
Friday, December 31, 2010
Watch Night Series: Traditions in Guatemala and the Delta

Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Watch Night Series: It's All About the Rice!

Cherry mochi cakes, recipes below
In my first book, Hog and Hominy http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14638-8/hog-and-hominy/tableOfContents, I study the global origins of soul food, the forces that shaped its development, and the distinctive cultural collaborations that occurred among Africans, Europeans, Native Americans, and Asians to create this distinctive cuisine. I drew upon a wide range of sources to examine the ways that food has been a source of community cohesion and cultural identity. For some Asian Americans, New Year’s means preparing sweet rice cakes called mochi. During the early Christian period, Indonesian and Portuguese traders traveling across the Indian Ocean introduced Asian long grain rice from South East Asia to North Africa. North African traders then carried Asian rice across the Sahara to West Africans. Soon after their arrival, West Africans began making extensive use of Asian rice long before the start of the Atlantic slave trade. For low country folks in South Carolina and Georgia, there is no New Year’s celebration without rice based dishes like hoppin’ John (see yesterday's post). Likewise, mochi cakes made from layers of sweet rice steamed and shaped into cakes and seasoned, sometimes with coconut, represents the yearly culinary high point for some Asian Americans.
Cherry gluten-free Mochi Cakes: http://foodlibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/05/cherry-mochi-cakes-cute-and-gluten-free.html
Coffee Mochi Cakes: http://weekofmenus.blogspot.com/2010/08/coffee-mochi-cake-replacing-one-vice.html
Strawberry Mochi Cakes: http://fortwoplease.blogspot.com/2010/08/strawberry-mochi-cake.html
Monday, December 27, 2010
Watch Night Series: Part 1 Civil War Origins
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| Coconut layer cake, recipes below |
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: The Origins of Dumplings

Apple dumplings, recipes below (photograph by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books)
Dumplings and their multitude of cousins—wonton, ravioli, and matzo ball just to name a few—have an ancient history. The term dumpling first appears in written form about the start of the 17th century. They all originated as poor folks attempt to provide an inexpensive, nutritious, and filling meal made from available produce and or scraps of meat tucked in a pastry made from different grains and fats mixed together in a flaky pocket and then baked, fried, or boiled. In the African American tradition dumplings have their roots all the way back to Africa, the European colonization of the Americas, and the African slave Trade. Who had the stronger influence on dumplings during the colonial period—European settlers or enslaved Africans—depended on what part of the Americas you are talking about and who settled where in what ethnic ratio. For example in the Chesapeake region which was pretty homogenous in terms of Africans and Europeans, Virginia slave Louis Hughes recalled, apple dumplings were a dish that “made old slaves smile for joy and the young fairly dance.” Here are some apple dumpling recipes below.
Traditional Apple Dumplings: http://acookandherbooks.blogspot.com/2010/10/classic-apple-dumplings-with-appearance.html
Pioneer Woman’s Apple Dumplings: http://catchingpennies.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/pioneer-womans-apple-dumplings/
Eve’s Red Hot Apple Dumplings: http://italianhandful.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/eves-red-hot-apple-dumplings/
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: A Southern Christmas Without Chow-Chow?
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| Chow-Chow, recipes below |
Chutney/Chow-chow recipes: http://www.armadillopeppers.com/Chow_Chow_Relish_Recipes.html
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: Rum and Aguardiente

Slice of rum cake (click the photo to enlarge the image), recipes below
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: Eggnog History Part 2
| Eggnog Cheesecake with Caramel-Rum Sauce, recipes below |
Friday, December 17, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: Christmas Stockings


On Christmas morning in Harnet County, North Carolina circa 1910, Erwin Stephens and his brother remember waking up and rushing to the living room to find out what had been stuffed in their Christmas stockings. They would fine apples, oranges, candy canes, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and perhaps a small toy. I found this scene described in Erwin Stephen’s memoir in the Duke University special collections a couple years back. The scene reminded me of Christmas presents made simple and yet very gratifying to young children. Why not reintroduce a tradition that proved so satisfying years ago? After your children or grand children open the stocking they can eat some of the goodies on the spot and use the others in a recipe. Here’s a Brazil nut recipe for the Holidays:
Chunky Brazil Nut and Coconut Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
Egg substitutes for 2 eggs (or 2 eggs)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sifted spelt four (or all-purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups Brazil nut chunks
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Method
Pre-heat oven to 350°. Use an electric mixer and mix cream shortening, butter, and sugar until light. Add eggs beaten with vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture until well blended. Mix in the Brazil nut pieces and coconut. With a teaspoon, drop cookie dough onto Pam sprayed baking sheet, space approximately 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Yields 5 dozen cookies.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: Culinary Attractions During the Antebellum Period

Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: Harlem During the Depression

Lemon meringue pie, recipes below
Dessert in most homes is perhaps the most celebrated part of the Christmas Day menu. As I have mentioned, in researching my book Hog and Hominy http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14638-8/hog-and-hominy, I conducted some thirty interviews with African Americans most of them born before 1945. Some never left the South, and others were southerners or the children of southerners who migrated to metropolitan New York. These were oral histories during which I asked seniors to talk about their Christmas memories from their childhood. Many of them had vivid memories of dessert. Ruth Thorpe was born in Harlem in 1932. Her mother migrated from Savanna, Georgia, to Harlem, where she worked as a professional cook. Migrants from the South and the Caribbean came to New York, Chicago and other northern cities during the era of the Depression in search of better opportunity. In their home regions they worked most often as agricultural laborers, waiters, domestic servants, and porters. She recalled that during the Depression in Harlem, “my mother made banana pudding, sweet potato pie, you know, apple pie, lemon meringue pie, and cakes.” When life gave Ruth’s mom lemons, she made a lemon meringue pie! Check out these recipes for lemon meringue pie.
Traditional lemon meringue pie recipe: http://judyandjoy.com/Recipes.html#lemon
Vegan lemon meringue pie recipe: http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/06/vegan-lemon-meringue-pie.html
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: In the Antebellum Period, Christmas Meant Turkey

Jerked Christmas turkey legs, greens, and rice and bean, recipes below
When most of think about Turkey we think about Thanksgiving. However, in parts of the antebellum south, those who could shoot them or afford to purchase one, Christmas meant a Turkey dinner. In the mid- nineteenth century, traveler Adam Hodgson passed through Alexandria, Petersburg, and Norfolk, Virginia during the Christmas holiday season. For lodging he did what most folks did before the advent of hotels, he stayed at inns, taverns, or rented a room at a private home. In his travel account Hodgson’s notes the centrality of the Turkey on the Christmas holiday table in circa 1820 Virginia. “At dinner, there are frequently four or five turkeys on the table,” meat, pastry, and tea. “While on the subject of eating . . . I will mention, that I do not recollect to have dined a single day, from my arrival in America till I left Virginia, without a turkey on the table; often two, in gentlemen’s houses. On Christmas-Eve, in the little town of Norfolk, Virginia, it was said that “6000 turkeys were [sold] in the market,” in preparation for the Christmas day meal. Below find recipes links for holiday turkeys, Caribbean rice and beans, and collard greens
Turkey recipes http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Food/Recipes/13-261-Turkey-Recipes.html
Traditional Rice and Beans Recipe:http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-puerto-rican-rice-and-beans-96710
Vegan Rice and Beans Recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=4551.0
Pork Seasoned Greens: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/collard_greens_with_bacon/
Healthier Southern Greens: http://www.healthyselfandhome.com/InTheKitchen.html
Monday, December 13, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: Remembering Mom's Fruit Cake

Fruit cake, recipe below
Traditional Fruit cake recipes: http://mbgoodman.tripod.com/fruitcakerecipes.html
Drunken fruit cake http://www.cookiesncandy.com/2010/03/drunken-fruit-cake/
Vegan and Gluten-free fruit cake: http://jeenaskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/02/moist-fruit-cake-recipe-gluten-free.html
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: The Brass People's “Greatest Religious Festival”

Curry goat served with fried plantains and a pasta salad, recipes below
Curry goat video recipe: http://www.vitalrecipe.com/view/2z1647wxl/the-ultimate-curry-goat-recipe/
Written curry goat recipe: http://recipes.caribseek.com/Jamaica/curry-goat.shtml
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: Three Culinary Contributions

Southern banana pudding, recipes below
Friday, December 10, 2010
Christmas Foodway Series: African Precursors in Lowcountry Carolina and Georgia

Rice pudding, recipes below
Quick rice pudding: http://www.weheartfood.com/2007/05/lisas-quick-rice-pudding.html
Vegan rice pudding: http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2010/03/veggie-might-vegan-rice-pudding-or-what.html


