Mother Ballow's
Killer Cookbook (In Progress) 

Soups

Most soups will keep for a week and, in fact, taste better the second or third day after they've been made.

Smoky Split Pea Soup

Wash split peas and soak overnight. Fry bacon chucks until brown. Skim off excess fat and keep for later use. Fry onions, garlic, celery and carrots in bacon fat as needed. Bring water to a boil (including the excess liquid from the split peas). Add to bacon chunks, onions, garlic and carrots slowly. Add peppercorns and split peas, simmer for at least an hour. Add fresh dill.

Green Soup With Bacon

Cut the stalks from all the greens and wash thoroughly (keeping a keen eye out for the inevitable grit!). Rinse three or four times until water is clear. Chop coarsely. Fry bacon and reserve excess fat for later use. Add onions, garlic and potato chunks. Boil water and add slowly to bacon, onion, garlic and potatoes. Add honey and simmer at low heat for at least an hour.

Black Bean Soup

Wash beans and soak overnight (add a pinch of flour to the soak water, makes beans less gassy). Place beans in pot, add small piece of smoky bacon and bake in 400^o F. oven until tender (3 or 4 hours). Fry bacon chunks in heavy pot, pour off excess fat and reserve. Add onions and garlic, cook until translucent. Add one box chopped tomatoes (rinse box out with cold water and add to soup) and add jalapeno peppers plus cooked beans. Simmer. Add honey and molasses. Simmer, cool and refrigerate. A day or two later, bring soup to simmer and add corn plus second box of tomatoes. Cook for a few hours and add broccoli rabe florets and Parmigiano Reggiano. Taste a lot. (If you can't watch the pot, just stick it in the oven at 400^o F. for a few hours.

Root Soup

Cut bacon into ¼-inch slices. Peel and cut onions. Clean potatoes, turnips and carrots (wire brush is good for this). Sauté together until slightly done and add boiling water. Bring back to a boil and lower heat, simmering for about 25 minutes or until the potato and turnip slices are tender. Stir in the sage.

Bread and Bacon Soup

This is one soup that should be served immediately.

Toast bread cubes in a medium oven. Sauté bacon cubes in bacon fat in a heavy duchy oven. Add bread cubes and sauté for 5 minutes. Peel and chop the onions and add to the bread and bacon. Sauté 5 minutes more. Put the Sautéed bread cubes and onions in a bowl and set aside. Put the beef broth in the Dutch oven and bring it to a boil. Add lima beans and simmer until they're tender. Add bread cubes and onions, honey, salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes but do not boil. Stir in the sherry and serve immediately.

Note: Make your own beef broth, it's better. You'll need 3 pounds of beef bones (and any meat scraps you have on hand), 2 pounds of lean beef, 6 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 6 carrots, some celery stalks with leaves . Have the bones cut into small pieces and wash and slice the vegetables. Spread the bones in a roasting pan and cover with the vegetables. Bake in a moderate oven for about 50 minutes and throw away the fat. Boil 4 quarts of water in a large pot and add the cooked bones and vegetables. Add 2 pounds of lean beef, cubed. Simmer for 4 hours, skimming off any scum that rises. Cool and strain then refrigerate overnight. Fat will rise to the top, skim it off. Refrigerated stock will keep for 5 days. Frozen stock will keep for almost a month.

Meats

Chateaubriand
With Bacon and Mushroom Sauce

Sauce: Put the 8 cups of broth into a saucepan and reduce to about 2 cups over medium heat. Reduce the red wine to about 1 cup in a separate saucepan. Heat ¼ cup oil in a large pan, add bacon and cook until it's crisp (but not burned). Remove and set bacon aside. Add the shallots the pan, cook until translucent and stir in the diced mushrooms. When mushrooms have released all their liquid, return the bacon to the pan. Add the reduced wine and bring to a simmer. Then add the reduced beef broth and thyme and simmer for 30 minutes. Mix the cornstarch or arrowroot with the remaining ¼ cup beef broth and wisk into the sauce 15 minutes after cooking began. When ready to serve, season with salt and pepper.

Chateaubriand: Preheat oven to 400^o F. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining oil in a large ovenproof sauté pan and when the oil begins to smoke, add the tenderloin and sear on all sides. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 20 to 30 minutes (115^o F. for rare, 120^o F. for medium rare. Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil, and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Cut into 2-inch-thick slices and serve 2 per person with the bacon-mushroom sauce.

Note: Steamed carrots, leeks, baby peas and/or small potatoes are recommended accompaniments.

Poultry

Coq Au Vin

Fill a cup almost up to the top with diced bacon. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy enameled or stainless steel casserole and sauté bacon pieces until brown. Remove browned bacon pieces and set aside. Add another tablespoon of butter to the pot and sauté the onions, shallots and carrots until lightly browned. Remove and add to side dish with fresh garlic. Rub chicken pieces with salt and pepper and brown over medium-high flame in the remaining fat. Remove chicken and pour brandy into the pot and set aflame. When the flame subsides, add flour and stir with a wooden spoon for about a minute over low heat. Add white wine and return chicken, vegetables and pork pieces to pot. Simmer until chicken is done, about half an hour. Sauté mushrooms in 1 tablespoon butter and add to the pot five minutes before the chicken is done. Add salt if needed.

Note: Boiled new potatoes go nicely with this as does a small green salad.

Chicken Ballow

Fry the bacon until crisp in a large heavy, covered skillet. Remove and set aside. Brown chicken in the bacon fat, remove and set aside. Add parsley and garlic, sauté for a few minutes then add the mushrooms and cook a few minutes more. Combine broth, tomato paste, wine and pepper in a bowl. Add the parsley/garlic and mushroom mixture to the skillet. Crumble the bacon and add to skillet along with chicken, potatoes, carrots, cooked beans, olives and onions. Cover and bring to a boil. Then simmer for about an hour and half, turn chicken at least twice during the cooking.

Note 1: Clean and soak white beans in cold water with a little flour (makes them less gassy) overnight. Drain the next morning, add fresh cold water about an inch above beans and cook until done. Beans can be made a few days before needed and stored in the refrigerator.

Note 2: Make your own chicken stock, it's better. Put a small chicken plus any leftover chicken carcasses you may have lying around, 3 quarts water, 4 skinned and cleaned chicken feet, 8 chicken necks and a veal knuckle in a large soup kettle. Bring to a slow boil and cook for an hour skimming when necessary. Put some celery pieces in, a garlic clove, a bay leaf and 1/8 tsp thyme in and simmer for 2 hours. Reserve the boiled chicken-very good for sandwiches-strain the stock and cool. Refrigerate overnight and remove fat. It will keep for 5 days or so in the refrigerator and a few weeks frozen.

Peas and Beans

Black-Eyed Peas With Smoky Bacon
and Andouille Sausage Over Rice

Soak peas overnight, drain and put into a 6- to 8-quart pot with the bacon, 1/2-pound piece of bacon and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Heat bacon grease in a heavy skillet, add onions and celery and cook until soft. Add to the peas with the garlic and remaining seasoning (thyme sprigs, bay leaves and pepper pods should be in a cheese cloth bag). Simmer for about 2.5 hours. Slice remaining sausage into ½-inch rounds and fry briefly in a nonstick skillet. Add to peas. Remove bacon and sausage pieces, chop roughly and return to pot. Cook for another 15 minutes or so. Remove bag with thyme, bay leaves and pepper. Serve over cooked rice and sprinkle with green onions, Tabasco and vinegar to taste.

Note: 4 cups fresh or frozen black-eyed peas may be also used. If doing so, boil the stock first and then add peas, bacon and sausage, return to boil then reduce to a simmer.

Biscuits and Breads

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Melt bacon grease over hot water. Mash sweet potatoes until they are light and fluffy and stir in bacon fat, honey and milk. Sift flours together with baking powder and salt. Blend in the sweet potato mixture and stir until the dough comes away cleanly from the bowl. Sprinkle flour on a pastry board and knead the dough lightly for about a minute. Roll out to ½-inch thickness. Dip the edges of a 2-inch drinking glass in flour and cut rounds from the dough. Place on a baking sheet slightly greased with bacon fat and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned in a preheated 450^o F. oven.

Note: Small snippets of bacon can be put on top of each biscuit to cook along with the dough.

Bacon Biscuits

Combine sifted flour, baking powder, salt and shift together into a large bowl. Add bacon fat and work it into the dry ingredients using your fingers or two knives. When the mixture resembles course meal, add milk and eggs. Stir until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle flour on a pastry board and knead dough lightly for about a minute. Roll out to ½-inch thickness. Dip edges of a 2.5-inch drinking glass or biscuit cutter in flour and cut the dough into rounds. Preheat oven to 450^o F. Arrange the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until lightly browned (approximately 12 minutes). Serve hot.

Note 1: Cooked ham or chicken (with curry or other seasoning) can be put on top of half the biscuit rounds before cooking and the remaining biscuits used as covers. Seal edges with your fingers, brush tops with milk and bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 450^o F oven. The same can be done with jams or preserves -or, indeed, anything you'd like to try (cheese, for example).

Note 2: Using the basic biscuit dough -add 1 tablespoon fresh dill and substitute 1/3 cup buttermilk for the regular milk. This makes a nice dill/bacon biscuit that goes well with Mother Ballow's smoky split pea soup.

Bacon Bread with Onion

Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup of lukewarm water with one tsp of honey. Combine remaining water, honey, 2 cups flour and milk solids. Add the yeast and mix. Sauté the onion, bacon and garlic until translucent but not brown. Cool to lukewarm and discard the garlic. Add the bacon and onion to the sponge, add salt and enough four to make a soft dough. Turn onto a floured board and knead until the dough is smooth (but not sticky). Put into a greased bowel and grease the dough surface. Cover with dishtowel and let rise in a warm, not drafty, place until double in bulk -about one hour. Shape into two loves and put into two greased 8x4x2-inch pans. Grease the top of the loaves, cover and let rise again double size -about ¾ of an hour. Preheat oven to 400^oF and put loaves near bottom. After 10 minutes lower the temperature to 350^oF. and bake for another 30 minutes (or until the bread is brown and shrinks from the sides of the pan).

Perked-Up Parkerhouse Rolls

Scald the milk in a saucepan, remove from heat --add bacon fat, honey and salt. Cool. Stir yeast into the lukewarm water and encourage it to dissolve (remember yeast is alive, treat it with respect). Put 3 cups of the flour into a large bowl and when the milk mixture has cooled to lukewarm, blend it into the 3 cups of flour. Add the dissolved yeast and the frothy eggs. Mix thoroughly until you've got a thick batter. Blend in the 2 remaining cups of flour a bit at a time until the dough is soft and comes away cleanly from your hands. Put the dough on a lightly floured pastry board and knead until smooth and elastic (about 5-8 minutes). Grease a bowl with lightly with bacon fat and put the dough into it, turning once to grease the top. Cover bowel with a dishtowel and set in a warm, draft-free place (yeast hate drafts).

When the dough is double in volume (approximately 1.5 hours) punch it down. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before shaping into rolls or store in the refrigerator (2-3 days tops) until ready to use.

Divide the dough into 2 equal parts and roll each part into a 9-inch circle. Using a 2.5-inch wide cookie cutter or drinking glass, cut circles from the dough. Lightly score each circle to one side of the center with a knife (don't cut through). Brush each circle with bacon fat and then take the narrower side of the scored line and fold it over so that the edges meet. Pinch lightly to seal.

Grease a baking sheet lightly with bacon fat and arrange the rolls 1-inch apart. Cover lightly and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour (or until the rolls are double in size). Brush lightly with a little more melted bacon fat and bake in a preheated 400^o F oven for 15 minutes (or until golden brown). Serve warm.

Note: Different shaped rolls can be made with the Parkerhouse dough. Rolling it into long ropes ½-inch thick, cutting into 8-inch sections and coiling each into circles and then letting them rise makes little snails. Cloverleaf rolls are made by dividing the dough into 4 equal parts and shaping each into a 9-inch roll. The roll is then cut into 9 equal pieces and divided again into thirds. Each piece is then rolled into a small ball in your hands and covered with melted bacon fat. Three bacon-fat covered are arranged very close together in a muffin cup and allowed to rise until double in size and then baked in the same way as the Parkerhouse rolls. Experiment. Make your own shapes.

Whole Wheat Bread With Sunflower Seeds

All ingredients should be at room temperature. Combine yeast, honey, and water in a large bowl and let rest for 5 minutes. Add the bacon fat, 5 cups of the flour and sea salt. Beat (100 strokes). Stir in the remaining four to make a stiff dough (add flour if necessary). Sprinkle the sunflower seeds and 2 tablespoons of flour on a bread board. Turn the dough onto this and knead 100 times -if necessary, add more flour. Oil a large bowl with bacon fat and put the dough in, smooth side down. Turn so that the greased side is up and cover. Put in a warm, draft-free place and let the yeast do their job. When the dough is double in bulk, punch it down to its original size, cover and let it rise again until double in bulk. Punch it down again and divide into 3 equal parts. Place into bread pans generously oiled with bacon fat and let rise once again -until dough reaches the tops of the pans. Preheat oven to 350^o F for 50 minutes or until golden brown on top. Brush lightly with bacon fat, remove from the pans and cool on wire racks.

Note 1: Breads can be carefully wrapped in aluminum foil and then in plastic and stored in the freezer for at least a month. When ready to serve, simply remove from plastic and heat in aluminum foil wrapping.

Note 2: This makes wonderful sandwich bread especially for tomatoes and cheese.

Corn Dodgers

Warm the bacon drippings in a small skillet. Combine sifted flour with cornmeal, baking powder and salt and sift once again. Beat the egg until light and frothy and mix with honey and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and blend thoroughly. Add hot bacon fat and mix well. Put the mixture into a warm baking dish and cook until golden brown in a preheated 425^o F oven for about 30 minutes (or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean). Slice and serve immediately.

Fried Corn Dodgers

Combine cornmeal with the salt in a large bowl and gradually stir in enough boiling water so batter can be shaped. Mix thoroughly and blend in 1 tablespoons bacon dripping. Preheat oven to 450^o F. Grease large stainless steel or caste iron baking dish with bacon fat and bring it to a sizzle over a low flame. Drop batter onto the hot bacon fat in large spoonfuls. Flatten with fingers into bar-shaped mounds. Bake at 450^o F for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 350^o F and leave in until golden brown. Serve warm.

Elaine?s Gingerbread

Combine the sifted flour with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift again. Put the bacon fat into a large bowl and beat it a bit. Add the honey and blend. Add the egg and beat the creamed mixture until it's light and fluffy. Add in the milk and stir until blended. Add in the molasses and stir until blended. Pour the batter into a well-greased 8-inch square baking pain and bake for 45 minutes in a preheated 350^o F. oven. Cool in the pan and serve.

Note: A cup of apples, sliced and peeled can be added thusly: Before putting the batter into the baking pan, swirl 2 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter over the bottom and sides of pan (instead of bacon fat). Spread ¼ cup of molasses over the butter and arrange the sliced apples in rows in the molasses. Pour the batter directly over the apple and molasses. Bake as above and turn the gingerbread upside down as soon as it's taken out of the oven. This is a really wonderful variation.

Vegetables

Ma Ballow's Savory Cabbage

Cut the cabbage heads into quarters, remove and discard tough cores. Rince the cabbage well and combine it in a large pot with Riesling, bacon, coriander, peppercorns, white pepper, salt and 10 juniper berries. Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours stirring every once in a while. Meanwhile heat the fatback in a small saucepan over a medium-low flame untile about tablespoon or more of fat is rendered. Add the onion slices and remaining juniper berries. Cover and cook unitle the onions are almost completely melted (about 30 to 40 minues). Add the onions to the cabbage and continue cooking. When the cabbage is very soft remove it from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Season to taste with more salt and white pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: Mother Ballow used to make lots of this at one time and put it up in preserve jars to use throughout the winter when vegetables were hard to get. She served the savory cabbage with a zesty mustard.