http://www.amazon.com/The-Food-Younger-Land-chainrestaurants/dp/B0040RMF2A/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top - http://www.amazon.com/The-Food-Younger-Land-chainrestaurants/dp/B0040RMF2A/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

 

Amazon's book description is very apt:

 

In the throes of the Great Depression, a make-work initiative for authors-called "America Eats"-was created by the WPA to chronicle the eating habits, traditions, and struggles of local Americans. Mark Kurlansky, author of Salt and Cod, unearths this forgotten literary treasure, chronicling a bygone era when Americans had never heard of fast food or grocery superstores. Kurlansky brings together the WPA contributions-featuring New York automats and Georgia Coca-Cola parties, Maine lobsters and Montana beaver tails-and brilliantly showcases them with authentic recipes, anecdotes, and photographs.

 

I just finished reading this book, and thoroughly enjoyed it; I'll be sharing a few things here and there with the forum in the future; having said that, I truly encourage anyone who is interested in food, history and Americana to follow the link above and purchase this book. It's a true gem.

 

One of the many talented writers employed by the project was Eudora Welty, who went on to become quite well-known. As a member of the project in about 1939, she recorded the recipe used by James Acker at his home, The Magnolias, which is located in Aberdeen, Mississippi.

 

 

The Magnolias was famous for the barbecue parties held there, and this "house recipe" for their barbecue sauce really drew me in.

 

Normally, I am not much of a sauce person when it comes to barbecue; I prefer to utilise a progressive layering of flavours, beginning with a mustard or some other slather, followed by a dry rub, then by mopping or basting during cooking, and finishing with a thin glaze that dries to a crackling shine.

 

Be that as it may, I was intrigued by this sauce, not only because of its ingredients, but also because this was a direct link to genuine, Old-South barbecue history, and I knew I had to try it. I used it on a chicken that i was cooking on my rotisserie, and the results were incredible. The flavours using these simple ingredients were quintessentially barbecue, but were also at the same time something unique that was entirely new to me. Savory, tangy, well-balanced and delicious - I encourage anyone, skeptic or not, to give it a try; you will not be disappointed.

 

The recipe, as transcribed by Welty, consists of heating together:

 

4 ounces vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

14 ounces catsup

3 ounces
Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins, of course!)

The juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons salt

Red and black
pepper to taste (in deference to Mrs. Tas, I simply used about a tablespoon of good Hungarian paprika and a teaspoon of black pepper)

4 ounces butter

 

That's it. Don't mess with it, don't "improve" it, and don't vary from it.... Simply heat the ingredients together, and you will end up with a beautiful, brick-red sauce that will be on the thin side. Reduce it to a thicker table sauce if you want, or simply mop/baste the meat constantly while cooking, letting the thin layers build over time, and you will be one happy camper.

 

As I said, I used this on chicken, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that this will also indeed be outstanding for pork, beef, and probably for robust fish as well. The flavour combination is one of those magical things that is much more than the sum of its parts - all ingredients contribute to the whole in wonderful harmony, from the rich undertones provided by the butter to the refreshing accents coming from the lemon. Very good stuff.

 

I can almost bet that all of the ingredients for this truly Southern barbecue sauce are already in your kitchen or pantry; give this a try and see for yourself - chances are you will enjoy it as much as I did.

 

Glad you like the look of it - it really is simple and provides, in my opinion, a flavour that is out-of-this-world.

 

Basically - coat blade steak with that mix, along with thick cut carrot, celery and onion, pressure cook for 35-40 min.

She says "serve with peas and creamed potatoes"

I remember it from my childhood, it was one of the #1 orders for her to cook for us if we when we went to stay with her.

She did not sear or brown her meat ever, and alot of her meat recipes are boiled. Since I began researching and experimenting with 12th century food this no longer seems weird to me.

Her Grandparents were English settlers here in New Zealand, so her recipes and methods are essentially 19th century English. A great primary source for any one interested in colonial food and cookery. I am lucky that I knew her and got to spend time in the kitchen with her. So I should really go through her book and annotate it - because her kitchen had no fridge, and I know how she did things - she just lists ingredients assuming that the reader will know what to do with them.

 

Effigy - we'd love to learn more about your grandmother's recipes and methods - please feel to post and/or share them any time! One thing I've learned since I started this site is that preserving the traditions of a country or region and its families is more important than we realise, because when we lose them, they are gone forever - and that's something we often don't grasp the full signifigance of until it is too late.

I am so happy I found this forum. Not losing old knowledge is a topic very dear to me as I look at people who can't do a thing for themselves - yet when they meet 12th century me at a demo they are fascinated by the most simple things - building a fire, candle making, hemming a shirt even making porridge!

I just have to digress a moment because some of the anecdotes from our camps/demos are just hilarious. e.g.

Cooking a spit roasted suckling pig - "Is that a real pig?" - "What will you do with it?"

The very earnest and concerned little girl "Don't you have a real house?"

and the best one ever, a friend at an event with her 6 month old son "Is that a real baby?"

I will make a project for myself to do something with Olive's recipes over the coming months. Should I put it in the NZ section?

 

Can't wait to see them - feel free to post photos, familiy memories etc. also, if you want!

 

I must say, it certainly is a really nice book for anyone interested in the intersection of history and food; there are things in there that would certainly have been irrecovably lost otherwise, and there is a definite connection between the things I've read in this book and aspects of American regional cooking that are plainly visible even today. It was certainly a good use of taxpayer money, and coming from me, that means a lot ~

 

I really recommend it to anyone who might be interested in discovering a whole new culinary facet of "Americana...."

"If its something your grandmother would recognise as food, it's food"

I'm not too clear on what show it was, but I think its was Bobby Flay's Brunch.

The implication was that if your Grandmother wouldn't recognise it as food - it isn't food.

I am loving the concept, but I come from a family of long living slow breeders.

I still shudder at the thought of boiled mutton sausages swimming in thin white sauce. My Gran deffinately knew food, she also had 1930's siege mentality.

I reduced the heat to the lowest setting and allowed the sauce to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  I then shut off the heat and allowed the sauce to cool. Finally, I put it into an empty, washed catsup bottle for storage, and will enjoy as often as I can on different things.

One can, if one wishes, tweak this sauce a little here or there, personalising it with the cautious addition of a few things; in a way, I did this very same thing, using Hungarian paprika and apple cider vinegar in place of the non-specific "red pepper" and "vinegar." To me, the way I prepared it is "just right," and evokes images of a sunny day in a verdant park or back yard back in the 30s, with a lot of folks gathered round to enjoy some good, old-time barbecue.

I'm impressed. Those few simple ingredients are definately a sum greater than the parts.

Thanks Ron!

End of rant ...

The sauce looks very interesting and I love things historical.  While my family's palate tends toward sweet and spicy sauce of the KC variety, this looks like it would be fun to play with.   You talked about using less vinegar in one of the later posts.  Without the vinegar, where does it fall on the flavor spectrum?  Is the catsup adding some sweetness at that point?  

When we build a BBQ sauce at home, we use a bit of vinegar but usually more mustard to add a bit of depth along with some sugar (maple) to balance the heat and sweet.   Different ballpark but I want to try this and see how it goes over here in among my Filipino relatives.

Just a query though, what is catsup? is it the same as our tomato ketchup?