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Food of Appalachia

Martin Fisher

By Martin Fisher
in Food Traditions & Culture

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, heidih said:

S. canadensis has long been used for medicinal uses in Appalachia,

That’s galanagal? Somebody with a better grasp of taxonomy than me please jump in here and reassure me that they are two different things. 

  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted

Well, they kinda look similar...

 

https://www.drugs.com/npp/galangal.html

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, chromedome said:

Well, they kinda look similar...

 

https://www.drugs.com/npp/galangal.html

When I look up S canadensis I come up with elderberry. I don’t see a striking resemblance between elderberry and galangal. But perhaps that’s a failure on my part. 

  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)

Various plants' rhizomes are called galangal but Sanguinaria canadensis isn't one of them. It is usually called 'bloodroot'.

 

Alpinia galanga is greater galangal, Alpinia officinarium is lesser galanga. Marginal inclusions are Boesenbergia rotunda or Chinese ginger and Kaempferia galanga or sand ginger, some of which I bought today!

Edited by liuzhou (log)
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

  • 3 weeks later...
Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)
On 12/26/2019 at 7:49 AM, DiggingDogFarm said:

Appalachian Cooking: New & Traditional Recipes

 

I've decided that the above mentioned book irritates me.

 

Just few things....

 

Many of the recipes are rather haute for Appalachia.

 

Some of the recipes call for ingredients that are out of sync with the seasons.

 

His knowledge of Appalachian ichthyology leaves a lot to be desired.

The two fish species mentioned below are members for the sucker family, but there is no mention of the White Sucker which inhabits a MUCH larger area in Appalachia—they also definitely "run."

And there are no sucker recipes.

Canned suckers is/was a food of necessity in some areas.

 

Buffalo.JPG

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
  • Like 2
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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

"Native brook trout populate many of the innumerable streams that flow down both sides of the Appalachian Mountains. Now protected, the fish at one time likely provided food for Cherokee and European families alike." Tullock, John. Appalachian Cooking: New & Traditional Recipes (p. 136). Countryman Press. Kindle Edition. 

 

The only place in Appalachia where native brookies are fully protected is most of far eastern Kentucky.

He recommends farmed fish, which can be nasty!

  • Like 1

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

"Native brook trout populate many of the innumerable streams that flow down both sides of the Appalachian Mountains. Now protected, the fish at one time likely provided food for Cherokee and European families alike." Tullock, John. Appalachian Cooking: New & Traditional Recipes (p. 136). Countryman Press. Kindle Edition. 

 

The only place in Appalachia where native brookies are fully protected is most of far eastern Kentucky.

He recommends farmed fish, which can be nasty!

 

These sorts of things make the whole book suspect (and drive me crazy).

 

 

 

 

  • Like 3
donk79

donk79

Posted
Posted

I have spent many a wonderful hour fishing for brookies in the Appalachians.  While I have never kept any, that has almost always been a personal choice, from Pennsylvania down to southern Virginia.

 

I think there may be better books!

  • Like 1
Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
4 hours ago, donk79 said:

I think there may be better books!

 

Definitely!!!

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

I grew-up fishing brook trout in tiny brooks in north-central Pennsylvania.

It's surprising how they're able to survive in such tiny brooks, maturing to no more that 6-7 inches in that sort of habitat.

 

  • Like 2

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

My maternal grandmother cooked on a wood cook stove most of her life.

My grandparents didn't drive, they relied on family to take them to town for necessities once a month.

My grandmother began every shopping list as such...sugar, flour, coffee, tea, soap (laundry—Fels-Naptha), soda (baking), matches (strike-anywhere)...:smile:

  • Like 5

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

My maternal grandmother cooked on a wood cook stove most of her life.

My grandparents didn't drive, they relied on family to take them to town for necessities once a month.

My grandmother began every shopping list as such...sugar, flour, coffee, tea, soap (laundry—Fels-Naptha), soda (baking), matches (strike-anywhere)...:smile:

 

Fels-naptha. A brick of toxic waste, basically. We always had that around the house too

  • Like 2
  • Haha 3
cdh

cdh

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, gfweb said:

 

Fels-naptha. A brick of toxic waste, basically. We always had that around the house too

I use it still to wash when I get into poison ivy... Fels Naptha washes away the irritant resin pretty effectively.  Never understood how it got used as a laundry soap.

  • Thanks 1

Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

Smithy

Smithy

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, cdh said:

I use it still to wash when I get into poison ivy... Fels Naptha washes away the irritant resin pretty effectively.  Never understood how it got used as a laundry soap.

 

Well, it's a pretty good stain remover. That was its use in our household.

  • Thanks 1

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

@DiggingDogFarmHave you seen this?

 

 

The Chef Restoring Appalachia’s World-Class Food Culture

 

With all respect, my father was Cherokee, born in the 1800's.  This culture was something to be escaped from.

 

  • Like 1

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

heidih

heidih

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

With all respect, my father was Cherokee, born in the 1800's.  This culture was something to be escaped from.

 

 

I get that. - but in the end food is in some way a unifying force. 

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

I get that. - but in the end food is in some way a unifying force. 

 

He liked Jersey seafood and Chinese.

 

  • Like 3
  • Haha 1

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted

Really? Middle school always has that "Lord of the Flies" vibe to it...

  • Like 2

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
18 hours ago, liuzhou said:

@DiggingDogFarmHave you seen this?

 

 

The Chef Restoring Appalachia’s World-Class Food Culture

 

Thanks!

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

kayb

kayb

Posted
Posted

I really enjoyed that story. I can related to being taken for granted because you're a "hillbilly" or "country bumpkin." But I would dearly love to visit this chef's restaurants. He just went on my bucket list.

 

Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

Heck, I'm a redneck and I've never been harassed at any level because of it.

I'm also gay and the same applies.

Maybe folks are afraid of me. xD

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

Posted
Posted
On 1/22/2020 at 11:11 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

With all respect, my father was Cherokee, born in the 1800's. 


I don't know your age and I'm not gonna ask but... wow. I have to go all the way back to great-grandparents to get to the 1800's and I am not young.

  • Like 1

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

Here's a video that was uploaded today.

It features a couple tiny Pennsylvania brook trout that I mentioned above.

 

  • Like 2

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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