cooking the harvest, and growing/catching it.

[george47]

So today, as always, is trout. Yesterday we had trout sautéed in butter and Mediterranean herbs with basmati rice and peas - no soup. The rice was fantastic - having grown up in the Middle East when young I do know proper rice, and how to cook it. The fish good, highly herbed so more interesting. Not sure how I will cooks tonight's trout, I do not have any thin sliced almonds or would do it 'Trout Almendine' which we like.

Soup will be Tom Yum MaMa with gumbo veg, shrimp and smoked sausage.

I will be cooking a couple kg of okra, 6 huge bell peppers, 6 stalks celery, 6 ears corn. (peppers simmer 10 minutes, I like them well cooked in soup, okra and celery then in for 5 minutes, corn sliced off the cob just added to blanch.) Then cooled and packaged with liquid in 12 ounce bags, and frozen for winter soup. The okra coming from an organic friends garden.

Tonight I hope to make a blackberry, pear, pie with a cream cheese-lime bottom layer. May not as we have some shrimp to peel, steamed crabs to pick the meat from, and cook the veg - but I miss having a pie in the refrigerator.

Also may net a few shrimp for tomorrows dinner. After dark the netting is OK on my bayou, shrimp %80 too small, but an hour should get a quart of keepers, that is 10 minutes casting the net, 50 minutes waiting for the bait to bring in the shrimp; but the nights are still warm and it is very pretty out with night birds and fish splashing - for some kind of stirfry possibly. I am not good at stir-fry - anyone good at it?

 

[george47]

Helloooo, Hellloooooooo, just echos......Helllooooooo

Oh, well

But cooking the harvest: I am going to try drying shrimp - and fish too, if I can figure a way to make the inshore, Gulf fish I catch good salted.

But a shrimp story. Back prior to refrigeration the Louisiana bayous were, as they still are, teeming with fish and shrimp as only the hot, hyper-fecund, estuaries can be. But no market. China always used dried shrimp and some man put the two together and got a Chinese Californian to come to Louisiana and set up drying. The shrimp sold like mad in China.

So Chinese fishermen moved into the bayouland and built massive decking over the shallow waters (where no proper land existed, but millions of shrimp - easier to dry where they were caught - they built their homestead on them too) and would seine tons and tons of shrimp, put them out to dry in the hot sun, raked them into rows, and 'Dance the Shrimp'. The shrimp dried whole (fresh shrimp will not peel - and do not need it anyway for drying) so shoes with heavy canvas soles would be put on, an old man would play the Chinese stringed instrument, and the entire family would do a day long shuffling dance down the rows. This would shuck off the shells and winnowing and such used to separate the dessicated meats from the shells. Then the meats packaged in wood barrels and sent off to the Chinese markets where they were very valuable. (from internet, dancing the shrimp (on land))

Later came canning, and in the late 1800s, with trains and icehouses - fresh began being marketed.

So last night I popped out and netted half a gallon of small, but eating size, ones and am looking up how to dry it. I think I will boil them in Zaterains - which is another story.

So who knows drying? Next is fish. I love 'Bakaliao', 'saltfish' (Caribbean word for dried, salted, cod - I worked on a Jamaican crew for years and they love salt cod, called saltfish by them - it was part of the triangle - new England salt cod to feed the sugar plantations slaves (the needed protein to go with rice - was cheap, needed no refrigeration) then make rum from the molasas sugar, which was sold to Africa to buy slaves. (who also used saltfish as well as rum for purchasing the slaves) New England salt cod was one of the worlds most important commodities politically. Then the 3 Cod Wars setting the international water boundaries from 3 to 200 miles! When Cabot discovered New England and planted the Union Jack to claim it all for Britain he had to sail through through huge Spanish and Portuguese cod drying fleets - who had been going there many years but kept it a secret!

So 'saltifsh'. A wild thing and wonderful thing, but that is cod. I suspect the local trout will be horrible, fall into mush, or something else, when salted - but worth a go.

I remember the Orkney men drying haddock (I think; little ones) salted on clothes lines for making some traditional thing. (They all grew cabbages, onions, and potatoes (tatties with everything) in a small garden plot, as has been done always, as well.)

Come on, give us a salting fish story.

 

[george47]

BREAKFAST!

My semi feral chicken eggs, - chickens are pogie and garden fed, and soon to get half of a bad, mix bought at closeout for a dollar, chocolate pie too. They love it. You should have seem them eating some older avocado yesterday - a real mess for chickens, but they also love it, as they will the artificial flavored, but with real milk, pie.

Maple flavored bacon (delicious) toast, organic honey, and 3 eggs - I love it.

 

[santaman2000]

....... I think I will boil them in Zaterains - which is another story....

Food of the gods!

 

[george47]

Here is the gumbo soup veg - some garden red peppers, 4 bought green bell peppers, half bunch celery, 2 kg+ okra - or a really big bowl full, 3 big ears of fresh corn. Now I will cook in the pressure-cooker 1 pound of dried black beans - very quick, and add those too. This will then be packaged in zip lock bags for winter when out of season. We eat soup almost daily to begin dinner. Extremely healthy and delicious. Always built around fresh things grown or caught. I will also use this as a base for my Tom Yum/MaMa soup, but only half a frozen packet because it has the rice pho noodles.

Peppers and celery simmered 10 minutes, then okra added for 8 minutes, then corn added - (all in just enough water to cover) - then pot put into sink full of cold water to cool. I like soup veg to cook pretty well. Black beans boiled in cooker 5 minutes, let sit an hour, then pressure-cooked at 10 pounds pressure for 4 minutes and they are done. (Do not forget to add 2 Tablespoons of oil to bean water before pressure cooking or it will foam and plug the valve.) The beans are not added to this yet.

To make the soup I will add a frozen pack of this (12 oz 355 ml) to as much water as I like with onion soup powder, chicken stock powder (I buy a huge bottle of Mexican Knorr stock cheap), boil it and add some sliced, hot, spicy smoked sausage and a handful of cooked or raw shrimp. Other seasonings are what ever I feel like. Always a spoon of marmalade too - to counteract the sour from veg, and ideally a handful of whole cherry tomatoes - really good addition, just boiled till the skin cracks, 1 minute, they go in with the shrimp and sausage.

(I make the marmalade from my kumquat tree and some neighbor's bitter oranges and a grapefruit.) (It is fantastic and use it in all kinds of stuff - excellent with mustard as a glaze on chicken.)

The small shrimp in photo I netted in the bayou to experiment with drying. We eat lots of shrimp which I net in volume when they get big in about a month. Big shrimp are out there, but not where I can find them - only they grow so fast (90 days from tiny to huge) that these ones will soon grow.

 

[george47]

So packets for the freezer with the beans. The point of this was to keep the 2 kg + of okra I was given from an organic gardening friend, and some peppers I grew - then some bought, but very cheap as they are in season, veg - to have summer veg for gumbo, or any, soup base, in winter. I ended up with 12 bags of about 16 ounces each (450ml).

Then wile netting bait shrimp a couple nights ago I culled the ones big enough to eat, and although small they are worth keeping. I boiled them in Zaterans crab boil at 1/2 strength because my wife does not like hot foods. These are now peeled and will go into the freezer for soups and salads.

This stuff, mostly salt which kind of pickles them and gives them a chewy quality, and is the traditional way here instead of the boiled till pink, plain, way most people do. This 4.5, 2 kg, bottle does 6 gallons of water by the directions! I use 200g for a gallon.

(picture from web)

So got a bunch of fish last night, 2 redfish and 5 specks. Two nights ago I made terraki trout by frying it in flavored butter cubes that were marked down to a dollar a pack. I use these a lot and buy them when marked down as they keep forever in the refrigerator with the salt in them. I also use the garlic/herb ones and both are very good - melt the cube and fry the fish in it, real butter. These cubes, 4 big portions per packet - I have used them for years and do recommend them when easy dinner is wanted. Made by a large butter company. Also I add chopped candied ginger and chopped garlic.

These are the redfish I caught last night. Blackened and cubion and in the half shell on the charcoal grill are the traditional ways to cook them here.

Here is a web picture of modern style cubion, traditionally is is cooked in more sauce, which is basically a marinara sauce (red gravy as it would be called here in the Cajun, Creole lands) And this is how I will make it, lemon sliced on the top, fresh tomatoes or good whole canned with herbs and flavorful veg - lots of garlic. Some guys I have been fishing with are chefs/cooks at a high quality seafood restaurant and told me to do it this way - describing this picture which I just looked for.

 

[george47]

On a disk I have plenty of pictures of redfish on the half shell from when we lived on the beach in Texas in the school bus. I would make a fire and when it burned down put the fillets over it skin side down. The scales are very large and very tough so the skin becomes an almost fireproof dish the meat cooks in. But here is a web picture, not unlike how mine looked - the BBQ sauce is a good touch when you live on fish as we kind of do, and have always. No matter where we live I find fishing and master some part of it so we have fish to eat. And fishing to do - I love the fishing, I love anything to do with water!

 

[Goatboy]

All this talk of shrimp is making my stomache growl.
Funny though fished here for a long time at one point it wasn't really eaten.
An old retired lad who used to help me out in Crail had many stories to tell from his adventurious life but he told me about when as a youngster they were out fishing for prawn up in Sutherland where he was from. A long and violent storm blew up and they ran for shelter in a remote bay. The thing was that with the length of the storm they didn't have much food but none of them thought to cook up the prawns as they never ate them and didn't know what to do with them. They were all for export.
In some parts of the UK prawns & shrimp were/are eaten. Potted brown shrimp being one famous way of doing them where they're cooked and "potted" which is stored under a layer of spiced butter to exclude the air. Spread on brown bread or toast. Yumm. Also lovely as a garnish on clams with spaghetti.
Have seen some pictures and films of the big shrimp.boils you have there, look brilliant and I reckon I could put a dent in a big pot of those.


Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[george47]

Goat, seafood boils are a big tradition here. Crayfish, shrimp, and crab. Most coasties families will have a big propane burner and a 20 pound gas bottle, and a huge pot for that. All the grocery stores, even the big national chain ones - (at their coast stores) sell 20 pound sacks of live crayfish in season, and all have those 4.5 pound bottles of crab boil, and a dozen other kinds. During crayfish season in the spring when you go into any food store they have a big display of the burners, huge pots, and seasonings - and a sign that the 20 pound bags of live crayfish are available. Walmart to all the supermarkets have this. Not long after Mardi Gras when the tables were loaded with piled boxes of King Cakes and beads.

First into the pot of boiling water, four gallons say, goes the boil mix which is mostly salt with spices, touch sugar, and plenty of cayenne and garlic. Then onions halfed, sliced lemons, whole heads of garlic cut through - and smallish potatoes. This boils maybe 10 minutes for the potatoes, then 1/2 cobs of corn and the seafood and big pieces of smoked sausage. Shrimp boil 1 minute - crayfish 2 minutes, crab 5 minutes. Then let it soak 2-5 minutes for shrimp, 15-20 for the others. This gives it the spicy flavor and the salt kind of pickles and firms the meat giving it a stronger, and different flavor.

Here is a crayfish boil at a friends.

 

[Goatboy]

Wow if it weren't for the heat and humidity I'd move there just for that. Looks and sounds brilliant. My mate and I used to hit the West coast near Mallaig every year for his birthday and would have a much smaller version. May have to borrow my big pot back of a mate (he has it on semi permenant loan for his Christmas hams and is huge) and plan a proper Southern coastal boil. The big pot is good is cooking for groups, makes a massive amount of good old Scotch broth usually with two or three chickens and a couple of smaller hams in there for flavour and meat for the main courses. All cooked at the same time. Funny when I livd in England folk kept asking me to make them soup. Though Scotch broth has no exact amounts it seems they couldn't get it quite right. Seemingly Scotland eats more soup per capita than any other place on the globe. It was kind've our staple diet growing up and there was always a pot of it on the stove. A new pot would be started every Sunday and as a little one one of my chores was peeling the tatties for the week on a Sunday night before polishing everybodies shoes then bath and bed.
Think my favourite bits of the soup are the barley, leek pinwheels and sliced kale. Hmmm fancy a plate right now.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[george47]

Goat, I love the hot! Heat does not bother me, nor does humidity. Cold though...Brrrrr. My wife cannot take the full Deep South heat, 92F, 34C all day and night 82F, 28C and humid... I love it, although I air condition my bedroom to upper 70's at night - and my wife puts on the air conditioner in the main room during the day to about 80f, or upper 70's - which is good as one perspires heavily just sitting in shade at 34C with humidity.

We get 60 inches of rain as well, pa. Double what falls in Britain. This makes it remarkably fecund. Much harder to garden here though. England all the plants are so well behaved with the mild weather and regular light rain. Here it explodes when hot, then bakes when dry. Summer toasts spring plants and it rains in buckets and then bakes dry.

 

[george47]

@Seemingly Scotland eats more soup per capita than any other place on the globe. It was kind've our staple diet growing up and there was always a pot of it on the stove. A new pot would be started every Sunday@

You need to tell us about this soup - I make soup most days, but just a fresh pot each time. Most have seafood and garden veg. Last night I had a can of South Western gouda and chicken (an odd can I bought on sale) that I simmered a red bell pepper cut up in a half cup of water (from the garden) and then added the can with some of those boiled shrimp from earlier posts and some smoked sausage - it was excellent. Mostly I just make the soup, but like a can to be the base sometimes, easy and gives variety. There is always some BOGOF deal and some interesting thing found. New England Clam Chowder being one of the most popular canned soups in USA and always makes a good base for crab and shrimp - and I saute some fine chopped celery and onion to add too.

Edited to say last night was purple cabbage boiled, garlic toast, and Southern Fried trout - with the soup to start, and - cherry-cashew-dark chocolate swirl, ice cream to finish, we each had two bowls - (it is a really good flavor from a small chain grocery in the country, some obscure brand - you can never help having seconds. We always get some when going past it going to the feed store for chicken food like we did last evening.)

Edited yet again because I looked up the brand and could only find one image of it - but a food guide gave it a D- score as it has so much fat, it is really creamy, and the food colouring they did not like. The picture is here if it will take - the nuts are cashew, the fudge is dark and hard swirls, the cherries maraschino and in full halfs, not bits ***** 5 stars. Cow Bell brand.

 

[Goatboy]

As said there were no hard and fast rules for the soup/pottage, it was a way of filling you up, giving you energy and using up what you had in the larder.
Any bones were kept and boiled for stock, so the base could be ham, beef or chicken if we'd had a bird as a treat. Water and stock in the pot with a soup mix; this was usually some lentils, barley, peas and the likes that you'd soaked the night before. Plenty of tatties, neeps, onions, carrots, parsnips if we had them. Once that had boiled for a bit some softer veg would go in, fresh peas, kale, cabbage. Things like caulieflower and boccoli could be used but can make the soup go off quickly. One of the last to go in were things like leeks which don't take a lot of cooking. Anything you had in the garden basically. Any scraps of meat would go in, champion chicken carcass picker that I was. The soup would get quite thick and water could be added to thin it out. But during tue week veg and the likes could be added. Soup is always better the second day anyway and as the week went on it just got better. Usually served with bread and butter and a good wadge of fresh milled black pepper. My folks always tried to get me to salt my food but I wasn't a fan, still not really. We didn't just have Scots broth bepending on the season there'd be fish soups, onion soup, pea and ham or lentil and ham were always favourites too.
Sometimes we'd get something special like Swedish apple soup if there was a glut of apples, made even better if there was some beetroot to go in there too. And if the cabbages were up it'd be Colcannon soup and we'd make soda bread to go with it. The only veg I wasn't keen on in soup was celery and Brussels sprouts. I keep trying them but don't like them though celery does add to the base of a soup.
Will have to go make a pot of something tomorrow now though all your shrimp talk has put the idea for an etouffee in my bonce.
Another Scottish thing that may tickle your tounge is skirlie. Usually served with chicken, beef or haggis it's also really nice with shellfish. Dead simple though it can sometimes give me heartburn - worth it though.
50g butter or dripping.
1 onion finely sliced.
175g of pin oatmeal.
Salt and pepper.

Melt the fat in a pan & add the onion. Gently fry 'till soft. Stir in the oatmeal, season an cook for 10 minutes. Can also be put in a dish and roasted in the oven with whatever else is in there. Brilliant with stovies or you can even mix it through mashed tatties for an extra kick.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[santaman2000]

...... During crayfish season in the spring when you go into any food store they have a big display of the burners, huge pots....

So the rest of y'all don't get the idea that this set-up is a uni-tasker, we also use the same burners and pots (filled with cooking oil) for large scale fish fries and for frying the holiday turkeys whole.

 

[Goatboy]

So the rest of y'all don't get the idea that this set-up is a uni-tasker, we also use the same burners and pots (filled with cooking oil) for large scale fish fries and for frying the holiday turkeys whole.

Now I'd heard of frying a whole turkey and thought I was having my leg pulled. A bit like when I heard about deep fried ice-cream.
So how is it done? Is it part cooked in an oven then fried or a long slow fry from raw? And they say us Scots will fry anything. (I've personally never seen a deep fried Mars bar, though I've heard the Cream Eggs are good, too sweet for me).
Then again I'm considered odd up here as I don't really like chips (French/freedom fries to you chaps).

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[santaman2000]

Now I'd heard of frying a whole turkey and thought I was having my leg pulled. A bit like when I heard about deep fried ice-cream.
So how is it done? Is it part cooked in an oven then fried or a long slow fry from raw? And they say us Scots will fry anything. (I've personally never seen a deep fried Mars bar, though I've heard the Cream Eggs are good, too sweet for me).
Then again I'm considered odd up here as I don't really like chips (French/freedom fries to you chaps).

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

No, there's no pre-cooking, nor is it a slow fry. In fact it's far, far quicker than any other cooking method (about 3 minutes per pound of turkey weight) This video explains (shows it actually) far better than I ever could: https://youtu.be/UIUd5q8iJCk

Obviously care must be taken to avoid a grease fire; be absolutely certain the turkey is completely thawed (NO ICE CRYSTALS!) and dry before putting it into the hot oil! Hot oil and water react violently and any spill will ignite one the gas flame! That's the single biggest reason it's done outside and away from the house.

Regarding your comment that the Scots have a reputation for frying anything, much of the Southern US population is of Scots/Irish descent. LOL. That said, fried turkey is actually a Cajun tradition in origin (French/Arcadian)

 

[george47]

Goat, remember how I was saying the grocery stores here have huge displays when you walk in - in crayfish season - of the burners, huge pots, and racks of the boil seasoning. As Thanksgiving is approaching the big pots and burners come out again as you walk in - but this time also is five gallon boxes of cooking oil, soy, or more expensive; peanut oil and different kinds of seasoning injectors. For frying whole turkeys, which is very common here. My wife drives a 40 foot truck and one of her fellow drivers lives near us and have a family Thanksgiving that is huge. The property fills with cars and 6-7 turkeys are served! And one will be fried, one smoked (both ways done for big family holidays)

I bought a organic chicken marked down to $4.80 - buying the out of date food is sort of my hobby - a kind of bushcraft/hunting urban wise. Whole and stuffed - a nice change from fish. Traditional here with the turkey is Oyster stuffing! Shellfish are so woven into the cooking.

Tonight I am baking redfish - fillets on the half shell. I think I will try the pecan crusted version. (Pecan trees are everywhere here, I have some on another property - (although you get more barren years than good nut years) Pecan groves are all over - the state is a huge pecan producer. I also think I will add some maple syrup as we bought 5 bottles at closeout ($3 a 16 oz bottle!)

from web

@@In a small sauce pan, melt a stick or MORE of grass fed butter, then add a cup of sliced pecans, and a squeeze of lemon. After about five minutes spoon the mixture over the fish. (Fresh chopped garlic is awesome in this recipe as well). Save a little of the butter to add during the cooking process. @@

 

[george47]

Soup, last night would be a sort of standard. Chop a red and small green pepper with a banana pepper. Cut up a few beans, and simmer with some garden dried carrots for 15 minutes. Add a couple cut up okras, simmer a bit more. Then add some packet instant chicken noodle soup and a packet of Moroccan (cinnamon and coriander flavored) (From Sainsburys, London, I always bring back a bunch of soup packets - and get my sister to get me some - I have on the shelf: hot an sour, Moroccan, Mulligatawny, broccoli and Stilton, a couple others) and a bit of beef stock powder. Then a small bit of sliced smoked sausage and handful of the Cajun boiled shrimp and a few raisins and spoon of my home made mango/peach chutney. Made a great soup, my wife thought it the best.

This went Moroccan way but I do a lot of Thai, Curry, Cajun, Mexican, and just American - or fusions. We love our soups and I can knock out one from anything that is easy and always good - the garden veg are the body of the soup. There is always something in the garden.

 

[george47]

Here is one of the burners - I am processing potatoes and 5 colours of carrots, blanching 10 minutes for freezing. I grew these last spring - photo from then. The pot is my big pressure canner. I borrow this burner from a friend. They are also good for boiling crabs and shrimp in the hot months. This is under my house which is 13 foot in the air on those marine pilings - one in picture.

I made a pear/berry pie a couple days ago and it is almost finished. I love the flavor, and can make one in 15 minutes - I am really good at pies. I think of making them for the farmers market - Mississippi has a 'Cottage food' law where anything that does not contain dairy, eggs, or meat and can be kept for a reasonable time without refrigeration (couple days) can be made in your home for sale at Farmers Markets - not to exceed $12,000 in annual sales.

These pears were excellent - $.97 a pound - if they have any left I will get some for more pies. I have a dozen pints of blackberries canned and a couple gallons of berries frozen for our use till berry season next year. If I made pies it would not be till next year and fruit was cheap again, and locally produced. I have planted a couple pear trees this year, and one the year before - and one day should have plenty. I also planted 2 peach trees, 4 apple, couple citrus, couple persimmon, guava, couple plum (which seem to not do well here) and some odds and ends. This winter I plan on planting another peach or two. We will be trellising new blackberries, I planted this spring, today - my post hole digger snapped a couple days ago and just replaced it - and trellising some more muscadine grapes.

Sweet potatoes must be getting big underground, I just have a 4 ft by 6 ft patch, but you can get a good yield. The peppers and okra keep going for soups but the chicken eggs have slowed right down for some reason.

 

[george47]

Making pies, frozen berries from my, or a friend's, garden, and pears which are good and cheap now. $1 pound. So peel, core, and slice 2 big pears. Put 2 cups berries frozen in pot with 1 cup sugar and the pear slices and put on warm. Stirring; the liquid soon forms from the sugar osmoticly pulling the juice from the fruit and heat it more till plenty of liquid - bring to a simmer. Simmer 5 minutes for crunchy pear slices, 8-10 minutes for soft. Mash the blackberries individually with a fork wile cooking - they will be sour if like my berries - or leave whole. Mix 3 Tablespoons cornstarch with 3 T water and set aside - then when time is up remix the corn starch and dump it in. Keep siring and cook till the fruit mix becomes clear again - a minute or two.

Put pan in sink of cool water to cool fruit mix.

Take a deep frozen pie crust before starting fruit (I use any brand - all are good it seems. 2 frozen crusts, in foil pans, at a low price place runs $2.25 here) one which holds 3 cups of filling - which you should have made. 2 C frozen berries makes a Cup when thawed and cooked - and 2 cups of pear +. Adjust amounts to your crust. Thaw crust and ***** all over bottom and sides with fork so it does not bubble up when cooking. Bake empty 10 - 12 minutes till deep brown, at 400F, 200C.

When cooled a bit wipe pot bottom dry so it will not drip water, and pour fruit into crust. It will mound up a bit - that is why it has to cool a bit in the sink of water, so it is beginning to get thick. Refrigerate 6 hours - overnight will set it fully. I warm my slice in the microwave to room temp so the flavors are more full, then top with whipped cream - which we always have in the fridge. The whole pie takes me about 20 minutes. I almost always have one in the refrigerator - although different. Like blackberry/fig was wonderful, any combination. Muscadine (juiced) grape and apple - it all is good, and being thickened this way juiced fruits can be used too - like when I simmer and strain the berries to remove the seeds - the resulting liquid is perfect for these pies - alone or with anything else.

I showed this before, but here is blackberry with my wonderful lime curd bottom layer (egg yolks, sugar, lime juice cooked on double boiler - a great addition to any pie, and so easy.)

Those are fried shrimp - nothing to do with the pie - but something we have with our fish a lot. So easy to make when doing fish, and they go very well together.