Notes about Recipes in this book

• Colin Perry's sorghum and apple sticky pudding

  • MelMM on November 12, 2017

    This is a stunner of a cake. I veganize it by using vegan butter instead of lard, and "buttermilk" made from almond milk and cider vinegar. This is a cake I've made several times for guests, and it's always a huge hit.

• Real cornbread

  • MelMM on November 12, 2017

    This is just a solid, traditional cornbread recipe. It's pretty much exactly how I always make it. I had to adapt this a bit to be vegan (used The Vegan Egg, and made up a vegan buttermilk, plus used a high-heat oil and a little smoked salt instead of bacon grease). Even with the adaptations, this gives you a perfect skillet of southern cornbread.

  • stockholm28 on March 13, 2020

    This was good, traditional cornbread. I used all buttermilk and I deviated from the recipe by adding 1 Tbsp sugar. I like just a little bit of sweetness. I had 2 bags of cornmeal in my freezer with just small amounts left, so my cornbread was made with about a cup of Anson Mills course white, about 1/3 cup Anson Mills fine white, and about 2/3 cup Colvin Run Mill (a historic site near me) course yellow. I used butter, but I first heated up the pan in the oven without any butter. I removed the pan, melted the butter in the hot pan, added it to the batter, and then poured the batter into the pan. This was great right out of the oven and it was still pretty good today.

• Kale potato cakes

  • ellabee on January 09, 2018

    Making for two, reduced by two thirds; yielded six cakes. Subbed leeks (thinly sliced semicircles) sauteed in butter for the green onions and finely crushed saltine crumbs for breadcrumbs. Next time will chop or cut kale up more finely. Nice with rot kohl (sweet-sour red cabbage) or pickled beets for a meatless meal.

  • bching on March 21, 2020

    This recipe is a keeper. Great texture for a potato cake, and I can think of many ways to vary it depending on what's in the vegetable drawer. A few carrot shreds are going to be added tonight.

• Slow cooker-roasted pork shoulder

  • TrishaCP on January 14, 2018

    We didn't love this. Made it with sorghum, and the flavor was quite bland. Also, following the cook times, it wasn't fall-apart tender.

  • rrwrites on March 11, 2017

    I was out of sorghum so I used half the amount of molasses. Served with baked potatoes. Excellent. Extremely tender and I think it will make a great sandwich.

• Root and sausage pie

  • TrishaCP on March 17, 2018

    We liked this a lot - it is quite a forgiving recipe in terms of flexibility of ingredients. I couldn't get parsnips so used sweet potatoes instead. I also threw in some frozen spinach to bump up the nutrients. I concur it pairs nicely with a sharp side - I used stewed tomatoes to good effect.

  • ldtrieb on May 03, 2017

    As I write this note , I am reminded of a comment on epicurious about a recipe for chicken stew. The commenter said something like, I had no chicken so I used steak and my oven was broken so I grilled it, it was the best chicken stew ever! We had this last night for dinner. I used chicken instead of sausage because that's what I had. Added some broccoli instead of the parsnips, baby turnips, carrots, onions and some frozen peas. We loved it. You could put anything under the wonderful cornbread top and it would be delicious. One pot to wash and fantastic leftovers.

  • Foodycat on October 16, 2017

    It's fine but a bit dry - really needed a sharply dressed salad or relish or something on the side.

  • Dannausc on January 13, 2019

    Pretty decent.

• Buttermilk brown sugar pie

  • bching on March 18, 2020

    Very good. Perfect with a cup of coffee. The texture is lovely; firmer than a typical custard pie. I topped with a sprinkling of vanilla salt.

  • clcorbi on March 31, 2017

    SO good. And a very easy pie to throw together! I had never had brown sugar pie before and was very interested as to what the result would be like. Well, I'll tell you--the top of the pie gets gorgeous and caramelized, just like in the picture, and the interior has a custardy texture reminiscent of pumpkin pie. The flavor is obviously pretty sweet, but complex because of the dark brown sugar (similar to a pecan pie filling), and it's cut with a nice tang from the buttermilk. The tanginess actually reminds me of cheesecake, in a way. I would definitely make this pie again. Another keeper from this book.

• Spring ham, peas and new potatoes

  • Barb_N on May 31, 2017

    I chose this recipe to use some impulse purchases from the Farmer's Market that needed using up. I subbed a bit of bacon for the ham hock, and chopped a new onion to stand in for the pearl onions. I had to drain much of the liquid off before adding the half and half, even so it didn't thicken. That did not detract from the flavor.

• Skillet fried chicken and milk gravy

  • rosten on February 16, 2017

    Simple, great, the milk gravy was particularly delicious. I used a little less lard than called for, but didn't miss it.

• English pea salad with cream dressing

  • rosten on February 16, 2017

    Really nice cream dressing. Great "pantry" dish provided you have frozen peas around.

  • clcorbi on March 24, 2017

    Since there are no peas at my farmer's market yet, I made this salad with shredded cabbage, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I really loved the creamy dressing, which I imagine would go perfectly with the sweetness of peas, but found that for the cabbage I needed a bit more assertive flavor. I ended up adding a couple extra glugs of apple cider vinegar and a bit more salt until I was happy with the salad. This made a really nice side for the Spring ramp pot roast.

  • Dannausc on January 13, 2019

    The store was out of green onions so I used chives instead. It was pretty decent but nothing special.

• Spring ramp pot roast

  • clcorbi on March 24, 2017

    No ramps to be had around here just yet, but Lundy provides an alternate option made with equal parts scallions and garlic, so that's what I made. We LOVED this pot roast! I didn't have sorghum syrup so I substituted molasses, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I really loved how all the steps for the pot roast, gravy and potatoes are all written out in one block of text; it was so much easier to follow along like that than if they had been broken out into subrecipes. The gravy was definitely the best part for me, and I wish we'd ended up with even more of it. The only thing I'd do differently next time is to salt the potatoes a bit more aggressively; they don't get all the salt they need just from the braising juices.

• Nutmeg and buttermilk cookies

  • clcorbi on March 29, 2017

    This recipe makes a simple, tasty cookie that we have really enjoyed. Per Lundy's suggestion, I decided to spruce the cookie batter up by adding a bit of lemon zest, which was a good idea. The result is an ultra tender cookie that stays moist after several days, and has a pleasant chewiness (probably from the corn flour). These are so fast and easy to throw together that I wouldn't hesitate to make them again.

• Will Dissen's pickled ramps

  • clcorbi on March 29, 2017

    I made a half-recipe of this brine to pickle some field garlic I had harvested. I skipped the blanching step because field garlic is a lot smaller and more tender than ramps, and I didn't think it would need it. I have yet to try a pickle--they are curing in the fridge for a few days--but I did try a taste of the brine and it was delicious. It's a sweet brine that is reminiscent of bread and butter pickles, but with a different spice profile that I hope will come through nicely in the pickle. Once ramps come in at my farmer's market, I intend to add some in to the pickle jar and let them cure too, so as not to waste any of this delicious brine.

• Fried cornmeal mush

  • mjes on April 18, 2018

    It seems a bit odd to see something my Mother taught me to make when I was quite young as a formal recipe. However, her instructions ran more along the lines of "when you sleep in and miss cornmeal mush for breakfast, you need to slice and fry up the cold mush yourself". But the best thing about seeing the recipe in Ronni Lundy's book is that it reminds me to use sorghum syrup rather than maple - at least some of the time.

• Sumac oil flatbread with country ham and pickled ramps

  • mjes on April 18, 2018

    It's that time of year when food bloggers start speaking of fresh ramps. Unfortunately, ramps exist on the other coast not locally. Fortunately, I have a jar of pickled ramps from Christmas and a recipe using pickled ramps. It is stretching it a bit to call the ham on hand "country ham" but it is of decent quality. The wheat-corn flatbread is a little dry for my taste so I appreciated the suggestion of topping with arugula drizzled with Orange Sorghum Vinegar. Combined with the sumac-paprika oil, it was just the right touch to make this an ideal snack

• Venison hand pies

  • Kduncan on June 12, 2020

    Surprisingly easy recipe, made the dough in the morning, and rolled out the pies for dinner. Not the best meat pies I've ever had, but really tasty.

• Pepperoni rolls

  • Dannausc on January 13, 2019

    I used maple syrup in place of the sorghum syrup. I used two 1 lb sticks of pepperoni and cut them into 8 sticks each. I had a total of 16 sticks of pepperoni and used them to make 5 pepperoni rolls and had 1 extra pepperoni stick. I thought they turned out pretty good. One roll made a very hearty serving. Good but gave me heartburn.

• Remembrance of Jerry's chili past

  • Dannausc on January 13, 2019

    I used 1/4 t. each of New Mexico ground chile, cayenne pepper, and chili powder. Otherwise would have been too bland. Okay but not my favorite chili.

• Delicious pork chops

  • Dannausc on October 15, 2017

    Good, but I could do without the lemon pepper.

• Doorbell pork, hominy and wilted greens

  • Dannausc on October 15, 2017

    Quick and easy. Quite good but next time I would omit the lemon pepper from the pork chops.

• Orange sorghum vinegar

  • dgiles on July 16, 2020

    This vinegar is fantastic. I made a vinaigrette with about 2 TBS of the vinegar, a little Dijon, 1/4 cup olive oil, and salt & pepper. It can be adjusted with more vinegar, to taste.

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