SlickTony
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- May 25, 2002
- Posts
- 6,344
The only slightly non-traditional thing about the dinner was the entree. A while back a guy I go to church with had shot a wild sow, after which he recollected that he had never been able to cook wild pork so it came out tender; but not wanting to come home empty-handed, seeing as he had scared off all the deer he'd come out for in the first place, he cut off two if its legs and gave them to me. They were frozen and I re-wrapped them to preserve them from freezer burn.
Then I went to one of my coworkers whose mother in law is really country and has eaten practically everything, including possum and squirrel. She consulted with her MIL and got back to me. She said I should soak the wild ham in cider vinegar overnight, and then rinse it; then stab it full of garlic cloves and marinate it in something like Allegro, which was supposed to be good for game. So I did that. It came out Ok, but when when it was time to do the other leg, I decided to marinate it in mojo criollo. After the leg had been rinsed and stabbed full of garlic cloves, it was placed in a bag with lots of mojo criollo and refrigerated overnight.
On New Year's Day, I took it out and put it in a roasting pan under foil, and baked it for a few hours at 325, while I went about the rest of my business.
I made the traditional blackeyed peas, which I made in a quite ordinary way, flavored with ham hocks. I also cooked collard greens.
My last attempt at cooking collard greens was almost 30 years ago, and at that time I didn't know any better than to treat them like spinach, so of course they were bitter and so tough they had to be cut with a knife. I stayed away from them for several years after that, but when earlier in the week I was in Publix getting the blackeyed peas, I saw where bags of prewashed, pre-cut collards were going 2 for 1, I decided that it was ridiculous for a southern woman to allow herself to be defeated by collards, so I bought some of those, too.
I should say here that although I was raised in the south, have never lived any further north than Monroe, LA and don't know from, and don't wish to deal with, snow, ice, home heating oil, mud rooms, and having to move my car from one side of the street to the other every day, I was not raised as a southern cook. My parents came to Texas from Nebraska and spent their first years being appalled at their surroundings.
So my husband asked me what had possessed me to buy collards when I didn't know how to cook them. But this time I did the research and they came out just great, just like they were supposed to. I flavored them with a smoked turkey wing and salt and pepper. I think next time I'll put garlic--one of my bus buddies, who had said he was going to email me his grandmother's recipe and then forgot, recommended it.
The wild pork turned out great; the mojo criollo worked far better than the Allegro I had used last time. It helps that mojo criollo is such a great, useful, all-purpose marinade and sauce; I submit that an old shoe cooked in it would taste ok. The wild pork tasted much better than an old shoe. Today I took some to my coworker who had advised me on how to cook it. She tasted it and said it was totally delicious; in fact, she was going to take out the meat she'd put in the sandwich she'd brought for her lunch and put the wild pork in it instead.
We also had cornbread muffins with the dinner. I've got leftovers from everything I cooked for New Years Day, but the muffins got killed by the end of the meal.
But as far as southern cooking, I do know what my limitations are. Whenever I do chicken fried steak my breading tends to fall off and I've decided to leave that to the pros.
Then I went to one of my coworkers whose mother in law is really country and has eaten practically everything, including possum and squirrel. She consulted with her MIL and got back to me. She said I should soak the wild ham in cider vinegar overnight, and then rinse it; then stab it full of garlic cloves and marinate it in something like Allegro, which was supposed to be good for game. So I did that. It came out Ok, but when when it was time to do the other leg, I decided to marinate it in mojo criollo. After the leg had been rinsed and stabbed full of garlic cloves, it was placed in a bag with lots of mojo criollo and refrigerated overnight.
On New Year's Day, I took it out and put it in a roasting pan under foil, and baked it for a few hours at 325, while I went about the rest of my business.
I made the traditional blackeyed peas, which I made in a quite ordinary way, flavored with ham hocks. I also cooked collard greens.
My last attempt at cooking collard greens was almost 30 years ago, and at that time I didn't know any better than to treat them like spinach, so of course they were bitter and so tough they had to be cut with a knife. I stayed away from them for several years after that, but when earlier in the week I was in Publix getting the blackeyed peas, I saw where bags of prewashed, pre-cut collards were going 2 for 1, I decided that it was ridiculous for a southern woman to allow herself to be defeated by collards, so I bought some of those, too.
I should say here that although I was raised in the south, have never lived any further north than Monroe, LA and don't know from, and don't wish to deal with, snow, ice, home heating oil, mud rooms, and having to move my car from one side of the street to the other every day, I was not raised as a southern cook. My parents came to Texas from Nebraska and spent their first years being appalled at their surroundings.
So my husband asked me what had possessed me to buy collards when I didn't know how to cook them. But this time I did the research and they came out just great, just like they were supposed to. I flavored them with a smoked turkey wing and salt and pepper. I think next time I'll put garlic--one of my bus buddies, who had said he was going to email me his grandmother's recipe and then forgot, recommended it.
The wild pork turned out great; the mojo criollo worked far better than the Allegro I had used last time. It helps that mojo criollo is such a great, useful, all-purpose marinade and sauce; I submit that an old shoe cooked in it would taste ok. The wild pork tasted much better than an old shoe. Today I took some to my coworker who had advised me on how to cook it. She tasted it and said it was totally delicious; in fact, she was going to take out the meat she'd put in the sandwich she'd brought for her lunch and put the wild pork in it instead.
We also had cornbread muffins with the dinner. I've got leftovers from everything I cooked for New Years Day, but the muffins got killed by the end of the meal.
But as far as southern cooking, I do know what my limitations are. Whenever I do chicken fried steak my breading tends to fall off and I've decided to leave that to the pros.
