Cabbie’s Cooking

A few years ago some friends and I made a trip to Memphis, Tennessee.  We only had two days for our trip, and so we wanted to make sure we used our time wisely and saw plenty of the Memphis sites of interest, and we wanted to make sure we tried some real Memphis barbecue ribs while we were there.  If you ever plan a similar trip to Memphis, check out Trusted Tours and Attractions.  Better yet, sign up for the Trusted Tours newsletter. That way you’ll get information on siteseeing and tours in not only Memphis, but all the cities where Trusted Tours provide service.  The newsletters are full of family vacation ideas, too.  For example, if you ever visit New York City, you could take their tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  And by the way, when you sign up for the newsletter you can enter to win an IPOD Nano!

Back to our trip to Memphis.  We saw most of the tourist sites, and we stopped by the Rendezvous to try their world-famous ribs.  In Memphis, ribs are traditionally served up dry.  “Dry” doesn’t mean dried out.  It simply means they don’t serve barbecue sauce with them.   So when you visit Memphis, make sure to see all the sites via Trust Tours, and then finish up your trip with the best barbecue ribs around at the Rendezvous.

I don’t have the Rendezvous recipe for their barbecue rib rub, but I came up with this one that comes pretty darn close.   

MEMPHIS STYLE RIB RUB

5 teaspoons paprika
3 teaspoons salt
2 and 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
2 and 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cayenne (or to taste)

Mix ingredients together. Spread evenly on prepared ribs that have been patted dry with a paper towel. Smoke until tender and delicious. I actually cook mine in a low oven (275 degrees) for a couple hours before putting them in the smoker. That seems to make them extra tender.

My mother, Ruthlace, makes the best dressing I’ve ever eaten.  I’ve always loved my mother’s cornbread dressing at Thanksgiving and Christmas. There just isn’t any other dressing that can compare to it.   Here’s her recipe.

 Cornbread Dressing

2 1/2 cups crumbled cornbread

1 cup dry bread crumbs (use stale rolls or loaf bread)

4 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup drippings (from cooking the turkey) or margarine

1 small onion, chopped fine

2 stalks celery, chopped fine

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground sage

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 eggs, slightly beaten

Combine ingredients.  Add a little more broth or water to make a thin mixture.  Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until it is set.

This is another of my mother’s (Ruthlace) recipes.  She got it from her mother.  And maybe her mother got it from her mother.  My earliest memories include making these cookies at Christmas.  We’d cut out wreaths, Christmas trees and stars, and then we’d decorate them with frosting and sprinkles.  However, they taste best, in my opinion, warm from the oven - with no frosting- and with a glass of cold milk.  What I like most about them is that they’re not overly sweet.  Here’s the recipe:

Old Fashioned Tea Cakes

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups self-rising flour

Mix all ingredients together well.  Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.  Roll out thin and cut with cookie cutters.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned - about 5-6 minutes.

Yesterday, RT and I flew to Georgia to visit my mother for awhile.  Out of our seven siblings (of which I’m the median one) - five were there.  My sister-in-law, Vicki, made a HUGE pot of chicken and dumplings.  I love chicken and dumplings.  It’s the ultimate comfort food, and it’s really good for you.  Here’s an easy recipe for homemade chicken and dumplings.

You’ll need:

1 can refrigerated biscuit dough  (If you really like dumplings, you can use 2 cans.  It just depends on how much you’re making.  There’s no hard and fast rule here.  Vicki made such a huge pot of chicken and dumplings, she probably used five or more cans!)

chicken (a package or two of boneless chicken or a whole chicken.  I usually make sure there’s some dark meat in the mix because it adds so much more flavor)

chicken stock (one or two cans of chicken broth)

salt, pepper, poultry seasoning

1 onion

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 cup plain flour

Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water.  Add the chopped onion, grated carrot and finely chopped celery to the water.  (If you happen to have bell peppers - green, yellow, or red - you can chop some of that finely to add color and flavor).  Season to taste with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Simmer until the chicken is well cooked.  Remove the chicken from the pot and let the chicken cool.  Leave the vegetables in the pot with the liquid.  Once the chicken is cool, remove the meat from the bone and cut or tear into bite size pieces.  Set the chicken aside.

Place the flour in a small bowl.  Open the can of biscuits and cut/break each biscuit into about 8 pieces.  Put the pieces into the flour and coat well.  The flour is what thickens the liquid.  So use it generously.

Bring the reserved liquid to a boil.  Add additional chicken stock, if desired.  It depends on how much chicken and dumplings you are making.  Sometimes I add a drop or two of yellow food coloring to make it “prettier.”

Once it is at a rolling boil, drop the biscuit pieces into the liquid one at a time.  Stir gently to keep them from sticking to the bottom.  Make sure each biscuit piece is well coated with flour before dropping it into the liquid.  After it has simmered for awhile, add the chicken back to the liquid, and it’s ready to serve.  Prepare a salad or vegetable, and you’ve got a perfect meal. 

Last year I wrote about what I make for a New Year’s Day meal.  The meal is filled with tradition and symbolism.  I can’t think of a better way to start a new year of living. Since I enjoyed last year’s New Year’s Day meal so much, I thought I would re-print that menu and description of symbolism here.  Enjoy!

On each New Year’s Day, I cook my version of a New Year’s Day meal. Here’s the menu, the recipes and the symbolism - some serious and some definitely tongue-in-cheek:

Menu
Hoppin’ John

Tossed Salad

Cornsticks

Sweet Iced Tea

Recipes

Hoppin’ John

1 can mild tomato/jalopena mixture (RoTel) If you like things a little spicier, use regular RoTel.

2 cans black-eyed peas

1 can diced tomatoes (optional - I love tomatoes)

1/2 lb link of turkey sausage

Cut the turkey sausage into bite-size pieces - dump everything together and cook. You can serve this over rice or mix some rice in it, or eat it by itself with no rice. It’s delicious riceless or not.

Tossed Salad

Lots of lettuce, sliced tomatoes, grated carrots, diced bell peppers with grated cheddar cheese on top.

Cornbread Sticks

2 cups cornmeal MIX

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg, well-beaten

buttermilk (enough to make a good batter)

Pour into cast iron cornstick pans that have been sprayed with Pam and pre-heated in a 425 oven. The batter should sizzle when you pour it into the pans. Bake until golden brown. Serve hot. I like to crumble a cornstick or two into my hoppin’ john.

Sweet Iced Tea

4 family-size tea bags

1 gallon distilled water (You don’t HAVE to use distilled water, but that’s what I always use).

1 cup Splenda

Put the tea bags in a 4-cup measuring cup, fill with some of the water and microwave on high for about 6 minutes. Let it sit (steep) for about 5 minutes. Pour into a pitcher and add the remaining water to make one gallon. Add the Splenda and stir. DELICIOUS and refreshing!

SYMBOLISM

The blackeyed peas in the Hoppin’ John symbolize coins - a sign of prosperity for the new year. May there be lots of that in 2008. The turkey sausage symbolizes my American heritage - the wild turkeys from the first Thanksgiving. For me, it also reminds me of the land where RT and I live - dozens of wild turkeys reside here. The tomatoes and jalopenas symbolize good taste and spiciness. May I never grow too old to be spicy.

The leaves of lettuce in the salad are a symbol of folding money - currency. Again, may there be lots of that in 2008. The tomatoes remind me of the fruits of summer, the carrots for year-round bounty, and the cheese for the perfection of aging (I wish!).

The corn in the cornsticks is another symbol of my American heritage. Enough corn for good health, enough oil to smooth out the rough places in life, an egg to remind me of the newness of life, and the buttermilk to remind me that the sour places in life make the good places all the more sweet. Baking the cornsticks in cast-iron pans reminds me of what the American pioneers used in their travels cross country to explore new lands.

The iced tea is symbolic of my Southern roots. Sweet iced tea is pure Southern! The Splenda makes it something I can drink without worrying about calories. RT and I go through a gallon of this tea about every two or three days. I make several gallons every single week. I have to admit that I almost always used decaf tea so I can drink it in the evenings without worrying about it affecting my sleep.

There you have it! A New Year’s day feast with some traditional and some Carol-grown symbolism attached.

(Dictated entirely by R.T.)

Here’s my recipe for turnip greens.  I made it, I ate it, and I liked it.  Nobody else had none, but they sure were good, and I wanted to share it with you.

Spirited Turnip Greens

Select fresh leafy turnip greens.  They may become soggy in the cooking process, but it is always best that they are crisp when started.  Wash to remove all grit.  Remove large stems.  Place turnips in a large saucepan.  Cover with cold water. Season with your choice of salt, ham hock, chicken boullion, beef boullion, and/or bacon.  Bring to a rapid boil and then cook your turnip greens.  Prior to serving, add a shot of Jack Daniels or Jim Beam.  You will be amazed at the rich, fullbodied flavor that your choice of bourbon or whiskey brings to your turnip greens.