Sidekicks - Western Side Dishes
Just imagine...Out of 27.935 million hopefuls you are
chosen to be the next contestant on the new reality cooking show "Holiday Civil War Era Side Dishes with
Celebrities". It's just you and
Rachel Ray pitted against Stonewall Jackson and Bobby Lee. Rachel has gone blank, the pressure is on,
your mother is watching. Quick, dash
into the dressing room and confer with that mysterious caped Christmas culinary
crusader, the Poinsettia Avenger. The winning answer. "sagamite" and so
it is, another real life problem solved by our hero.
But in case sagamite is not your cup of
tea here are some other tasty options (recipes follow):
Candied Sweet Potatos
Celery Sauce
Potatos a la Parisienne
Calf's Head Soup
Potato Herb Salad
Peas and Bacon
Braised Celery
Sagamite
Mountain Man Beaver Soup
Navajo Blue Bread
Hangtown Fry
Pop's Rattlesnake
(There are quite a few old recipes in
this section, remember the date if known is under the name and presented the way I found it, no changes have
been made to old recipes)
Candied Sweet-Potatoes
1890
Steam the sweet potatoes until perfectly
done, and peel them. Have ready two teacupfuls of sugar boiled into a syrup,
with one and a half teacupful of water. It should be like the syrup of
preserves. When removed from the fire, but still warm, stir into it a very
heaping tablespoonful of nice butte
Slice the potatoes into a baking-pan that
will hold them without being quite full. Pour over them the syrup, put extra
bits of butter about on top of them, and set them in the stove to bake. Now and
then tilt the pan and dip up and pour over the potatoes some of the syrup. Do
not let the top get dry. Bake rather slowly for about an hour and a half. Serve
in the pan in which it is baked and send to the table hot.
Celery Sauce
1831
Wash and pare a large Bunch of Celery
very clean, cut it into little Bits, and boil it softly till it is tender; add
half a Pint of Cream, some Mace, Nutmeg, and a small Piece of Butter rolled in
Flour; then boil it gently. This is a good Sauce for roasted or boiled Fowls,
Turkeys, Partridges, or any other Game.
Potatoes A La Parisienne
1890
Take one pound of well boiled, mealy
potatoes-weighed after being cooked-and pass them through a fine wire sieve-a
utensil which ought to be found in every kitchen. Season the pulp with salt and
pepper, moisten it with one ounce of butter, one beaten egg, and two
tablespoons of cream, and flavor it with either chopped parsley, or
finely-minced onion, which ever flavor happens to be preferred. When all ingredients have been well mixed,
divide the preparation into small equal- sized portions; form these into neat
little pyramid shapes, brush the surface of each with beaten egg , sprinkle
with fine, brown raspings, place carefully on a baking- tin and bake in
moderate oven until the pyramids are quite heated through. Arrange carefully on a hot dish-paper,
sprinkle the tops very lightly with finely
minced parsley, and serve hot, accompanied, if desired, by some rich
brown gravy in a tureen; but the dish, which is a most delicious one, is
generally preferred dry.
Mock Turtle or Calf's Head Soup
1876
Lay one large calf's head well cleaned
and washed, and four pig's feet, in bottom of a large pot, and cover with a
gallon of water; boil three hours, or until flesh will slip from bones; take
out head, leaving feet to be boiled steadily while the meat is cut from the
head; select with care enough of the fatty portions in the top of the head and
cheeks to fill a tea-cup, and set aside to cool; remove brains into saucer, and
also set aside; chop the rest of the meat with the tongue very fine, season
with salt, pepper, powdered marjoram and thyme, a tea-spoon of cloves, one of
mace, half as much allspice and grated nutmeg. When the flesh falls from the
bones of the feet, take out the bones, leaving the gelatinous meat; boil all
together slowly, without removing the cover, for two hours more, take the soup
from the fire and set it away until the next day. An hour before dinner set the
stock over the fire, and when it boils strain carefully and drop in the meat
reserved, which should have been cut, when cold, into small squares. Have these
all ready as well as the force-meat balls, to prepare which rub the yolks of
five hard-boiled eggs to a paste in a wedgewood mortar, or in a bowl with the
back of a silver spoon, adding gradually the brains to moisten them, also a
little butter and salt. Mix with these, two eggs beaten very light, flour the
hands and make this paste into balls about the size of a pigeon's egg; throw
them into the soup five minutes before taking it from the fire; stir in a large
table-spoon browned flour rubbed smooth in a little cold water, and finish by
the seasoning by
the addition of a glass and a half of
sherry or Madeira wine, and the juice of a lemon. It should not boil more than
half an hour on the second day. Serve with sliced lemons.
One can see where attention to detail can
mean so much, is it not the addition of the sliced lemons that really makes
this dish so enticing?
Potato Herb Salad
6-7 medium potatoes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cupp onion finely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons shallots finely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic finely chopped
fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup parsley chopped
salt
1-2 teaspoons hot green chilis
chopped 1/2 teaspoon tarragon
Put potatoes in large saucepan, cover
with cold water. Bring to boil and simmer
until fork tender. Peel potatoes when
they are just cool enough to handle, cut into slices.
Combine remaining ingredients in large
bowl gently stir in potatoes.
Peas and Bacon
1 cup cooked peas
2 slices bacon
1/2 cup sour cream
fresh ground pepper
Cut the bacon into small strips and fry
until crisp. Pour off part of the fat, leaving about 2 tablespoons. Add the cooked
drained peas and heat; then add enough sour cream to make a covering sauce. Do
not boil. Add pepper to taste.
Braised Celery
12 stalks celery,cut into 2"
lenghths
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion,finely chopped
2 carrots diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 ripe tomato,peeled,seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Preheat oven 325
Simmer the celery in salted water for 5
minutes. Drain and place in shallow baking dish. Add all the chopped
ingredients except chopped tomato and parsley Cover and cook in preheated oven
for 45 minutes. Add the tomato and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove
from oven garnish with parsley.
Sagamite
(old civil war recipe)
Basically hominy grits or cornmeal which
is boiled until cooked (about 1/2 hour).
Dried meat or fish were added, and then
seasoned with drippings or sunflower oil. Squash when in season, was another
addition.
Mountain Man Beaver Soup
Beaver tail and bones
2 medium potatoes
2 cups cooked hominy
1 medium onion
Remove the tail skin*. Put broken leg
bones and tail (which has been cut in peices) in a kettle with enough water to
cover and simmer half an hour covered. Add the cooked
hominy, onion and potatoes then cover and
simmer for 30 more minutes.
*How to skin a beaver tail:
Impale beaver tail on a sharp stick and
broil over hot coals,
the hide will blister and come off, it is
then ready to be boiled or roasted.
Navajo Blue Bread
1800's
2 cups finely ground blue cornmeal
2 tablespoons juniper ashes (I don't know
if this is the same juniper
that we use in our yards, I'd substitute
with a few juniper berries from
the spice section of your supermarket)
1 cup boiling water
pinch of salt
Place juniper ashes in a bowl and add the
boing water Stir mixture then strain. Now add the water to the cornmeal to make
the dough. Roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and flatten into a
cake. Bake on greased griddle for 10 minutes on each side.
Hangtown Fry
1849
Legend says that a miner from a
California gold town called Shirttail
Bend wandered into the Cary Hose Hotel in
Hangtown and demanded to have the most expensive meal they had. Eggs and
Oysters were the most costly ingredients they had at the time so the cook came
up with this little recipe.
1 dozen small oysters
flour seasoned with salt and pepper
1 egg beaten
cracker crumbs
butter
8 eggs
Dry the oysters on a towel. Dip each in
seasoned flour then in beaten egg, then in cracker
crumbs. Fry in butter until crumbs are
brown. Beat the 8 eggs, pour into frying pan where oysters remain. Cook until
firm then flop over and cook other side.
Pop's Rattlesnake
1 Rattlesnake
heavily salted brine
bacon fat or butter
flour or cornmeal
Cut off head and tail. Insert sharp knife
in the vent and make a slit along the whole underside. Peel off skin. Remove
thread,entrails and dark line along spine by scraping
Cut into 3-4" pieces, place in
brine. Put a weighted plate on top to keep submerged, let set for 3 days Remove
from brine wash and dry well Roll in flour or cornmeal.Fry in bacon fat or
butter until fork tender