Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food

Up until the middle of the twentieth century, and in some areas well beyond that point, if you lived on a farm or even in a small town with an acre or two of land, raising hogs for meat was pretty much taken for granted. Often, a few extra pigs would also provide a welcome source of “cash money.” Lyrics from Loretta Lynn’s poignant autobiographical song “Coal Miner’s Daughter” are quite suggestive in that regard.

In the summertime we didn’t have shoes to wear,

But in the wintertime we’d all get a brand new pair.

From a mail order catalog, money made from selling a hog,

Daddy always managed to get the money somewhere.

Hog-killing time was a seasonal ritual of immense importance. It marked the culmination of many months of hard work with crops and livestock and was the final, vital step in preparation for the ardors of the coming winter. Fittingly, hogs were most commonly butchered a week or two before Thanksgiving, and once lard had been rendered, sausage and cracklings canned, hams launched in the early steps of the smoking or curing process and lesser cuts salted down to provide fatback and streaked meat for the months ahead, country folks could come about as close to rest as they ever did. The menfolk had some spare time for hunting, womenfolk could look with pride on the year’s final additions to cannery shelves and everyone feasted on pork. From the magical day in November when many hands pitched in for the hard work of killing and processing hogs forward, one key part of life’s annual cycle had ended and another one begun. Along with spring’s greening-up time, it marked a key moment in how life was lived and what foods were consumed.

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A group of men—(left to right) Harrison Caldwell, Emm Anderson and Carl Caldwell—preparing to deal with a huge hog. Courtesy of Hunter Library, Western Carolina University.

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A group of men at hog-killing time, with a hog hung and cauldrons of scalding water ready. Courtesy of the National Park Service.

Almost without exception, pork was the meat in Appalachian daily diet. Chicken was reserved for special occasions (that explains the name frequently applied to it, preacher bird), and beef was a rarity, while fish and game depended on sporting success and/or available time to take to the woods or waters. Pork, by way of sharp contrast, was consumed in some form virtually every day, and more often than not, it made an appearance in two or three meals.

Breakfasts tended to be large and, by today’s standards, would be reckoned lavish. Pork offered in some fashion—sausage, bacon, scrapple, head cheese, country ham, liver mush, streaked meat or gravy based on a cut of pork or renderings from the meat—was pretty much standard breakfast fare. With the notable exception of ham, most breakfast meats, at least as the two of us have known them, come from scraps and inferior pieces of pork. Furthermore, aside from venison sausage, we have almost no recollections of other meats for breakfast.

Whisk eggs together with water. Melt butter in a medium-sized nonstick skillet or a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet (or use an omelet pan). Meanwhile, chop slice of country ham into small pieces. When the butter is melted, reduce heat to medium, pour whisked eggs into the pan and dot top with ham bits. Cook until omelet is solid on the bottom and around the edges and then turn it. When omelet is firm, slide the cooked egg-and-pork combination from the skillet onto a plate and serve immediately. No salt is needed because of the saltiness of the ham.

NOTE: This basic omelet can be fancified to suit all sorts of tastes through the addition of ingredients such as cheese, chives, chopped onions, cilantro, parsley and the like.

Passing along food traditions to the next generation is widely celebrated in Appalachian culture. When I was first married, there was considerable reliance on kitchen knowledge my mother and grandmothers had shared. A pleasant and rewarding surprise came from learning traditional foodways from my new family. My mother-in-law, Miss Cindy, taught me a deliciously easy way to cook an outstanding pork roast with a jar of kraut.

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Pork roast with kraut fresh from the oven. Tipper Pressley.

Season roast and dredge in flour. Heat pan with oil and sear roast on all sides. Transfer roast to a Dutch oven or roasting pan. Pour kraut with liquid over the roast. Cover and cook at 350 degrees until done.

TIP: Potatoes can be added before the roast finishes cooking. This roast goes very well with a cake of cornbread.

Unless you know a butcher and can get him to custom cut for you, don’t count on finding this traditional New Year’s staple on grocery shelves. You can find ribs, but invariably, they will have been cut away from the backbone. That’s too bad, because the bits of meat where the ribs meet the backbone give credence to the old adage “the closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat.” If you obtain only ribs, be sure to get the entire bone, for the end where the rib meets the backbone will soften in cooking and provide tasty marrow to suck or for making bone broth.

Cooking backbones-and-ribs, or whatever cuts of pork you manage to obtain as the closest possible substitute, is the essence of simplicity: trim off excess fat, place in a slow cooker with a bit of water and cook for several hours. With the addition of salt and pepper to taste, you have some simple stuff fit for a king. If you have leftovers, chop up the meat, add your favorite barbecue sauce and you’ve got the makings of fine barbecue sandwiches.

Ham is often served as the centerpiece of celebratory meals in the mountains of Appalachia. Throughout much of the Appalachian South, an Easter without ham would be as alien as one without dyed eggs for the youngsters. The trick to having a wonderfully tender and moist ham is to avoid overcooking. This recipe is a straightforward, simple approach to baking a ham.

Remove thick, rubbery skin from ham. Place in roasting pan fat side up. Pour water around ham. Cover tightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes per pound or until heated thoroughly.

TIP: Near the end of the baking process, the cover of the roasting pan can be removed to allow the ham to brown. Be sure to save the ham bone for your next pot of soup beans.

Place ham in a shallow baking pan. Combine other ingredients and mix well. Pour over ham steak and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the liquid in the pan.

Fatback is salt pork and is used often in Appalachian foodways. Although technically, fatback and streaked meat are two different portions of a pig, confusion can reign supreme when you add other descriptions such as streak-o-lean, side meat, salt bacon, pork belly and the like. Throughout this work, the terms fatback and streaked meat are used interchangeably. They are normally purchased in one of two forms—already sliced or in a thick hunk that requires slicing.

Fry the meat in a cast-iron pan on both sides until done. To prevent curling, cut slits in the edges or use a press to ensure the slices lie flat and cook evenly.

NOTE: Fatback can also be breaded with flour before frying. It goes wonderfully well in a biscuit, with a slice of cornbread or crumbled up over scrambled eggs.

TIP: If the meat is too salty, soak in water for an hour before cooking. Drain and pat dry before frying.

While the standard approach to preparing bacon is in the frying pan, it does quite nicely in an oven. Spread bacon on rimmed baking sheet and cook in 400-degree oven until done. Bacon drippings can be saved or poured in a pan as the beginning for gravy.

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Oven bacon. Tipper Pressley.

Fry ham in a cast-iron skillet, cooking on both sides until done (and to obtain the beginnings of red-eye gravy; see chapter 11).

TIP: To prevent curling, slice edges or use a press to ensure slices lie flat and cook evenly. A smaller cast-iron pan makes an ideal press.

Thoroughly scrub 5 or 6 good-sized baking potatoes and then quarter them. Place in a Dutch oven and sprinkle with black pepper to taste. Cover with strips of fatback and cook at 400 degrees for about an hour. Check while cooking to be sure they aren’t overheating. Use a fork to make certain the potatoes are done. You may need to add salt, but do not do this until after the potatoes are cooked. The streaked meat will usually contain enough salt to season them.

Streaked meat works wonders with the somewhat bland taste of hominy. Instead of butter and black pepper—the seasonings most commonly associated with hominy (and, for that matter, hominy grits)—just fry a few thin slices of meat until crispy brown, crumble and sprinkle atop hot hominy. If desired, add a bit of salt to taste (keeping in mind the fact that you are dealing with salt pork) and sprinkle with black pepper.

Pork in general, including sausage, has long been an integral part of Appalachian diet and the region’s most important meat. This versatile stew—which can be varied with substitute ingredients such as turnip or mustard greens for kale, Italian sausage for traditional mountain pork sausage or about any type of dried bean for cannellini—is wonderfully filling along with being delicious.

Tear kale leaves from the stems, saving the stems. Pile up the leaves and cut into strips with an ulu or knife. Cut the stems into small pieces and set aside. Place oil in a Dutch oven and bring to medium-high heat. Brown the sausage, using a spoon or tongs to turn so it is brown on all sides. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the potato and cook for several minutes, stirring a bit, until the pieces begin to brown. Stir in the kale stems and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic, pepper flakes and kale leaves and cook for 1 additional minute. Return the sausage to the pan and add the drained beans and chicken stock, along with salt and pepper. Adjust the latter two to taste (if the stock is store-bought, it may already have ample salt). Reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes.

A hearty meal of soup always seems to lift the spirits, and it’s wonderful for dispelling mollygrubs in the depths of winter. That holds doubly true for sausage soup, because it’s a stick-to-the-ribs treat that satisfies in tasty fashion and is fit to sustain even those who work incredibly hard.

Brown sausage in a stock pot. Drain fat. Combine the remaining ingredients—except the potatoes—with the sausage. Simmer for about an hour. Add the potatoes and cook until they are tender. This soup goes well with cornbread.

TIP: Seasonings can be increased, decreased or changed according to individual preferences. For example, a crumbled pod of red pepper in the soup will give it a bit of added heat or “bite.”

Even folks who were squeamish about the actual process of hog killing and the undeniably odiferous, odious work that followed eagerly anticipated the feast of fresh meat that the day offered. For many with lingering links to a vanishing way of life, the entire event looms large in nostalgic recollection. Of all the appetizing delicacies provided by fresh pork, for most, tenderloin was at the top of the list. Appalachia is full of heartwarming stories of the first mess of fried tenderloin following a day of butchering. Here’s a simple, straightforward way to prepare tenderloin, and for most folks in the region, this approach, maybe with slight variations, was what they used.

Chunks of tenderloin sliced in ½-inch rounds (a thinner or thicker cut may be used)

Mix salt and pepper to taste with the flour. Dredge pork pieces in the flour mixture and fry in hot bacon grease until done. A pan of cathead biscuits and a side of fried apples brings forth the wonderful flavor of the pork in a larger-than-life fashion.

TIP: This recipe works fine with store-bought pork tenderloin, but nothing quite matches the fresh option.