[Sca-cooks] On "Swet Te" (was Po' Folks)

[Sue Clemenger]

Reading you-guyses descriptions of your version of ethnic cuisine sure does
bring home to me that my folks are from the New England states, although
what I've been exposed to is definitely filtered through living almost 2000
miles from CT (or PA or Mass or RI or wherever else my cousins and relatives
are living these days).
Family food includes an odd mix of extreme fondness for shellfish (heavily
featured at the one family reunion I remember clearly), some Italian food
(back before it was cool...Dad said that when they moved out here in '58,
the nearest Italian restaurant was two states away in Spokane), and dishes
like New England Boiled Dinner, Clam Chowder (Grandpa Lauder's recipe),
Boston Brown Bread, and Grinders.  Not hoagies, not subs.  Grinders.
Oh, and none of this vile karo syrup or fake maple cr at p.  The real thing.
Especially on sourdough pancakes.  Even more especially on sourdough
pancakes with huckleberries....<pause to wipe drool from keyboard>
Add an overlay of Forest Service Recipes, sub-genre, Rocky
Mountains--various wild games (trout, salmon, pheasant, duck, goose, moose,
elk, bear, various deer, antelope, etc.), regional fruits (huckleberries,
sarvice berries), and "found" foods--mushrooms, the asparagus that grew in
the ditch near the farm, etc.  And my mother's weird fondness for potherbs
like lambs' quarter, which I still can't stand.
The part of Montana I spent most of my years in was heavily into logging and
dairy (lots of Norwegians), so there was some exposure to our neighbor's
preferred foods, which seemed to be largely fried, covered in white gravy,
and served with adventurous vegetables like corn.  Potlucks at the Grange
Hall were interesting--picked up a love for lime pickles there...mmmm....I
still have an abelskiver pan (sp??) that Dad used to use on occasion.
It wasn't until I went to college, in a part of the state more strongly
marked by a variety of ethnic groups who came over for the railroads and
extractive industries like mining that I ever encountered such staples as
pasties, or biscuits and gravy, or green beer.
And I'll see you the relatives and friends in casual funeral gear with a
father who had to borrow a dress shirt to get married in, and the same
father's funeral being attended by guys in their "good" work clothes.  Being
October, that meant cleaning the logging boots, and wearing the good
suspenders over the plaid wool shirts. ;o)  Heck, our governor wears blue
jeans, the state is so generally casual.
--Maire

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike C. Baker" <kihebard at hotmail.com>
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 10:41 PM
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] On "Swet Te" (was Po' Folks)


> Gunthar-Bob isn't the only other Oklahoma-rooted participant round these
> here parts (I came to Texas primarily for mercenary reasons, after being
> born in the Osage country and raised with Kiowa, Arapaho, Comanche, and
> other NavAm classmates -- great-grandma refused enrollment in the
> Cherokee back in 1912, or I would have qualified for an additional pool
> of scholarship money ...)
>
> I'll see his Cleatus-at-the-funeral and raise
> 1) burials in bathrobe & pajamas (two grandparents, by their request --
> made perfect sense, Grandad never did look quite right in a suit after
> fishing for all those years in khakis and overalls)
> 2) funeral attendees in coveralls, not just overalls -- perfectly
> sensible once or twice, with wind chills in the sub-teens and not a
> windbreak around to speak of...
> 3) funeral attendees arriving in full working rig on horseback (everyone
> understood, stock outside the fences takes priority over ceremonial
> passages; them folk made their excuses, just the same, because that was
> their sense of "polite")
> 4) (obligatory food content) Family reunion food includes
> "real" baked beans (made with store-bought pork-n-beans, ketchup, dry
> mustard, brown sugar or molasses, and good bacon for flavor [ends&pieces
> when available]),
> pecan pie (when your cousin runs forty-odd acres of pecan orchard and
> most everyone else knows where the best native trees grow along the
> creeks, it makes sense),
> and usually at least one pan of fried chicken still in the cooking
> grease.
>
> Fried catfish, on the other hand, was far more regular on Granny Baker's
> table about twice a week, with fried perch & crappie as even more
> regular breakfast meats alongside the obligatory bacon, or sausage
> patties (Grandad tried to follow the doctor's orders and reduce his
> cholesterol, usually -- he took to smoking his catfish in his later
> years, but still had to have one or two nibbles of the fried platter for
> quality control).
>
> Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe (Mike C. Baker)
> SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
> "Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard)
> Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em | alt. e-mail: KiheBard at hotmail.com  OR
> MCBaker216 at cs.com
>  Buy my writings!: http://www.lulu.com/WizardsDen |
> http://www.livejournal.com/users/kihebard/
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: sca-cooks-bounces+kihebard=hotmail.com at ansteorra.org
> > [mailto:sca-cooks-bounces+kihebard=hotmail.com at ansteorra.org]
> > On Behalf Of Michael Gunter
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 12:06 PM
> > To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> > Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] On "Swet Te" (was Po' Folks)
> >
> > >HEY!!!  Only us Okies get to pick on Oklahoma!!!  But
> > seriously, that
> > >was hilarious. :)
> > >
> > >Elizabeta of Rundel
> >
> > My momma was born in Gertie, raised in Chickasha, is buried
> > in Verden. The family was pure white trash who survived the
> > Depression picking cotton.
> >
> > I was raised on catfish fries, fried chicken cooked in a 100
> > year old dutch oven (my only inheritance), greens, fried
> > taters, tons of tea, mayonnaise and tomato sandwiches and
> > southern barbecue.
> >
> > Soul food isn't for black people, it's what's served at
> > family reunions.
> >
> > And to prove that I'm from redneck Okie stock, at my mother's
> > funeral there was (I swear on my belt and
> > chain) an attendee in his overalls with a Massey-Ferguson cap
> > and his name was, I swear to God, Cleatus.
> >
> > Yers,
> > Gunthar-Bob
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