One of the most surreal things I ever saw on PBS was Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet making hoe cake.
He sprayed some Pam on the hoe first, so the cake wouldn't stick.
Which isn't exactly authentic:
Recollections of Slavery TimesThe cooking utensils were few and all of the simplist kind. A long handled shallow iron skillet with long legs did duty as a spider in which to fry our salt pork, bacon and other meat, whenever we could get it. It was also sometimes used to bake "hoe cake" in. These hoe cakes, which formed a large part of the slave's bill of fare, were made of Indian meal, and water with a little salt and sometimes a quantity of pork fat was added. When the skillet was not at hand or was wanted for some other purpose, a "nigger hoe" that is a hoe used by the slave in the field, was placed handle down upon the floor, so that the under side of the hoe would be next to the fire. The angle that the iron part of the hoe made with the handle was such that when the handle was placed upon the floor the iron part would slant back from the fire, thereby making a resting place for the cake. When one side of the cake was baked the other side was turned to the fire. From this style of cooking, the cake came to be called "hoe cake."
Only thinking of this because I made some of Sylvia's Collard Greens. Yes, canned, because ain't no way I'm picking no collards. They were way too sweet, but maybe that's how they do it in Atlanta.
There should be something pseudo-intellectual here about the origins of soul food during slavery, but you've probably heard it all before. . .
Update: Heh. The Chitterling Site.
Buppies actually pronounce it \Chit"ter*lings\. Buppies have got to die.
Want to know more? Try nibblechomp. Couldn't hurt, might help.
Damn, now I want some 7-Up Cake. The ghetto Super K(-Mart) near my mom's place sells it, and it's actually decent. Wonder if the semi-ghetto K-Mart near me has any?
Place has one of the few White Castles in the Twin Cities right across the street, which almost rose to Heights-level ambiance when Chris and Dan dragged me up in there once at like 2 in the morning.
If you're not sure if this is a compliment or not, clearly you've never been to the Heights.
Ghetto with three syllables.
Update 2: Sweet creeping zombie Jesus.
Chicago Public School Cafeteria Butter Cookies
Ingredients2 sticks softened butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups & 2 Tablespoons all Purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy; add
vanilla. Mix in flour in small increments. Roll dough into balls;
Press out on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until golden brown.
Enjoy!
Makes about 1-1/2 dozen.
I remember those things. Except I don't think they baked them at the school I went to. Or they didn't bake them enough. . .
my grandmother still makes 7 up cake and its still on point.
chitlin's though haven't been in the repertoire for a long time. I can't remember the last time I had them, I had to be a wee lad. But I can damn sure remember the smell.
And if someone calls it tripe, I'm kicking some ass.
Collard greens from a can, man? Did you at least put a hamhock or some turkey bacon in there or something?
Damn...I'm going to have to go to Angeline's or Aunt Kizzy's or Stevie Joe's for lunch tomorrow.
bastard.
Helped my grandfather clean some chitlins once, then was in the fairly tiny apartment while he cooked 'em.
This may be one of the reasons I went vegetarian.
No meaty bits to flavor the collards, no. Quit looking at me like that.
Wow! Awesome link to the slave narrative site. I have been looking for something like that, but in book form. The web will do - and it has "learning activities" too.
I don't suppose you visited the discussions at the "race relations" about.com site? Don't. I felt my blood pressure rising instantaneously, and no outlet because the baby's sitting on my lap pulling at my hands as I type.
Gotta go do puzzles.
I always feel better about the state of race relations by avoiding reading anything about the state of race relations.
I am thinking about setting up a "Black Friends" registry. So when some libertarian/conservative cracka spouts off about how they can't possibly be racist, because they have a (good/close/best) Black Friend, you can look up this supposed friend's phone number and email address, and ask them if they consider the cracka:
I'm leaving out the "best friend" option because it's such obvious bullshit it's not even funny.
Sorry. You don't eat greens out no can. Especially Sylvia's. Hell I don't eat her shit stuff at her place.
Wouldn't honesty be great? Like:
"I used to sit three rows down and one over from a Negro"
or
"I once walked past a negro begging for change on the street and dropped a quarter in his hat"
or
"I watched Sanford and Son once"
or
"I think/thought Eddie Murphy was funny"
Wait a minit, what do white folks call you people these days, is it "you people" or "those people"?
Sitting back and counting my friends has always been a favorite passtime of mine...
1...
uh, 2? no wait, he's family.
nevermind
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Oh, Aaron...man! I think I need to read your site first thing in the morning from now on.
LOVE the "Black Friends" registry idea. hahahaha.
I'm going to be laughing about that all fucking day.
dru, I exist to serve.
ronn, although the first twenty minutes I spent shucking peas on the porch of my grandma's house in Alabama put me in a state of Zen-like calm and made me realize why folks down there were more laid-back despite the even more in-your-face racist bullshit, the next twenty were spent wondering how the fuck long it was going to take to eat that many peas (answer: one meal).
Figure picking greens would be similar. But no, Sylvia's wasn't all that, nor a bag of chips.
CSCWebmaster, the warbloggers prefer "you people" when posting here, but "those people" on their own sites. Laura wrote of this recently, more or less.
Chitlins. Ugh. I've never tasted them, but I sure have smelled them cooking enough times to know I don't want any more intimate an acquaintance.
7-Up Cake, on the other hand, shows some true sugar-high promise. My local Safeway sells it, and if I can get past the idea of there being an inch and a half of Crisco frosting, maybe I'll buy some next time I'm in there.
And Aaron, in re: greens -- wash 'em, then stack 'em (8-10 in a stack), then slice out the central ribs with a sharp knife. Slice the leaves crosswise into finger-width strips. Slice up an onion, and peel and slice a couple cloves of garlic. Heat some peanut oil (or canola oil or something, but not olive oil or buter b/c of their low smoke point) over moderately high heat in a heavy pan with a lid. Throw in the onion and saute until it starts to caramelize, then throw in the garlic and greens, sprinkle with a handful of water, and slap the lid on.
Let wilt for a few minutes, then remove the lid (let the water condensed on the inside of the lid drip into the pan) and stir the greens around so the greens on the top get a chance to be on the bottom. Repeat this process twice or three times, until the greens are pretty well cooked. Take the lid off and splash a little cider vinegar (a couple of tablespoons should suffice) in there, and toss.
A little kosher salt to sprinkle on top, and you're good to go. Vegan and yummy, not sweet, and not overcooked and mushy. I like it best with mustard greens but collards or kale work just fine too. And it's quick.
Mm, greens.... They're usually the only vegetable in good shape at a supermarket, they're cheap, they're not hurt by being frozen (generic Featherseye collards & mustard greens & kale are all in the freezer at home), and they cook up good.
I like 'em like hanne does, but for variety it's nice to throw some red pepper in the hot oil before the garlic and onion. Also, I haven't had any trouble occasionally using olive oil, to go with my yuppified black-eyed peas. (My father's fatback-and-hamhocks-based recipes were a casualty of upward mobility.)
Hanne, I'll give that a try, thanks. It's the washing that worries me, but probably because I've seen folks using fresh from the garden/fields/ghetto vegetable market greens rather than the semi-clean supermarket version. Always seemed to take forever to get clear water in the bowl.
7-Up Cake is unavoidable at certain church-based functions. You either acquire a taste for it, or you have nothing to hold during conversation. Except the fan (needed because the place has no A/C), with the ad for the funeral home on the back. . . sorry, flashbacks.
Ray, ain't that cultural loss thing a bummer?
i seem to remember a long ways back some hoopla about the frugal gourmet regarding his racist/condescending treatment of "ethnic" culture in his recipe books and pbs tv show. the coals may have died on this one so don't expect to find anything out there on the www all that easily. call me a troublemaker.
if anybody knows about a good place to get ghanaian food in the pacific northwest--i will ride the bus hours for it--let me know.
Washing greens, Hanne-style (having grown my own I understand the muddy greens thing well):
Fill sink with cool (not ice-cold) water.
Put greens into sink.
Plunge up and down a few dozen times. Vigorously.
Swish leaves, a handful at a time, under the water and then remove to a colander. Drain water and silt from sink.
Refill sink with cool water. Repeat process. This time, when you remove the greens, they'll generally be completely clean, or such is my experience.
I told my SO that we're going to stop by the Safeway tonight and pick up some 7-Up Cake. He's all excited about this. He loves junk food. The sweeter, the better.
Ooo! Jim! I know the answer to this one! At least I hope I do -- it was there the last time I was in Portland. African Roots was the name of the place. I did a search on it and came up with 1011 NW 16th ave as the address. They had rockin' spicy eggplant stew, I forget what the Ghanaian name for it is. If it's still there, check it out.
thanks hanne, i am so there!! even if they're no longer in business it's worth the road trip.
i do recall some people talking about mr. smith as a cultural appropriator some years back, but that wasn't the controversy i was thinking of -- the one that did him in is here if anyone cares.
Just to let you all know: 7-Up Cake is so sweet it makes my molars want to secede.
That is all.
Oh, then they made it right.
Is the frosting at the point where it shatters when you try slicing it? Or is it still in a near-liquid state?
About the only good thing you can say about health and soul food is that cooking in cast iron skillets cuts down on iron deficiency.
It is good, though. Damn it all.
Crackly-shattery on the frosting front, Aaron.
And it is good, in a horrible, American Dental Association-baiting kind of way...