Ronni Lundy’s TAO of Cornbread, Cornbread Salad, Appalachian Food and Drink event

S10:E21. 5/27/2023

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Ronni Lundy’s TAO of Cornbread, Cornbread Salad, Appalachian Food and Drink event

• James Beard Award-winning food writer Ronni Lundy lets us know how she makes her skillet cornbread that goes with a pot of soup beans. And she also shares with us what she calls her tao of cornbread.
• Food preservationist with deep family ties to the East TN mountains and mountain cooking Shannon Walker lets us know how he makes his cornbread and his thoughts on cast iron cookware and old ways.
• “Mountain Man”, Josh Lowans of Salubrious Farms, Walland, Knoxville, describes a Cornbread salad recipe that his better half Meagan makes and is his family's go-to recipe.
• Logan Hull shares news of an Appalachian Food and Drink event at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, in Townsend, TN, June 3, 2023.

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, Taste of the Smokies event: https://gsmheritagecenter.org/

Ronnie Lundy: http://www.ronnilundy.com/

Shannon Walker: On instagram @newChilhoweeVisions

Josh Lowans on instagram @ jlow_the_forage_bro

Josh Lowans’ wife Meagan’s recipe for cornbread salad:

Corn Bread Salad:

Ingredients:

1/2 pan day-old cornbread (Josh recommends using Benton's bacon lard rendered from an entire pound of Benton's bacon. Megan prefers to use Three Rivers Cornmeal)

• 2 - 3 really ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 can of pinto beans drained, not rinsed
• Fresh corn cut off of the cob
• Shredded cheese of your choice
• Ranch dip (make your own with herbs of your choice, sour cream, and mayonnaise)

To assemble, layer in this order:

• Crumble cornbread and place in the bottom of the serving container
• Layer pinto beans on top of the cornbread
• Layer cut corn over the beans
• Layer diced tomatoes over the corn
• The layer of ranch dressing
• The layer of bacon (use Benton's bacon if you can get it)
• Cheese on the top

Tips: Chill for 2 hours before serving Don't use pre-made ranch dressing; it is too runny. Instead, Josh Lowans recommends using ranch dip and making your own. He suggests making it thick so the cornbread won't become soggy. It looks pretty in a clear glass serving container.

There are countless recipes for homemade ranch dressing. Ingredients are Mayonnaise, Buttermilk, Sour Cream, Black Pepper, Salt, Garlic, and Onion; options include parsley, chives, and dill.

Amy Campbell and Ronni Lundy at Ronni’s apartment. Photo: Laura Pierpont. 2021.

Apple butter in Appalachia

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S9:E34. 10/01/2022

Apple butter in Appalachia

Today, we are setting the table with a traditional food of Appalachia, “Apple Butter.” Each year in the fall time of the Mountain South, you can find pockets of people who get together and cook down bushels of apples, sugar, and sometimes cinnamon into this biscuit slathering favorite. It is one of those old-fashioned foods that is still a favorite on dinner tables near and far and makes a favorite holiday gift. Almost as important as the final product is the sense of community and preservation of culinary traditions that these “Apple Butter makings” preserve. Our featured guest is Derek Blankenship, an Occupational Therapist at an East Tennessee long-term health and health care facility in East Tennessee. Derrick and his family keep a family tradition of making apple butter each year at this time of the year in Fall Branch, TN. The recipe that they use dates back to 1905. Fred Sauceman - Professor of Appalachian Studies, ETSU, Johnson City, Tennessee, with an audio essay on apple butter in the mountain south and sausage balls with apple butter.

Links:

Fred Sauceman: -https://www.facebook.com/fred.sauceman?fref=ts

Fall Branch Volunteer Fire Department: https://fallbranchvfd.org/

Green Beans and Canning Green Beans with Mary Alice Phillips, Friendsville, TN

S9.E23. 06/25/2022

Green Beans and Canning Green Beans with Mary Alice Phillips, Friendsville, TN

Today, we are setting the table with green beans and canning green beans. Our guest is Mary Alice Phillips. Mary is a descendant to the Walker sisters if you might be familiar with the Walker Sister Cabin in the Little Greenbriar area of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Mary will share wisdom on home canning of green beans, the types of beans that she prefers to use, white half runners and peanut beans, and some invaluable experience on the differences between water bath canning and tips on how to handle a pressure cooker. Dried apples, canning by the signs, canning blackberries, and what blackberries to use. Mary also shares wisdom on marriage.

Fred Sauceman’s audio essay features Bill Best, Seed saver and founder of the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center, Inc. Bill has saved over 300 types of green bean seed.

Bill Best: Seed saver, founder of the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center, Inc. http://www.heirlooms.org/

Food Historian Fred Sauceman (Who brought to us the Bill Best story): https://www.facebook.com/fred.sauceman

Amy Campbell with Mary Alice Harper on 2016. Photo: Amy Sawyer.

Beans Mary Alice Phillips canned. White half runners on the left and peanut beans on the right.

Mary Alice Phillips at her kitchen table with Amy. Photo: Amy Sawyer.

Cornbread and Cornbread Salad with Josh Lowans

S9:E19. 05/21/2022

Cornbread, Cornbread, Cornbread, and Cornbread Salad with Josh Lowans.

We are setting the table today with cornbread. I've assembled an all-star lineup of guests today to talk about this soul-satisfying staple.

• Karen Shankles has twice won first place at the annual National Cornbread Festival cook-off. Today, she shares her recipe for Festive Good Luck Corn Bread Skillet with us.
• James Beard Award-winning food writer Ronni Lundy lets us know how she makes her skillet cornbread that goes with a pot of soup beans. And she also shares with us what she calls her tao of cornbread.
• Food preservationist with deep family ties to the East TN mountains and mountain cooking Shannon Walker lets us know how he makes his cornbread and his thoughts on cast iron cookware and old ways.
• And “Mountain Man”, Josh Lowans of Salubrious Farms, Walland, Knoxville, describes a Cornbread salad recipe that his better half Meagan makes and is his family's go-to recipe.

Links:

Karen Shankles: She co-owns an accounting firm in Knoxville. Here is her Linkedin link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-shankles-45095054

Ronni Lundy: http://www.ronnilundy.com/

Adrian Miller: https://adrianemiller.com/about/meet-adrian/

Josh Lowans: On Instagram @joshlowans

Shannon Walker: On Instagram @newchilhoweevisions

National cornbread Festival: https://nationalcornbread.com/

Emi Sunshine (sings our theme song): https://theemisunshine.com/

Recipes:

Festive Good Luck Corn Bread Skillet. Karen Shankles shared this recipe that won the grand prize at the National Corn Bread Festival in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, in 2015. Link to Karen Shankle's prize-winning Festive Good Luck Cornbread Skillet recipe: https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/festive-good-luck-cornbread-skillet

Corn Bread Salad: This recipe is one that Josh Lowans shared with Amy. His wife Meagan makes this dish often for their family, and the recipe comes from her.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pan day-old cornbread (Josh recommends using Benton's bacon lard rendered from an entire pound of Benton's bacon. Megan prefers to use Three Rivers Cornmeal)
• 2 - 3 really ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 can of pinto beans drained, not rinsed
• Fresh corn cut off of the cob
• Shredded cheese of your choice
• Ranch dip (make your own with herbs of your choice, sour cream, and mayonnaise)

To assemble, layer in this order:

• Crumble cornbread and place in the bottom of the serving container
• Layer pinto beans on top of the cornbread
• Layer cut corn over the beans
• Layer the diced tomatoes over the corn
• Layer ranch dressing (homemade)
• Layer of bacon (use Benton's bacon if you can get it)
• Layer Cheese on the top

Tips:

• Chill for 2 hours before serving.
• Don't use pre-made ranch dressing; it is too runny. Instead, Josh Lowans recommends using ranch dip and making your own. He suggests making it thick so the cornbread won't become soggy.
• This salad looks pretty in a clear glass serving container.

Homemade Ranch Dressing - There are countless recipes for homemade ranch dressing. Ingredients are Mayonnaise, Buttermilk, Sour Cream, Black Pepper, Salt, Garlic, and Onion; options include parsley, chives, and dill.

Seed Saver John Coykendall on Cushaw Squash

Season 8, Episode 37. October 9, 2021.

Seed Saver John Coykendall on Cushaw Squash

In this episode my featured guest is Knoxville Native, seed saver, artist and farmer John Coykendall. John will let us know the origins, qualities,, and culinary uses of Cushaw squash. I (Amy Campbell) share a recipe from John's book for baked cushaw, courtesy of Mrs. Cornelia Weldon, mother of Sarah Weldon Hackenburg who took many of the photos for John Coykendall and Christina Melton’s book Preserving Our Roots: My Journey to Save Seed and Stories. Fred Sauceman, Food historian, Writer, and Professor of Appalachian Studies at ETSU shares a segment on the Native American origins of Cushaw squash.

Recipes below, please keep scrolling

Links: Link to find John Coykendall and Christina Melton’s book Preserving Our Roots: My Journey to Save Seed and Stories: https://www.abebooks.com/Preserving-Roots-Journey-Save-Seeds-Stories/31015307272/bd

Contact John Coykendall: If you would like to contact John Coykendall, please write an email to me, and I can provide you with his contact information. I just don’t want to put it on this website for security reasons. Please use this link: https://www.tennesseefarmtable.com/contact-us

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

Emi Sunshine (Sings our theme song): http://theemisunshine.com/

Cushaw Recipes:

Baked Cushaw:

This recipe with you for baked cushaw, this recipe comes from John Coykendall and Christina Melton’s book and it is courtesy of Mrs. Cornelia Weldon who is the mother of Sarah Weldon Hackenburg who took many of the photos for John Coykendall and Christina Melton’s Book Preserving Our Roots: My Journey to Save Seed and Stories

Here are the tools you will need:

• A vegetable peeler.
• A 3 quart shallow baking dish.

Here are the ingredients that you will need:

• 1 Medium Cushaw
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• Peel your cushaw. Cut it into quarters and scoop out the seeds. Cute the flesh into pieces and boil until tender. If you do not want to peel the cushaw, follow John Coykendall’s direction of softening up the flesh for cooking. Cut the cushaw in half. Scoop out the seed. Place each side down on a baking pan in the oven. Fill the pan with as much water as you can. Bake at 200 until the squash collapses. Scoop out the softened flesh. Some people blend it in a blender to make it smooth, or you can mash it with a potato masher to keep it a little chunky.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mash cooked cushaw and mix with remaining ingredients. Place in a 3-quart shallow baking dish and bake one hour. Serve warm.

Recipe for Cushaw Custard shared from Fred Sauceman

Prepare the cushaw: Peel your cushaw. Cut it into quarters and scoop out the seeds. Cute the flesh into pieces and boil until tender.

If you do not want to peel the cushaw, follow John Coykendall’s direction of softening up the flesh for cooking. Cut the cushaw in half. Scoop out the seed. Place each side down on a baking pan in the oven. Fill the pan with as much water as you can. Bake at 200 until the squash collapses. Scoop out the softened flesh. Some people blend it in a blender to make it smooth, or you can mash it with a potato masher to keep it a little chunky.

• 1 cup and a half of cooked cushaw
• 2 eggs
• 2Tb flour
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1 c milk

Mix and place in unbaked pie shell

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean

John Coykendall photographed in the backyard of his home in October of 2021. Credit: Amy Campbell