Columnist: Country cooking leads to many memorable flavors

Few things beat down home country-cooking.

Purple hull or crowder peas simmering on the stove, okra and tomatoes sizzling in the skillet and corn bread baking in the oven signal that good eating is ahead.

If this sounds country, it is. This is old-time eating when folks had a garden full of vegetables and knew how to prepare the fresh produce.

While country-cooking is simple in preparation, it is long on flavor. This is a low and slow method of cooking.

Home cooks can employ family members to help shell peas or cut up okra and tomatoes. Children and grandchildren enjoy shelling peas. It is an activity the whole family can do together.

If shelling peas is not home cook’s way, U-pick farms and farmers’ markets have shelled peas for sale.

Summer is the perfect time to hit these farms and markets for a variety of fresh vegetables.

What happens when a home cook does not know what to do with these veggies? Maybe they do not know how to cook them. Therein lies a problem.

Cooking fresh veggies is not brain surgery, but home cooks need to put flavor into the produce. Peas without seasoning do not taste good. Okra and tomatoes would be totally acidic without seasoning.

Step into the kitchen for country cooking 101.

First things first. Fresh shelled peas whether done in house or by farmers need to be washed thoroughly. In a saucepan, place 3 to 4 slices of bacon or turkey bacon if home cooks prefer not to use pork. Add ½ cup of chopped onion and let cook along with the bacon until transparent. Pour off most of bacon dripping. Add peas and water to cover. Season with salt and pepper. Tony Chachere’s or Zydeco Fire Seasoning Dust adds spice and a little sweetness to the peas.

Adding pieces of okra to the peas is not necessary, but certainly does taste good. Add okra slices or small pods to pan while bacon and onion is cooking. This keeps okra from being slimy.

Bring peas to a boil, and then let simmer until soft and tender. This can take about an hour or less.

While peas are cooking, start preparing the okra and tomatoes. Chop okra into 1/2-inch pieces. Chop tomatoes and 1/2 onion into bite-size pieces. Keeping pieces similar in size allows vegetables to cook at the same time and not have pieces that are not cooked enough.

To a skillet, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, or if using bacon or turkey bacon, use drippings and chop bacon into bite-size pieces. When hot, add onions and cook until translucent, but do not burn.

Stir okra into onions and let cook to de-slime the okra. Add chopped tomatoes and let juice of tomatoes help cook okra. Can add a little water if too dry. Season with salt, pepper to taste and, again, Tony Chachere’s or Zydeco Fire Seasoning Dust, a seasoning made in New Orleans and contains no monosodium glutamate (MSG).

(Note: Zydeco seasoning is available online at www.zydecofire.com/ , zydecofire@yahoo.com/ or by mail from Saurage EENT., LLC, 728 Dublin St., New Orleans, 70118.)

Cornbread is easy to make. Home cooks can make their own mixture or buy ready-made cornbread mix at the supermarket. Some people do not like sweet cornbread, so leave the sugar out if preferred. Do you use white or yellow cornmeal? Depends on what is liked.

Some cooks use a seasoned cast-iron skillet for cornbread, but any 8 or 9-inch cake or pie pan will work.

Southern style cornbread

2 cups self-rising yellow cornmeal, medium- or course-ground

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 large egg

3 tablespoons of cooking oil

1 tablespoon of butter (for cast-iron skillet, if using)

First, preheat oven. It needs to be a hot 400 degrees to get the right texture. If you are using a cast-iron skillet, put some butter in the center and stick it in the oven. After it melts, make sure the entire bottom of the pan is covered with butter.

Next, mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make sure you blend them thoroughly. Then mix the wet ingredients in a medium-size bowl. The egg, milk and oil need to be well blended to have consistency throughout the cornbread.

Now, pour wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until everything is blended. Your batter will be very thick, which is what you want. Pull the skillet our of oven and pour the batter into it, leveling as you go. If using a regular baking pan, spray with a nonstick spray and pour batter into it.

Return skillet or pan to the oven and cook for about 18 minutes or until the top turns a light golden brown.

Remove cornbread from oven and place on a trivet or potholder. Let stand 5 minutes. Slice and serve with butter. – From www.southernhomeexpress.com/

Good pie crust recipe

Nancy Freeman of Long Beach would like a good pie crust recipe, one that works every time. Readers, I know some of you still make your own pie crusts. Please share your recipes or even your grandmother’s recipes.

Email change

Due to changes being made by Sparklight cable company, I have had to change my e-mail to ayeager51@gmail.com/ . My old e-mail address will not exist after Aug. 12.

This story was originally published July 18, 2021 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Columnist: Country cooking leads to many memorable flavors."