Piccalilli

1 quart chopped cabbage
1 quart chopped green tomatoes
2 sweet red peppers, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
1/4 cup salt
1 1/2 cup vinegar
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon celery seed
jars, lids, and rings

1. Combine vegetables and salt. Let sit overnight.
2. Drain vegetables. Squeeze out all moisture
3 . Prepare the Jars by cleaning and covering with boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes, then keep hot until ready to fill.
4 . Combine vinegar, sugar, and spices in a saucepan. Add 1 1/2 cup water and boil for 5 minutes.
5 . Stir into vegetables in kettle. Bring to a boil.
6 . Put in sterile jars and seal while still hot. Hand tighten lid.
7 . Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes to complete seal.

Grilled Salmon Recipe

Grilled Salmon

8 salmon steaks
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon lemon peel, grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
(Lemon wedges, for garnish )

1. Place in Salmon in a shallow glass dish.

2. Combine remaining ingredients, except lemon wedges. Pour over the fish. Marinate for 1 to 3 hours (or longer, if desired), turning once.

3. Broil or grill fish approximately 4 inches above moderate coals for 5 to 6 minutes per side, basting with remaining marinade.

Fried Catfish

Fried Catfish Recipe

6 catfish
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 cups self-rising corn meal
Oil for frying

Salt and pepper catfish. Drop fish into corn meal and coat completely.  Deep fry in hot oil (350 -365 degrees) until cat fish floats to top and is golden brown.  Drain well on paper towel.  Serves 6.

Optional: Many cooks soak the catfish either in milk, buttermilk, or salt water before cooking.

Optional: Cooks season their cornmeal with any of the following according to preference:
Onion salt, Garlic salt, and Parsley flakes

Thyme, chili powder, and paprika

 

Baked Cajun Catfish

This recipe comes from the Mississippi – Louisiana area, but is not spicy hot like you might expect from the Cajun area. Try it! Read more

The Best Bread and Butter Pickles!

I love the flavor of bread and butter pickles- that sweet and sour mixture is just perfect to my taste! My favorite part is the onions, so I usually add a little more than it calls for here, but you can be flexible. Beware: an old wives tale says that the pickles will take on the personality of the person preparing them. So watch your mood- unless you like your pickles sour!

1 gallon cucumbers
8 small onions
2 green peppers (optional, but good)
½ cup salt
cracked ice
5 cups sugar
½ teaspoon tumeric
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons whole mustard seeds
2 tablespoons whole celery seeds
5 cups vinegar (or more if needed to almost cover pickles)
6-8 pint jars, lids, and rings

1. Slice cucumbers, onions and peppers into very thin slices.
2. Cover with salt. Cover completely with cracked ice and stir.
3. Top with a weighted lid. (I put a plate on top that just fits the container and then weight it down with a heavy can, etc. on top of that.) Allow to stand for 3 hours.
4. Prepare the Jars by cleaning and covering with boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes, then keep hot until ready to fill.
5. Drain cucumbers, but DO NOT RINSE.
6. Combine remaining ingredients and cook until the sugar dissolves.
7. Pour over the cucumbers, bring to a boil.
8. Put in sterile jars and seal while still hot. Hand tighten lid. No additional processing is needed.
9. Put jars upside down to cool. Any jar that does not seal should be put in the fridge for immediate use.

NOTES: Your cucumbers should be fresh. If they have been standing around too long, the pickles will have holes in them. If this happens to you, your cucumbers were not as fresh as they could have been. (You can still eat them.) Its best to pick your cucumbers as close to pickling time as possible, but do not let them get too big- you want the small to medium sized cucumbers. The large ones are all seeds.