AZ Barbeque.com

Biscuits and Gravy.

Discussion started on

mustang

  • Karma: 1
I love cabbage fried with onions and bacon grease. My family isn't wild about it, so it is about a one-a-year occurence for me. Just made some last week and it was as tasty as ever. :P

One of my favorite childhood dishes was something we called goulash, although it had nothing in common with the authentic Hungarian kind. My parents were from Massachusetts. A common wintertime meal was New England boiled dinner. It consisted of a boiled smoked picnic ham. Into the same pot was tossed cabbage, potatoes and carrots; occasionally a rutabaga. Delicious when eaten with coarse mustard, horseradish and dark rye. The history of the meal is that all the ingredients could be found in a root cellar in the dead of winter. Nevermind that I grew up enjoying this in sunny Phoenix! The next day, we would take the leftover meat and veggies, coarsely cut them and pan-fry it with plenty of black pepper. My favorite part was the strips of skin cut from the boiled shoulder. Nothing went to waste.

I even remember the electric skillet we cook it in. It had an electrical short and would zap you from time to time. Funny how I even look at the memory of that semi-near death experience with fondness! ;)

Mark, I can't let this moment pass without encouraging you to please write a book about your varied food experiences, including your travel, cooking and consumption!!  It would be a shame not to document your unique eclectic history in some sort of permanent media (DVD?) for others to peruse!!
#16 - March 05, 2012, 10:41:23 am

azcolt45

  • Karma: 2
Mark,  tell us in more detail about ''cabbage fried in bacon grease and onions'' Do you do it until crispy or what.  Do you do it with the leftover cabbage from the New England Boiled dinner?? or fresh?
Thanks
Colt
#17 - March 26, 2012, 10:02:40 am
Trailer mounted Custom offset stick burner
XL BIG GREEN EGG
BIG Stainless Gasser
5' Square fire pit w/grates 
Commercial WOK
KCBS CBJ #53767


Beauty is in the eye of the "beer holder"

Mark

  • Karma: 23
I use raw cabbage and sweat it down in the bacon fat. I start by cutting the onions in thin slices and put them in the skillet first to get a little color. Then I toss in the sliced cabbage and some s&p, put a lid on it and stir it every now and then. The whole process takes about a half hour until the veggies are limp. Both the cabbage and the onions have enough natural sugars to caramelize.

The leftover elements of the boiled dinner are all just chopped up into chunks, slightly smaller than what you'd do for a stew. I add a healthy amount of black pepper and a few blasts of Louisiana hot sauce and simmer it for about 15 minutes or so.

Funny thing a cookbook...about a dozen years ago I was on the Food Network. It was a show named "Calling All Cooks." They were looking for amateur cooks with family recipes. I submitted one for paella. They sent out a film crew and during the show they had a scene with a cookbook I had put together of my mother's recipes (from memory). I had just made a half dozen copies at Kinko's as a legacy for my son, nieces and nephews. Well, every time the show aired, I'd have people from around the world tracking me down for the recipes. They'd say they couldn't find the cookbook on Amazon, etc. Well, that's because it was all of about 20 pages long and homemade. I still don't have any of it on a computer file.

That said, I do encourage all of you to do the same. It's a nice thing to do for the family to keep those kitchen memories alive. Plus, it makes a nice gift.

For anyone interested, here's my paella recipe from that show.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/calling-all-cooks/paella-recipe/index.html
#18 - March 26, 2012, 10:52:18 am
Mark Motta
Meatier Creator

azcolt45

  • Karma: 2
That sounds great Mark.. I have some cabbage,,will have to give this  a try!!1
#19 - March 26, 2012, 04:57:17 pm
Trailer mounted Custom offset stick burner
XL BIG GREEN EGG
BIG Stainless Gasser
5' Square fire pit w/grates 
Commercial WOK
KCBS CBJ #53767


Beauty is in the eye of the "beer holder"

Members:

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.