Crispy Catfish
Ingredients 4 catfish fillets, (about 6 to 8 ounces each) 1/3 cup cornmeal 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon onion powder 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 tablespoon water 1/2 cup CRISCO Oil tartar sauce, (optional) Directions Rinse fish. Pat dry. Combine cornmeal, flour, salt, paprika, onion powder and pepper on sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper. Combine egg and water in shallow dish or pie plate. Dip fish in egg mixture. Coat with cornmeal mixture. Heat Crisco Oil to 365°F in electric skillet or on medium-high heat in large heavy skillet. Fry fish for 5 to 7 minutes on each side or until crisp and browned. Drain on paper towels. Serve with tartar sauce, if desired. Note: Any firm, white-fleshed fish fillet such as flounder, sole or cod can be cooked in the same way. The coating also works well on turkey cutlets or boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Delicious Sweet Potato Pie
From Dee Adams Sweet potatoes were another staple I grew up with. They were fairly inexpensive and were great baked or put in a pie. Baked potateos were just eaten with a little butter. To make a potato pie, you need: 4 large potatoes 2 cups sugar 1 stick butter 1 pinch cinnamon 1 pinch nutmeg 1 store-bought pie crust or your can just line a pan with vanilla wafers instead 1/2 cup milk Boil the potatoes until tender. When you stick a fork in them it should go in easy but you don't want them to fall apart. Let the potatoes cool and then peel them. Put the potatoes in a large mixing bowl and mash them thoroughly with a potatoe masher. Melt the butter and pour it and the other ingredients in the bowl of potatoes. Stir until well mixed. Whether you used a ready made pie crust or just cookies, pour the potatoes mixture into the crust. Put into an oven preheated to 375 degrees. Cook for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
Collard greens
From Dee Adams Collard greens are a very nutritious and inexpensive treat. When I was growing up, my grandmother would buy about 50 cents worth of collard seeds and this would grow enough collard greens to feed us for the entire year. That 50 cents worth of seeds would produce hundreds of collard plants in our North Carolina backyard garden. Ingredients: 2 - 3 medium smoked ham hocks or 2 pounds smoked pork neck bones 5 pounds of collards or several large bunches (If you can't get them fresh, frozen will do. 2 teaspoon of salt My favorite way to cook collard greens is very simple. I take 2 or 3 smoked ham hocks and put them in a large (6 quart) pot of water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and let it boil for about 1 1/2 hours. Add more water as it boils down. The idea is to boil the ham hocks until they begin to fall apart. You should always cook pork very thoroughly and use proper food handling techniques. You want the ham hocks to be falling apart before you add the collard greens. Take the collard greens and separate the leaves (if fresh) . Now rinse each leaf individually under cold running water. After you rinse the collard greens thoroughly, stack several leaves on top of each other. Roll these leaves together. Then slice the leaves into thin strips using a cutting board and large knife. Rolling them together speeds up the process as you are slicking through several leaves at once. Next, add your collard greens to the pot. Since this is a lot of collards, you will need to add them until the pot is full. Then allow them to wilt as they cook - then add more. Add you salt, cover and cook for thirty minutes on medium heat. Stir every few minutes to distribute the smoked meat taste evenly. Taste to confirm they are the tenderness you prefer. Serve with your favorite meat dish such as chitterlings. Eat the ham hocks or neck bones right along with the collards. If you used frozen collards, simply pour them - frozen - right from the package to the pot. If you use smoked neck bones, they usually don't take as long to cook as ham hocks. People in my neck of the woods usually sprinkle lots of hot sauce on their collards. I like them that way. Give it a try. Since this is a large pot full, just save the extras in the refrigerator. They should keep for a long time and actually get better as the juices settle in.
Fried Chitterlings and Hog Maws
From Dee Adams In my part of the country, chitterlings come in 10 pound buckets. Hog maws come in smaller packages found in the freezer case. If you can find the larger containers and like the recipe, simply use several times the ingredients to end up with the same percentages. Local supermarkets also carry smaller packages. After cleaning the chitterlings of the fat you will only end up with about half as much volume. Ingredients: 2 pounds hog maws (pig stomach) 2 pounds chitterlings (pig intestines) 3 quarts water 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon red pepper (flakes) 1 medium peeled onion (white or yellow) The hog maws are the thickest and will therefore take the longest to cook. Rinse them thoroughly as you trim off the excess fat. Put them in a 6 quart pot along with your 3 quarts water, onion, pepper, and salt. Bring them to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes. While maws are cooking, rinse chitterlings thoroughly and trim the extra fat off them. Like most organ meats, they have a lot of fat. Add chitterlings to pot after maws have cooked for 1 hour 15 minutes. Cook another 1 hour 30 minutes or until tender. Add a little extra water if necessary. Prepare a large cast iron skillet with 1/4 stick of butter. Remove maws and chitterlings from pot and slice. I use to slice them right in the preheated skillet although you can use a cutting board. Then stir with a large metal spoon as you lightly brown them. You can pour out the water from the pot, including the onion. The onion added a little flavor and made them smell nicer while simmering. A variation on this recipe is to slice the chitterlings and hog maws into pieces as above, but them put them back in the pot with the stock. Again, you can get rid of the onion. Cover the pot and simmer the cut up mixture for another 50 minutes. If you don't like onion or don't have onion, you can add four or five bay leaves to the mixture instead.. Again, you throw the bay leaves away before frying or cooking down the chitterlings. By now the hog maws and chitterlings should be thoroughly done and almost falling apart. You can serve them with your favorite side dishes such as greens, macaroni and cheese, or rice. I actually prefer to eat them by themselves, with several splashes of hot sauce. However, they are fattening and it's tough not to eat too much. So you probably should have a side dish. Store the leftovers in the refrigerator. Like so many other great soul food dishes, chitlins taste even better after the flavor has soaked in for a few hours. The leftovers won't last long.
Spicy corn bread w/collard greens
From Dee Adams 1 lb. Ground sirloin 16 oz jar "hot" salsa 2 tsp. Crushed red pepper chilies (optional) 1 tbl. Black pepper 2 cups 3 cheese blend (any) corn bread. (Hot water corn bread, everybody's grandmother had a different recipe.) , Or 4 packs or Gold MedalŪ corn muffin mix (prepare according to package directions. Doubling the recipe.) Two packs of corn bread will be used for top and two for the bottom. Cook bottom bread completely. Brown ground meat (cooking thoroughly), add pepper, salsa (chunky), chilies, crushed red pepper simmer 6 minutes to let spices cook together. Layer meat, cheeses, spices over completely cooked bread. Cover w/top batter Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 40 minutes or until golden. Greens: In stock pot w/2 cups of water place the following: 1 large smoked neck bone (must be smoked) 1 piece salt pork Dash salt. 1 hamhock Cover and let simmer 20 minutes. In the meantime, wash and clean 5 bunches of collard greens, after cleaning cut bunches and place into stock pot. Cover and let slow simmer for 30-40 minutes or until desired tenderness. "Serve w/spicy corn bread. I think the soul food flair can be seen in the tastes and aromas."
Neckbone Soup
From Dee Adams 1 Package of neckbones 1 Package of frozen corn, peas, okra and lima beans 2 cans of stewed tomatoes A dash of Lawry's seasoned salt Add black pepper to taste Add two large bay leaves 2 chopped large yellow onions. Cook neckbones in a large dutch oven or a really large pot. Add onions season salt and pepper, skim fat and slim off the meat. Cook until it is so tender that the meat falls off the bone. You can leave the bones or remove them. Add the veggies and the bay leaves and stew for 45 minutes on low heat. At this time make some jiffy corn bread. I always serve lemonade and then my folks throw down at the table! Don't forget to bless the food!