Laura Reid (Pease)

So true about south in your mouth.....my parents were both southern and were both great southern cooks....when I prepared one of their old standbys and my Cincy friends looked curiously on (country ham, cheese grits, etc.), my Dad would say, "Well, you married a Yankee honey"!

I have all my Mom and Dad's old cookbooks and love resurrecting their recipes.

Okra is definately an addition to chicken gumbo or any gumbo for that matter.....

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

I LOVE Southern food, aka "Soul Food", but I have never been a fan of okra, even if the slime is gone. Just don't like the flavor.  I'd much rather have a pot of greens, collards, turnip, or mustard (doesn't matter, single or mixed) cooked with salted pork, and served with cornbread, baked macaroni and cheese, and fried catfish.  Peach or apple cobbler for dessert!  I'm getting hungry!!!

Laura Reid (Pease)

and how about some pecan pie???

Jeff Daum

We always make pecan pie for thanksgiving.  I use my Mother's receipe (and both our sons use it as well).  The only thing I have changed is the pie dough- I now use a really great one that was from Gormet Magazine.  

Paul Simons

Well Jon I know you're an MD so in the interest of pubic health I must say the vegetable you are dismissing as "green slime' is INFINITELY better for the human body than what you appear to deem to be better - PINK SLIME!!!

Yes I kniow the can says "America's Favorite" but does that really prove anything? We can all think of something or someone that is "America's Favorite" that really doesn't deserve the title, right? For example the Ford F-150 truck is the most popular used vehicle in America and it might in fact be the choice vehicle to show up in at the WHHS64 Reunion to get the attention of the cheerleaders that didn't give a hoot during actual High School but is it the right vehicle for everyone? Now this gentleman might have a good reason for driving over this fallen tree in his Ford F-150, perhaps to make a Citizen's Arrest or even shoot someone who he has decided isn't a Real American, and I hope it lands him in a court of law facing a jury of people like me, but that's another story. Okra is fabulous!!

Paul Simons

Thanks for the suggestion Ann - I have a can or two of these - dinner tomorrow -

On the other topic does anyone remember Frisch's Pecan Pie, and also their Strawberry Pie? They really knew how to do it. That restaurant on Reading Road near the Twin Drive-In had the best waitress - Norma? Wilma? Rhoda? - on earth, I wish I had the sense to tip her what she was worth, which was a lot, back then.

Judy Holtzer (Knopf)

Frisch's pecan pie - boy, that takes me back! My dad (z"l) almost always ordered it when we went there to eat. He had a real sweet tooth. After considerable nagging, Mom finally made it at home. She was a terrific baker, but I didn't see - or rather, taste - what Dad did in pecan pie. Mom's fudge was another matter, though.

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Canned greens, NEVER!!! You buy bunches and bunches of fresh greens, wash them at least three times, first to remove the grit and sand, second ( my mother would actually add a drop or two of liquid Joy, but I use a soak of cold water and white vinegar) then a third full rinse while cutting off the stems.  Then, add as much greens as you can to the pot that is cooking the pork at a rolling boiling.  As the greens wilt and the water boils again, keep adding more greens, and repeat this process until you have added all the greens. When you start, you'll never think you will ever get all the greens in one pot, but they all fit. Invariably, you think you bought enough greens, but after they cook down, you wind up with just a few servings.

Speaking of pies, my first taste of a truly southern pie, chess pie, was when I was in school in Tennessee.  Also speaking of pies, most people have pumpkin or pecan pie at Thanksgiving. My granddaughter, now 28, grew up with a condition, eosinophilic esophagitis, and has a number of food allergies, including the ubiquitous corn (thus corn starch), squash, and tree nuts, limiting her dessert choices.  Over the years, her mother has mastered a delicious sweet potato pie, that we all look forward to.

Gail Weintraub (Stern)

Love, love, love pecan pie! That's my Kentucky roots for sure.

Paul, the Frisch's waitress/server was Rhoda. She was a love who took good care of us. She was like a member of the family.

Jeff Daum

For those classmates that enjoy cars and trucks, here is a link to my gallery from the SEMA/AAPEX convention that just finished:  

https://www.daumphotography.com/Events/SEMAAAPEX-2021/

And for Chip Foose fans a video to stroll through the largest collection in one place https://youtu.be/z7mtVxevm7k

Philip Spiess

BOURBON PECAN PIE OF OLD KENTUCKY:

2/3 cup Corn Syrup     1/2 cup Brown Sugar     2 Eggs     1 1/2 cup Pecans, coarsely chopped

2 Tbls. Melted Butter     2 Tbls. Bourbon (or more -- or Brandy, if desired) 1 tsp. Vanilla     Pinch Salt     Unbaked 9" Pie Shell

Whisk together all ingredients except the nuts, then stir in the nuts.  Pour into an unbaked pie crust and bake in a 350-degree pre-heated oven on the bottom rack about 40 minutes or until the pie is golden brown on the top.

Paul Simons

Somehow that gold color - what is it? Bugatti? Delahaye? Anyway driving that thing with a plate of that bourbon pecan pie and the bottle of bourbon too - "Four on the floor and a fifth on the seat" - across the Biscayne Bay on the MacArthur Causeway in Miami on the way to Bebe Rebozo's place - "Living the dream." Or perhaps nightmare.

OK, I've monopolized the conversation enough!!!

Philip Spiess

OHIO RIVER CATFISH DINNER:

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. Farm-Raised Catfish (not from today's Ohio River!)        

2 Tbls. unmelted Bacon Fat     Mounded dinner plate of Ground Yellow Cornmeal     Bowl of Milk     Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Melt the bacon fat in a hot skillet or frying pan (do not let it burn).  Run each fish fillet through the bowl of milk, then through the plate of cornmeal, making sure each fillet is well-coated on both sides with the cornmeal.  Fry in the hot bacon fat until golden brown on both sides, turning once or twice and sprinkling both sides with the salt and pepper. Serve at once with greens cooked in "pot likker" [as explained by Ann Rueve, above], some cornbread (standard, apple cornbread, or green chili cornbread) to sop up the "likker," and possibly some French-fried cucumber or pickle slices on the side [as well as a Christian Moerlein or Yuengling beer].

Philip Spiess

NEW ORLEANS CATFISH SUPREME:

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. Farm-Raised Catfish (not from today's Ohio or Mississippi Rivers!)     Butter      Bowl of Milk      Grey Poupon Country-Style Dijon Mustard    

1 to 2 small pkgs. Crushed Pecans OR Crushed Black Walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a casserole dish large enough to hold all of the fish fillets without overlapping.  Run each fish fillet through the bowl of milk, then coat all sides of the fish with a thin but thorough coating of the Dijon mustard.  Next roll (i.e., coat) each fish fillet in the crushed pecans (for a sweeter taste) OR in the crushed black walnuts (for a drier taste), making sure each fillet is thoroughly covered.  Place in the buttered casserole and bake in the oven until the fish are browned outside and cooked through the middle (you may need to cut open one or two to make sure).  Do not let them dry out.  [Serve with your favorite spinach dish and a Sazerac or Vieux Carre cocktail.]  

Jeff Daum

Paul, reasonable guess but not a Bugatti or Delahaye, that Foose car was named by him "Impression."  It is one of his more famous designs/builds taking over 7 years.  From his website: The objective was to create the perfect styling for a mid-30’s roadster. The result was a unique Foose design, a sleeker and longer version of the stock 1936 & 1937 Fords. Impression became one of the rare winners of both America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and the Detroit Autorama Ridler Award, two of the highest forms of praise for any custom automobile. it contains over 4,000 individual hand built parts that were machined and fabricated. Brackets, covers, suspension pieces, trim, mirror, door handles and pedals were just some of the pieces that received the highest level of attention. In fact, only 3 OEM parts can be found on the vehicle; the engine, the transmission and the center section of the rear end. Everything else is handmade, even the tires were custom molded as blanks with a handcut custom tread pattern.

Here is another image of it:

Philip Spiess

OLD VIRGINIA CHESS PIE  (originally known as Transparent Pudding):

3/4 cup of Sugar     2 Eggs     1/4 cup of Butter, melted     6 Tbls. of Buttermilk     1 tsp. of Vanilla     Unbaked 9" Pie Shell     Whipped Cream

Beat sugar and eggs together until fluffy.  Beat in melted butter and buttermilk.  Pour into the unbaked pie shell and bake in a 325-degree oven, on the lowest rack, for about an hour.  Before serving, top with whipped cream.  

Philip Spiess

OSGOOD PIE *  from THE GOLDEN LAMB INN, Lebanon, Ohio:

3/4 cup of Raisins, cooked until plump     3/4 cup of Chopped Apples (peeled and cored)     3/4 cup of Chopped Nuts (Pecans are good)    

1/2 to 3/4 cup of Butter, melted     2 Eggs, beaten     1 1/2 tsp. Apple Vinegar     1 cup of Sugar     Unbaked 9" Pie Shell

Boil the raisins in a little water until plump (if you want to be extravagant, boil them in rum), then drain.  Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour into the pie shell and bake in a 375-degree oven for 40 minutes.  Cool before serving.

[* Osgood Pie, short for "Oh So Good Pie," is a later elaborate variant of Chess Pie.]

Paul Simons

This website says it's Jon Singer's birthday so despite the rather critical, unwarranted, indeed unfair and biased review of that sublime and often misunderstood vegetable, Okra, Happy Birthday Jon.

On the subject of recipes - thanks for the pie blueprints Ann, Phil, Laura et al -  if anyone has put one of these in or has plans for one - a small residential nuclear reactor - please let me know. (LMAO)

Philip Spiess

I don't think I'll try cooking Thanksgiving pie in one of those, Paul.

And wasn't Okrah a former big-time talk-show host on TV?

Gail Weintraub (Stern)

On Veteran's Day, I would like to honor our 44 classmates who served and returned from Vietnam. Thank you for your courage, dedication and service. You make our WHHS Class of 1964 proud.

Paul Simons

Fourty four!! That's a lot Gail, glad they all made it back safe. 44 is a good number. A very good number.

Phil you must be thinking of Deepak CHOPRA and OPRAH Winfrey who are fine people who have contributed much to the human race, trying mightily to turn around its devolution into extinction and oblivion, along with their namesake the humble vegetable of which we speak, which has kept our better angels energized. As Wikipedia says Okra "is also high in fiber—about eight medium-sized pods are estimated to contain 3 grams of fiber.^[21] Another study found that okra increases fiber intake, promotes better glycemic control, and improves insulin sensitivity.^[34] Okra seed extracts may have an antioxidant and anti-stress effect.^[35] Foods such as okra that are high in fiber and antioxidants lower cholesterol levels, according to The American Heart Association.^[36] Okra plants may also improve recovery times and fatigue levels.^[37]

Not only that. From the same article - "Greenish-yellow edible okra oil is pressed from okra seeds; it has a pleasant taste and odor, and is high in unsaturated fats such as oleic acid and linoleic acid.^[25] The oil content of some varieties of the seed is about 40%. At 794 kg/ha, the yield was exceeded only by that of sunflower oil in one trial.^[26] A 1920 study found that a sample contained 15% oil.^[27] A 2009 study found okra oil suitable for use as a biofuel.^[28]

A biofuel!! There's no doubt about it - God put Okra here for humanityt to use to save itself in its hour of need!!

Philip Spiess

That's it, Paul -- Okrah Bornfrey!  I knew my memory wasn't going (though I wasn't quite sure where it was going)!

As to Deep-Pak, that sounds like some sort of freezer packaging.

Philip Spiess

[I retired from the Forum for nearly nine months because it seemed that no one was any longer interested in my historical vignettes, but, given Gail's tribute above, I am posting the following:]

The 100th-Year Anniversary of:

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery:

Dedicated to deceased American military service members whose remains have not been identified, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier(s) in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D. C., was approved by the United States Congress on March 4, 1921.  It was (is) located on the eastern plaza of the (then new) Memorial Amphitheater, the open-air circular amphitheater used primarily on May 30 (Memorial Day, formerly Decoration Day, when graves of Civil War veterans were decorated with flowers and flags) and November 11 (Veterans Day, formerly Armistice Day, the date which brought to a close the hostilities of World War I) for speeches and commemorations by the President of the United States and associated military officials.

The body of the first "unknown soldier" (from World War I), brought back from France, was interred on November 11 (note the date), 1921.  A stone slab (not marble) covered the opening.  However, it was not until April 9, 1932, that the Tomb, with its sculpted marble monument as we see it today, was completed.  The great Yule marble block of the monument, quarryed in Colorado, was fabricated in Proctor, Vermont, at the Vermont Marble Company [the major U. S. marble company, no longer in business, but a site which can still be visited for its museum].  The architect of the monument was Lorimer Rich and the sculptor Thomas Hudson Jones; the actual carving of the marble was done by the Piccirilli Brothers of Washington (who also did the majpr carving work, at about the same time, on the Lincoln Memorial).  The monument sits at the head of the grave of the World War I Unknown.

Much later, additional Unknowns from later wars were added.  West and south of the original grave is the crypt of the Unknown from World War II (1958), and west and north of the original grave is the crypt of the Unknown from the Korean War (1958).  In between these is the crypt that once contained the Unknown from the Vietnam War (1984), but his remains were later identified (1998; 1st Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie, Air Force) and removed (1998) to be buried elsewhere (St. Louis, Missouri).  These three graves are marked with white marble slabs flush with the plaza; the one in the center, originally inscriped "Vietnam," has been changed to "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen" (the crypt remains vacant).

A civilian guard was first posted at the Tomb on November 17, 1925, to keep famlies from picnicking on the flat marble slab.  The military guard was first posted there on March 25, 1926, with the first 24-hour guard being posted on July 2, 1937; from then until now, it has been guarded continuously 24 hour a day, 7 days a week  -- until November 9-10, 2021, when the guard was lifted, on the Tomb's centennial, for average families to approach the Tomb and leave flowers, wreaths, or other tributes to the immortal dead.  [N.B.:  A good number of years ago now, when I was visiting the Tomb, a small child, escaping from its parents, crossed the chained boundary onto the mat on which the guard marches to patrol the Tomb; the soldier immediately lowered his rifle, with its bayonet, and pointed the bayonet's point about 6 inches from the child and said, rather tersely, "Get that child out of there now!" -- which the parents, needless to say, immediately did!]

[N.B.:  The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War (identified 1826) is located in the burial ground of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, Virginia; there is also a national war memorial to that effect in Washington Square, Philadelphia (1957), part of Independence National Historical Park.  The Civil War Unknowns Monument is an above-ground burial vault located in Arlington National Cemetery, just south of Arlington House, Robert E. Lee's former family home.  Great Britain's Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, a memorial to the dead of World War I (as is The Cenotaph in London's Whitehall), is located at the west end of the nave of Westminster Abbey, while Canada's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in front of the National War Memorial in Confederation Square, Ottawa.] 

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

After all those posts about food, I decided I wanted some greens. I cut, stemmed and washed three large bunches of collards and two large bunches of turnip greens while I had a piece of leftover ham boiling. It took at least five "wilt downs" over a space of about twenty minutes to get them all into my pot (every time I cook greens, I always tell myself I need to get a larger pot), and let them simmer for an hour. I usually stir in, each, about a teaspoon of cayenne red pepper and kosher salt, then let them simmer another half hour. I'll divide into thirds and freeze two portions for later, but on this cold, dark, rainy night in Cincinnati,  I'll be having greens, cornbread, and leftover pot roast for dinner. 

Paul Simons

Ann you are a genius. I wish you had been on the Cincinnati Board of Education. We might have learned the value of green vegetables, the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber and how to cook all three of them before being in our '70's and just finding out about a healthy lifestyle as the parking meter runs down and we're fresh out of quarters.