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How We Cook in Tennessee

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

How We Cook in Tennessee

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Corn Pudding. — Twelve ears of corn grated, add whites and yolks of four eggs beaten separately, one teaspoon sugar, the same of flour mixed up in a tablespoon of butter, a little salt, one pint of sweet milk. Bake three-quarters of an hour. — Mrs. Sam Lancaster.

  2. Green Corn Boiled. — Strip off the husks, pick out all the silk, and put in boiling water, but no salt ; boil twenty minutes.

  3. Fried Squash. — Use the crook-neck squash; slice crosswise, very thin, lay in salt water, wipe them on a towel, dip in meal and fry in hot lard. As you take them out lay them on wrap- ping paper just a moment to absorb the grease. — Very fine.

  4. Squash. — Peel, cut and boil the squash in salted water till tender; drain and mash smoothly, seasoning with salt, pepper and butter.

  5. Parsnips. — Boil for one hour or until tender. Throw into cold water and remove the skins. Cut into slices and sprinkle with salt and pepper, dip in melted butter; then roll in flour and fry in butter until brown on both sides. Or the parsnips may be mashed, seasoned and served with butter.

  6. Parsnip Fritters. — Boil four or five parsnips. When tender take off the skin and mash them, then add half teacup sweet milk and pinch of salt, one egg and enough flour to make a stiff batter. Put a tablespoon of lard in frying pan over the fire, and drop from a spoon ; fry brown.

  7. Oyster Plant. — Wash the roots, scrape them, throw them in cold water; then cut crosswise in thin slices, throw into fresh water enough to cover, add a little salt and stew one hour in covered vessel. Pour off water, add a little milk, butter and pepper. Boil up and serve hot.

  8. Scalloped Tomatoes. — Place in a baking dish a layer of bread crumbs, then a layer of peeled tomatoes sliced, with bits of butter, a little pepper and salt ; then bread crumbs, tomato, and so on, until the dish is full, having the bread crumbs on top. Place in the oven and bake. — Mrs. H. J. Vandenbrook.

  9. 102 HOW WE COOK IN TENNESSEE.

  10. Spanish Way to Cook Tomatoes. — Peel a dozen ripe toma- toes and fry in bntter with two or three sliced green peppers; sprinkle on a little salt; add an onion and cook well together.

  11. Stuffed Tomatoes. — Cut a slice from the stem end of each, and scoop out pulp. Mince one small onion, fry slightly, add one gill hot water, tomato pulp, two ounces cold veal or chicken chopped fine, simmer slowly, season with salt and pepper; stir in enough cracker dust or bread crumbs to absorb mois- ture; take off fire and let cool, stuff the tomatoes, small piece of butter on top of each and bake until sligthly browned. — Mrs. A. H. Ellington.

  12. Stewed Tomatoes. — Pour boiling water over one dozen ripe tomatoes; let stand a few minutes. Peel off skins, slice and cook about twenty minutes in saucepan; then add tablespoon butter, salt and pepper. Stew fifteen minutes longer and serve hot. Or if desired turn them into a baking dish and put bits of light bread, cut in squares, in the tomatoes, adding a tiny bit of butter and sugar to each piece. Set in the oven just long enough to toast the bread. — Mrs. Sam Lancaster.

  13. Stuffed Tomatoes. — Cut the tops from six choice tomatoes and scoop the meat out with a spoon. Mix with meat and juice of tomato one-quarter pound of chopped nuts, half cup of chopped nuts, quarter teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, one teaspoonful of salt, three tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise dress- ing. Dissolve one tablespoonful of gelatine and mix with the ingredients. Set on ice till it begins to stiffen, then fill the tomatoes with it and serve on lettuce leaves with a little more mayonnaise dressing if desired. — Miss Pattie Crook.

  14. Tomatoes Stuffed with Lobster. — Peel tomatoes and scoop out the meat, leaving enough to keep the shape. Chop the to- matoes, season with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and a little lemon juice. Mix well with the lobster, and add an oil mayonnaise dressing. Then refill the tomatoes and place on ice. Serves six people, and is delicious. — Eleanor Freeman Lancaster.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

729Calories
22 gProtein
40 gFat
79 gCarbs

Counts 15 of 18 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 15 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Parsnip1/2 cup (78g)55
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Vealnot in our table0
Nutsnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Jackson (Tenn.). First Baptist Church. The Silver Thimble Society. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Pepper + corntop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Nuts + corntop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Butter + corntop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, veal, pepper, butter, corn, egg):

  1. Walnutfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Almondfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, veal, pepper, butter, corn, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.