S10:E26. 07/01/2023

Recipes for Cobblers, Jam, and Pie from Fruits of the Season (Recipes are at the bottom of the page; keep scrolling)

We are setting the table with Recipes for Cobblers, Jam, and Pie made from fruits of the season. Guests include:

Farmers Susan and John Keller have been farming in Blount County, TN, on their family farm in continuous operation since 1890. UT Extension awarded John Keller Tennessee Farmer of the Year in 2014. Susan Keller shares a recipe for Miss Lily’s Blackberry Cobbler. This recipe comes from her Grandmother (Lilian Bays Hitch).
Dee Dee Constantine (happily retired former food writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel) sets us straight on all of the terminology used in the arena of cobblers. She examines culinary terms such as brown Betty, cobblers, buckles, crisps, grunts, and slumps.
I (Amy Campbell) share a recipe for Blackberry Jam from that classic “Minnie Pearl Cooks” cookbook.
And an encore Farm and Fun-Time Heirloom Recipe segment recorded during the Farm and Fun Time Program at Radio Bristol - from storyteller Toni Doman sharing memories and her Grandmother’s recipe for cherry pie.

Links:

John and Susan Keller (Kelmont Farms) Phone (865) 983-2174

Mary “Dee Dee” Constantine: https://www.instagram.com/Skilletsister/?hl=en

Minnie Pearl Cooks Cookbook: https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/cooks/author/pearl-minnie/

Toni Dorman at Radio Bristol: https://birthplaceofcountrymusic.org/about/bcm-staff-and-board/

Emi Sunshine (arranged and sang our theme song when she was 9 years of age!): https://theemisunshine.com/

Recipes:

Susan Keller’s recipe for Miss Lily’s Blackberry Cobbler. This recipe comes from her Grandmother (Lilian Bays Hitch).

Ingredients:

1 c self-rising flour
1 c sugar
1 c milk
1 stick butter (melt this in a 9x13 pan)

Directions:

Mix flour, sugar, and milk until smooth.
Pour this batter over the melted butter in the pan
Place on top of all this about a quart of blackberries. (Use fresh, frozen, prepared filling)
Bake at 350 degrees (about 30 minutes) until set. *Use any fruit you want to

Recipe for Blackberry Grunt Slump provided by Dee Dee Constantine.

Ingredients:

4 c fresh berries, or frozen berries, defrosted, drained.
1 c All-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 T sugar
2 T butter
1/3 c whole milk

To make the dumplings:

Wisk flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together in a medium size bowl.
Cut the butter into small cubes. Add to the flower. Using your hands, or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a coarse meal.
Add milk, stir just until it is moist, form the mixture into a ball, and set to the side.
Put berries in a 2-quart saucepan. Add 1/2 to 3/4 c sugar, depending on how sweet the berries are and how sweet you want your dessert.
Add 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp. lemon zest, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/3 c water.
Heat this mixture over medium-high heat until it starts to boil. Stir a few times to be sure all berries are covered with sauce.
Take your dumpling dough and tear it off into spoon size chunks of dough (about 6) and drop these onto your berries.
Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and let it simmer for about 25 minutes. Do not peek inside the pot while cooking because you will let the steam out.
Serve hot or cold with toppings of your choice.

Blackberry Jam from Minnie Pearl Cooks

Ingredients: 9 cups blackberries 6 cups sugar

Directions:

Wash and drain berries. Combine berries and sugar
Slowly bring to a boil.
Cook until the mixture almost reaches the jelly point.
Spread in a shallow pan.
Let stand until cool or overnight.

*If the syrup is too thick, reheat and add boiling water, 1/4 cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached. If the syrup is too thin, cook again until desired consistency is reached. Pour into hot, sterilized jars and process for 20 minutes in a hot water bath. Or, follow directions for a hot water bath using the Ball Blue Book. I use the Ball Blue book for all my canning directions. Makes 3 - 4 pints.

Wild Tennessee blackberries from the Author’s home.. Photo: Amy Campbell.

S9:E17. 05/07/2022

Today, we set the table with some good food and memories in honor of Mother’s Day. First, we’ll visit Mary Lynn Snyder, who shares memories of growing up in the R.C. Tway coal mining camp outside Harlan, KY. Then, she’ll share her Mother Ruby’s cooking ways and a recipe for “Mama Ruby’s Creamy Lemon Pie.” Also on the program - Fred’s Sauceman shares a lovely audio essay in memory of his late mother-in-law, Elsie Maddux Derting. And I share a story and recipe about my late mother, Edwena Janie Clayton, Mississippi, and kilt salad for supper.

Fred Sauceman: https://www.facebook.com/fred.sauceman

Recipes:

“Mama Ruby’s Creamy Lemon Pie” from Mary Lynn Snyder

Ingredients:

8-9 inch baked pastry shell, can use grab cracker crust
Three egg yolks (reserve the egg whites if making meringue)
14 oz can of Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk (Ruby used Pet brand)
1/2 c. real lemon juice from concentrate
a dab of yellow food coloring
2 cups of whipped topping (Ruby used meringue)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks with milk and lemon juice, and add a little food coloring
Pour into the pastry shell
Bake for 30 minutes, cool, and top with whipped topping *If using meringue, top with meringue before placing it in the oven to cook. Refrigerate before serving, and refrigerate leftovers.

Kilt Salad:

Ingredients:

A “mess” of Fresh greens. The term “mess” refers to the amount you would use for your family. A family of 4 with a hearty appetite would need about a 1/2 a paper bag full of fresh greens. These cook down to roughly a 6th of their size, so it takes a good amount. These greens can be any greens you can find. Dandelion, lambs quarters, spinach, kale, young poke, collards, etc. Most watery lettuces are too soggy, so I use a more hearty green. Do not use frozen. Triple wash the fresh greens. If you use collard greens or kale, remove the large spines from the leaves. Chop the greens. Try to get the water off of them as well as you can with a salad spinner or a colander. If you still have some water on them, it is ok; they do not need to be super dry. But, if you have standing water in your pot of greens, pour that off.
1 pack of bacon fried crisp, drained, and crumbled. Reserve the grease in the pan, and keep the grease hot.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Hard boil six eggs, peel, and slice.

Directions:

In a large bowl, place the chopped greens.
Pour the hot bacon grease all over the greens (about 1/2 cup)
Toss the greens and bacon fat very quickly to cover all of the greens and to “kill” the greens.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Top with crumbled bacon.
Serve with hot cornbread, vinegar, and sliced boiled eggs.

This recipe comes from watching my Grandmother (Mildred May of Jackson, Mississippi) prepare this in her kitchen.