SMOKED SALMON

Basic Home Smoked Salmon

1 3# salmon fillet
8 oz. Salt
4 oz. Sugar
2 tsp. Onion powder
3/4 tsp. Ground cloves
3/4 tsp. Crushed bay leaf
3/4 tsp. Mace
3/4 tsp. Allspice
you may brush with liquor (tequila, bourbon, brandy etc.) as it dries.

Remove bones from fish and wrap in cheesecloth or a clean flour sack towel etc. (in a pinch use plastic wrap with some holes punched in it so the fish can ‘breathe’) skin side down. Mix together the "cure" ingredients: salt sugar onion powder, cloves, bay leaf, mace and allspice. (If you look at the ingredients for the cure it is basically pumpkin pie spice with onion powder, salt and sugar, adapt). 

Place the fish fillet on whatever you’re going to use to wrap it in, once again, not it should be skin side down). Wrap well and refrigerate for 24 hours in a baking pan to cure 24 hours.

Cold smoke 4 to 6 hours. Remove skin and serve.

A COLLECTION of GRAVIES

Brown Gravy
makes 1 ½ cups

2 Tbsp pan drippings, bacon grease or butter
3 Tbsp. Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Black pepper
1 ½ c. cold water

Melt drippings in skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour, salt and pepper, blending well. Continue to stir 1 minute or until mixture is dark brown. Add water and reduce heat to low. Simmer 5 minutes. Serve.

Chicken Gravy
2 1/4 cups

1/4 cup pan drippings from frying chicken
1/.4 c. flour (use the seasoned flour left over from coating the chicken)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups milk

Combine drippings, flour salt and pepper. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Gradually add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. 

Reduce heat to low and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve warm.

Add mustard and horseradish to taste to this for mustard gravy for pork chops or roast.

Red Eye Gravy
For ham and eggs hash browns.

Makes 1 1/3 cup
2 Tbsp dripping from pan frying ham
1 tsp. Sugar
1/4 cup strong coffee or café au lait.

After ham has been fried, add the sugar to the liquid left over in the pan. Place over medium-high heat and allow the sugar to brown, about 1 minute, while scraping the leftover pan residue. Add coffee and simmer 1 minute. Serve warm with eggs.

　
Orange Gravy
makes 3/4 cup

1 Tbsp. Dripping or butter
1 green onion, sliced
1 cup chx stock
4 strips orange peel
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tbsp Orange Juice
1/8 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 tsp. Cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbsp. Water

Saute green onion over medium heat 2 minutes till tender. Add stock and peel, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Strain and discard the peel. Add wine, juice, salt and pepper, mix well. Increase heat to medium. Combine cornastarch and water. Stir into stock mixture. Cook, stirring until gravy comes to a boil. Boil 1 minute
Serve with duck and chicken.

Sausage Gravy
Makes 3 cups

1/4 lb. ground pork sausage (think Jimmy Dean’s)
4 Tbsp. Butter
1/3 cup flour
3 1/4 cup milk
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Pepper

Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Reduce heat to low and reserve about a Tablespoon of the dripping in the skillet. Add the butter, stirring, until it melts. Add the flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add the milk and increase the heat to medium. Stir constantly until thick and bubbly, about 4 minutes. Add the reserved sausage, salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly, serve warm.


Sawmill Gravy
AKA cream gravy
About the same as chicken gravy, specifically this one is for chicken fried steak.

Makes 1 cup
2 Tbsp. Pan drippings or butter
2 Tbsp flour
½ tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. White pepper
1 cup milk

Melt dripping over medium heat. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until well-blended. Gradually add milk. Blend well. Reduce heat to low and simmer 4-5 minutes until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Adjust the seasonings if necessary. Serve warm. You can use almost any dairy product, cream, sour cream (an 8-ounce container) or a can of evaporated milk.


Tasso Gravy
Makes 3 3/4 cup

2 Tbsp. Pan drippings or butter
½ cup flour
4 cups chicken stock
3/4 cups chopped tasso

Cook together flour and dripping four minutes, until light brown, stirring constantly. Gradually add stock. Increase heat to medium, stirring, until mixture has thickened, about 3 minutes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer 12-15 minutes, stirring ocasionally. Stir in the tasso just before serving.


Tomato Gravy
For Meatloaf or Fried Chicken
Makes 1 ½ cups

2 Tbsp. Drippings or bacon grease
3 Tbsp. Flour
½ tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
½ tomato juice or sauce
1 cup cold water or stock

Heat the drippings on medium heat. Addd flour, salt and pepper and cook until brown, 2 minutes. Add juice and water, stirring to blend. Reduce heat to low, simmer 5 minutes.
Very good as a change from cream gravy for chicken!


Mushroom Gravy
Makes 2 cups

2 Tbsp. pan drippings, or shortening
1 c. sliced mushrooms
1 Tbsp. Flour
1 cup beef stock
½ tsp. Worcestershire
½ tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Black pepper
　
Saute Mushrooms in fat four minutes. Add flour and brown 1 minute. Add stock, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes.


Chocolate Gravy
1 ½ cups
Serve over hot buttered biscuits.

1 ½ cups milk
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. Cocoa powder
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp. Butter

Heat the milk over medium heat. Add sugar, cocoa powder and flour, whisking till smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook seven minutes or until thick and bubbly. Stir in butter, blending well.

MARYLAND FRIED CHICKEN with Cream Gravy

Maryland Fried Chicken with Cream Gravy

There is no such thing as Southern Fried Chicken that is "extra crispy". None. This is even more wonderful because of the added step of steaming the chicken after it’s cooked.

1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. Paprika
1 (2 to 2 1/2-pound) broiler-fryer, cut up
Vegetable oil (or Crisco shortening)
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup milk

Combine first 3 ingredients in a paper bag; shake to mix. Place 2 or 3 pieces of chicken in bag; shake well. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken. Reserve 2 Tbsp. Seasoned flour for gravy.

Heat ½ inch oil or Crisco in a large skillet to 325 degrees; add chicken. Cover and cook 7 minutes. Turn chicken; cover, and cook an additional 7 minutes. Reduce heat; drain off oil, reserving 2 Tbsp oil and chicken in skillet. Add water to skillet; cover and continue cooking over low heat 20 minutes or until tender. Drain chicken on paper towels; transfer to a warmed serving platter.

Add butter to pan drippings, and melt. Scrape sides of skillet with a wooden spoon to loosen browned crumbs. Gradually add reserved flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add Milk; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Until thickened add bubbly. Serve gravy with chicken. Yields 4 servings.

Always served with mashed potatoes and long cooked green beans.

MARYLAND CHICKEN PUDDING, CHICKEN LOAF, MUSHROOM SAUCE

Maryland Chicken Pudding

1 (3 ½ to 4 pound) broiler-fryer, cut up
1 medium onion, sliced
2 fresh celery leaves
2 sprigs parsley
½ tsp. Ground thyme
½ tsp. Dried whole rosemary (chop it into a powder or use 1 ½ tsp fresh, chopped
2 tsp. Salt, divided
½ tsp pepper, divided
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 ½ cups flour, divided
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Butter, melted and divided
3 Tbsp. Chopped fresh parsley.

Combine first 6 ingredients, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in a Dutch oven; add water to cover. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer 1 ½ hours. Remove chicken from broth; cool. Strain broth, and set aside. Remove chicken meat from bones; dice and place in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Pour ½ cup broth over chicken. Set remaining broth aside.

Combine eggs, milk, 1 cup flour, ½ tsp. Salt and 1/4 cup butter; beat unntil smooth. Pour over chicken in skillet. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Cool and cut into wedges. Cook remaining broth over high heat until reduced to 2 cups. Stir in ½ cup flour. Add parsley, 2 Tbsp butter, ½ tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp. Pepper. Cook over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Spoon gravy over pudding.
Yields 8 servings.


Chicken Loaf

A nice little affair to present at bridal showers, and other hen parties. Dead easy but also a little impressive looking.

2 2/3 cup chicken broth
1 3/4 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix
3 ½ cups cubed cooked chicken
1 ½ cups cooked rice
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper
½ cup chopped pimento
½ tsp salt
Mushroom Sauce
Green pepper rings (optional)
Pimiento strips (optional)

Pour chicken broth over stuffing mix; let stand 10 minutes. Combine chicken, rice, eggs, chopped green pepper, chopped pimiento, and salt, stirring well. Add chicken mixture to stuffing mixture, stirring until blended. Spoon mixture into a heavilygreased 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Place in a shallow pan containing about 1 inch water. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool completely before inverting onto a serving platter. Serve with mushroom sauce. Garnish with green pepper rings and pimiento strips, if desired.

Yields 8 servings.

Mushroom Sauce
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Flour
3 cups chicken broth
½ cup half and half
1 ½ cups sliced fresh mushrooms
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp. Paprika

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; gradually add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add broth; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat, and stir in remaining ingredients.

Yield: 4 cups.

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 (20 oz.) Can sliced pineapple, drained
7 maraschino cherries
6 walnuts, halved
2 ½ Tbsp shortening
2 /1/2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp grated orange rind
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp. Salt
½ cup milk
1/3 cup flaked coconut
1 tsp. Vanilla
Whipped Cream (optional)

Melt butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet; sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter. Arrange 7 pineapple slices on sugar. Cut remaining slices in half; line sides of pan. Place a cherry in the center of each whole pineapple slice; arrange walnuts between slices.

Combine shortening, butter and orange rind; cream well. Gradually add 2/3 cup sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg: beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat well after each addition. Stir in coconut and vanilla.
Spoon batter evenly over pineapple slices in prepared skillet. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the cake tests clean. Cool in skillet 10 minutes, and invert cake onto serving plate. Serve warm with a dollop of whipped cream, if desired. Yields one 10-inch cake.