read three others of Thomas Burton's books including one called "Beech Mountain Man" which is an oral history biography of Ronda Lee Hicks, a nephew of Ray and Rosie Hicks who was quite a reprobate in his own right.  Burton had a long standing friendship with several members of the Hicks family and it is not surprising that he would have volunteered to complete the work which Shedlarz, a mutual friend of Rosie Hicks and Burton, had begun.  Shedlarz and Rosie Hicks had become friends during contacts they initially made at story telling festivals around the country where both appeared at times along with Ray Hicks.  

This book is small, brief, and that is its greatest shortcoming.  Rosie Hicks was a fascinating Appalachian woman from a different era, having been born in 1931 in an isolated portion of Western North Carolina where she spent her entire life.  She was a teenager when she married her husband Ray Hicks, who eventually became the most famous Appalachian story teller.  Rosie eventually, because of traveling to story telling festivals with her husband, developed a minor reputation as a story teller also.  But this book does not focus on her story telling although it does contain two brief stories from her repertoire which I will discuss briefly below.  The book is purely an oral history memoir with a sizeable collection of Hicks family photographs and photos of the index card pages of Rosie's personal recipe book.  The text portion of the book is only about twenty-five pages and the entire book is only sixty-one pages.  But it is well worth reading if you can locate a copy.  Burton did a creditable job of sticking to her unique dialect in his transcriptions and the book can shed some light on a few aspects of Appalachian dialect in Western North Carolina.  

There are several old Appalachian folk sayings and riddles in the book along with two short Appalachian Folk Tales from Rosie Hicks' collection.  One is called "Gallymanders" and the other is called "Mule Eggs".  Both are variants of common themes among the folk tales of Appalachia.  I do not pretend to be an expert on Appalachian Folk Tales but I have read and written about one of Leonard Roberts' books of folk tales.  Roberts is considered the best known expert in that area although he has now been dead nearly forty years.  I have to admit that I should read and write further about this important aspect of Appalachian Culture.  For those of you who have had no experience with Appalachian Folk Tales, these two in Rosie's book are a good place to start.  The book also has a sizeable collection of traditional Appalachian riddles.  Although my wife and I have not tried any of Rosie's recipes yet, some of them are worth examining including her Black Magic Cake, Prune Sour Cream Coffee Cake, and Stack Cake.  If you can find a copy of this book, I think there are aspects of it all of you can enjoy.  

The Dog Eye Bean and The Eagle With Spreading Wings Beans

Partly as a result of my other recent posts about Appalachian Heritage beans and shucked beans I have had an ongoing e-mail exchange with my friend Frank Barnett who is one of the most important experts in the entire country on Appalachian Heritage beans.  Frank has spent  years locating, collecting, and saving Appalachian Heritage beans and has several hundred varieties in his collection.  He grows a large crop each year, sometimes beginning with as little as the seeds from one bean and protecting, propagating, and saving the bean in amounts large enough to be viable long term.  If he has only a few seeds for a particular variety, he will plant them in one spot and build a protective wire or mesh cage about 12 feet tall to set over the growing bean vines to protect them from animals.  Bill Best my other Appalachian Heritage crop expert says that he has regularly used poles about 12 feet tall topped with a bicycle rim to which he attaches strong strings so the bean vines can grow up the strings and be protected.  At the end of the first year with these rare varieties for which they have only a small amount of seeds, every bean will be dried and saved for seed.  In the second year, it might be possible to plant one short row from which nearly all the seed will be saved again.  Or if this second year is particularly abundant, they might try to eat one small mess of beans and save the majority of the seeds.  

As a result of these recent e-mails between Frank Barnett and myself, Frank recently sent me photographs of two beans which he is working to save. They are two of the most unique and appropriately named beans I have ever seen. 

Frank and I have also had a message or two back and forth about the nomenclature of Appalachian Heritage beans and I hope my readers will find it as fascinating as I have.  For the majority of this post, I will use Frank's own words since he is the real expert.  I am simply the messenger attempting to pass on his excellent knowledge to as many people as possible, especially those of you in the Central and Southern Appalachian region.  As the title says above, the two varieties of bean Frank and I have discussed are the Dog Eye Bean and the Eagle With Spreading Wings Bean.  The photograph attached to this paragraph is of the Dog Eye Bean and Frank Barnett took the photos and grew both beans.  As soon as you look at the photos of the individual bean seeds in the photo, it is easy to see why it is called the Dog Eye Bean.  The eye of the bean looks a great deal like the eye of a dog.  

The second bean which Frank sent me a photo of is called the Eagle With Spreading Wings Bean and it is just as appropriately named as the Dog Eye Bean.  It is truly a compelling photograph when you combine it with the name.  Until I saw these photographs, I had no idea there could be so much variety in the appearance of individual bean seeds. That is a very graphic name which is fully justified when you see the photograph of the bean seeds with their very distinctive eye. 

As I said earlier, these photographs caused me to engage in an e-mail exchange with Frank Barnett and to ask his permission to use his photographs and messages in a blog post to which he consented.  However, his copyright should be respected and protected if you choose to pass this blog post, these photographs, Frank's e-mail messages as inserted below, or any portion of this blog post.  Also, please not that with recent changes to the Blogspot format and software that it is not currently possible to insert a caption at the bottom of a photograph as I have always done previously.  The bottom line is simply that you should honor both my authorship and Frank's.  I have also done a Google search for more information about these two incredibly unique beans and found nothing which should tell you just how cutting edge Frank Barnett's work with Appalachian Heritage beans really is.  

When Frank sent me his first e-mail on September 29, 2020, he simply sent the photographs appropriately labeled with their respective names in response to my earlier writing about the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean to which I responded with the following e-mail message: 

"Frank,        Those are interesting beans with very appropriate names.  Candice & I went to Bill's on Thursday and bought some Lazy Wife Greasy Beans, froze four bags and ate one last night.  We really like the taste.  Bill & I were talking as we have a few times before about the fact that we both agree that you really should write a book about your exploits in the world of Appalachian Heritag Beans.  Winter is coming on and when you get the gardens put to bed it would be a great time to start."  (R. Hicks E-mail September 29, 2020)

 Frank responded on October 4, 2020, with the following e-mail message: 

"Roger,  You all need to come and visit me especially when I have beans ready in the garden. Like my Grandma I will draw a fresh bucket of water from the well (actually in these days and times, bottled spring water from the refrigerator ) and give you all a mess of beans to take home.  My garden here at the house in around 50ft by 100ft. It is nice to work a little in the garden and then run back into the house with the A/C. I have enjoyed my visits up the hollers and some have been right in the head of a deadening. People have been good to me and most times we have spent hours just talking. I started chasing beans down when I was 59 years old and my rules were to find the actual growers and they had to be older than me. However, now at 73 years old that is becoming more difficult. I do need to organize my notes from the past years. I have certainly enjoyed my retirement of what is now approaching 14 years." (Frank Barnett E-mail, October 4, 2020)

Although that e-mail from Frank may not have a great deal of information about the two beans in discussion here it contains a great deal of other wonderful information about gardening, bean chasing as Frank calls it, and life in the Appalachian mountains all over Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia.  The comment about drawing "a fresh bucket of water" is a throw back to hand dug wells, spring houses, Appalachian hospitality, and general customs all across Appalachia. Both Frank and I have spent years traveling all across Appalachia in a variety of capacities.  Frank grew up in Floyd County Kentucky about 25 miles or so from where I grew up in Knott County and both of us have spent the majority of our lives in the region although we also spent several years outside the region and have traveled extensively in the United States.  We both like to believe we understand Appalachia and Appalachian people.  I responded to Frank's message above with the message below: 

"Frank,  We have gone to Bill's in the last few days and spent a couple of hours with Bill and Rene' but, due to the second surge of Covid which is devastating the state, we are back to pretty much where we were in March and April in terms of low contacts and self isolation.  With Candice's general condition, we cannot take a chance on getting out much.  But we appreciate the offer to visit and will when Covid is under control and an ethically produced, tested, and confirmed vaccine is being widely marketed by public health officials in the Joe Biden administration.  Maybe we can do it next year at bean picking time but we don't need to have the beans to agree to the visit.  If an appropriate vaccine from a company with no ties to TRAITOR Trump is available in the spring, we would be willing to visit then.  And, if you are out in the general area of Morgan County, under the aforesaid terms, we would be glad to have you visit here." (R. Hicks E-mail October 5, 2020)

Candice and I have visited with Frank on only one occasion when we shared a lunch with him in a fine Italian restaurant not far from his home near Georgetown, Kentucky.  We have also visited with Bill Best at the Lexington Farmers Market where he sells beans, the Berea Farmers Market, and the aforementioned visit at his farm near Berea during the first few days of October.  But all three of us (Bill, Frank, and I) regularly e-mail each other and often include all contacts in the group on our messages.  They have taught me a lot about beans, farming, eating wholesome homegrown foods, and Appalachia, Appalachian Culture, and life in general.   So, Frank responded to my E-mail of October 5, 2020, above on October 5, 2020, with the following discussion of beans, bean chasing, and raising beans.

"Sure you can do a blog about Dog Eyes and Eagles but use the last photo I sent of the Eagle Spreading Wings. There has always been a big discussion on FaceBook about Hazard Red Eyed Fall beans and Leslie Tenderpods being the same varity. Last week the Clay Bank Fall bean from me was mentioned and I had to tell everyone that the bean was from Leslie County at a spot called Hell for Certain. And besides that are at least 4 sub varieties that folks want to call Hazard Red Eyed Fall beans but folks in Perry County know better. I will try to put something together tonight that is clearer.  Maybe I need to add the Big Teddy story about the bean I got at the Morgan County Sorghum Fest a few years back, a big old boy from Owsley County selling his beans."  (Frank Barnett E-mail, October 5, 2020)

Obviously, in that message immediately above, Frank briefly mentioned several more varieties of Appalachian Heritage beans including the Hazard Red Eyed Fall Bean and Leslie Tender Pods which are probably the same variety.  He also mentioned a bean he had gotten during a visit to the Morgan County Sorghum Festival in my home county and the Clay Bank Fall Bean from a spot he called Hell For Certain.  But I have always known that creek in Leslie County Kentucky as being Hell Fer Sartain as it is called in Leonard Roberts' wonderful book of Appalachian folk tales with the title "South From Hell Fer Sartain".  But the message immediately above tells a lot about how hard Frank Barnett has worked in his efforts to save as many Appalachian Heritage beans since his retirement from IBM about 14 years ago.  He has traveled thousands of miles, visited with hundreds of small mountain farmers, driven up many small, isolated hollows, and eaten a lot of good meals in little houses with common people who welcomed him in, gave him a share of what little or much they had, and treated him like a friend even though they had often never met this man who seemed to enjoy good beans as much as they did.  

Frank and I have had a few more messages back and forth since October 5, 2020, about Appalachia, our common raising in Eastern Kentucky, and our love for traveling narrow, two lane mountain roads all over Appalachia, and learning everything we can from older Appalachians as soon as we can before any more of it is lost.  If you feel the same way, contact me at my E-mail address rchicks@mrtc.com and tell me your stories.  It would be wonderful if you allowed me to pass that information along so other Appalachians can benefit from it also.   Frank also sent me this photo on October 8, 2020, of our mutual friend, national Appalachian Heritage crop expert Bill Best with his freshly made shucked beans.