Cooking

Backcountry Cuisine: Livermush

2009-11-20T00:21:28Z

Odd and unusual foods in the Southern Backcountry cover a broad range of delicacies (and indelicacies) -- fried pickles, deep-fried Oreos, fried green tomatoes, frogs' legs, fried grits, chicken-fried squirrel, and others, mostly with the word "fried" expressed or implied. Outstanding among these is livermush, including liver pudding, a Backcountry phenomenon with its epicentre in central North Carolina.

One of our local groceries recently began carrying a variety of liver pudding, Jenkins, which serves the purpose well when the need for livermush arises. Before I go further, let me hasten to acknowledge that livermush purists -- yes, you read that right, livermush purists -- will insist that liver pudding is not really livermush. Nonetheless, when we were kids, liver pudding was called "livermush," and that's how we think of it.

Specifically, what we called "livermush" was and is Neese's Liver Pudding, made in the North Carolina Piedmont and distributed throughout much of North Carolina and into parts of the Virginia and South Carolina Piedmonts. Neese's also makes Neese's Liver Mush, distributed in Western North Carolina, a hotbed of livermush purism. Both products are made with hog's liver; the spices are somewhat different and liver pudding contains more corn meal.

The story of Neese's Sausage has a classic Backcountry beginning:

The Neese history begins with family members immigrating to America in the early 1700s. In 1769, George Neese (born 1744) moved to what is now Guilford County, North Carolina, traveling the great wagon road through the Shenandoah Valley from Berks County Pennsylvania.

Neese's Company History. The company remains a family-run business and still makes its product line with pure ingredients, delivered fresh to its customers. Which explains why we unfortunately can't get the real thing where I live and have to make do with a substitute.

There are four other North Carolina producers -- Mack's Livermush and Meats and Jenkins Foods, both in Shelby, Hunter's in Marion, and Frank Corriher Beef and Sausage in China Grove, all of which have avid followings. And if you think I'm overstating the case by the use of such terms as "purist" and "avid," consider that North Carolina boasts three (3) annual livermush gatherings -- the Livermush Festival in June in Marion, North Carolina, the Fall Festival and Liver Mush Expo in Shelby, N.C., and another Livermush Festival in Drexel, N.C. As far as I can determine, these are the only such events in the known universe. Purists. Avid.

How does one cook livermush? Fry it, of course. Traditionally, in bacon drippings or lard, but I recommend a vegetable oil such as Crisco or peanut oil, and on the sparse side. There are, inevitably, two schools of thought on the matter of cut -- thick and thin. "Thick" means you cut off slices of one-half inch or so, and brown both sides in oil until heated through. "Thin" livermushers prefer slices of one-fourth inch or less, fried in oil until the slab is crispy. Serve with a side of grits (boiled, not fried) and eggs over-easy, or scrambled if you must.

There are variations, such as the livermush sandwich for lunch and -- you had to know this would be so -- Livermush-on-a-Stick, Mack's specialty at the Shelby Liver Mush Expo: slices of livermush which have been battered and deep-fried.

So where do I stand on this vitally important point of Backcountry cuisine? Non-purist Neese's Liver Pudding, sliced thick, with yellow grits and eggs over easy. Those thin-slice, white-grits, scrambled-eggs types just don't know what they're missing.

Related: North Carolina Goes Hog Wild Over Livermush (http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1222/p14s01-lifo.html)
Related: 10 Surprising Foods On A Stick (http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Food/10-Surprising-Foods-on-a-Stick.html)
Related: What Happened To Poor Man's Pate? (http://www.dailyyonder.com/what-happened-poor-mans-p-t)

Smoked Turkey

2008-11-29T20:17:41Z

Instructions and pictures on how to smoke a whole turkey on the outdoor grill.

Backcountry Cuisine: Applewood-Smoked Trout

2008-06-28T20:25:15Z

As I write these words, a Backcountry culinary tradition is cooking in the charcoal grill on my patio: applewood-smoked trout.

Backcountry Cuisine: Cornmeal Mush

2008-06-22T17:34:15Z

Cornmeal mush dates from the early settlement of colonial America and is generally credited to the Scottish and Scotch-Irish settlers who were accustomed to making oatmeal porridge in their native lands. Oatmeal porridge - - we usually call it simply "oatmeal" - - is a simple dish made by cooking oat groats in water with a bit of salt. The Backcountry settlers adapted this simple recipe to produce cornmeal mush. There are numerous recipes for making cornmeal mush; I'll lay out the basics and you can make it more complicated of you wish.

Lib Slack's Green Beans

2008-06-15T14:52:05Z

Many of my grandmother's recipes have been lost or mislaid, but I have a few on recipe cards and others in the memory banks. This one resides in memory, since I helped Lib with it many times as a child. Southern-style green beans don't get any easier or better than this.

Lib Slack's Gazpacho

2008-06-15T14:29:08Z

Many of my grandmother's recipes have been lost or mislaid, but I have a few on recipe cards and others in the memory banks. She picked up a recipe for gazpacho while living in South America. Gazpacho is of Spanish origin; it is a summer soup made with fresh vegetables and served chilled.

Granny's Cornbread

2008-05-18T15:24:55Z

This is a classic and simple recipe for Southern-style cornbread.

Jay's Brown Beans

2008-05-18T15:19:19Z

There are many recipes for brown beans; this is a traditional version, updated with an addition of ground cumin.

Backcountry Cuisine: Brown Beans and Cornbread

2008-05-18T14:59:54Z

Brown beans and corn bread are the "national" dish of the Backcountry. There are countless recipes ranging from traditional to juiced-up modern. My recipes are closer to traditional:

Jay's Marinara Sauce

2008-05-18T13:14:39Z

Caution - this recipe makes a major amount of marinara sauce; enough for 12 - 15 servings. Divide the amounts for smaller batches.

You will need a big pot to make the full recipe. I urge that you NOT cook Italian food in stainless steel pots or pans, ever; stainless steel damages the flavor of onions, garlic, and tomatoes, which make up the bulk of the marinara sauce recipe. I use and recommend seasoned cast iron, enameled cast iron, enameled steel, and (if you must) teflon-coated aluminum.