Suffrin' Succotash


Wednesday 19/1/2005

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Diary and Notes

"How!"

"How do you do what?"

No: "How!" As in what we said when we were dirty little street urchins, pretending we were Indians (sorry, native Americans) playing cowboys and native Americans. (In the modern version, the evil cowboys rape, murder and pillage the poor native Americans and then offer them treaties which they renegue on and steal their land).

Today I'm going back to the roots of American cuisine with something from the native peoples and some good old fashioned, down home, fried chicken to boot.

"White man eat with forked stick."

Darn tootin' he does!

I am going to say this and if anyone disagrees, I want proof: My fried chicken is far far tastier than the horrid KFC I had last week. (See Tuesday 11/1/2005.)

Where I got my fried chicken recipe from, I'm not tellin'. It's my secret recipe (not any more it isn't). I always claim that it was given to me by my Auntie Inger from Gainsville Ga, but it's not true. The spice blend is my own concoction, based on many hard years of trial and error.

Normally I'd serve this with mashed potatoes and pan gravy (made by mixing milk into the pan juices with a little more spice/flour mix to thicken it) but as I'll be having mashed potatoes with some meat loaf later in the week, I thought I'd have succotash instead.

My recipe for succotash isn't entirely traditional either. The native American's would probably not have used butter beans, but that's all I had. Some bacon is always a good addition, but again I didn't have any. Mixing the succotash into the chicken pan juices really does add to this and I have to say this was a mighty tasty nosh up.

There's an interesting little thingy about succotash on: The James Beard Foundation website. This also mentions a dish called coon. I'm not sure what coon is, but I think you probably don't want to be asking for it in a Jamaican cafe in Tower Hamlets.

Apart from having bread rolls instead of some Navajo fry bread this is just about the most truly American meal I could think of. So who says American food is all burgers and shakes?

Have a nice day y'all.


Cake Blog

Double chocolate chip muffins: This is what America is all about. There is a theory amongst the Radio 4 listening, self proclaimed, intellectual elite, that jazz is the only true American art form - have these people never eaten a double choc-chip muffin? I say home baking is the true American art form, sod jazz, I'll have a slice of damn fine cherry pie and listen to some heavy metal thanks.


Menu

  • Pan Fried Chicken
  • Succotash
  • Bread Rolls



    Ingredients

  • Chicken: Chicken, Flour, Celery Salt, Cinnamon, Paprika, Chilli Powder, Black Pepper, Dried Oregano, Vegetable Oil .
  • Succotash: Butter, Garlic, Corn, Butter Beans (Lima Beans are traditional, but I couldn't get them at Sainsbury's), Cream, Black Pepper, Salt, Parsley.


    Preparation

  • Make a spice coating by mixing equal amounts of each of the herbs/spices. Add to the spice mix about double the volume of flour to spice. Place the coating in an air tight bag. Joint the ckicken and pat dry with some kitchen paper. Add the jointed chicken to the bag, let a little air in, roll up the end and give a good shake to allow the chicken and spice mix to shake about and the chicken to get a good coating all over. Leave the chicken in the bag for about ten minutes before cooking, this helps the coating to stick.
  • In a (non stick) saucepan, place a little vegetable oil and turn on the heat. When the pan is hot, add the chicken pieces and fry a little on each side, making sure not to burn the flour coating. When the coating is fried a little all over, turn down the heat and cover with a lid. If the lid has a hole in fine, otherwise, leave a little gap for steam to escape (we want to fry the chicken not steam it). Fry gently for 35-40 minutes, turning occasionally. Be gentle when turning however, or the coating will come off.
  • Succotash: Melt a little butter in a pan and add some minced garlic and cook gently to allow the garlic to infuse the butter. Add the corn and the beans and warm through. Stir in some cream, a little black pepper and salt and some chopped parsley (not traditional but works well). When the chicken is finished, take the chicken out of the pan and stir the succotash into the pan juices so as not to waste that chickeny juiciness and spicy flavour.





    JCBorresen@gmail.com