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Ozarks Food Beans, chili, soups and stews taste even better in the winter By R.D. Hohenfeldt Back when I was a kid, Mama would make beans and cornbread for us children every Saturday for dinner, which is what we called the noon meal. It was easy to cook, and quick, too, in a pressure cooker; Mama needed quick and easy meals because she worked the evening shift as a typesetter at the Springfield paper. She always used pinto beans, with a little bit of ham chopped up in it for seasoning. She put the beans on a plate with a slice of raw onion and a wedge of buttered cornbread. It was a mighty tasty meal on Saturdays, especially winter Saturdays, for cold weather seems to add flavor to beans, chili, soups and stews. I still like to eat beans on Saturday. I don’t have a real recipe for them to share with you. What I do is chop up a whole bunch of onions and put them in a big Crock-Pot. I chop up at least three large onions, but I’ve been known to chop up a 3-lb. bag. After that I rinse the beans and put them in the pot. I don’t know what to tell you about the amount of beans. I put in what looks right. Sometimes I’ll cook with pintos only. Sometimes I’ll cook with black beans only. Sometimes I put in half a dozen or more bean types, such as garbanzo beans, lima beans, baby lima beans, black-eyed peas, lentils, green peas, navy beans. I use dry beans, not canned beans. Sometimes, too, I’ll put in a can of stewed tomatoes. For seasoning, I sometimes add some ham or sausage or both. I’ve used turkey sausage. I’ve used Italian sausage. I’ve used links and I’ve used patties. I’ve fried sausage and put that in, along with some of the grease. Sausage grease makes a pot of beans delicious, but I don’t do that any more, and I don’t recommend it. Lately, I’ve just been cooking pots of beans and onions with bay leaf and garlic powder. I enjoy the taste of the beans without the pork meat seasoning. Here some other recipes that I’ve found in cookbooks at the Rolla Public Library. They sound like some good winter Saturday dishes. There are many other excellent recipes in these cookbooks, which may still be available for purchase. These cookbooks reflect Ozarks and Missouri cooking styles and are worth buying to add to your cookbook collection. Ozarks Chili From The Missouri Sampler Cookbook, published in 1987 by Pauline E. Pullen, of Springfield, is an Ozarks chili: 4 lb. ground beef 8 chili peppers 6 garlic, size of walnuts 2 scat T. salt 2 T. cumin 3 T. paprika 3 T. chili powder 1 pt. canned tomatoes 4 c. water Put ground beef in pot and cook about 20 min. Grind peppers and garlic. Add with remaining ingredients. Cook slowly about 3 hours. Chili Soup From The Golfing Gourmet, published by the St. James Golf Club, is a chili soup: 2 lb. hamburger 1 large onion, cut up and browned with hamburger 1 large can (1 qt. 14 oz.) tomato juice or V-8 1 Tbsp. chili powder ½ tsp. garlic salt 2 c. water 2 cans red kidney beans, drained 1 Tbsp. salt Mix together. Simmer for 2 hours.
Hobo Soup
Finally, from the Chapter KU PEO Cookbook, published in 1995, is something called Hobo Soup: 1 lb. ground beef or yesterday’s beef roast, chopped 4 med. potatoes, peeled and chopped 1 lg. onion, chopped 1 can tomato or vegetable juice Variety of leftover vegetables Salt and pepper to taste Place cooked meat in 2-quart saucepan. Add potatoes, onions, vegetables and juice. Add enough water to more than cover the contents and boil until the potatoes are tender. Serve in mugs. Those recipes sound lip-smacking good to me, and I believe I’ll try them in January and February to give my wife a little variation. She doesn’t share my fondness for beans and cornbread every Saturday, week after week.
Do you have some recipes you’d share with me? The best food served in the Ozarks is in homes or at church suppers. I’d like to get recipes for the dishes you take to church, if you’d share them. If you’ll send them to me and let me use them in the Ozarks Food column, I’ll send you The Ozarks Chronicle in the mail free for a year. |