Friday, May 29, 2009

Desserts in June

Coming up in June, we're gonna post strictly yummy Southern desserts. Oh, and of course another old tale or two. Stay tuned!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Old Fashioned Carrot Cake

Old Fashioned Carrot Cake

Here is a simple recipe for making good, old-fashioned Carrot Cake. A perfect ending to Supper - or really just good to eat any ole time.
  • 2-1/4 cups self-rising flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2-½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1-½ cups vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs, well beaten
  • 3 cups grated carrots
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
Icing:
  • 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 1 box (1 lb) powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup crushed walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Set aside. Combine the oil and sugar, beating until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until well mixed. Stir in the flour mixture, add the carrots and walnuts, and mix gently just until well combined. Pour the batter into three greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake for 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the layers in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove and let them cool completely on wax paper or a wire rack before icing.

To make the icing, beat the butter and cream cheese together until well combined; beat in the powdered sugar, a little at a time, and the vanilla, mixing until smooth. Spread between the layers, sprinkling nut on top of the icing as you go, and on the top of the cake, sprinkle more nuts.

Bob Gurkin’s Irish Crème

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1-3/4 cups Irish whiskey
4 egg whites
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract

Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Bottle and steep in the refrigerator for one week. Will last up to 1 month refrigerated. Enjoy!

Souped Up Bobcat

Souped Up Bobcat

In the Dismal Swamps of North Carolina, we have a wildcat called a Lynx, but we call the Lynx a 'Souped Up Bobcat’. You definitely don't want to get between a Souped Up Bobcat and where he wants to go. They are a kind of gray in color, with tufts of hair that stand up behind their ears and their rear end is just a tad higher than their shoulders. They kinda look like they are always walking down hill. A lynx will ghost through the woods and when it wants something to eat, it won't be without a kill for very long. I used to see this one particular Lynx out near Squaw Creek and he ranged from there right on up to the edge of Jackson's Swamp. He was all scarred up and had a very distinct striping pattern going over his rump. None of the farmers in the area had what you would consider a "pet". If an animal couldn't pay his/her way on the farm, it had to go. Dogs were used for hunting. Period. You just didn't 'love them up'. Cats had to stay in the barn and catch rats and mice. Period. If you tried to rub one of the cats, he or she would probably shred a finger for you. Usually, the dogs and cats that lived together on one farm had a truce, but the Hutch family had a pack of pit bulls that would kill any cats they could catch and every now and then a dog or two.

One spring, Grandpa Kader's best 'mouser' had a litter of kittens and they all looked pretty much like her, with the exception of one. He was grayish and had a short cut-off tail. This in itself is kinda unusual, but not unheard of - bobtailed cats come along now and then. I kinda kept an eye on this particular cat cause he looked kinda familiar, if you know what I mean. When he got full growed, it was pretty oblivious to everyone on the farm that a Lynx was his daddy. His rump was higher than his shoulders and when the stripes showed on his rump I knew exactly which Lynx was the daddy. One Sunday afternoon, we was all a settin' on the front porch having some watermelon and tea that had been put in the well to get cool. That gray cat was laying out under the oak tree, when up come running 3 of the Hutches Bull Dogs. Generally, when they would come a running, every cat on the place would head for the highest place they could find, but that gray cat just sat and watched them. They were just a little surprised, but then dug in and attacked. That gray cat still didn't run. Instead he sailed in amongst those Bull Dogs and commenced to look like a small tornado. I ain't never heard the like of squalls in my life. The cat was loud but the Bull Dogs were 3 times as loud. Towards the end, it kinda sounded like they were screeching hoo, haw, eee, yowe. I can't recollect ever hearing a dog make sounds quite like they did. Pieces of fur and bloody meat were landing on the porch and one of the Bull Dogs tried to run and was just standing in one spot with his legs churning like crazy and throwing dirt behind himself, until that cat swiped him a good one across the rear. He found a gear then and got gone. Another one actually climbed that Oak tree and stayed up there till the cat went up after him and threw him out. The last one kinda melted into the ground. Not a one of us saw what actually happened to him. We were all just a settin' on the porch with our mouths hanging open and the cat just sat back under the tree and started licking his paws. We never saw another Hutch Bull Dog again at our Farmstead.

Collards

Collards
  • 1 cup fatback
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1-½ lbs collards
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • pinch garlic
Use a large pot. Wash and slice the fatback thinly and cook over medium heat. Add water to half-fill the pot and bring to a boil. Wash the collards in hot water 2 to 3 times. Remove the large stems and discard. Add to the water and keep boiling for approximately 3 hours. When cooked, strain and chop fine.

 Serves 4 to 6.

Baked Chicken That Makes Its Own Gravy

Baked Chicken That Makes Its Own Gravy

This is a 1964 recipe from the Deep South. Add hot cooked rice and serve with a tomato salad if you like. Mmm Mmm Good!
  • 3 to 3-½ lbs frying chicken pieces
  • 1 cup (4 oz) grated processed American cheese
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • 2/3 cup undiluted Evaporated Milk
  • 2 cups (1-lb can) drained whole onions
  • 1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed
  • 1/4 lb sliced mushrooms
  • cream of mushroom soup
  • paprika
Coat chicken with flour. Arrange chicken in single layer with skin down in melted butter in 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. Bake uncovered in 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. Turn chicken, bake until brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer, until tender. Remove from oven and reduce temp to 325 degrees. Pour off excess fat. Combine evaporated milk, soup, cheese, salt and pepper. Add onions and mushrooms to chicken. Pour soup mixture over chicken. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover dish with foil. Return to oven for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Serves 6.