Roots, here are recipes from my roots, Unicoi County, Monongalia county and elsewhere...stuff I saw today
email this pageFarmer in the Dell
Jasper Willis started growing apples in Coffee Ridge, a section of Unicoi County in northeastern Tennessee, in the early 1950s. The area, located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, is perfect for apples—chilly winter temperatures, ideal summer weather and the perfect amount of rainfall.Willis turned the farm over to his twin sons, Harley and Merley, in the 1960s. They quickly found that running an apple orchard is a little like babysitting a fussy toddler. It’s hard work, and compared to growing other crops, it’s expensive, but the payback can be worth it. In addition to tending to the existing trees, which can produce apples for more than 20 years, Harley and Merley planted new trees. Once a tree is planted, it needs to grow for four or five years before it bears fruit, and during that time, it needs lots of care. But in the early days, the Willis’ had time on their side.
Harley and Merley, now 78 years old, still grow more than six different varieties of apples, and their Golden Delicious are the talk of Unicoi County.
The brothers see the same faces year after year, and by the end of November, the apples are sold out.
Gooey Apple Cake
8 tablespoons butter, divided
1½ cups sugar, divided
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large tart apples, cored and chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons cornstarch
¼ cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extrac
2. Cream 5 tablespoons butter and 1 cup sugar. Add egg and beat well. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, apples and walnuts. Batter will be stiff. Spoon into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake about 35 minutes.
3. Combine remaining 3 tablespoons butter, 1⁄2 cup sugar, cornstarch and evaporated milk in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Pour over hot cake. Serve warm. Serves 9.
Rustic Apple Pie
Ingredients
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 cup vegetable shortening
6 to 7 tablespoons ice water
Filling:
4 pounds tart apples (such as Granny Smith),
peeled, cored and sliced
½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
Cinnamon-sugar (optional)
2. To prepare the crust, mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening using a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir gently and gather into two balls, one about twice as large as the other.
3. Roll out larger ball on a lightly floured surface until it is large enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan, with about 2 inches of overhang. Roll the smaller dough ball into a 9-inch circle.
4. To prepare the filling, combine apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; toss well. Spoon into prepared crust. Sprinkle pieces of butter on top. Place top crust over filling. Fold overhang evenly around the top crust. Cut 10 to 12 slits in top crust. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar if desired. Bake about 1 hour or until crust is deep golden and the filling oozes through the slits. Serves 12.
Recipe by Mary Carter, Relish Traditions, "Farmer in the Dell," October 2007.
Or how about this...I've eaten here tho not in a coon's age
A Tale of Brown Salt and Survival
by Fred Sauceman
| This is a story of surviving the coming of an Interstate. Of a holdover from hog-killing days. Of hamburgers. And brown salt. I thought I had covered Unicoi County’s eateries pretty well. Then I talked with Cynthia Vanhoy, and she spoke of brown salt at Engle’s Roadside Restaurant in Erwin. Cynthia knows hamburgers. Her mother Jessica has served thousands of them at The Cottage in Johnson City. So when I got a hamburger tip from Cynthia, I knew I should follow it. |
When Interstate 26 opened into North Carolina, restaurant owners in Unicoi County worried about a dropoff in business. The first summer, Roadside orders declined by about eight percent, but the word-of-mouth reputation of its hamburgers, cube steak sandwiches, shrimp, flounder, and oysters never suffered. Owner James Engle says business now is even better than it was when Temple Hill Road was the main thoroughfare. James depends on customer-to-customer advertising, so much so that the restaurant’s trademark ingredient is mentioned nowhere on the menu, nowhere on the walls. James just trusts that word will get around about brown salt, and it has. They won’t give you the recipe for that brown salt,” said a diner at a table near us. “Good stuff, ain’t it?” his companion replied. “Yeah, the only place you can get it’s here.” That across-the-table conversation we heard was correct on all counts. |
| tory published: 08-21-2001 • Print Story • E-mail Story to a Friend |
| 100 years celebrated at Higgins Chapel Baptist Church By Janice Willis Barnett Correspondent f you didnÕt have a smile on your face at Higgins Chapel Baptist ChurchÕs 100th anniversary celebration on Aug. 5, you were out of place.
When asked to describe the celebration in one word, 11-year-old Alisha Mainer immediately said, ÒFun!Ó And fun, everyone seemed to agree, it was.
During the Sunday-morning service, the joy was contagious. Current and former members of the congregation testified with great feeling concerning their love for the small mountain church where they first heard the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
Karen Benton Bailey, who helped coordinate the anniversary celebration, presented a short history of the church to the congregation.
Roger Higgins, who grew up in Higgins Chapel Baptist Church and now lives in Chattanooga, related how on Sept. 10, 1898, his ancestors, Samuel and Elizabeth Higgins, sold five acres of land for $21 to the upper Higgins Creek community in the south end of Unicoi County to build the church.
The original building, located in the same place as the present church, was a one-room barn-like structure, which also served as a school.
In the early years, Higgins noted, there was no set day for church services. Preachers traveled from church to church and sometimes received farm produce for pay.
Forty-eight of the original members came from Flag Pond Baptist Church, which had been in existence since the mid-1800s. The 1898 deed to the land where Higgins Chapel is located lists W.T. Higgins, John Mashburn and T.M. Willis as the original church trustees.
Members Nellie Shelton Arrowood, Anita Benton Foster and Daniel McIntosh continued the history of Higgins Chapel, telling how it evolved into the church it is today led by pastor Edward Hoyle. The current red brick building with its attractive sanctuary and classrooms came into being in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The two-room building which preceded the present structure also served as a public school for grades 1- 8 until 1950.
A comment by McIntosh regarding the addition of pads to the back of the church pews drew much laughter when he said that the Higgins Chapel folks Òknew then that they were real Baptists.Ó
McIntosh also noted the churchÕs relief when the new four-lane criss-crossing through south Unicoi County was re-routed in 1991. It was originally thought that the churchÕs new fellowship hall would be demolished in the name of progress and an interstate connecting Tennessee and North Carolina. But, McIntosh said, after much prayer on the part of the congregation the roadÕs path was altered.
Tal Thompson, director of missions of the Holston Baptist Association, presented the church with a plaque commemorating its 100th anniversary. He noted that Higgins Chapel had been a member of the Holston Association since 1931.
Lifetime members Gale Stockton Benton and Homer Blankenship shared memories of the days when a pot-bellied stove in the sanctuary was the churchÕs heating system. Both noted the special place that music has had in the life of the church. Blankenship recalled how long-time member Lovejoy Higgins insisted on learning to sing Òthe notesÓ before learning to sing Òthe words.Ó
Special music was also part of the anniversary celebration. While women in old-fashioned dresses and bonnets and men in overalls ate roast pig, fried chicken and every kind of dessert imaginable, the Winfred Shelton family, the Gary Mainer family and the Still Witness band added more sweetness to the occasion with old-time gospel songs.
Member Jerry Edwards recalled that, ÒWinfred Shelton used to teach in the singing schools that we used to have here years ago.Ó Edwards said how much he enjoyed the singing schools.
Lucida Harris, who sat beside Edwards and was decked out in an old-fashioned bonnet made for her years ago by her now deceased friend, Diana Corn, agreed.
HarrisÕ daughter, Imogene Griffin, said, ÒI think itÕs great growing up in a church like this.Ó She noted that she appreciates the values she learned as part of her experience at Higgins Chapel. She now attends a small church similar to Higgins Chapel near her home in Old Fort, N.C.
Daniel McIntosh, an East Tennessee State University student and son of A.D. and Audrey McIntosh, said the more he matures, the more he appreciates growing up in a small church like Higgins Chapel.
ÒI used to think that growing up in the country would set me back,Ó he said. ÒBut when I got to college, I realized it developed my foundation, and I had roots unlike a lot of other people. It helped me and gives me a better perspective on things.Ó
Growing up in the church, McIntosh said, had given him a feeling of Ò security to face lifeÕs challenges.Ó ItÕs important, he said, knowing that not only your family but Òthe people in your church loved you.Ó
Member Norman Edwards and friend of the church, Erwin physician Paul Hollier, known as ÒDocÓ to church members, loaned two horses for the children to ride.
With the Òfidgety youngunsÓ entertained, the Òold folksÓ reminisced under the shade trees and looked at pictures from days gone by that were on display in the fellowship hall.
ÒWe wanted to do the best we could to represent our families and our church,Ó Bailey said of the members who worked to put the celebration together.
The smiles on peopleÕs faces indicated their success. |
pieces....
Residents get dish on collectible pottery
By Bryan Stevens
An afternoon of surprises greeted participants Sunday afternoon during the 25th season opening of the Unicoi County Heritage Museum in Erwin.
Blue Ridge Pottery shined in the spotlight with a new exhibit of never-before-seen pieces in the museum’s collection. In addition, local Blue Ridge Pottery experts Maxie English, John Hashe and Joey Lewis examined and appraised pieces brought to the opening.
Erwin resident Patsy Kelley Reading surprised the experts with an unusual cake tray with an iris pattern. “It’s very possibly one of a kind,” English said after taking a good look at the cake tray.
Based on blue decals arranged around the tray’s border, English estimated the tray probably dated from the 1920s. “If it hasn’t been named, Patsy can name the pattern,” English said.
The cake tray’s pattern, according to both English and Lewis, resembled a similar pattern called “Pond Iris.” Reading said that the tray was once owned by her great-great-grandmother. She added that her aunt, Hattie Mae Muse of Columbus, Ga., gave her the cake tray.
“It’s the only piece of Blue Ridge Pottery I own,” Reading noted. “I knew nothing about it, which is why I brought it here today.”
The experts gave an estimated value of $350 for Reading’s cake tray.
Reading said she wasn’t even sure the piece was an example of Blue Ridge Pottery because the item wasn’t stamped.
“Lots of Blue Ridge isn’t stamped,” Lewis said.
English agreed. “Many people have Blue Ridge and don’t even know it,” she said.
Another couple – Charlie and Midge Ervin – brought in a cherished family heirloom for an appraisal.
The Erwin couple said the item, identified as a step box, belonged to Charlie’s grandfather, D.P. Riddle.
The step box, according to Lewis and English, was an example of “lusterware” produced by Blue Ridge between 1916 and 1930. The boxes were worked in gold.
Actual gold bars, Lewis explained, were melted and applied directly to the pieces.
“They typically used 22-karat gold,” Lewis said.
“They also used silver bars,” English added.
Many of the boxes, according to Lewis, served as cigarette boxes and were paired with ash trays. “The ash trays are hard to find,” he said.
Some boxes also served as candy containers. Lewis said Blue Ridge also produced a round powder box to hold women’s face powder.
Another well-known step box, Lewis said, was called a “duck box” because of its pattern featuring ducks and cattails. Typical step boxes, Lewis and English noted, were decorated with roses.
“This one was probably a trinket box,” English speculated on the Ervins’ box.
She also noted the knob, or finial, on the lid of the box was not typical. “It’s really exceptional,” English said. Midge Ervin said the box came from her husband’s grandfather’s house. “It’s special to us because it was his granddaddy’s,” she said.
Pauline Smith brought in one of four pieces she owns. “It’s a china open sugar bowl with a spring bouquet pattern,” Lewis said of the item.
Smith laughed and admitted she used the piece and three other identical ones as dessert dishes for serving ice cream. “I have four of them,” she said. “I had six, but I broke two of them.”
“It’s very, very highly collectible,” English said of the sugar bowl.
Although some guides list the sugar bowl’s value at $50, English and Lewis agreed the item was probably worth between $125 and $150.
“I might give it to my daughter,” Smith said. “She loves Blue Ridge.”
English enjoyed hearing that the sugar bowls would be handed down to a new generation. “Everyone needs to know about Blue Ridge so it can be handed down to their children,” she said. “The history of it is what is valuable.”
Lewis noted that the market for Blue Ridge Pottery has been transformed by the Internet and eBay.
Although he does business via eBay, Lewis said there is no substitute for hands-on collecting. “Go and look at a piece in person if you can,” he advised.
According to Lewis and English, some items, formerly rare and capable of fetching high prices, have become more commonplace, as people search their basements and attics for examples of Blue Ridge Pottery.
But there is always the chance of coming across a sought-after piece.
“There are still barrels of Blue Ridge in basements in Erwin, still packed in the original straw, that have been there for 50 years,” Lewis said.
English agreed. “There’s lots of Blue Ridge all around Erwin, but it’s not appropriately defined,” she said.
Because people simply don’t know what they have, they often sell pieces of Blue Ridge Pottery at undervalued prices.
For instance, some of the salt and pepper shaker sets produced by Blue Ridge Pottery are highly coveted by collectors.
“The duck pattern is very rare,” English said. “A pair could be worth $350.”
Lewis said he has actually seen such valuable pieces of Blue Ridge Pottery priced for as low as $2 at yard sales around Erwin. Both Lewis and English said they do their best to educate people who bring collectible pieces to their shops. “We try to be fair and tell them exactly what it is worth,” English said.
By being honest with customers, they guarantee return visits. “They’ll continue to call on you,” Lewis said.
English, who operates a shop in Jonesborough, and Lewis, who owns a shop in Erwin, draw customers from across the country.
“I’ve sold in all 48 states and out of the country,” English said.
English and Lewis said many people might be surprised to learn many men collect Blue Ridge Pottery. “It’s not all ladies buying Blue Ridge,” Lewis said.
Museum Curator Martha Erwin said people from near and far visit the Unicoi County Heritage Museum to look at the facility’s Blue Ridge Pottery collection.
During one such visit, Erwin said she learned about an interesting way Blue Ridge Pottery was once distributed.
According to Erwin, Terry Shepard of Williamsburg, Va., told her that Blue Ridge dishes were given away for free with gasoline fill-ups.
Shepard said her father worked as a teen at a gas station near Cape Girardeau, Mo., and told his family the story of Blue Ridge Pottery with every tank of gas.
Shepard explained dishes with different patterns were given away each time with the promotion.
Shepard’s father collected some of the different dishes. “By the time I was born,” Shepard told Erwin, “there were different odds and ends patterns left.”
Shepard said she and all her brothers and sisters each had their favorite patterns.
Although people have different motivations for collecting Blue Ridge Pottery, English said the hobby can be explained rather simply. “Blue Ridge is fun,” she said.
For more information about the Heritage Museum, call 743-9449.
I've certainly eaten this. The thing is the field corn as I knew it was hard and it was really ground but...I understand this version. It'll be far from the way Axie made it, using sweet corn..
With True Grit - Yes, indeed, Gladys and Ida have what it takes — and the recipes to prove it
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Ida Edwards with a sample of her finished product. (Janice Willis Barnett / The Erwin Record) |
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By Janice Willis Barnett
Correspondent
Recipes come and go with the times. So it is not surprising that many recipes from Appalachia’s frontier days have all but disappeared.
Fortunately, though, some Unicoi County cooks have preserved many of the foodways passed down by their ancestors. Some of these cooks still prepare a frontier cornbread recipe called “gritted” bread. You may think the name comes from the fact that mountaineers are known for their “grit,” but that’s not the case. Mountain cooks made “gritted” bread from grated fresh corn, and they pronounced “grated” as “gritted.”
Flag Pond resident Ida Edwards and Unicoi resident Gladys Adkins are among Unicoi County cooks still making this old-fashioned recipe. Unlike their ancestors who were limited to making “gritted” bread for a short time in late summer after corn ripened and before it hardened, cooks such as Gladys and Ida are able to make the tasty recipe year round. All
Ida Edwards with a sample of her finished product.
they have to do is freeze corn from their gardens for later use or purchase fresh corn from the grocery. Today’s cooks can also choose from many varieties of corn. In the past, most cooks were limited to Hickory Cane field corn because that was all that was grown.
But no matter what kind of corn is used, it still has to be grated off the cob to make “gritted” bread.
The day that I visited with Gladys for The Erwin Record, her 90-year-old father, Jay Smith, talked about the merits of the old-fashioned graters versus contemporary ones. “Gladys, it would be so much easier to grate all that on one of them graters like my grandmother used to use,” he said taking the grater she was using from her. “The old people didn’t use a gritter like this. They got them a piece of tin and drove nail holes in it and bent it and tacked it to the sides of a poplar board a foot or so long. Now, I tell you, it didn’t take long to grit corn off on something like that.”
Jay added that not just any kind of wood could be used to make the grater. “The old people used poplar because it didn’t have a taste to it,” he explained. “You know, a wood like pine smells, and it would get in the bread if they used it.”
Gladys’ “gritted” bread recipe is the one her mother used. She adds a pinch of milk to it to make the ingredients blend better and divides the batter between two skillets. “I pour the batter about an inch thick,” she explained. “That way the bread will be nice and brown on both sides after it bakes and be about the thickness of a good-sized fritter cake.”
Jay remembers his grandmother baking “gritted” bread in an old-fashioned cast-iron baker placed in the coals in the fireplace. The baker consisted of a pan that held the bread, a lid that covered and protected it from the ashes, and a long handle used to keep the cook’s hands away from hot coals.
Eighty-year-old Flag Pond cook Ida Edwards also remembers the old-fashioned fireplace bakers used in homes in the south end of Unicoi County in generations past. Her grandmother baked “gritted” bread in a fireplace baker at their home on Tumbling Creek. Ida lived with her grandparents, Charles and Melissa Foster, when she was a child and began helping with the cooking at an early age. “I was just a young’un when I started making gritted bread,” Ida said. “Back then we didn’t have anything but field corn to use.”
Both Ida and Gladys have updated their old-fashioned “gritted” bread recipes for use with today’s popular varieties of sweet corn rather than Hickory Cane field corn. Their recipes also call for self-rising meal and flour. Ida uses some additional baking powder and soda in her recipe. Her recipe also calls for a stick of margarine added to the batter, whereas Gladys’ doesn’t.
“My Grandmother Foster always used fresh churned butter,” Ida said and added that she and her grandson, Byron Edwards, like to eat “gritted’ bread fresh out of the oven with some additional butter or margarine and a glass of cold milk.
Byron, in fact, noted that he likes “gritted” bread better than regular cornbread. Lots of folks would agree with him. And now that Ida and Gladys are sharing their “gritted” bread recipes, folks not familiar with this tasty treat with its sweet, light, yet chewy texture can also enjoy it.
There’s no need to wait for corn to “come in” next summer to make this recipe from our Appalachian mountain heritage. While the cold winds of winter are still blowing, just add “fresh corn” to your grocery list, get out the grater, grease up the skillets and start baking. “Gritted” bread tastes great with a bowl of soup beans.
GLADYS’ “GRITTED” BREAD -- 15 ears fresh corn - 3/4 cup self-rising flour - 1 teaspoon salt - 1/3 cup sugar - 4 eggs - Grate corn and add remaining ingredients; mix to smooth consistency. Preheat skillets and coat with cooking spray and oil; sprinkle a little flour in bottom. Pour mixture one-inch thick in each skillet and bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
IDA’S “GRITTED” BREAD -- 12 ears fresh corn - 1/2 cup self-rising flour - 1/2 cup self-rising meal - 2 tablespoons sugar - 1 stick margarine - 1 cup buttermilk - 1/2 teaspoon baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon baking powder - 1 teaspoon salt - Grate corn and add remaining ingredients; mix to smooth consistency. Bake at 450 degrees in preheated oven until golden brown. Serve hot.
(Unicoi resident Janice Willis-Barnett is a frequent correspondent for The Erwin Record and, like in the above stories, seeks out Unicoi County’s best cooks to share their secrets.)
Annual contest yields enticing apple recipes Nearly 40 tasty apple-themed recipes were entered into competition in three categories -- pies, cakes and other apple dishes. Here are the winners and their recipes: APPLE CAKE CATEGORY First place Ñ Roberta Muhn, Erwin WASHINGTON APPLE CAKE 3 eggs 2 cups sugar 1 cup cooking oil 2 cups plain flour 1 cup chopped walnuts 4 cups thinly sliced, pared tart apples 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 teaspoons cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing (recipe follows) Beat eggs with mixer until thick and light. Combine sugar and oil; pour into eggs with mixer on medium speed. Stir together flour, cinnamon, soda and salt; add to egg mixture with vanilla and beat to mix. Stir in nuts. Spread apples in buttered 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan. Pour batter over apples, spreading to cover. (Batter will be very thick.) Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Remove from oven and cool. Spread with Cream Cheese Icing. CREAM CHEESE ICING Two 3-ounce packages cream cheese 1/4 cup melted butter 2 cups powdered sugar 1 teaspoon lemon juice Soften cream cheese. Beat until fluffy. Beat in butter, then beat in powdered sugar and lemon juice. Spread over cooled cake. Refrigerate. Second place Ñ Bethany Willis AUTUMN CHEESECAKE 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup white sugar Two eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 cups apples Ñ peeled, cored and thinly sliced 1/3 cup white sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 cup chopped walnuts Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup walnuts, 3 tablespoons cinnamon and melted butter; press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. In large bowl, combine cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar. Mix at medium speed until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in vanilla; pour filling into the baked crust. In a small bowl, stir together 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Toss the cinnamon-sugar with the apples to coat. Spoon apple mixture over cream-cheese layer and sprinkle with 1/4 cup chopped walnuts. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes. With a knife, loosen cake from rim of pan. Let cool, then remove the rim of pan. Chill cake before serving. Third place Ñ Judy Moss, Erwin PEAR APPLE CAKE Three eggs 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup oil 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 cups diced apples 2 cups diced pears 1 cup chopped pecans Caramel Icing (recipe follows) Beat together eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and flour mixed with soda. Fold in fruit and nuts. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Spread with Caramel Icing. CARAMEL ICING 2 cups brown sugar 1/2 cup butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Melt butter; add sugar. When mixture comes to a full boil, cook two minutes. Add vanilla. Honorable Mention Ñ Cathy Riddle, Johnson City PEANUT BUTTER APPLE POUND CAKE 3 cups plain flour 1 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 cup oil 2 cups sugar 3 large eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups pared apples, finely chopped 1 bag peanut-butter chips Glaze (recipe follows) Sift flour, salt and soda. Set aside. Beat oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Gradually add flour mixture, reserving 3 tablespoons. Beat until smooth. Fold in apples. Mix chips with reserved flour. Fold into batter. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake in a 350-degree oven for one hour, 15 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Remove and place on serving dish. Glaze. GLAZE 2 tablespoons peanut butter 1/3 cup cream cheese 1 cup powdered sugar Mix until smooth. Spread on cake. APPLE PIE CATEGORY First place Ñ Katherine Frost, Gray APPLE PIE WITH PRALINE SAUCE Pie crust (recipe follows) 3 cups chopped apples 2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons flour 1/2 teaspoon cloves 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 2 tablespoons butter Praline Sauce (recipe follows) Mix together and toss with apples. Place in pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Top with praline sauce. PIE CRUST 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup vegetable shortening 2 tablespoons cold water Assemble all ingredients and utensils. In a bowl, combine flour and salt. With fork, work in shortening until mixtures resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle water over flour mixture until completely moistened. Form into ball. Roll dough out on a floured board or surface. Place in a 9-inch pie pan. PRALINE SAUCE 1 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup whipping cream 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/3 cup butter 1 cup powdered sugar Roasted pecans Bring to boil. Boil one minute. Add powdered sugar. Beat until thick. Pour over top of apple pie. Top with roasted pecans. Second place Ñ Christa Thornberry, Erwin CARAMEL APPLE PIE One pastry for a 9-inch double-crust, deep-dish pie (recipe follows) 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup melted butter 1/3 cup all-purpose flour Five cups thinly sliced apples 2/3 cup white sugar 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon lemon juice 20 caramels, halved 2 tablespoons milk Preheat oven to 375 degrees. To make taffy: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, melted butter or margarine, and 1/3 cup flour. Mix well and set aside. To make apple filling: Place apples in a large bowl. Add white sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon and lemon juice. Toss until all ingredients are mixed well and apples are thoroughly coated. Spoon half of apple filling into pastry-lined deep-dish pan. Top with half of caramels and half of taffy mixture. Repeat process with remaining apple filling, caramels and taffy mixture. Place top pastry over filling and seal well. (This is very important; if edges are not sealed, caramel will leak out all over.) Cut steam vents and brush top crust with milk or light cream. Cover pie with foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil from pie and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes until crust is golden. Serve warm. PASTRY 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon sugar 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces 1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt and sugar. Add butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal (eight to 10 seconds). With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together; if it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator, and chill at least one hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to one month. Third place Ñ Cathy Riddle, Johnson City CHEESE CRUMBLE APPLE PIE One 9-1/4-ounce package pie crust mix, divided 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 3 tablespoons butter 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided 6 cups cooking apples, peeled and sliced 3 tablespoons flour 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 cup sugar One pie shell Mix together pie crust mix, 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and butter until crumbly; set aside. Place pie shell on pan. Press 1 cup of cheese into pie shell bottom and sides. Toss apples with 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and flour. Place in shell. Cover with half of crumble topping. Spread remaining cup of cheese over mixture; top with remaining crumble mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. OTHER APPLE DISH CATEGORY First place Ñ Debbie Jones, Unicoi CREAMY APPLE SQUARES One package Pillsbury Plus yellow cake mix 1/2 cup soft butter 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 2 cups apples, thinly sliced 1 cup sour cream One egg Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix and butter; mix well until crumbly, reserving 2/3 cup for topping. Add brown sugar and cinnamon to reserved topping mix; mix well and set aside. Press remaining mixture onto bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan. Arrange apple slices over base. Blend sour cream and egg. Spread evenly over apples. Sprinkle reserved topping mixture over all. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and bubbly. Cut into squares. Refrigerate any leftovers. Second place Ñ Katherine Frost, Gray APPLE SAUSAGE TART 3 cups apples 1 cup sausage, browned 1 cup cheddar cheese 2 eggs added to 1 cup cream 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg Tart Shell (recipe follows) Brown sausage; layer in tart shell. Layer sliced apples. Pour egg and cream mixture over sausage and apples; top with cheese and nutmeg. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. TART SHELL 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup shortening 1/4 cup cheddar cheese 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water Cut all ingredients together. Add cold water until dough forms ball. Wrap and refrigerate until chilled. Roll out into pie pan. Third place Ñ Anita Cruz, Flag Pond HERSHEYÕS CLASSIC CHOCOLATE CREAM-FILLED CARAMEL APPLES Six wooden popsicle sticks Six medium Red Delicious apples, rinsed and thoroughly dried 60 HersheyÕs Classic Chocolate cream-filled caramels 2 tablespoons water One can party peanuts, crushed Generously butter six muffin cups. Insert wooden sticks into apples. In medium-sized sauce pan on medium low heat, melt caramels. Dip apples into mixture of caramels and water. Roll apples into crushed peanuts and place in muffin papers. Dad's Life......teacher That's what Olive Phillips Barnes used to tell folks when she was postmistress at the Flag Pond Post Office and someone came in asking about one of her neighbors. "Auntie Olive," as she is known affectionately by friends and family, is still not going to say anything that might offend anyone. But she will sit on the front porch of her red brick house with its white picket fence that looks like a picture out of a storybook and talk about some of the events of her life in days gone by. While a breeze rustles through the weeping cherry in full bloom in her front yard and Lower Rice Creek murmurs in the background, Auntie Olive will talk about working at the old Flag Pond Post Office. "It was located where the road forks," she said, "where you turn to go to Flag Pond after you get off the interstate now, between there and where you go up Sams Creek. John Anderson was the postmaster before me. It was just a boxed-up building with a big old pot-bellied stove in it. You could see through the cracks in the walls. Oh, it was cold. My husband would go every morning and build me a fire in the stove. We had to burn wood and coal. He�d get it warm in there for me." Olive's husband was the late Carl Barnes; he taught school and was a principal in several schools in the south end of Unicoi County. He also taught mechanical drawing and woodworking at Unicoi County High School for many years before retiring. When the post office moved to the old store building owned by Olive�s brother-in-law, Jesse Rice, Carl, who was also a talented carpenter, did the renovations. "He paneled it all with pretty cherry paneling," Olive recalled. "And a lot of the older post offices that had built new offices gave me these boxes for the mail, and they gave us some furniture. A desk. I had a pretty nice little place there. It had an oil furnace." Olive was Flag Pond postmistress for 19 years. Before that she taught school for several years. Her first teaching position was at the old Roseville School on Hogskin, where she had grown up and been a student herself. "I taught all eight grades in one room," she said. "I had some of these great big old boys. They could be pretty rough, but they were respectful to me." Olives's parents were strong believers in education. Her father, Hiriam Phillips, attended Berea College in Kentucky. "I always knew I was expected to go to college," she said. "I graduated from East Tennessee State back when it was a normal school for teachers." Before this, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Olive went to high school at Washington College Academy in Washington County. She remembers this as the time when her father bought his first car. "My daddy bought an A-model Ford," she related. "We still lived over on Hogskin then. He was the first one around here that had a car. Oh, we thought that was the finest thing. No heater, no air conditioner. My mother would heat these rocks and wrap them in blankets and put them in the floor to keep our feet warm when we went to town. "We'd go to Erwin and trade. That Ford was a pretty black car. It was open. We had to snap these curtains in place over the windows. They were something like leather with isinglass windows in them that you could see through." Olive remembers her parents coming to Washington College Academy to see her in the Model A. "I roomed up on third floor in the dormitory," she said. "And I'd be looking out the window. I'd see that Ford, and I'd run down them stairs. One time the matron got me. She said, �Olive, don�t you know better?" I said, 'No, I don�t when I see my dad and mother coming.' " Washington College Academy was a self-help school when Olive attended there. This meant that her parents paid part of her expenses, and she earned the rest of them. "I worked in the library and cleaned in the dormitory and things like that," she said. In addition to teaching at the Roseville School on Hogskin, Olive also taught school at the Upper Rice Creek School and at the old Shady Grove School in Flag Pond. In her life, she has "worn the hats," so to speak, associated with being a schoolteacher, postmistress, wife, friend, neighbor, loyal church worker at the Jennie Moore Memorial Presbyterian Church, and now, part-time caregiver for her 93-year-old sister. But at the 100th birthday party celebration at Jennie Moore Memorial Presbyterian Church on March 11, Auntie Olive wore a hat belonging to someone else. She had great fun sporting a hat of her mother�s that Bertha Stockton Phillips wore to church, weddings and funerals 60 years ago. I think I know absolutely every town listed in this, Dad growing up in Flag Pond, but I kneow the West Virginia locations-Elkins, Helvicia...so on Ramp festival documentary to air on PBS But it’s the story the documentary filmmaker weaves in “King of Stink” that offers a glimpse into Appalachian mountain communities like Flag Pond. Provence and his documentary team visited the Unicoi County community last spring to capture on film the Flag Pond Ramp Festival. It was part of an ambitious documentary filming project that included stops in four states during the brief period in the spring when the wild ramps are harvested. “King of Stink,” the resulting 30-minute documentary,” is set to debut in time for this year’s series of ramp celebrations throughout the southern Appalachian Mountains. The team behind the documentary — Provence and Sharon Ford of Golden Lion Media in Lexington, Ky. — filmed in 15 different locations in four states over a six-week period. Provence, in an interview with The Erwin Record, said his team compiled about 24 hours of raw video in the course of their documentary shooting at different festivals. “Whittling that much material down to less than a half-hour program was a challenge,” he said. The filmmakers approached each locale with no preconceptions. “We had no script, no formulated plan in mind other than to give viewers a feel of what it’s like to attend a mountain ramp supper,” Provence explained. “That meant, number one, the food they’d expect to find and how it was prepared.” Provence included footage from Flag Pond in the final edit but said he couldn’t pinpoint the extent of time Flag Pond is featured. “It’s difficult to say that Flag Pond got so many minutes of exposure in our program because we interspersed various brief clips throughout the show to lend some kind of cohesiveness to the story,” he said. “But since we didn’t have a clue how the larger story might tie together until the very end, we simply recorded what looked good at the moment and interviewed whoever would rally for an on-camera interview.” The documentary team enjoyed their stop at the local festival. “Flag Pond was fun,” he said. “All the festivals are a load of fun, that’s why they’re called festivals. “It occurred to us once we had visited 11 ramp feeds how many of the organizers for most of the festivals had never realized how many other similar events were scattered throughout the Appalachian Mountains chain. “I think that once each of the festivals finally get a peek into the different ways that distant communities handle their events, that may suggest a few positive changes in the way they structure their own event.” Provence said he found everyone warm and helpful at the Flag Pond event. “Ray Knapp gave us a great interview,” Provence said. “He has a deadpan delivery and a sense of humor that I think exemplifies the subtle style of wit that one only finds in those hills. “I wish he could have handled narration for the whole show instead of me.” He also praised local officials. “Speaking of good humor, your local officials — mayors and sheriff — are real humans, which is rare in many areas these days. “And it should come as no surprise that there are some real characters in Unicoi County who keep things interesting.” Sheriff Kent Harris, Unicoi County Mayor Larry Rose and former Erwin Mayor Russell Brackins served as judges for Flag Pond’s ramp-cooking contest and are credited in the documentary. Provence found that each festival he attended shared one common theme: plenty of ramps, beans, potatoes and cornbread. “Beyond that, every group handled the many other details of their affair in a unique way, as different as the people and the communities themselves,” Provence said. “You’ll see 11 different ways of cooking bacon, as a simple example.” Provence said these small differences he witnessed provided a neat aspect to his ramp festival travels. In making the documentary, Provence said the filmmakers allotted each locale a block of time so viewers could differentiate between them. “We described Flag Pond’s festival as being kind of a ‘town reunion’ because that is how it impressed me,” he said. “We never did find the actual pond.” Provence said he was amazed the various festivals — which serve as community fund-raisers — are organized strictly through volunteers. “People have their own busy family and work lives, yet once a year they end up responsible for hosting hundreds of hungry out-of-town guests,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of effort involved to make the event both fun and safe for everybody. “These are not professionally catered, black-tie affairs, so with nobody being paid, it is remarkable how smoothly things seem to work out when everybody pitches in. “That isn’t to say that some key movers and shakers don’t end up doing a majority of the heavy lifting to fill in the gaps.” Provence said he enjoyed attending Flag Pond’s 2004 ramp-cooking contest, a first for the longtime festival. “The results were amazing,” he said. “The only other such contest like that was the International Ramp Cook-Off in Elkins, W. Va., with some hefty prize money attached. “Yet Flag Pond succeeded in drawing more entries than even the Elkins event.” Provence and Ford sampled quite a few ramp recipes at both events. “I have a lot of respect for the contest judges who wade through that many ramp dishes,” Provence said. “I think it’s pretty funny how that task often falls upon politicians. Our citizens have a good sense of irony.” Provence said the better recipes didn’t try to bury the ramp flavor or use only a token amount. “Real ramp-eaters want to eat ramps!” Provence insisted. “I came home with some bundles and whipped out a killer lasagna that used a third-pound of ramps. “There’s always hot dogs or burgers for those who can’t stomach ramps.” Provence and Ford visited Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia during their documentary filming. In addition to Flag Pond, the filmmakers visited Tennessee ramp festivals in Polk County and Cosby. North Carolina festivals attended by the pair included those in Cherokee, Waynesville and Cullasaja. They attended the White Top Mountain Ramp Festival in Mount Rogers, Va. Stops in West Virginia took them to Chloe, Elkins, Helvetia and Richwood, which is known as the “Ramp Capital of the World.” Provence recalled that the Flag Pond festival was blessed with good weather, unlike other festivals. “Some events took a beating with rain,” he said. In Cosby, the site of Tennessee’s largest ramp festival, hard rains kept away the usual 12,000-strong crowds. “It made for a lot of left-over food when only a few hundred brave souls turned out in the soggy weather.” “It’s hard to plan outdoor events during the transitional weather in the spring,” Provence continued. “The fellows in Chloe, W.Va., had to dig their ramps in six inches of snow.” After all the filming had ended, Ford took on the duties of technical editing. According to Provence, Ford compared the process of editing 20-plus hours of material down to 27 minutes with the task of dumping a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle into the middle of a table and then beginning to sift and sort to find the pieces that fit together to create the picture. “We wanted to tell the story with as little editorial interpretation as possible,” Provence said. “She must have watched and listened to every clip that made it to the finished show a hundred times before it found its place. That takes amazing patience.” Provence admitted no creative work ever turns out exactly as planned. “That’s why we were prudent enough to not have made much of a plan in the first place,” he said. “We got what we got, and it is what it is, and we’re pleased with the show.” In addition, he said it is gratifying that “King of Stink” will be broadcast in at least five states through public-television outlets. The timing, he said, could not be better. Provence said he hopes the documentary will help promote attendance at ramp festivals in 2005. “The festivals are not only fun, they’re important for vital community services that the state governments can no longer afford to offer,” he said. Provence is willing to make one wager — he doubts any film crew will ever match the record he and his partner set in filming at 11 different ramp festivals in four different states in one six-week season. “King of Stink” will air Sunday, March 13, at 7 p.m. on WETP/WKOP, the PBS station serving East Tennessee, during the station’s annual pledge weeks. Members of the Flag Pond Ruritan Club, the sponsors for the annual Unicoi County festival, have been invited, along with organizers of the Cosby Ramp Festival, to the Knoxville-based television station to talk about their festivals before and after the documentary airs. DVDs and VHS tapes of the documentary are available for $20 plus $5 for shipping and handling. Credit card orders can be accepted at http://www.goldenlionmedia.com/order.html. Copies can also be obtained by writing to: Golden Lion Media Video, P.O. Box 149, Stuarts Draft, VA 24477. In addition, the Web site features a three-minute Quicktime streaming teaser for the show, which features clips from the Flag Pond festival.
By Erwin Record Staff Reports
news@erwinrecord.net
A longtime tradition of the Unicoi County Apple Festival has been the annual cooking contest. This year was no different.
Auntie Olive Wears Many Hats
By Janice Willis Barnett
Correspondent
"I said, you needn't talk about anybody because I�m akin to everybody up through here."
By Bryan Stevens
Staff Writer
Five thousand miles, two sets of front brakes and new bearings. For Steve Provence, the wear and tear on his vehicle tells a tale all its own.
"The Pimm's Cup (The Southern US Version)"
In a tall cocktail glass add a slice of lime, lemon, and orange.
Fill the glass 1/4 to 1/3 full of Pimm's.
Muddle as though it's foreplay.
Fill with club soda, leaving room for a splash.
Add either a splash of Hendrick's Cucumber Gin or Ginger Ale, whichever your prefer.
Drink with lust.
Have one more.
posted by Sarah at 11:15 AM
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