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September 03, 2002

The joke was funny in Hollywood Shuffle, but let it go

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 Times

The 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

Ingredients

2 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. . .

Posted by Aaron at September 3, 2002 08:05 PM

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