Maggie's Farm

I wouldn't say that Turkey Hash is delicious, exactly. It is one of those bland, old-timey comfort foods, and it can be breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Here's the recipe from Cooks.com.

I think it requires a dollop of leftover cranberry sauce on the side.

We like big bottles for holidays, but they will want to breathe for a few hours.

That's a double magnum of Pol Roger (no breathing), a Jeroboam of 1994 Col di Sasso Tuscany cabernet/sangiovese, a double magnum of Meeker Sonoma Merlot 2002, and a couple of bottles of late bottled Ramos Pintos 1998 Port. Those late-bottled vintage ports are a good deal, and ready to drink. Martinelli's for the teetotalers (in the fridge, not photogenic).

Plenty nice enough for a proletarian, gun totin', pa'tridge huntin', dog lovin', Bible-clingin' proud Yankee red-necked Mayflower farmin' family. We'll have some cheap seegars, too. Everybody will sleep well... and far more comfortably than their Pilgrim ancestors ever did.

Nice picture on the wall? I like Cape Codder John Grillo. Chatted with him several times. He's still alive, and one day I might be able to afford another one of his purty pitchers of nekked gals and dancers before he goes to the great art studio in the sky. I hope to see him this summer, well-aged (b. 1917) but alive and still working all day, every day.

Re-posted -

As a native Cape Codder and cranberry fan, it's a delight to report that they may have a powerful anti-atheroscletotic effect. Maybe this news might have a beneficial effect on a specialized family farming that has been bedeviled by low prices.

The big producers are Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon and Michigan.

The sentence in Science Daily I don't understand is the following: "The researchers said that the next step is to determine which compounds in cranberries contribute to the benefits and then figure out how to incorporate them into the diet in a form palatable to humans."  How about in cranberry juice, cranberry muffins, cranberry pancakes, 25 kinds of cranberry sauce, cranberry cobbler, and dried cranberry "raisins,"....for starters? You can buy unsweetened, undiluted cranberry juice now in most supermarkets.

We keep bags of them in the freezer, and they seem to last a year.

Cranberry sauce: it's not just for Thanksgiving turkey. It's good for chicken and almost any kind of game meat. Never use the junk from the can, though. Even if you think you like it, you will find you like the home-made better.

More on this native North American bog plant here.

What's on your menu? (re-posted) -

Inquiring minds want to know. Here's ours, for around 23 people - family and friends:

Unknown hors d'oevres (my Sis brings) with Champagne.

Two turkeys, one in the oven with cornbread stuffing, and one on the grill. Extra stuffing. Gibier gravy. My Mom is making her famous artery-smoothing mashed potatoes with sour cream and cream cheese and chives etc in them (mashed potatoes like that plus regular red wine intake have kept my 85 year-old Dad alive and kicking thus far). Brussel Sprouts sauteed with bacon and shallots. String beans with almonds. Creamed baby onions. Sweet potatoes done somehow by my Bro. Mountains of various forms of Cranberry sauces (The best? Orange-Cranberry Relish). Corn pudding (from good dried corn like Cope's) from my M-in-law. Good red wine, cider, along with lots of Martinelli's for the teetotalers and an assortment of really good beers including Palm and some of the German Weissbraus that I have become fond of.

Pumpkin Pie made by Mrs. BD from fresh pumpkin, and Squash Pie from fresh Butternut squash. Apple Pies made by another Sis. Indian Pudding. Pumpkin Cheesecake. Ice cream and whipped cream on the side. Some decent Port for after, with cigars for the gents (and for any women who want them. As far as I know, Mrs. BD has not smoked a cigar since the Macanudo she rebelliously enjoyed at our wedding reception).

The best part? Everybody helps clean everything up after, and nobody leaves until it's all done. It gets like The Cat in the Hat around here. The strong men scrub the pots and pans and carry the rental tables and chairs out to the driveway. Our family - families - are like that: they seem to enjoy work and effort, and seek it out. If they can't find any work at hand to be done or any mess to be tidied, they go for a five mile run or split some firewood or build a wall or do something useful. None of my own kin will watch TV.  It's Yankee blood. We do not do idle very well, even on vacation. Or especially on vacation. Maybe it's a flaw - but mess and idleness are the haunts and playthings of the devil. We can rest and "relax" all we want when we're dead. Until then, it's "Hi, Ho, Go, Go" as long as we can.

With a world so full of wonders and challenges, why leave a legacy of a dent in a sofa?

Anyway, what are y'all cookin?

Re-posted

That's Nora Mill "Georgia Ice Cream" stone-ground speckled grits.

With Thanksgiving on the way, my thoughts have wandered to one of my favorite desserts - Indian Pudding. I don't know about the rest of the country, but up here old Yankees view it to be as essential as Pumpkin Pie and Winter Squash Pie on the dessert table. (I usually consider Mince Pie to be more of a Christmas treat.) Here's one good recipe. I think ice cream overpowers it, but a drizzle of heavy cream does not.

Since we're on the subject of corn meal, here are a few of my other favorites:

Cheese Grits. This would be good for Thanksgiving too. Cheese grits are good with game meat, and with barbecue too. I could live on cheese grits.

Baked Grits.

Jalapeno Cheddar Grits. Not for Thanksgiving, I feel.

Cornbread stuffing (esp for turkey).

Related, but not ground corn: Cope's Dried Sweet Corn. The best for corn pudding, which is a Thanksgiving necessity.

Almost forgot - Cornmeal pancakes. More interesting than ordinary pancakes.

The American Indians ground their teeth down to nubs from chomping ground corn (samp) - and especially from the stone particles in it from their stone mortars.

My friend who I trust completely emails me: "Have you heard of this recipe?  It was in the Chicago Tribune many years ago.  I've made it several times.  A labor of love, but soooo good."

Here: Morton Thompson's Turkey

I think I will try this, but not at Thanksgiving. Tradition must be observed here. I am one of those people who truly enjoys a roast turkey, as long as there is plenty of cranberry sauce, mashed rutabaga, creamed onions, and mashed potatoes to go with it. I like the dark meat.

Photo: I forget where that photo came from, but it's not a photo of Thompson's Turkey. Maybe from Dr. Bob.

From Kentucky, in partnership with Ducks Unlimited: Bird Dog Whiskeys

Yes, they make a plain, unflavored Kentucky Whiskey too.

Re-posted from a past Thanksgiving season -

We did one turkey in the oven, stuffed with cornbread stuffing, and the other one on the grill with occasional doses of soaked apple wood chunks from my neighbor's tree, and with white wine in the steam water. Both birds were brined 24 hrs before cooking, and each around 18 lbs.

We had plenty of family and friends to eat it all up.

I think people preferred the grilled (no stuffing in the grilled bird).  It was my first time trying grilled turkey. Beginner's luck: It came out perfectly: moist, with a pleasant hint of smokiness. It took around 3 1/2 hrs to cook. Keeping the temp at near 325 involved carefully titrating the number of briquettes and fruitwood chunks to keep the heat low, but to not let the fire go out. Basted it with veg. oil and honey.

Nice grill, eh? This cast-iron thing weights 500 lbs. I had to assemble the darn thing off a truck, and got most of it right. Except for the wheels, which fell off. Now it takes a few pall-bearers to move it.

This is halfway:

And done:

The puppy seemed equally happy with scraps from the grilled and from the oven-roasted turkey.

My chef friend recommends trying Sweet Chili. I've only made hot chili in the past, and I like to make it with chunks of chuck, and no beans.

With a relative here recovering from orthopedic surgery, I'm trying Sweet Chili tonight. Something like this, with its interesting combination of ingredients: The Best Chili You Will Ever Taste. Chef also advises using Pink Beans - Rosadas - not kidney beans for Chili. Also says canned beans are at least as good as soaking dried beans. Says no good chef would bother soaking beans.

I'll serve it with some rice if wanted, but I think chips are the right thing. Or maybe I'll make some cornbread. Yeah, that's what I will do.

The fun thing about Chili for me is a choice of toppings: Scallions, chopped red onion, grated cheese, chopped pepper or chopped Halapenos, sour cream, etc.

I use a Slow-Cooker, aka crock pot, for these sorts of things so as not to be chained to the kitchen. Slow Cooker never burns things, and you can go do things for 6 hours. Mine has a timer, too.

The good Balsamic Vinegar comes from Modena (home of Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini), where they have been making it for a thousand years. I have some days when I hunger for some Balsamic.

It's called "balsamic" because it was thought to be a good balsam, or balm, for pain and disease. Our North American Balsam Fir was thought to be good for diseases too, hence its name. The Romans viewed vinegar as a balm and a medicine - hence the Roman soldier kindly offering Jesus vinegar on the cross.

They make it from boiled-down Trebbiano grape juice. Balsamic Vinegar is not a wine vinegar.

The aging process seems to be key. As the volume shrinks over time and the vinegar becomes more syrupy, it is moved into smaller and smaller wood casks made of different woods until ready. Juniper is the final cask. 15 and 25 year-old Italian Balsamic Vinegars are readily available, and there are 100 year-old ones. The 15 year-old one in the photo is $70/bottle. Unlike a bottle of wine of that price, however, you only have to use a few drops at a time.

Northern Italians would never touch our supermarket stuff, nor would any really good American restaurant. However, the available quality is getting better and better. Costco has pretty good balsamic for salad use.

The old story Marcella Hazan relates is about the old Northern Italian guy who ran down to the cellar when the Americans began bombing. Then he remembered, and ran up to the room where his precious small casks of very old Balsamic were stored and rushed them down to the cellar. Then he realized that he had forgotten one more thing: His wife.

Ever tried a good Balsamic on strawberries? It's a classic Italian dessert. It's equally good on fresh fig halves with a touch of honey or sugar. Just make sure you use the good stuff.

Hunting Woodcock, which we usually do in conjunction with hunting Ruffed Grouse, is an interesting and challenging sport. They tend to fly in a spiral, and many of us have a moment of remorse when we take one of these lovely little tasty birds from the dog.

The dog is needed not so much to flush them or point them as to find them when shot. Their camo is perfect.

Always make a sauce for them by sauteeing all of their innards and guts in butter and shallots, and shmooshing them up with a fork with a little brandy and pepper. There's no mess in there, because they conveniently flush out their GI track when they flush.

Readers know that the best Woodcock recipe is Woodcock Ravioli in a splash of gibier sauce and shaved black truffle on top.

Currier and Ives' Woodcock Shooting:

I post enough recipes that I like, and that I like to make. It's your turn for the most American of foods.

What are your favorite Apple Pie recipes? Got any tips?

A pal of mine likes to sprinkle sugar over the top crust partway through the baking. He uses supermarket crusts, but it works very well.

(I actually like Tarte Tatin better, but have trouble caramelizing the bottom - which becomes the top.)

Our Maggie's Farm chef, in photo, will test each one of them for us.

It's the peak of apple season in Yankeeland, and the best use for apples is Apple Pie and Tarte Tatin, which is sort of a semi-burned upside-down apple pie.

The Tarte Tatin was supposedly invented by mistake. I have tried to make them many times, but I can never get the hard crispy caramelization on the apples that I seek: I just get a browned upside-down apple pie - a gooey mush that sticks to the pan and makes for a mess of a presentation (but tastes good anyway).

Hard apples - not cooking apples, high heat and an iron skillet seem to be important. Some people seem to have no trouble getting it right, but I never do.

Here's a recipe. If you can make it right, it ain't too terribly bad with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream on the side.

My chef friend advises making them with a basic Flan Pastry, aka Chef's Pastry. Chef claims that once you've had a good Tarte Tatin, you'll never go back to apple pie with its overdose of pastry.

For pottage and puddings and custards and pies
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies,
We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon,
If it were not for pumpkins we should be undoon."

Pilgrim verse, circa 1633

Pumpkins are just one variety of winter squash. Winter Squash have the virtues of being harvested in the fall, and easily storable for keeping through the winter in a root cellar as long as they do not freeze. All winter squash (Butternut, Acorn, etc) taste pretty similar and are more or less interchangeable in recipes.

Winter Squash, along with string beans, maize (which we call "corn" in the US, and many other foods like peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes) were first genetically modified for agriculture by American Indians.

Eastern Indians had large fields in which they grew winter squash, maize, and beans (which climbed up the corn stalks) together. In fact, one of the reasons the Pilgrims decided to stay in Plymouth was for the 50-acre and 100-acre planting fields that the Indians (recently dead probably from European diseases brought in by explorers and fishermen) had prepared there.

The Pumpkin of the Americas quickly became a popular crop in many parts of the world. Our Philippino nanny rarely made a Phillipino stew without pumpkin chunks in it. (Loved that Oxtail stew with peanut sauce, potato, and pumpkin, or her winter squash and string bean stew with coconut milk plus some shrimp or chicken chunks.) And people who have read Alexander McCall Smith's series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, know how popular pumpkin became in the African diet. As for Pumpkin pasta recipes, there are tons of them.

Here's 41 Yummy Pumpkin Recipes.

Mashed pumpkin with salt, pepper and butter is great. Same with steamed pumpkin chunks. A little chopped fresh Sage is good with them. Never boil winter squash. Steam or roast, or it will get too soggy.

As for the olde standbys, Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Soup, those are OK too but the spices tend to obscure the subtle flavors of the winter squashes used. (Re Pumpkin Pie, the Maggie's Farm advice is to go very light on the sugar, and serve with a spoonful of whipped cream, then drizzled with 100% Maple Syrup.)

Megan McArdle wrote this: Yes, Some of US Really Like Pumpkin

There is little that people eat that isn't raised on some sort of farm. As humans over-fish the seas, some fish that were once trash fish are now on restaurant menus. Often, new and more appealing names are used.

I read recently that, in blind tasting, nobody can tell farm from wild-raised salmon.

I had a perfectly-grilled filet of Branzino last weekend in NYC, on a bed of lobster mashed taters. Even the crispy Branzino skin was delicious. I had never had Branzino before. It's European Sea Bass.  It tastes like a small Striped Bass, which means very good and a little sweet.  Then I saw this: Why does every restaurant in the USA have Branzino in the menu?

It didn't take long to learn that Local Ocean is farming Branzino in the Northeast US. People are farming Striped Bass too. Count me as in favor of this trend.

And we still do. She certainly enriched our lives, and will continue to do so.

She had the Emilia-Romagna thing going, and her Bolognese is the best. Bologna is the capital of Emilia-Romagna. Baloney. The home of Balsamic, Mortadella, the Lamborghini, and many other fine things.

Classic sandwiches from all 57 states. 

How about the "Elvis" from Mississippi? Peanut butter, fried banana, and bacon on toast, with a splash of hot sauce on top. Sounds ok with me. Gimme one, to check it out:

While visiting northern Italy, I jotted down some menu items we saw, and many of which we tried. These are typical antipasti, primis, or secondis:

Beef carpaccio
Duck and horse carpaccio
Ossa Bucco
Antipasto misto
Tagliatelle with truffle
Tagliatelle with butter and sage
Seared Tuna with pepper sauce
Braised turkey breast with onion sauce
Horse stew on polenta
Salmon with zucchini blossoms with Prosecca sauce
Gnocchi with porcini and truffle
Chicken liver with balsamic sauce
Triple fish carpaccio
Grilled octopus with pesto sauce
Rabbit stew on polenta
Truffle risotto with smoked goose breast

That's Italian! As I said before, none of these treats taste as good as they should without wine.

If I want a dessert, my preference is a plate of mixed local cheeses with a couple of figs. Cafes change their menus daily, depending on what they have, and post them outside. Here's one, in Verona. Macceroncini in this context refers to thin tagliatelle:

Pic is a Northern Italian classic: Veal Tonnato

When I grew up, "Italian food" meant various forms of wheat (no egg) pasta with red glop on top, and maybe meatballs or eggplant. That, plus pizza and Italian grinders. Also, Lasagna I guess, made from an American cookbook.

They don't make grinders in Italy, and their pizzas aren't any good. I gave up on them. American wood-cooked pizzas can be pretty good, though.

This was because most of the Italian immigrants to America were from a poor southern Italy with Neapolitan food traditions. To tell the truth, I do not care too much for that stuff but I am willing to eat it if I am starving. I do like a good Pasta Fagiole but I can make the best one you have ever had, and I will have a Bolognese on Tagliatelle. Call me a food snob.

Our best Italian meals have been in Umbria, which is where Romans take dining expeditions by the busload - so they can drink and gorge on wild pig, and get a ride home. No good Italian food tastes wonderful without wine. If you're on the wagon, it's not so wonderful unless it includes truffles or Balsamic. They do not use much wine in their cooking because you are supposed to be sipping it as you eat. Wine is expected to be an accompaniment, blending in your mouth.

I had a fine Lasagna in Verona for lunch, in a sidewalk cafe near the Arena. No red sauce, heavy on the nutmeg which makes sense, given the history of being part of the Venetian Empire for a while. One Italian dish I really wanted to try in Italy was Vitello Tonnato - Veal with Tuna Sauce. Mrs. BD makes an excellent version, but somehow we missed it on our last trip. Also wanted to try their Chicken Liver with Balsamic, but missed that too. That's OK - food isn't everything - and we know some great Italian restaurants in NYC.

Italian Food Regional Cooking:  Southern Italy

Italian Food Regional Cooking:  Central Italy

Italian Food Regional Cooking: NorthWest Italy

Italian Food Regional Cooking:  NorthEast Italy

Italian Food Regional Cooking: Sicily and Sardinia

Northern Italians eat very well, but are mostly skinny. It's the walking and the minimal pasta that does it. Low carbs.