Posted on 04/05/2006 10:43:24 AM PDT by HungarianGypsy
Today is Wednesday. In my house that means American History is our History/Geography topic. We are also learning about the individual states. The best way to learn is always through hands-on experience. Since we can't travel to each state at this time, I hoped all the good Freepers could bring their states to us. What recipes do you have that are specific to your area and can rarely be found anywhere else?
This is popular in Hawaii. Just about everyone makes theirs just a little different.
Dang, that sounds good!
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I LOVE pasties, my whole extended family's from the UP, but I've been in FL since the late 70's when my immediate family moved down.
I actually do a lot of the cooking around the house, but as a gift to me, my wife learned how to make them from my mom and she does a really good job at it.
Tex-Mex rules in Texas. Breakfast burritos with Chorizo and eggs are a personal favorite. Chicken fajitas for lunch.
South Carolina
I've been making my gumbo since I was in college. Finally wrote it down for some friends. Sorry, but I'm not much for exact measurements (in any kind of cooking.):
NO NAME GUMBO
1 to 1.5 lbs shrimp unshelled, heads on preferred.
1 lb catfish
1 can lump crab meat, 1 can shredded crab meat.
Fresh garlic
Pack of complete celery (stalks with leaves are important)
2 bay leaves
Bacon
Onion
Green Pepper
Tomato sauce
Thyme (powder is ok, or extra finely chopped fresh)
Lemon juice (from about a ½ lemon, or just a little more)
Worscheshire sauce (1/4 c.)
Clam juice, 2 bottles
Cayenne pepper powder
Cajun/Creole seasoning (Tony Chachere’s, Konrico, or equiv.)
1. STOCK
• A good amount (not excessive) of water in a stock pot.
• The ends w/ leaves and butt end of the celery stalks
• Shrimp shells and heads
• Garlic (freshly minced)
• 1 bay leaf
• Cajun/Creole seasoning estimate, to taste
• 1 bottle clam juice
Boil this down to ½ volume or a little less (Then strain & save just the liquid)
2. ROUX (in a separate deep dish fry pan)
• Fry 6-8 pieces of bacon for the fat, remove the bacon strips, dry & finely chop then set aside Leave the grease in the pan.
• Add shortening to make about a cup to 1.5 cups of total hot fat.
• Gradually add an equal amount of flour to fat on med/low heat. One table spoon at at time, sprinkle and mix thoroughly before adding the next tablespoon. It’s done when it’s approaching the color of hot cocoa.
3. ROUX Y VEGGIES
• Add sliced okra, stir and cook over med/low
• Add green pepper finely chopped
• Add thinly sliced celery
• Add thin or tiny onion pieces
• Cook until the veggies are approaching soft
(Add small amounts of water as needed to keep it stirrable)
4. MIX
• Mix the stock and the Roux with veggies
• Add an 8oz can, and maybe another 4-5 oz of tomato sauce
• Add thyme
• Add lemon juice
• Add Worscheshire sauce
• Add finely chopped bacon
• Add 1 bottle of clam juice
• Add bay leaf (remove later, before serving)
• Add cayenne (don’t go crazy)
• Add extra Creole or Cajun seasoning to taste.
Let this simmer for 30-45 minutes, tasting and checking to see if you like the consistency. You can always add a little water, or cook a little longer to get rid of extra liquid.
5. Seafood
• Add catfish first (then wait a few minutes, but not long)
• Add crabmeat
• Add shrimp
Only cook and additional 3 minutes or so, test a shrimp for doneness.
Serve in a bowl that has a little mound of rice in the center of it.
Sprinkle on a little gumbo file (pure ground sassafras) to the gumbo in each bowl just before serving (I left mine at home for the potluck)
Hot sauce on the side as a condiment.
Corn bread’s a great side dish.
(Must use fresh Key Limes or Key Lime Juice)
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
4 ounces Florida Key West Key Lime Juice
9-inch graham cracker pie crust
Mix milk and egg yolks completely with electric mixer. Slowly add key lime juice and mix thoroughly.
Pour into 9-inch graham cracker pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Turn oven off and crack door.
If making meringue, place meringue on hot key lime pie, sealing edges to crust then brown to a golden brown. Turn oven off and cracked door after browning meringue. Let pie cool before placing in refrigerator. If using whipped topping, place on pie prior to serving and garnish as desired.
Do you know the difference between beer nuts and deer nuts?
Beer nuts cost around $2.99 and deer nuts can be found under a buck.
Beat me to the Key lime pie. The only thing I do differently is add lime zest to the pie mixture. Really helps to cut the sweetness of the condensed milk and it adds a little interest.
Florida FReeper ping!
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-redquill
There are probably variations on the batter, but any pancake-like batter will work. Obtain skewers, dip the following items into the batter, and then deep-fry until golden brown.
- Oreo cookies
- Twinkies
- Snicker bars
- Milky Way bars
Sprinkle powdered sugar on the fried object when done.
In Southern Maryland its Stuffed Ham.
Take a Corned Ham, cut slits in it and stuff those slits with greens., Cook for 7 hours and serve sliced, cold. The recipe for the greens is handed down from many years family to family, but basically its Cabbage and kale and spring onions perhaps some Collard.Pepper salt red pepper celery seed. You cook it down before stuffing and after stuffing you wrap the meat tight with cheesecloth to keep it from backing out.
When I go to Baltimore I always stop at the old market and get a stuffed hard crab. They take the top shell off clean out the devils fingers and eyes and mouth then they basically us a crabcake to fill the middle , batter it and deep fry the whole thing. You eat the crab cake and then pick the meat from the rest.
I fell in love with Key Lime Meltaways on a trip to Florida several years ago and found this recipe - from Martha Stewart, I believe - that tastes remarkably like the cookies I had on that trip. Easy to make and great served with fresh fruit:
LIME MELTAWAYS
Makes about 10 dozen The dough for these icebox cookies can be frozen in logs for up to two months.
12 tbs (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Grated zest of 2 limes (or 3!)
2 tbs of freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3//4 cup a.p. flour plus 2 tbs
2 tbs cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.
3. Between two 8-by-12-inch pieces of parchment paper, roll dough into two 1 1/4-inch-diameter logs. Chill at least 1 hour.
4. Heat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/8-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart. 5. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly, 8 to 10 minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Enjoy! BTW, perhaps my 'logs' were larger in diameter or my cookies cut thicker, but I've never gotten more than 6 dozen and I've never had to freeze 'leftover' dough! ;-)
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Thanks!
In my area of Florida they eat Cuban sandwiches and lots of Cuban food. Also, because of Tarpon Springs we have a lot of greek - gyros and the like.
I come from NY, and grew up in an Italian household. That's what I like.
I am going to tell everyone one of the secrets to really great pasta sauce, so those interested should remember it.
Put it through a foley food mill to remove the seeds. The seeds are what add the bitterness. Then you don't have to add sugar, as many do.
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