This year, recipes from family and friends have been more precious to us than ever. Here are four we have collected over the years that we believe are perfect for the fall season.
Homemade Salami
We were given this recipe when we lived in Roane County, Tennessee, west of Knoxville. Rolls of this salami make great Christmas gifts, along with a jar of spicy mustard.
- 5 pounds ground chuck
- 4 teaspoons garlic salt
- 4 teaspoons hickory salt
- 4 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
- 4 teaspoons cracked black pepper
- 5 teaspoons Morton Tender meat cure
Mix everything well in a large bowl with your rubber-gloved hands. Refrigerate in a covered container for three days, kneading well each night. We suppose you could knead in the morning, too, but the original recipe specifies a night knead, so we comply. Roll the mixture into small rolls. This should make five or six. Bake at 150 degrees for eight hours. Yes, you read it right. This freezes very well.
Carrots with Horseradish Sauce
We first tasted this casserole at the Trustees’ House, built in 1841, in the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. A celebration of root vegetables, it has become a mainstay on our Thanksgiving table and sometimes at Christmas as well.
- 6 medium-size carrots, trimmed, peeled, split lengthwise, and then cut crosswise into pieces about 2 inches long
- 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish (Gold’s is a good brand, first bottled in Brooklyn in 1932)
- Half a small onion, grated, and liquid squeezed out
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup mayonnaise (We prefer Duke’s)
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- Ritz cracker crumbs—as much as the butter will absorb
- ½ teaspoon Hungarian paprika
Boil the carrots until tender and save about ¼ cup of the cooking liquid. Place carrots in a greased shallow baking dish. Mix horseradish, onion, carrot water, salt and pepper, and mayonnaise. Pour this mixture over the carrots. Mix butter and cracker crumbs; add paprika. Sprinkle over carrot mixture. Bake at 375 degrees until hot and bubbly, about half an hour.
Trula Bailey’s Sweet Potatoes
Trula Bailey was one of the best cooks we’ve ever known. Born in Vonore, Tennessee, in 1910, she worked for Fred’s uncle and aunt in Athens, Tennessee, for over 50 years, beginning in 1935. Several years before her death in 2002, we sat Trula down and talked food, documenting her recipes that otherwise would never have been written down. This is one of them. True to her Tennessee heritage, Trula always used Jack Daniel’s Sour Mash Whiskey. On occasion, we have substituted Amaretto. We think Trula would have appreciated the innovation.
- 2 medium to large red sweet potatoes, a little shy of two pounds total
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ¼ cup Jack Daniel’s or Amaretto
- Miniature marshmallows
Boil the sweet potatoes in water until they are quite soft. Cool them, remove the skin and place the sweet potatoes in a food processor. Add sugar, butter, milk and whiskey or Amaretto. Blend until light and fluffy. Pour into a greased casserole and top generously with marshmallows. Bake at 350 degrees until hot and the marshmallows begin to melt and to brown.
This is our most requested recipe, and it’s well over 100 years old. We were honored when Southern food icon Nathalie Dupree included it in her magnum opus Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking. And because of this recipe and our efforts to preserve it, the venerable Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets published our comments on stack cake history and technique in 2015. Mrs. Derting, Jill’s paternal grandmother, would have been amazed. Some bakers may be tempted to add spices, but this recipe succeeds without them, allowing the flavors from the farm and the larder to shine through without embellishment. What is essential in its preparation is a flour made from soft red winter wheat. Other types of flour simply won’t work in these proportions. And finally, the cake must “cure” for about three days in order for the layers to soften and absorb the flavor of the apple filling.
Nevada Parker Derting’s Dried Apple Stack Cake, from Scott County, Virginia
Fred & Jill Sauceman
- 1 pound dried tart apples, such as Winesap
- ½ cup sorghum
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup shortening
- Approximately 4 ½ cups of White Lily flour, plus enough for flouring the board when rolling out each layer.
Cover dried apples with water and cook over medium low heat until most of the water is absorbed and the apples break up when stirred. If apples are not soft enough to break up, add more water and keep cooking. If desired, add a tablespoon or so of sugar to taste. Cool and run apples through a sieve or Foley Food Mill to produce a smooth sauce. Meanwhile combine the remaining ingredients. Dough should be the consistency of stiff cookie dough. Separate dough into five to seven balls. Roll each ball of dough to a ⅛- or ¼-inch thickness. Cut in 8- or 9-inch rounds. (Nevada Derting used a pie pan with a scalloped edge to cut out rounds.) Prick each layer with a fork, making a nice design. Sprinkle individual layers with granulated sugar and bake on a greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees until golden brown (about five to eight minutes, depending on thickness). (Mrs. Derting sometimes baked hers in iron skillets.) Cool and place the first layer on a cake plate. Spread a coating of cooked apples over the layer, within half an inch of the edge. Stack the other layers, alternating cake and cooked apples and ending with a cake layer on top. Save the layer with the prettiest design for the top. Store, covered, in a cool place for several days before serving.
Fred and Jill Sauceman study and celebrate the foodways of Appalachia and the South from their home base in Johnson City, Tennessee.
The story above appears in our September / October 2020 issue. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!