Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard

[Shel_B]

And don't overlook Vivian's introduction.  It's a wonderful read, filled with some of her, and her family's, history, food history, and, of course, a bunch of recipes.  Click Here

 

[rotuts]

if this book does not get a significant award , then that award committee should have their heads examined.

 

not that there are not other worthy Cookery books.

 

BTW  how many ( zillion ) awards does the JamesBeard foundation award these days ?

[Thanks for the Crepes]

16 hours ago, Shel_B said:

And don't overlook Vivian's introduction.  It's a wonderful read, filled with some of her, and her family's, history, food history, and, of course, a bunch of recipes.  Click Here

 

 

Thanks @Shel_B,

 

I really enjoyed that. Life has thrown me another curve ball, and this was a very nice distraction.

 

My favorite line (of many): "... and while just about everything but ice cream can be done with elbow grease, if that's the grease you've got ...". She's talking about the kitchen equipment and gadgets you'll need to prepare her recipes. She goes on to say how stand mixers, ice cream makers, etc., make your life easier. It resonated with me that she still gets that some of us don't have access to the latest luxury kitchen gadgets.

 

I guess she's not old enough to remember the old school wooden ice cream churns with a manual crank where you added ice and rock salt around the sealed metal container. Those things took nothing but elbow grease and plenty of it. We kids used to take turns making it out on the porch. The crank became harder and harder to turn as the ice cream froze. It  was a lot of work, but it was really, really good.

 

I am so happy our homegrown gal is enjoying so much success. 

[IowaDee]

And licking that dasher made all the work worth it!

[Shel_B]

2 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I really enjoyed that. Life has thrown me another curve ball, and this was a very nice distraction.

 

My favorite line (of many): "... and while just about everything but ice cream can be done with elbow grease, if that's the grease you've got ...".

 

The past week has been stressful here @Casa_Shel, and next week shall also be stressed - a very unusual state of affairs for me - and reading Vivian's introduction was a few calm and satisfying moments in a day that needed them. 

 

One of the things I like so much about her show is that she is open to those old techniques taught to her by those Southern cooks and farmers.  It transports me out of the city and back to the farm.  I feel like getting up early, putting on my overhauls, and doin' some chores before breakfast.  If there's a cookbook that I'll buy this year, it will be Deep Run Roots ... love that Blueberry-Rosemary Breakfast Pudding!

[blue_dolphin]

In the chapter on oysters, there's a recipe for Fried Popcorn Oysters and Kitchen-Sink Mayo.  The oysters get a panko and cornmeal coating and are served with a mayo with more ingredients than you can shake a stick at. 

I don't see any oysters in my near future but decided the panko breaded calamari I picked up at Trader Joe's yesterday would be a fine alternate.  

 

First, I prepared the garlic confit. Only a tablespoon of this confit was needed for the mayo but I have plans for the rest.

 

Next, I assembled the rest of the ingredients.  The little measuring cup contains lemon juice and the blue-topped container has anchovies. The kitchen sink is just out of the frame to the left 

Edited to add that while I was assembling the above, I was joined in my small kitchen by 3 playful kittens and 2 adult cats, all circling my feet, no doubt attracted by the alluring aroma of anchovy!  

Also, the recipe instructs to blend everything except the vegetable oil in the blender and then transfer to a food processor to slowly add the oil.  I understand the rationale as the initial small volume would not blend to smoothness in a larger food processor but the processor is excellent at adding oil slowly. My small processor bowl is usually my choice for a one-egg mayo but I've made good mayo in my Blendtec Twister jar so that's what I used.  The result is thick and silky smooth.  The recipe says it makes 1.5 cups, my yield was a little over 2 cups. 

And the finished product:

 

That mayo is tasty stuff.  I would like to try it with oysters but I'm not complaining about the calamari.  

Edited to add that I'd also like to try it on French fries.  Or maybe anything fried..  Or maybe anything....there are more calamari in the fridge, but really?  No!

 

Edited November 9, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Coming to you from well outside my comfort zone, I give you Fried Chicken Livers with Balsamic-Marinated Figs:

This was served on greens drizzled with some of the fig marinade and topped with pickled red onion.

The seasonings in the buttermilk used to soak and bread the livers were interesting:  toasted and ground fennel, cumin and coriander seeds, ground cinnamon, salt & black pepper.  It sort took me by surprise at first bite.

The figs were marinated with a bit of brown sugar, fresh grated ginger, rosemary, thyme, orange zest, honey, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar.  My figs were drop-dead perfectly ripe from yesterday's farmers market and honestly, I think they were wasted here.  They're lovely and all that but this treatment would probably work just fine with dried figs, steamed to soften and given a bit more time in the marinade.

The combination of flavors and textures here is really wonderful with the rich livers, crisp coating, sweet figs, tart, crunchy pickled onion and fresh, slightly bitter greens (she suggests arugula, I used a mix from TJ's that includes spinach, pak choi and mustard greens.

Along with, I opened my last bottle of the nice dry rosé from Rusack vineyards  - have to wait until next year for more of that! 

The recipe calls for 1 lb of livers for 4 servings.  Seems like a lot once they're all breaded and fried.  I probably polished off close 4 oz worth but my preference would be to serve a smaller portion as a starter.

[Anna N]

Fresh figs are often a dealbreaker for me.  They do show up in the stores occasionally but since I rarely get to the stores.... Dried figs, however, are a pantry item for me. I even have some frozen chicken livers an equally hard to come by ingredient.  So a recipe that I would have bypassed now becomes a possibility.  Doncha just love eG.  

[Shelby]

Yeah, for sure no figs here either, but I can do dried  

[blue_dolphin]

After I suggested above that dried figs would work in that fried chicken liver/balsamic-marinated fig recipe, I went back to check the book and I see that this is NOT one of the recipes that Vivian says are good with dried figs.

But I was curious, so I dug some ancient dried figs out of my cupboard, steamed them to soften, cut them up, tossed them in with the leftover marinated figs and put them in the fridge overnight.  I tried them this AM, not with the livers, but with some polenta and roasted squash.  My conclusion is that the dried figs should work in that recipe.  It will be different,  as with any dried fruit, it will be a more concentrated burst of flavor but I think still good.

 

Another note on that recipe. I was curious if leftover livers could be reheated so I put 2 in the fridge to cool down and then reheated them in the CSO on steam bake, 375F for 5 or 6 min and they were really good - they were sizzling and the coating was perfect,  crispier than when they were first fried.  Of course, I didn't test long term storage but it's nice to know they can be fried a little ahead and reheated so nicely.  

[Martin Fisher]

The more that's posted here, the more I want the book 

In this case — I think I'd prefer the hard copy...not the Kindle version.

I watched the video that @blue_dolphin  referenced yesterday.

It was quite entertaining.

[Shelby]

21 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

The more that's posted here, the more I want the book 

In this case — I think I'd prefer the hard copy...not the Kindle version.

I watched the video that @blue_dolphin  referenced yesterday.

It was quite entertaining.

I'd definitely get the hard copy.  

[Smithy]

52 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I'd definitely get the hard copy.  

 

I'll take a look at the hard copy when I get a chance, but I'm enjoying the Kindle version and its pleasant portability.

[Anna N]

7 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

I'll take a look at the hard copy when I get a chance, but I'm enjoying the Kindle version and its pleasant portability.

Me too!  But I totally understand wanting the hardcopy. In another time and at another place I might be inclined to do the same.  

[curls]

Last weekend I got my autographed copy of the book during Vivian Howard's book tour! It was wonderful to meet her and try her food (which was delicious). A few pictures of the event:

 

  

 

[Shelby]

10 minutes ago, curls said:

Last weekend I got my autographed copy of the book during Vivian Howard's book tour! It was wonderful to meet her and try her food (which was delicious). A few pictures of the event:

 

  

 

How fun!!!!!  Thanks for sharing   How was the pudding (drooling here).

[blue_dolphin]

I'm ever so jealous that you got try the Tom Thumb nachos, @curls!  Vivian did a live chat on Sunday where she was making them.  The combination of Tom Thumb, black eyed peas, pimento cheese served up as nachos absolutely cracked me up.  It was only 9 AM here on the west coast but I would happily have munched on them for my breakfast....maybe with a poached egg on top !

[curls]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

How fun!!!!!  Thanks for sharing   How was the pudding (drooling here).

The banana pudding was delicious! It was served warm and had a wonderful smooth texture with nice chunks of banana. The meringue on top was also, just right. The folks at my table joked when others joined us that they wouldn't like the pudding at all and that they would help take care of it for the newcomers.

[curls]

55 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm ever so jealous that you got try the Tom Thumb nachos, @curls!  Vivian did a live chat on Sunday where she was making them.  The combination of Tom Thumb, black eyed peas, pimento cheese served up as nachos absolutely cracked me up.  It was only 9 AM here on the west coast but I would happily have munched on them for my breakfast....maybe with a poached egg on top !

The nachos were wonderful, not included on the menu was the fact that the nachos included pickled jalapenos; this brought a brightness to the dish that was surprising and delicious. These were the lightest, tastiest nachos that I have ever had. Even though the nachos were well endowed with toppings, they were crispy and strong enough not to collapse when you picked them up. More of those nachos and a poached egg on the side would be a great breakfast.

[chromedome]

And for those of us who hail from the frozen North, Tom Thumbs are....?

[blue_dolphin]

7 minutes ago, chromedome said:

And for those of us who hail from the frozen North, Tom Thumbs are....?

 

I am no expert in North Carolina specialties but Tom Thumb is a pork sausage stuffed into a pig appendix (looks like a cecum to me) and aged for a couple of weeks, but not long enough to become a hard, dry sausage.  It's also called Dan Doodle.   There is a recipe for Tom Thumb in the Deep Run Roots cookbook, not that I ever plan to make it !

[chromedome]

Okay, so it was sausage nachos? I could handle that. 

[rotuts]

its possible that some TT's are smoked.

 

one error in the book is 'sources'   she mentioned two places from her area that she goes to for various meats , but one does not ship ( as far as I can tell from the internet )

 

and one only to N.C.

 

[rotuts]

@curls  

 

thanks for sharing.   how many people were there ?

 

I woujld have loved to go to one, esp for some TT's

 

 

[curls]

@rotuts the event sold out -- there were approximately 250 people.