alorian (alorian) wrote in and_cupcakes, @ 2008-05-18 16:11:00 |
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Billy Lee Black's Soup Beans, Cornbread, & Fried Apples
Billy Lee's Soup Beans & Cornbread, with Fried Apples
Billy Lee is sixteen, and his hands are already old. They are the hands of a father twice Billy's age, with a faint smell of gunpowder, calluses from a protective shotgun trigger, and palms hard from a thousand other chores: chopping firewood, fixing rickety plumbing and leaking roofs, digging tiny graves for the orphans' much-mourned pets. They're the hands of a mother, too, and there are needle-marks in his forefinger from mending countless socks, and his hands have soothed fevers and nightmares, bandaged up scrapes, and trained smaller, softer hands into block-printing and arithmetic.
They've learned to cook, as well, and on the days when rain is thudding on the windows like bullets, and half the orphans are just over colds and the other half just getting them, and his Etone's stipend has been stretched so thin it's transparent, Billy's hands have learned to make the best of things. Even when those things seem very few.
None of them, bless them, ever complain about beans, even after all week. The cornbread has more water than milk in it and no sugar; Prim has just come in the back door with her damp apron full of hard, sour green apples. They'll need all the sugar he has to be edible, but he wouldn't dream of turning down her offering for their table.
A pinch of cinnamon is like a prayer: a tiny richness of faith to see Billy and his charges through any number of rainy days.
Everyone is fed and warm and clothed, and Billy is content. Wealth is all about being grateful for the gifts God brings.
Soup Beans
2 lbs. pinto beans, dried (2 standard bags)
2 slices bacon or turkey bacon sliced in small bits, or thumb-sized chunk of fatback (salt pork)
Salt
Worcestershire sauce
(optional spices)
Penzey's Smoky 4S
Penzey's Prime Rib Rub
Prep: Rinse and sort beans into a large pot. Discard any small stones or beans that appear blackened or otherwise off. Wrinkledy ones are OK. (This is a good task for small orphans.)
Soak: Cover rinsed beans with water and soak for 6 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse beans. (For a quick soak, add 12-14 cups hot water and bring to a rapid boil. Boil for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Let stand, covered, for 1 hour. Drain soak water and rinse beans. An overnight soak is best though - and less work.)
Cooking: Add 12 cups of hot water to drained and rinsed beans. Add in bacon or pork and simmer gently on medium low heat for about 2 hours. Beans only improve with long, slow simmering. Half an hour before serving, add salt, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings to taste. Bacon can be eaten with beans, but retain pork fat in the pot until all the beans have been eaten.
If it is summer, send one of the orphans out to the garden for a big lumpy red tomato and some green onions. serve the tomato in slices on the side, with salt and dill, and the onion washed and trimmed but whole, to nibble with the beans.
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Aquavy-style Cornbread
This is a savory cornbread, with more cornmeal than white flour, and no sugar. It is good crumbled up in bean broth, or broken up into chunks, in a glass, with milk poured over for a late-night snack. You will need a seasoned cast-iron skillet about 10" wide. (Which has many other uses, besides just cornbread, and is a solid investment. Eggs never taste as good fried in anything else.)
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
3 tbs. oil
1 cup milk, buttermilk or (on hard days) water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbs. baking powder
Heat oven to 450.
Oil a cast-iron skillet and place in the oven, to heat. In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients, then make a well in the middle and add the eggs, oil, and milk. Mix until combined. By now the oven should be pre-heated and the skillet will be hot. Scatter a bit of cornmeal in the skillet (it should sizzle) and pour in the batter. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Turn out onto a wire rack or wooden cutting board, slice into wedges and butter liberally.
*
Skillet-fried Apples
6-8 green apples
butter
cinnamon
sugar
While the cornbread is baking, core and slice six or eight small, tart green apples. The best kind have just fallen out of a tree out back that was planted by your father more years ago than you remember, but granny smith will do in a pinch. Put the slices in a bowl and sprinkle generously with sugar, toss to coat.
When the cornbread is turned out of the cast iron skillet, wipe the skillet briefly with a paper towel and add a lump of butter while the skillet is still hot from the oven. Put the skillet on the stove over medium heat and fry the apples until they are pleasantly mushy but most of them have some shape (about ten minutes). Cover them for a bit if they seem to be staying hard; some apples will need longer. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.
Don't forget to say grace.