Thanksgiving Arkansas Style.

There are many items out there considered native to the American dining experience on Thanksgiving day... a turkey or ham on the table, a pie in the oven, football on the television and the family around the table.  But what could be considered a truly Arkansas Thanksgiving?

If you need a cheat sheet, you've got it.  Let's talk about those Arkansas products, foodstuffs and recipes that make a perfect day for all.

Bernell Austin, the Duchess Drive-In & Fried Pickles.

Atkins was once known as the Pickle Capital of the World. In 1945, the Goldsmith Pickle Company located a plant in the town. Fifteen years later, a guy by the name of Bernell Austin leased a parcel of land from the Griffin Oil Company for ten dollars a month, set on building a restaurant. The little eatery called the Duchess Drive-In was pink and popular with plant employees who’d drop by after work.

Austin, known as “Fats” or “Fatman” to many of his constituents, looked for ways to increase business. In 1963, he struck on a new idea, battering and deep-frying hamburger dill slices and selling them for fifteen cents for a basket of fifteen. Thus the fried pickle was born.

Austin wasn’t happy with that first recipe. He tweaked it and eventually settled on slicing dill pickles the long way and dropping them into a spicy batter before deep frying them to a golden brown. The recipe remains a family secret, though many claim that the Old South in Russellville has gotten ahold of the formula.

With the coming of the new interstate, Austin decided to line up and take advantage of the better traffic, building a new restaurant called the Loner Drive-In out toward the overpass and opening it in 1968. He closed the Duchess Drive-In in September of that year; two weeks later, an eighteen-wheeler ran into the building and destroyed it. Austin continued to operate the Loner Drive-In until he retired in 1978. He passed away in 1999.

Fried pickles at the Arkansas State Fair. (Kat Robinson)

Today, the recipe is definitively used at the Atkins Pickle Festival, held over two days every May. The family estimates some 2,500 orders are placed during the event each year.

Now, I would not claim to know Austin’s famed recipe. But I do know the recipe that’s been taught to me, and Stephanie Wilson has one of her own. Both are below. Feel free to give them a try.

Fried pickle spears at Uncle Dean's Catfish. (Kat Robinson)

Fried Pickles
Stephanie Wilson

1 egg
1 teaspoon dill weed, divided
6 to 8 kosher dill spears, brine reserved
½ cup cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper

Beat your egg, adding a ½ teaspoon of the dill weed and about a tablespoon of the pickle brine. Mix the cornmeal and flour, adding the other ½ teaspoon of dill weed and salt and pepper to taste.

Dredge the pickles in the cornmeal and flour. Coat them in the egg mixture and then dredge in the cornmeal and flour again. Freeze for about an hour. Deep fry these until golden brown and serve with ranch dressing.

From ModernDayMoms.com

Fried Pickles
Kat Robinson

1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup rice flour or cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ cup water
½ cup pickle juice
1 egg yolk
4 cups dill pickles, cut into ¼-inch slices (this works better than presliced hamburger dills)
Oil for frying

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk liquids and egg yolk together and then incorporate into dry ingredients. Set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Heat oil to 375 degrees. Working with about a ¼ of the pickles at a time, drop slices into batter and stir around. Using a slotted spoon, remove from batter and carefully place into hot oil. Fry for one to two minutes (like fried okra). Serve warm with ranch dressing.

Do Up Your Deer.

November is apparently the best month for me to share recipes, and on the request of KARN’s Dave Elswick I’d like to share some of the recipes I’ve used with venison.  They’re a little off the beaten path, but they do offer a different take on the animal -- and after all, if you take a deer, you’ll have quite a lot to deal with.  At Dave's request, I'm also including recipes called in by listeners.

I love this recipe for Venison Stew.  It combines deer meat with red wine for a nice, deep flavor best served when the weather is cold.  It also has mushrooms, which I love.

2 pounds cubed deer meat
1 pound mushrooms (any sort), sliced
1 cup red wine
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 packet French onion soup mix.

In a cast iron casserole or Dutch oven, sear the venison cubes.  Add the mushrooms.  Mix the remaining items and add them to the casserole.  Set in the oven at 250 degrees and allow to cook for four or more hours until the venison cubes fall apart.  Can also be made in a Crock-Pot, just sear your venison first.


Venison Philly Cheesesteaks
For this one, you want a meat slicer and a nearly frozen deer roast -- or when you get your deer butchered, ask that your deer roast be sliced wafer thin.  You’re looking for cross-section slices no more than ¼ inch thick.

1 pound wafer-thin venison roast cutlets
2 bell peppers, seeded and sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, smashed
Salt and pepper to taste
Bread of choice (6 inch hoagies work well)
Provolone cheese slices

Slice open hoagie rolls or spread appropriate bread.  Lay Provolone over the inside surface.

Bring skillet to medium high heat.  Saute peppers, onions and garlic until onion is translucent.  Add venison and Worchestershire sauce.  Cook for one to two minutes or until cutlets are cooked through but still moist.  Add salt and/or pepper if you like.  Remove from heat but do not drain.  With tongs, drop meat and vegetables into rolls on top of cheese.  Serves 2-4, depending on how hungry you are.

I talked about cooking venison in a medieval fashion on the show.  Here's a great recipe on the Gode Cookery website for Venyson in Broth, or more properly Venison Ribs in Wine.

John Philpot called in with this great venison recipe.  He and Phyllis Speer hosted "Arkansas Outdoors" on AETN for 20 years, and they always had great things to share and eat.  John says this is the most requested venison recipe they had.


Grilled Chili Crusted Venison Steak

1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
One venison steak, one to three and a half pounds, 1 ½ to 2 inches thick

Trim any fat off the meat and rub the mixture onto both sides of the steak.  Place it in a shallow glass pan and cover it tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate it at least overnight.  It's better if you give it a full day -- and 36 hours is still all right.  Every 12 hours, turn the steak over.

Get a charcoal fire burning, and once the coals are covered with ash put that steak on the grill six inches from the heat.  Flip it once while it's cooking.  Give it 25 minutes for rare or 30 for medium.  Slice it up and serve it.

John says you can slice it with a fork.

Not a deer recipe, but John also gave this recipe for Mexican Eggs.

A pound of sausage
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 can Rotel
salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs
1 eight ounce package grated cheddar cheese

Crumble the sausage in skillet, brown it and drain it.  Add the onion, pepper, garlic and cumin and cook until the onions are soft.  Add Rotel and, if you like, salt and pepper and cook it all together.

With a large wooden spoon, make four little wells in the mix.  Break an egg into each well.  Cover tightly with a lid and cook until the egg is firm.  Sprinkle the cheese over the whole mess and let it cook until the cheese is melted.  Makes four servings.

John says Phyllis would crack the eggs in gently so they'd cook up where the yolks were still whole and runny -- but you can beat the eggs first if you wish.

One of our listeners, Fred, told us about a breakfast treatment for tough deer meat.  Take cubed up meat and throw it in a crockpot with garlic, black pepper, onion and white gravy.  Let it simmer all night long and serve it up the next morning over biscuits.

It's similar to what parts of my family has been doing for years for breakfast...

Skillet Fried Deer


1 pound deer minute steaks (1/2 inch thick)
2 cups + 1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 stick + 1 stick butter

Heat skillet to medium high.  Drop in a stick of butter to coat the bottom.

Get yourself a meat mallet and pound the holy fire out of the deer steaks until they are less than a quarter inch thick.  Sift together flour, salt and pepper.  Dredge deer steaks in flour.  Drop steaks into the browning butter and cook for a minute on each side or until golden on each side.  Remove steaks.

Add second stick of butter.  Whisk in remaining flour and continue to whisk until roux becomes the color of chocolate milk.  Serve over biscuits or grits.

Listener James called in with a different recipe -- for duck rather than venison.  Sounds good, too.

Stuffed Duck Breasts

2 duck breasts, butterflied
2 cups soy sauce
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup Worchestershire sauce
Cream cheese
Sliced jalapeno pepper
Bacon

Take duck breasts and butterfly them.  Marinate them overnight in a combination of the soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce and vinegar.  Next day tuck cream cheese and jalapeno slices inside, fold over and wrap in bacon.  Cook to medium heat.

Alas, I didn't get the name of our last caller, but he gave us these instructions for Venison Tenderloin.

6 inches of venison tenderloin
Marinade of your choice (Cajun marinade prefered)
1 stalk celery, cut into sections
1 carrot, cut into sections

Pierce the tenderloin with a knife.  Slide pieces of carrot and celery at intervals into the tenderloin.  Add marinade, wrap tightly and marinate overnight. Bake in aluminum foil for three hours at 350 degrees.

And then there was the contribution from Grav Weldon, who has become pesce-vegetarian but who still loves to hunt.  He referred me to this recipe for Venison Shepherd's Pie.

Have a venison recipe you'd like to share?  Add it to the comments!

Time To Cook: Banana Nut Bread

As promised, my recipe for Banana Nut Bread, a favorite I've been making for years.

You will need:
1 pound butter, room temperature
3 cups white sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
12 ounces sour cream
1 cup chopped walnuts
6 medium bananas, smushed
2 cups brown sugar
non-stick cooking spray

For the bananas -- any time I get bananas from the store during the year, I freeze those that start to turn brown. Nothing special -- I just freeze them in their peels in freezer bags.

When it comes time to make the bread, I pull out the bags and let them thaw. The bananas will just fall out of the peels. Bonus -- they're pre-mushed.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray four 9x5 inch loaf pans (you can also use just one or two pans and refrigerate the remaining batter for up to a day).

In a large bowl, stir together the butter and sugar. You're going to want your butter to be at room temperature. If it's microwaved, the batter comes out a little too runny.

Add the eggs, vanilla, sour cream, and bananas. I highly suggest using large eggs -- if you're using medium, go for seven.

I can't quite express how much I prefer vanilla extract to the imitation stuff. I can tell a difference. I don't know if everyone else can. My vanilla is a vanilla bean soaked in a cup of rum for several months.

Mix well again.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients, a little at a time. This can be best accomplished with a plastic cutting sheet. I also suggest stopping the blender and folding it in a little with a rubber spatula. Saves you from the dreaded flour cloud.

Fold in the walnuts. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of brown sugar into the bottom of each pan. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.


Remove from oven and immediately invert loaf pan(s) onto plastic wrap or serving plate. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of brown sugar on top side. Cover and let cool. Makes four 9"x5" loaves.

Time To Cook: Apple Bread

It's that time again, time of year where thoughts turn to sugarplums dancing in heads. Or, around here, it's baking time.

I'm trying a couple of new recipes this time around. I usually knock out a dozen or so loaves of banana nut bread, but decided to add apple bread and carrot bread to the mix.

For the apple bread:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cloves
4 cups (about a pound) diced apples

Heat oven to 350 degrees.











Grease two loaf pans (9"x5" or similar), tops and sides.







Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Cream butter and sugar together.












Beat eggs and add them to butter sugar mixture.














Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.














The batter will be thick.

Fold apples into batter.











Here's what the batter will look like. It may seem a little dry. If you're having trouble mixing everything, you can use your hands.








Spoon mixture into greased pans. Place in the oven for 50-60 minutes.








I usually check early, just in case. Here you can see how the batter is still wet.

The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It may also come out a little wet because of the apples.







Chances are the crust will crack a little. That's okay. Just letting out a little steam.










After removing pans from the oven, let sit 15 minutes. Then take a rubber spatula and loosen sides. Invert on a wire rack.

Chances are, the bread will be a little moist. It's all the apples. Don't worry about it. Let cool for an hour.

If for some reason your bread didn't cook all the way through, it might tear. It's still good eating.

Serves up awful well with milk. I think I'm going to add some nutmeg next time.

Quck Curry - Comfort Food in My House.

Everyone has a comfort food. For some, it's macaroni and cheese. For others, meatloaf. Whether it be mashed potatoes and gravy, kettle corn, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken and dumplings or pot pie, everyone has a comfort food they turn to when they're needing, well, comfort.

Me? Well, in the Robinson household, it's Indian Honey Chicken.

My almost but not quite famous rigatoni and cheese recipe.

You will need:
12 ounces rigatoni noodles
4 ounces crushed croutons
5 cups cheese (at least three different sorts)
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 16 ounce tub sour cream
Splash of pepper sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil your rigatoni noodles, drain and allow to cool.


Heat half of the heavy cream in a double boiler.


Crush croutons and use 3/4 to line the bottom of a 13"x9" baking dish.


Place rigatoni in single layer on top of crushed croutons.


Slowly add 1 cup of mixed cheeses to cream.


Break three eggs into a bowl.


Add 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 3 dashes pepper sauce to cream and stir.


Beat eggs thoroughly.


Add a teaspoon of the cream mixture to the eggs and beat again to temper.


Repeat.


Repeat again, until the eggs have come to the temperature of the cream mixture.


Your egg mixture should be a light yellow.


While you are tempering the eggs, your cream mixture will thicken.


Slowly add the egg mixture to the cream mixture, stirring slowly.


Then add half of the sour cream and stir.


Add another teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper


and another cup of mixed cheeses and stir.


Your mixture should be a thin custard. The cheese should form small strings.


Add the remaining cream and stir.


Your custard is ready to use.


Place your pan next to your double boiler to prevent spills.


Carefully ladle 1/3 of the custard over the noodles.


Sprinkle noodles with 1 1/2 cups of the cheese.


Your bottom layer should be level but not necessarily uniform.


Place next layer of rigatoni on top of the cheese.


This layer should be uniform, since it's what will appear on top.


Add remaining sour cream to cream mixture and stir well.


Ladle remaining cream mixture over top of layer of pasta.


Make sure you cover every noodle. You may add a splash of milk here if your cream is too thick (it will even out in the refrigerator).


Add remaining crushed croutons to top.


Scatter remaining cheese over the top.


Add one more smattering of freshly ground black pepper.

Cover and place in refrigerator for at least two hours or overnight. To cook, place cold pan in 350 degree oven covered with aluminum foil for 35 minutes. Remove top and allow to brown for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.

For the cheese -- I prefer to use a combination of cheeses, usually an 8 ounce package of Five Cheese Italian, an 8 ounce package of Mexican, and another cup of Mozzarella. Feel free to experiment. I wouldn't recommend Feta.


UPDATE 1/3/17.  Wow. I forgot I used to do recipes on here. And how awful the lighting is in my kitchen. Egads.

I also forgot how I used to cook before Grav moved in.