Succotash

Succotash


Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ralphandjenny/15392776377/

From Wikipedia:

Succotash (from Narragansett sohquttahhash, "broken corn kernels") is a food dish consisting primarily of sweet corn with lima beans or other shell beans. Other ingredients may be added including tomatoes, green or sweet red peppers, and okra. Combining a grain with a legume provides a dish that is high in all essential amino acids. Because of the relatively inexpensive and more readily available ingredients, the dish was popular during the Great Depression in the United States.... Succotash is a traditional dish of many Thanksgiving celebrations in New England as well as in Pennsylvania and other states. In some parts of the American South, any mixture of vegetables prepared with lima beans and topped with lard or butter is called succotash. Corn (maize), American beans, tomatoes, and peppers are New World foods.

There might be as many recipes for Succotash as there are kitchens in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South and even in the Upper Midwest This recipe, from Culinaria: The United States (1998), should be thought of as a general guideline on ingredients and method, rather than a written-in-stone absolute:

Succotash To serve 4 to 6: 2 cups fresh, shelled lima beans 1 small piece salt pork or 1 slice bacon 1/2 cup ham stock, chicken stock or water 2.5 cups fresh sweet-corn kernels 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves 1.2 teaspoon coarse-cracked black pepper Salt to taste 1/3 cup whipping cream Combine lima beans, salt pork or bacon and stock or water in a medium saucepan. Cover partially and heat to a boil. Cook until the limas are almost tender, about 8 minutes or longer, depending on their age. Add corn and seasonings and cook until corn is tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in cream and simmer briefly to thicken slightly.

Townsend definitely has some good and interesting stuff...thanks for sharing, Karl!