Cultural Background: Today we're taking a trip down south; down into Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia and North and South Carolina. You may be familiar with the term "Southern Hospitality". If not, it's not difficult to define. It's the obvious expression of people being glad you're there and then being treated in like manner. You're welcomed with warmth and charm and sometimes that welcome can be a little quiet and slow. People from fast paced cities like New York or Chicago often come down south for vacations in order to calm down and enjoy themselves. But if there is anything typically associated with southern hospitality it would have to be good food, usually richly prepared and always served with a gracious attitude. Some dishes common to the south include barbecue, peach pie, corn soufflés, black-eyed peas, fried okra, catfish with hush puppies, pecan pie, homemade biscuits, and southern fried chicken. A fun day in the south could commonly include an after-church supper gathering of friends and family with iced tea or lemonade. The dish I'm going to tell you about today is fried chicken in bacon fat. It's a true southern basic and in the south using bacon fat for cooking goes back several generations. Lard didn't have the same flavor and there wasn't too much else that was available. Bacon fat or "drippin'", as it is commonly called, is used for flavoring and for fat in cooking. If you're watching your cholesterol, this is one dish you won't want to have too often.

Ingredients: 1 chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds) cut up, 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of paprika, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of poultry seasoning, 1 cup of bacon drippings.

Directions: Mix the flour with the seasonings and dredge the chicken in the coating.  Pan-fry in the preheated bacon fat using medium heat. Turn the chicken until golden brown and done to your taste. This should take about 30 minutes. Drain well on paper towels before serving.

Cream (Country) Gravy to go with the fried chicken.

Directions: Pour off grease, leaving 2-3 tablespoons in the pan. Add 2 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons flour, and stir and cook until golden brown. Using a wire whip, add 2 cups of milk to the pan, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste. The gravy is served over hot biscuits or rice.

Cultural Background: Our trip around America starts in the northeastern part of the country in Pennsylvania. To give you some background on the area, from the late 1600's onward, thousands of German Protestants fled their homeland and immigrated to Pennsylvania. Most were suffering religious persecution. Although they had no connection with Holland, they were referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch, due actually to a corruption of the word Duetsch, meaning German. Many of these people came from the Rhine Valley that had been ravaged. First came the Mennonites and then many others: the Elders, Amish, Dunkers, Seventh Day Adventist, Moravians and others. By 1763, there were approximately 280,000 Germans in Pennsylvania. Enormous communities of these hardy people still exist in and around centers like Lancaster, Allentown and just outside Philadelphia. It's interesting to note that the self-denial that marks the religious precepts of the Pennsylvania Dutch does not apply to cooking and eating. Many of them had been persecuted in Germany by having their crops and farms destroyed, so food in the new world became particularly important. Many Pennsylvania Dutch put out meals that are heavy and simply wonderful. The religious meals that come with this tradition are beautiful and somewhat involved. The extravagance of holiday meals is met with a genuine and pious bit of frugality the rest of the time.  Shoe Fly Pie is so rich with molasses that it would attract flies when the cook would leave the pie to cool on the windowsill. Each time the cook passed the window sill, she would yell "Shoe Fly!" They told me that it is the true origin of the name  No real discussion on Pennsylvania Dutch cooking would be complete without it. This recipe will serve 8 and my recommendation would be to have lots of coffee ready. That's our report on Pennsylvania Dutch delicacy.

Ingredients: (Liquid Layer) 1/2 tablespoon baking soda dissolved in 3/4 cup boiling water, cooled, 1/2 cup molasses, 1 egg yolk, beaten well.  (Crumb Layer), 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon each of nutmeg, ginger, and cloves, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons shortening (like Crisco). (Shell) 1 unbaked 9 inch shell

Directions: Combine the liquid ingredients. Be sure the soda water is not hot. Combine all the crumb ingredients, except the shortening, mix well, and then stir in the shortening using a fork. Work until it is a crumb consistency.  Put one third of the crumb mixture in the bottom of the pie shell. Pour on top half of the liquid and then top with one third more crumbs. Add the rest of the liquid and top with the remaining crumbs.  Bake at 400 degrees F until the shell begins to brown, about ten minutes.  Turn oven down to 325 degrees F and bake until the center is a bit firm, about 30 minutes.

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Cultural Background: This time we're taking a trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. In order to really understand the roots of the food New Orleans is known for, we need to understand the history of the city. It's really a melting pot of cultures, beginning when the French settled in the area with explorer LaSalle in 1682. By 1722, New Orleans was the capital of the region. The colony had been named after Louie XV. In 1762 he decided it was more trouble them it was worth and he gave the Louisiana territory to Spain which, of course, brought in a new wave of varied immigration. Along with the Spanish came a group from France. They were joined by another group of Arcadians all of whom had been displaced from Nova Scotia by conquering the British. By the mid 18th century, they had all settled together in the swamp lands and waterways of New Orleans. Their name actually became distorted into Cajuns and that's what people from that area are still called today and they are very proud of it. The Spanish had a very open immigration policy and the city took on a rainbow of ethnic colors. The culture became even more diversified in the 1790's when French refugees fled the slave uprisings in Santa Domingo which is now Hade. When Napoleon came to power in France, he decided that Spain should return Louisiana to France. He quickly then sold the area to the United States in 1803, and the famous Louisiana Purchase took place with a price tag of $11.25 million. In 1812, Louisiana became the 18th state. This will give you quite a bit of historical background on Louisiana so that you might fully understand and appreciate the incredible conglomerate of ethnic influences in Cajun and Creole food. Both styles have French roots with many other influences from many cultures. One big difference between the two types of cuisine is that the Cajuns moved to the country and brought their country cuisine and the Creole kitchen was more closely associated with the rich planters and a more gourmet flare. Other influences include the Spanish taste for strong seasoning and African allspice from the West Indies.  American Indians and German cooks have also helped shape the flavor of food that you'll find in New Orleans. Probably the meal most commonly associated with Cajun cooking is jambalaya. Originally, this dish was designed to use up leftovers many people couldn't afford to throw away. There were others who refused to throw away any leftovers. This Cajun frugality is common throughout New Orleans.

Ingredients: 2 pounds pork spareribs, cut into single-bone pieces; 3 tablespoons peanut oil; 1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped; 2 green peppers, cored and chopped; 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped fine; 4 ribs celery, chopped; 6 green onions, chopped; 1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, crushed with your hands; 3.5 cups chicken soup stock or canned chicken broth, half pound smoked hot-link sausage, sliced in quarter inch pieces; 1 cup diced ham; 3 tablespoons chopped parsley; 2 teaspoons Tabasco; one-fourth cup Worcestershire sauce; 3 teaspoons whole thyme leaves; salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; 2 cups uncooked converted rice.

Directions: Place the spareribs on a broiling rack and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit  until brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Set aside.  In the meantime, heat a large frying pan and add the oil.  Sauté the yellow onion, green peppers, garlic, celery and green onion until all is tender.  Place the vegetables and the ribs in a 12 quart stockpot, along with the tomatoes and chicken stock.  Cover and simmer for about one hour.  Pay fry the sliced sausage until it just begins to brown.  Deglaze the pan with a bit of broth and add the pan drippings to the stockpot.  Set the sausage aside.  Add the remaining ingredients, except the sausage and rice, and simmer, covered, for about another 20 minutes.  Add the sausage and rice and simmer for 25 minutes.  Adjust the seasoning to taste.  Serves eight.

Cultural Background: The great Pugget Sound region offers some of the best seafood you can imagine. You can eat it in restaurants right on the waterfront. Another bonus is that fish isn't very expensive in the northwest. Salmon generally has a pretty steep price in other parts of the U.S. The produce is wonderful and both Washington State and Oregon are becoming internationally recognized. Restaurants in Seattle and Portland are award winners. The influences of food and region are diverse. Native Americans in the northwest were living on salmon, clams and oysters which are simply gathered on the beaches. Another major influence came with the Chinese. They were brought to America to work on the railroads, a main line of which was to end in Seattle. When the railroad was completed, there ended up being a very large Chinese community in Seattle and a thriving China town developed with some great Chinese restaurants. Another influence on the area comes from early in the history of the region when the Scandinavians came to the waters of the Pugget Sound. The water and the mountains and the wonderful seafood that is regularly available reminded them of the old country. Their understanding of seafood has been an influence on the region as well.  Also the Italians came and added their own special color to the restaurants and the Japanese community is pretty large in Seattle as well. They contributed profound and quiet insights to the local cuisine. Other influences include the fact there are several very large military bases in that region so there has been an influx of people to the area from Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. Last, but not least, I would be remiss if I did not mention the World's Fair of 1962. Before that, the restaurants in Seattle had pretty decent food, but since then it has become one of the restaurant cities in the U.S. The specific recipe I'm going to give you now is for Oven Broiled Salmon Steak with Hazelnuts. Salmon and hazelnuts belong to the Pacific Northwest. Remember I'll be speaking in terms of U.S. measurements.

Ingredients: One-fourth cup dry white wine; one-fourth cup olive oil; 1 tablespoon dried oil; juice of one lemon; black pepper, freshly ground and added sparingly to taste; three-fourths cup coarsely ground hazelnuts; 6 salmon steaks (about 6 ounces each); chopped chives for garnish.

Directions: Mix the wine, oil, dill, lemon juice and pepper together using a wire wisk so that the liquid thickens a bit.  In a shallow dish marinate the fish  in the liquid for one hour.  Remove fish from the marinade, place on a broiling rack and broil under full heat for about four minutes or until the fish just begins to brown.  Brush with the marinade and turn the fish.  Brush again with the marinade and broil for three minutes.  Top with ground hazelnuts.  Return fish to the broiler and bake for one more minute or until the fish begins to flake slightly and the nuts are a light brown.  Watch this so you do not overcook the fish or burn the nuts.  Garnish with the chopped chives and serve immediately.  Serve with wild rice and asparagus with garlic butter.

Cultural Background: We take a trip out to the Midwestern United States to the Great Plains, specifically to learn about the cuisine of the Plains Indians. Most of us take for granted things such as refrigeration. But for the Plains Indians, the coming of the horse changed their lifestyle dramatically. In the past, most of the Plains Indians lived on the outskirts of the Great Plains or along the rivers. They built villages and worked the land growing several different kinds of crop. They hunted for buffalo on foot, but without transportation the Plains Indians couldn't follow the herd. They grew corn, melon, squash and beans. They would also eat wild berries and greens as well as buffalo meat when they could get it. When the horses came up from Mexico during the 1700's, they were adopted by the Plains Indians culture, and life rapidly began to change. The tribes became much more nomadic in their search for buffalo and with much more mobility, their diet changed with buffalo becoming their main source of food. They also hunted antelope, elk, deer and rabbit. Buffalo meat was dried for the winter to make jerky or pemicam which is a mixture of dried meat, fat, marrow and a paste made of wild cherries. This was probably tope cherries which are tiny, bitter cherries used to preserve meat. The recipe I'm going to share with you now is for Berry Soup. It's kind of an unusual dish, but it would have been quite familiar to a Sioux Indian family. It's actually a buffalo and blackberry stew, but it still comes out well using a beef steak. The heavy animal fat commonly used in this dish has been replaced with peanut oil. Please remember to make the necessary conversions as we are using U.S. measurements. A good accompaniment with this dish would be corn bread.

Ingredients: One and one-half pounds of one inch thick chuck steak, boned and trimmed of excess fat; 3 tablespoons peanut oil; 1 medium white onion, peeled and sliced; 2 to 3 cups basic brown soup stock or canned beef broth; 1 cup blackberries, fresh or frozen; 1 tablespoon light honey; salt.

Directions: Broil the chuck steak in the oven until brown on both sides.  This used to be done over a fire, so you may want to quickly barbecue the meat in order to increase the flavor.  Set the meat aside to cool.  In a dutch oven heat the oil and brown the onions.  Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and add to the pot.  Add the blackberries and enough beef stock to barely cover the meat.  Stir in the honey and simmer the meat, covered, until it is very tender, about one hour.  If the berries are too tart, add more honey to taste.  Add salt and serve in bowls.  This disk goes very well with cornbread.  Serves four to five.

Cultural Background: Today we're going to be talking about "soul" food. "Soul" food originated in the rural south. It was created out a sheer necessity and poverty. The black slaves who were forced to come to this country developed a style of cooking using what little they had. That style of cuisine came to be highly respected because of the ingenuity of the Africans who created it. It was the African who brought with him a style of cooking that basically put a different twist on American ingredients. The American sweet potato was treated like the African yam. Grits reminded them of an African grain called "fu-fu". Okra was called "gomes" in Africa and black-eyed peas were common to those countries. The peanut had actually originated in South America, but was adopted by African traders and brought to the U.S. That's when the Americans were really introduced to the versatility of peanuts. Foods new to the Black Africans included corn, squash, lima beans and tomatoes. Most slaves were allowed to grow those vegetables on their private family plots of land. The plantations would supply a limited amount of flour, salt, pork and corn. Cornmeal was a basic part of the diet. On occasion, the slaves were given certain parts of the pigs rejected by the slaves' masters and plantation owners. These included the entrails or chitterlings, the feet and snout, the stomach linings or hog meld and the neck bone. These less desirable parts of the hog in contrast to the better cuts of pork originated the expression "Aren't you eating high on the hog?", if you ever wondered where that came from. These rejected leftovers were turned into delicacies that are still appreciated among African Americans. The contribution that "soul" cooking made to American culture is undeniable. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had kitchens run by Black African cooks and today some of the great chefs are African Americans. Most Yankees or, Americans above the Mason-Dixon line, have never seen a black-eyed pea. It's actually a bean with a wonderful smoky flavor. I've got a recipe for you for "Black-eyed Peas and Ham Hock", a "soul food" delicacy. It's not an expensive dish, one of the main reasons it is "soul" food. Remember we're dealing with American measurements.

Ingredients: 2 pounds smoked ham hocks, cut into 2 inch slivers; 1/2 pound black-eyed peas, soaked for 4 hours and drained; 2 stalks celery, chopped; 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped; 1 green sweet bell pepper, seeded and chopped; 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or enough to taste; salt and pepper to taste (Note that the ham hocks are already VERY salty!)

Directions: Place the ham hocks in a covered kettle and add just enough water to barely cover.  Cover with the lid and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 2 hours or until tender, about 45 minutes.  You may wish to remove the lid and reduce some of the juices before serving.  The dish serves 6 and goes quite well with a salad and some rolls.

Cultural Background: Let's go back in time to colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. The years 1699 until about 1780 was the center for the birth of a new nation. There the new republic was shaped by George Washington, Patrick Henry, George Mason and Thomas Jefferson. Cooking back in colonial times was nothing but sheer drudgery to be perfectly honest. The kitchen was basically a fireplace, with several fires of varying temperatures. One would cook by hanging pots over the fires and moving them around to control the cooking temperatures. Since there was no refrigeration, one had to start from scratch every morning. Also there was no running water and they had to head out to the well. There were no mixers so you had to do everything by hand. If you were a woman back in colonial America, you literally had no time for anything else but cooking. Food from that time period was not bad, but cookbooks were extremely expensive. Mostly they had been brought over from England. Once someone got one of these expensive cookbooks, they would write out a copy of the recipe in another room so as to not mess up the book. The recipe we're going to cover today is that of "Carrot Pudding". It's an interesting dessert based on a recipe from Hannah Glasson's cookbook called "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy" published in London in 1747. This book was a favorite of Martha Washington. Copies of the book were brought from England along with remembrances of English meals that were the common heritage of the colonies in the early days. Remember we're using American measurements, so please convert accordingly. You'll need a scale for this recipe.

Ingredients: 1 pound grated carrots, 1 pound fresh bread slices (crusts removed), 1.5 cups sugar, 1 stick (4 ounces) softened butter, 8 eggs, 1 cup whipping cream or half & half, 1 cup dry sherry, 3 tablespoons orange juice, 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg.

Directions: Grate the carrots and remove the crusts from the bread.  Process the fresh bread slices with the metal blade in your food processor, a few slices at a time, so as to make moist bread crumbs.  Cream the sugar and butter together and then add the eggs. Whip until smooth.  Add the sherry, orange juice, and nutmeg. Blend until smooth and then stir in the carrots.  Finally, gently fold in the fresh bread crumbs.  Bake this in a pre-heated 350 degree fahrenheit oven in a 2 quart pudding mold set in about two inches of water.  Bake uncovered for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the top is light brown and a table knife, stuck in the center of the pudding, comes out clean.

Ingredients: 1 package (6 ounces) instant vanilla pudding, 3 cups milk, 1 cup sour cream, 1 carton (16 ounces) non-dairy whipped topping, 1 box (12 ounces) vanilla wafers, 7 ripe bananas.

Directions: Crush 6 vanilla wafers and set aside.  In a medium bowl, mix the pudding and milk until well-blended.  Fold in the sour cream, then fold in the whipped topping. In a large bowl, place layers of wafers, one of bananas, and one of pudding mix. Repeat layers until all is used. Sprinkle the crushed vanilla wafers on top.  Cover with plastic and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

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