"Classic Kentucky Meals" cooking and food (oven, great)

[capcat]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Salmon / mackerel patties are a common side item too. Any one else eat those? You take a can of fish, take the meat off the bone and skin, smash saltine crackers and mix them together with eggs and water, shape them into a patty and fry in a little grease.

Yes. That's exactly the way I still fix them.

The old recipes were economical and simple, without so many ingredients. For example, green tomatoes for frying, rinsed then dredged in cornmeal so it sticks. No egg needed. Salt, pepper, and the tiniest sprinkle of sugar to bring out the flavor.

Same easy way with fried potato cakes...leftover mashed potatoes (cold) formed into patties, then dredged in some flour, fried in a skillet with a little oil till the edges are nice and brown, some salt and pepper added. No eggs, etc. needed to hold them together.

Glad my Kentucky mom and grandmother taught me to cook that way.

[EricOldTime]

Had Salmon AND Tuna Fish patties as well, dang that's Kentucky right there! Never had the Mackeral mashed with crackers but it sounds like stuff we'd eat though and I heard of folks eating that stuff. Also mom sometimes made fried tater pancakes but they were never my favorite

Sometimes we'd eat fried SPAM or Liverwurst ( called "liverloaf" by my family in Kentucky ) anyone else in your Kentucky family eat those? Vienna Weiners, SPAM, Liverloaf....lol

Anyone ever eat Fried Bologna or have Bacon Mater sandwiches?

Seems as much as fried tomatoes wed have fried yellow squash and okra as well. My grandparents used to grow both. We'd check the Okra plants and popaw would make us pick em when they were no bigger than our pinky or ring finger. He'd say: "Don't let em grow bigger than your pinky or their too tough to eat" So, hed make sure we got em before then
lol!

They always grew alot of sweet and Vidalia onions and Chives. We liked to go farm pond fishing as my grandfather dug out the little holler by his barn and made a farm pond, dropped two barrels in the middle of it and stocked it with catfish so they could "raise" in that pond. After 2 years he had some whoppers in there!

Anyways, he liked fried catfish ( tails and all ) and he liked to eat sweet or Vidalia onions, raw on the side with his fried fish, Bluegills too. They'd also have homemade chow-chow and pintos with sliced tomatoes. I remember one time he caught one that was pregnant ( catfish ). He took the eggs out of the catfish, mixed them in with a bit of fish fry batter he made in the skillet fried them really quick and ate them! He didnt care, he was an old country boy from the hills of Kentucky, hed even fry and eat the tails on the catfish...a little too rustic for my pallet LOL!

Fried Rabbit ( he raised rabbits ) fried squirrel, all of it, he loved it all! And he suffered with some very serious gout late in life too because of his love for game. Gosh..Im getting a little sad feeling right now...I, miss my popaw

They knew how to put out a spread of country food on their table. Gosh that was some good food! And if you could get to their house by dinner time around 1:30 they fixed you a plate too...thats the way it was.

[capcat]

Fried bologna, sure. To be eaten on white bread with a little mustard. My mom liked souse, but I never could bring myself to try that.

[EricOldTime]

Originally Posted by capcat

Fried bologna, sure. To be eaten on white bread with a little mustard. My mom liked souse, but I never could bring myself to try that.

Souse, I remember hearing that, what is souse again? Yeah fried Bologna or fried Ham was a big favorite. What part of Kentucky are you from cat?

[capcat]

It's a cold cut, also known as head cheese. It's pretty gross looking. I'm from Central Kentucky, but my family goes back to the 1700s in Eastern, Central, and other parts of Kentucky. What I consider Kentucky foods was passed down through those generations, I guess. And, I haven't really mentioned them here. Wish I could get old ham like my grandparents cured. There's nothing like it today. I hear a lot of people say that. There were no shortcuts back then, and the hams were incredible.

[EricOldTime]

My original ancestors settled in Marion, Washington and Nelson counties in central Kentucky near the "Rolling Fork"

These days most of them are in the Owensboro area and out in the country or surrounding towns in Daviess, Hancock and Ohio counties in western Kentucky.

We have a family farm that we affectionately call "The Old Homeplace" and its located in Hancock County Kentucky. My mom was born there and her bros and sisters and its where my grandfather and his father was born and raised, built by my great great who came from Marion county in central ky and bought that land their in Hancock Co.

[Crazee Cat Lady]

Loved the pic of your Granny and Grandpa Eric.
Fried Bologna? Is there any other way to eat it?
We had beans and cornbread with many a meal growing up. And slice tomatoes (fresh home grown tomatoes - just picked, not many things in life are better than that! lol).

[EricOldTime]

Originally Posted by Crazee Cat Lady

Loved the pic of your Granny and Grandpa Eric.
Fried Bologna? Is there any other way to eat it?
We had beans and cornbread with many a meal growing up. And slice tomatoes (fresh home grown tomatoes - just picked, not many things in life are better than that! lol).

Agreed...they grew some of the biggest, reddest tomatoes. Sliced and peeled, stacked on a saucer with a shaker of salt.

[kygman]

Originally Posted by EricOldTime

Sometimes we'd eat fried SPAM or Liverwurst ( called "liverloaf" by my family in Kentucky ) anyone else in your Kentucky family eat those? Vienna Weiners, SPAM, Liverloaf....lol

I remember eating Spam at church camp several of the years I went. Never did care for it and still don't. lol I grew up on Vienna sausages. I used to go home for lunch during school and Mama would have a tin of Vienna sausages and a pack of saltine crackers. Got burned out on them after a couple years. My wife used to eat liverwurst every now and then but doesn't care for the liver loaf.

Anyone ever eat Fried Bologna or have Bacon Mater sandwiches?
If I had worried about my cholesterol in my early teen years, I would have been in trouble. My version of a fried bologna sandwich is 2 sliced of fried bologna and 3 slices of bread, browned in the skillet, but I'd sometime leave it nice and greasy. lol

Seems as much as fried tomatoes wed have fried yellow squash and okra as well. My grandparents used to grow both. We'd check the Okra plants and popaw would make us pick em when they were no bigger than our pinky or ring finger. He'd say: "Don't let em grow bigger than your pinky or their too tough to eat" So, hed make sure we got em before then lol! My parents liked fried green tomatoes, but I'm not a big tomato fan. Daddy always planted two or three better boy tomato plants each summer, just for him and Mama. Where I used to work, I learned where to find asparagus growing on the side of the road. Not much on it either but the other guys would pick it and eat it raw. Quite a few pecan and walnut trees around here. We have a black walnut tree in our back yard and I filled a 55 gallon barrel with walnuts.

They always grew alot of sweet and Vidalia onions and Chives. We liked to go farm pond fishing as my grandfather dug out the little holler by his barn and made a farm pond, dropped two barrels in the middle of it and stocked it with catfish so they could "raise" in that pond. After 2 years he had some whoppers in there! My brother helped a friend's dad build a catfish pay lake over near Ky. Dam. They also had ponds where they raised the fingerlings to the right size to take to the paylake. Something got in the water at the fingerling pond and wiped out several thousand little catfish! I didn't want to eat or even SEE another catfish for a while after helping scoop the dead ones out. lol

Anyways, he liked fried catfish ( tails and all ) and he liked to eat sweet or Vidalia onions, raw on the side with his fried fish, Bluegills too. They'd also have homemade chow-chow and pintos with sliced tomatoes. I remember one time he caught one that was pregnant ( catfish ). He took the eggs out of the catfish, mixed them in with a bit of fish fry batter he made in the skillet fried them really quick and ate them! He didnt care, he was an old country boy from the hills of Kentucky, hed even fry and eat the tails on the catfish...a little too rustic for my pallet LOL! Worked with a man who ate them raw! Ohio River caviar! lol I'll pass!

Fried Rabbit ( he raised rabbits ) fried squirrel, all of it, he loved it all! And he suffered with some very serious gout late in life too because of his love for game. Gosh..Im getting a little sad feeling right now...I, miss my popaw We were friends of an older couple who had huge oak trees and plenty of squirrels in their yard. He put a cage type rat trap on the tree in the back yard and kept the freezer supplied with squirrel. lol

They knew how to put out a spread of country food on their table. Gosh that was some good food! And if you could get to their house by dinner time around 1:30 they fixed you a plate too...thats the way it was.

Before my mother passed away, any time we drove down to visit she would always say she was sorry she didn't have a thing for us to eat, then start pulling food out of everwhere in the kitchen. When my oldest went to Murray State Univ., about 20 miles away, he had to bring some of his friends over to see all the food Mammy has all the time! lol

[EricOldTime]

What the heck is "pocket dressing" all the years in my Kentucky family, I've never even heard of it. Derby Pie? isn't that Louisville...I say that because I've never heard much about it nor does my Kentucky family eat that.

So what do you all have on your Kentucky Thanksgiving tables?

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