A Visit to Old Salem & the Days of Pigtail Stew

Grandparents on both sides endured hard times and lived by a motto: “Waste not, want not.” But I wonder if they ever filled their bellies with pigtail stew? If so, they never mentioned it. Pigtail stew was unknown to me until I encountered it in North Carolina and Old Salem Cookery, a collection of commentary and recipes that I very much enjoyed reading. 

At the Hearth in Old Salem

   Old Salem is a historic district of Winston-Salem, NC, where museums and restorations preserve links to the founding Moravians, a Protestant sect established long ago in the Czech Republic. Moravian missionaries apparently liked what they found in North Carolina and sent a “Y’all come!” message back home, encouraging settlers.

   But back to pigtail stew. “We grew up on foods now called soul foods because they were the foods available to keep body and soul together,” according to the author, Elizabeth Hedgecock Sparks. (She was well known by her pen name, Beth Tartan, as food editor of the Winston-Salem Journal. She was winner of many honors and awards). 

   Her interpretation of the term “soul food” might provoke an argument in some circles these days. But I know what she means: The book brims with down-home recipes that originated in country kitchens of long ago – Sparks’ version of “soul food.” 

   Pigtail stew of course traces to those good old days when all parts of the pig were put to use.

   If you were to research the matter on the Internet you would find pigtail stew identified as a Jamaican dish, but in this book it is given as a regional recipe “from an old Negro cook,” delivered in vernacular – which might be judged a cultural slight these days. It is necessary to keep in mind that the book was written back in the 1950s, a different world. 

   The book has been updated several times, quite possibly the most recent edition frames the recipe in modern terms. (It does appear that an updated paperback version was issued in the 1990s; I haven’t seen it. My copy dates to 1972).

   I’ve hunted high and low for a pigtail stew recipe in plain English that would qualify as regional to North Carolina and not a Caribbean dish, but no luck. Somehow, I don’t think it is a great loss. I can’t imagine that many readers are truly hankering for a big plate of pigtails.

   Recipes in the book aren’t limited to Old Salem by any means, though most recipes appear to originate in the Piedmont area of the state. However, the author points out the wide range of cooking styles from the Eastern coast to its Western mountains. For instance, along the coast, which is more Southern oriented, the primary bread would likely have been cornbread. Out to the West, in the mountainous Appalachian area, the bread was more likely biscuits or muffins. Of course both breads were common to both sections, but she is pointing out the more dominant dish for each area. 

   The book is chocked full of stews and chowders, plus lots of Old Salem and North Carolina culinary history. There are excellent depictions of old time kitchens. 

   Livestock, game and seafood are given good coverage, as is wild and tame vegetable produce. References are not just passing remarks but, quite often, extensive and thorough commentary on the subject at hand.

   Some Native American dishes are mentioned, such as fried grasshoppers. A claim is made that Europeans first discovered potatoes being cultivated by Indians of North Carolina, though Peru seems to have a stronger claim.

   Overall the book passes on a portrait of a time when people believed in gathering from near and far to share a meal because “those who break bread together are united in fellowship” – a ritual that still exists as church and community suppers but is increasingly rare.

   A sampling of the book is available on line, here.

Would Grandpa Be Comfortable With This Menu?

Please pass the couscous?

I'm not a big fan of couscous. To me, couscous is what is left of an old log after termites are done chewing it up. 

   But surely the authors of the Tupelo Honey Café cookbook would argue this point -- because they believe a dolled-up couscous concoction is among “new southern flavors from the Blue Ridge mountains.”

   We are talking about the same Blue Ridge Mountains near where I was born in Appalachia? There are flavors there, all right, traditional flavors that inspired songs about cornmeal baked into hoe cakes, possums cooked golden brown, and illegal whiskey made in copper kettles hidden  back up among the mountain laurels.  

   But this Café isn’t particularly into that sort of thing. Yes, we get an introduction going on and on about plain, wholesome mountain foodstuffs passed down through generations, but what follows are recipes such as “Sunny Orange and Cilantro Couscous.”

   Now, my grandmother was raised on a farm and in later years she supervised a kitchen that fed a herd of high school students in my northern Appalachian mountain hometown. My guess is, she might recognize 25 percent of the recipes in this book, and I’m including ordinary gravies and common fruit pies in that assessment.

   Unrecognizables would include Vegetarian Appalachian Cassoulet. Although, I admit, she would be familiar with the ingredients – navy beans, mushrooms, carrots, onions, celery and a few other common supermarket items.

   Now, I’m not dissing these Tupelo dishes, exactly. Some are probably pretty darn good. But do they really pass muster as new southern flavors from the Blue Ridge Mountains? Grandma would say they’re from a foreign country: Guinea Hen with Blueberry Zinfandel, Jalepeno-Bacon Moonshine, Gruyere and Sage Corn Casserole, Deep-Fried Macaroni and Cheese with Tomato Jam and Red Onion Marmalade, Chicken with Blueberry Vinaigrette, Savory Herbed Pancakes with Smoked Trout and Tomato Concasse,  or how about Pistachio Crusted Sea Bass with Tomato Curry Broth?

   I did recognize a name, Frogmore Stew, which is covered elsewhere in these pages. The recipe given in the book is fairly much akin to the one I wrote about from My Recipes. The Tupelo chefs add scallops, V8 juice and some extra seasonings. So, I’m saying there are someregular more or less down-home recipes. Some.

   From a promo piece for the book: “Heralding in its own unique style of cuisine representative of the New South, the Tupelo Honey Cafe salutes the love of Southern traditions at the table, but like the people of Asheville, marches to its own drum.” Now, what does that say, exactly? Seems to me it says they’ve borrowed some down-home words but the food is what the chef dreams up.

   Tupelo Honey Café is a very popular chain founded in Asheville NC. It subsequently spread throughout the south and is now nationwide. From what I’ve read, wait times of hours are typical, at least in Asheville – a site that is now expanding to meet demand. 

   One of the cookbook authors, Brian Sonoskus, founding chef, has left Tupelo and is now holding forth in an Asheville diner. He says he wanted to control the menu, so perhaps he had some differences with the Tupelo honchos. In an interview I saw, he seems to favor typical steaks and chops, but has interests in a vegan/vegetarian direction as well. Meanwhile Tupelo seems headed in some sort of new wave direction – as an indication there’s an addition to the menu since publication of the book -- the Grateful Dead Black Bean Burger. And then there is Herbed Panko Fish Risotto, another new one. 

   The chef who has taken over for Sonoskus is introducing new items like Venison with Foie Gras Dirty Rice. I had to double-check foi gras – it is made from the livers of young force-fed ducks or geese. Chef says it is a good example of the type of “playful, elevated Southern food” he's interested in introducing. 

   Well, I’m a long way from being cured of my ideas about Appalachian cuisine, learned at grandma’s table. And I don’t think I’d go to Tupelo Honey Café looking for that old-time country-style goodness. You know what I mean? I’m talking about a whole smokehouse ham, creamy mashed potatoes and gravy in a boat, serving dishes piled with garden vegetables, sweet cornbread and real butter ... homemade apple pie.

A Taste of Caribbean: Various Versions of Pepperpot

Simon Abrams - Pepperpot

Pepperpot is also called a soup, though the kitchen-made version is certainly more stewy than soupy. The soup version is found in cans and was an element in Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s soup can painting. In true form it is a popular Caribbean meal and the national dish of Guyana. The name comes via the fiery Scotch bonnet pepper. As you may know, Scotch bonnet has about ten times the whack of the more popular Jalepeno. 

   Let’s start with a modified version of the Guyana recipe suited to US grocery shopping. It is not quick and easy but rather an involved version and takes up to four hours to concoct.

   Another possibility is a very simple Guyanese version featuring goat as well as beef, seeming almost a barbecue. Very nicely illustrated.

 

Browsing the Cookbook Collection: Selections from Three

THE QUESTION OF BOUILLABAISSE: R.W. Apple Jr. was a legendary international correspondent for The New York Times, and he was fond of food. So he wrote a book, "Far Flung and Well Fed," published in 2009, in which are collected his stories taking us on a tour of many of the restaurants he visited. Stops include the fancy and the back alley eateries of North and South America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Europe, and Asia and Australia. Much attention is devoted to bouillabaisse, to which Apple affords a full chapter including a recipe. He comments: "Controversy clings to bouillabaisse like barnacles to a ship. Is it a soup? Perhaps not, because the broth and the solids are eaten separately. Is it a stew? Perhaps not, because a stew by definition is cooked very slowly, and bouillabaisse must be boiled furiously to achieve an amalgamation of olive oil with water and wine. It is best described as a fish boil ..."

   Here is Apple's recipe.

PINEAPPLE BEEF STEW? Although Grandma was a stickler for convention, I think she might have tried this one. I found it in a 1985 cookbook put together by the PTA of Mabel Rush elementary school in Newberg OR. It is an interesting recipe that is both basic and unique, including brown sugar and pineapple chunks, no potatoes. It calls for a cup each of carrots, onion and tomato sauce. A pound and half of stew meat browned in cooking oil. A quarter cup of vinegar, same of brown sugar, 4t cornstarch added to 1/2 cup water. One tablespoon Worcestershire. After all has thickened add 20 oz. can of pineapple, heat through and serve.

A FAMOUS OYSTER STEW: What America Eats by Clementine Paddleford is a classic cookbook from the 1960s that starts in New England and traverses the whole country, region by region, offering anecdotes along the way as well as local recipes. She spent 12 years compiling the book.

   One of Paddleford’s stops that I found interesting was the Grand Central Station Oyster Bar in New York City, responsible for the consumption of some 25,000 oysters per day in season. Near as popular as oysters on the half shell, Paddleford says, was the stew. She modifies a recipe for home consumption:

   Oyster Stew:

   28 oysters, 6T butter, 2t Worcestershire sauce, ½ t celery salt, ½ t paprika, 1 cup oyster liquor, 1 cup milk, 1 cup light cream, salt to taste. Pick over the oysters for shell bits, melt 4T butter in a saucepan, add Worcestershire, celery salt and paprika, then oysters, bring to a simmer, add liquor, bring to a boil, add milk and cream, give a few stirs, return almost to boil, put in bowls, add a dot of butter.

Legendary Author Mark Twain Favored Southern Cooking

Mark Twain dearly loved New Orleans cuisine, dating to his river boat captain days. But he may never have sampled Cajun, the country style half of "Cajun Creole," which would include many one-pot stews. That is according to Andrew Beahrs in his book, "Twain's Feasts."
   In Twain's day, the Cajuns, exiles from Canada, resided far from the cities, their wondrous culinary concoctions little known beyond the sloughs and bayous.
   Creole, on the other hand, is the food of the city, according to Beahrs. The tendency is toward a more delicate, African-influenced cuisine, though it does feature gumbos. Creole "was what Mark Twain ate while in town."
 

A Visit to Old Salem & the Days of Pigtail Stew

At the hearth in Old Salem

Grandparents on both sides endured hard times and lived by a motto: “Waste not, want not.” But I wonder if they ever filled their bellies with pigtail stew? If so, they never mentioned it. Pigtail stew was unknown to me until I encountered it in North Carolina and Old Salem Cookery, a collection of commentary and recipes that I very much enjoyed reading.

   Old Salem is a historic district of Winston-Salem, NC, where museums and restorations preserve links to the founding Moravians, a Protestant sect established long ago in the Czech Republic. Moravian missionaries apparently liked what they found in North Carolina and sent a “Y’all come!” message back home, encouraging settlers.

   But back to pigtail stew. “We grew up on foods now called soul foods because they were the foods available to keep body and soul together,” according to the

Home on the Range with Cowboy Stew

Two-Bar Chuck Wagon (National Archives)

Every cowboy movie, it seemed, had a few rowdy saloon scenes, indicating there were a lot of stewed cowboys. But no doubt this recipe stems for their working days, not time spent drinking up their wages in the saloon.

   The ingredients would crowd up a saddle bag, so I assume the recipe traces to the days of long cattle drives and chuck wagons. Or quite possibly it is a modern fantasy version of cowboy fare. 

   For reasons that elude me, Cowboy Stew recipes usually call for ground beef, while Chuck Wagon Stew recipes mostly want cubed beef.

   There are myriad concoctions called Cowboy Stew, it is a popular recipe title. Ingredients of course vary. This recipe features ground beef and kidney beans, among other ingredients, and would probably delight any hungry cowpoke.