Keepers of the Old Ways
November 30, 2022
Arkansas
If you like cooking "from scratch"
You likely keep your eye out for those choice recipes
That bring back memories... or tell a story...
Or hold some old tradition in them.
It makes such interesting table conversation.
What are our lives?... if not a collection of memories.
We all hope to have wonderful ones to savor...
as we live our lives... that aren't always so wonderful.
One of those places that I find interesting stories and recipes
Is the YouTube channel "Whippoorwill Holler."
Coming out of Arkansas, this country couple
shares their histories, garden tips, and recipes.
Can Mr. Brown Predict Our Winter Weather?
In this video, the man talks about their old family horse, Big Boy.
The horse is dead, now, but he says that the horse raised his kids.
A gentle animal... the man would see the kids leaning on him
as the old horse rested in the sun in the pasture.
(I think that old horse wanted another horse friend to talk to.)
In the same video is some persimmon folklore.
According to the persimmon seed readings, at least,
we may be looking at a snowy winter this year.
You see... if you open a persimmon seed and see a spoon
there will be a snowy winter.
If there is an image of a fork, it will be a warmer winter.
Persimmons also make good pies...
but it seems that they are more commonly used as animal food.
Kentucky
There's an old expression... "it's easy as pie"...
but if you know much about pie crust recipes
it is a trick to make a really good flaky pie crust.
The butter must be cold. The water... cold.
Don't over work the dough... roll it out carefully.
Let it rest in the fridge... poor ole pie crust got tired.
Fold it in fourths... transfer to pie plate... flute the edges.
Fluting... is pinching the dough at the edges for decoration.
Bah humbug on the "easy as pie" philosophy.
But there is a secret lurking in pie-making families.
Once you find it... you see it everywhere. The BEST recipe.
It really is... easy as pie.
2 cups flour
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
Stir it all you want... you can't ruin this pie crust.
Roll it out between two layers of waxed paper.
Lift the paper off, but replace it on both sides.
Now that it's loose, take the top paper off
and flip it from underneath to the pie plate.
Fluty Lick Homestead does a version of this pie crust.
He melts the shortening, instead of using oil.
In this video he makes his family's version
of the Appalachian Stack Apple Pie.
Laken says sometimes they are stacked eight pies high.
There are many versions of the "Appalachian stack pie"
which I discovered when I went looking to see
HOW DO YOU EAT THIS THING?
For other versions of the stack pie... it is cut like a cake.
Here's his video:
EASY APPLE PIE!! Appalachian Style, June Apple Sauce And Stacked
His fluted-edged pie plate makes it easy to slip out the pie.
He fills the crust with maybe just a cup of applesauce.
This "pie" or "cake" is common in Appalachia
and is often seen at special occasions and reunions.
Family reunions are a wonderful tradition.
In our family, the reunion was at a park in the origin state.
People came from all over the country.
A long line of picnic tables was set up...
maybe eight or ten... filled with all the food.
Fried chicken, salads, pies, and cakes.
The park had a swimming pool for all the kids...
while the "grown-ups" caught up on all the news.
The Fluty Lick Homestead youtube channel
has lots of Americana, gardening, cooking, and techniques.
This is the video of his root cellar build
Fluty Lick Homestead Root Cellar Update
Laken purchased this house for $2000. and moved it to his land.
which he describes in this video
Laken tells the story of his log house rebuild
Memorial Day on Fluty Lick!
His son, Finley, makes 8 generations on this hill in Inez, Kentucky
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