Diary of a Kentucky Cook

Don't forget what is truly important, the simple and basic things in Life. Honesty, Pure Emotions, Gardening, Cooking, the Joy of Creating and sharing Recipes and to be blessed by the majestic beauty of Nature. Once you find out what makes you happy, try to do THAT for a living.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

OLD TIME SWEET POTATO RECIPE HEARTH POTATO RECIPE

OLD TIME SWEET POTATO RECIPE

HEARTH POTATO RECIPE

I enjoy finding, reading and collecting recipes from when all meals were prepared in the
hearth of a fireplace or an old fashioned wood cooking stove.
I remember when my Aunt still used her cook stove and everything would turn out evenly browned and especially tasty. She swore by cast iron. (well, she never swore, I never, ever heard her use a curseword). Pots, pans, dutch ovens and skillets, especially skillets, HAD to be iron. Cornbread baked in an iron skillet has never tasted the same baked in a regular pan. I can almost taste her skillet corn just thinking about it. The whole house would smell absolutely heavenly. I would watch her as she, sliced the kernals off of the just shucked ear of corn and then scrape down the cob to get every bit of juice out of it. Not looking at the ear of corn ONCE !

That was back when butter was measured by sizes. Either the size of a thimble or an egg. That was back when very few recipes were written down. That was back when you knew if you went and sat on anybodys porch in the summer, you would automatically be handed a bowl of green beans to snap...

THAT is why I smile when I see an old recipe and try to type it up and share it with y'all. If there is no credit on the recipe (often called receipts) I found it with No credit listed.
I was amazed that people kept wood and wood chips, not to mention those huge wooden matches, in their kitchen area. Kitchen safety was always stressed to all of us especially due to losing one of my other aunts because of a kitchen fire. My mom would shake her head and say, "Way before you were born, She was taking biscuits out of the oven and some how caught her dress afire..." My mom and her other sisters would never say any more of the incident. All I know for sure is that my Aunt had passed away from her injuries.

Ok, Lets get back to old fashioned cooking.
Here is an old sweet potato recipe meant for Hearth cooking.
I found it a few years ago, tucked in a library book.
It was written on the back of a canned milk label.
I gave it to the librarian, she was going to call every one who checked out
that cook book to see who it belonged to.
You know I saw lard for sale in the store , just the other day...




SWEET POTATOES RECIPE

Rub each potato with lard and place in front of the fire
(or in a pan and in the oven)

Roast until soft and steamy.

Remove and serve with lots of butter and sorghum molasses.



*sigh*
:)


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