A Hock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: The tale of the Salmon Katie

Around 7pm on a Thursday evening in the not so distant past, my house smelled like heaven on earth. A stock pot full of ham hocks, onions, carrots, celery, and spices boiled away on the stove top and put off just enough of it’s fragrant deliciousness to make your mouth perpetually water.

This is how my summer smells in the south.

A random Thursday in June was spent piling into a car with my husband and my parents, and journeying southward to eat at the Mennonite restaurant in Montezuma. After a lunch of fried chicken and collards, I took to spilling fresh peach ice cream on my husband at William L. Brown’s farm while scoping out the fresh produce. That was only topped by getting lost because there still exists parts of rural Georgia without cell phone coverage. This means neither Mapple, my affectionate nickname for the Google Maps App, nor my family knew where we were. And that was okay.

On this day, that was ok.

These were hardly “problems” to have and barely made a dent into my relaxing with the amazing smell that was the precursor to what was to be one of my favorite weekends of the year.

We brought home pink-eyed peas, butter peas, summer crook-neck squash, green tomatoes, red tomatoes, Vidalia onions, a glorious loaf of sourdough bread, and some good ole Georgia Elberta peaches. Our recent addition of a chest freezer opened a whole lotta possibilities up for us and that included “putting up” produce. We have little freezer space left after par-cooking the beans and peas in the hock stock.

The sourdough sliced and grilled lightly turned a blt into a BLT. Thick, hardy slices of tomatoes, Rocking Chair Ranch Bacon, Blue Plate mayo, lettuce, a dash of salt and fresh ground black pepper turned our lunch into something slightly religious. I actually demonstrated this exact sandwich at the Mulberry Market. Look for the recipe at the end of this post.

We were preparing to teach a class on canning and pickling, so we took complete advantage of the situation and canned tomatoes, made peach preserves, and pickled several different types of vegetables… all in the name of research, of course.

And When I say “we” I mean and my husband and myself… so, how about the brief history about The Wurstners of Macon, GA.

Sam and I are both chefs. Ironically our last name means “sausage maker” and chefs love to point that out. Yes, yes… we know. Don’t think for a moment the thought of opening a sandwich shop called, “The Wurst” hasn’t crossed our minds, because it has… oh buddy, it has.

People say our names together so often that is sounds like the fish special of the day, “Salmon Katie”.

Moving along, we met at and graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Atlanta, got married and moved to Macon. Oh, and we both love food.

Our lives are equally consumed by food in as many ways as one could imagine. We think about food, talk about food, dream about food, research food, watch tv shows about food, buy magazines about food, teach classes about food, and lastly, we stare at food pictures on Instagram to keep up with food trends.

Food is our life and it is a glorious one at that.

We are by no means rich. In other parts of the country, we would not be as comfortable as we are in Macon but by living here, we get to experience a tremendous and diverse fresh food culture. Three hours from the sea, 1 hour from flat farm lands, roughly 4 hours from the mountains and lots of sun plus rain means we get a crazy abundance of different foods. Wonderful fresh foods.

And in all of those journeys to get this food at all times of the year, you will come across smoking barrels on the side of many a road. Usually there is an accompanying hand-painted sign telling you “Boiled P-Nuts ahead”.

Boy howdy, is there a better sign to see?

I’ve eaten so many boiled peanuts in my life, just seeing the sign makes my mouth water slightly for that salty liquid and the chewy flesh hiding in the dirt-brown soft shells.

I’ve heard tales that boiled peanuts started during the Civil War. Soldiers, having run out of food, boiled peanuts they came across. One can imagine those were not very tasty, having no seasoning, but then someone, as most food discoveries happen, threw the inedible dried skin from a salted pork product into the pot and BOOM… deliciousness was discovered.

Whether this is fact or fiction, I do not know but what I do know is that many a southern palate has been satiated by this unique snack.

I hit up one peanut stand that same weekend and brought home a brown paper bag with the traditional plastic sandwich bag inside, full to the brim of boiled peanut. I’d no sooner walked in the door than my husband and dog were practically begging for some. We divided up the goods and there, in the middle of the day sometime between the BLT lunch and the Fresh Vegetable dinner, we destroyed an entire bag of boiled peanuts.

The dog ate her carrots.

Naps for everyone soon followed.

Do days get much better than that?
As always – Shop local, eat fresh, and be good to one another
-Katie

 

Here’s our recipe for the BLT and a picture:
(alas, if you don’t have the exact brand of ingredients, substitutes will work)

 

Mulberry Market’s Best BLT

Ingredients:
Measurements will vary depending on the type of ingredients you will be using. The directions will explain the techniques and then you will be able to adjust accordingly. The measurements given are just starting points
4 slices sourdough bread – sliced into 3/4 inch slices
2 tbl Blue Plate Mayo
1 ripe medium/large tomato – sliced into 1/2 inch slices
6 strips of Bacon or any sliced pork product
Lettuce or favorite leafy green
Salt
Fresh cracked Black Pepper
unsalted Butter
Directions:

First, slice your tomatoes and bread. Set aside.

Melt a pat of butter in a sauté pan over med/high to high heat. Swirl melted butter to coat pan.
Before butter starts browning lay two slices of bread and let brown slightly.

Flip and let the opposite side of the bread brown until it gets a bit darker than the first side. (The theory behind this is the lighter side will be the inside of the sandwich and along with the mayo, the toasted portion will keep your sandwich from becoming soggy as quick.)

Remove pan from heat and put toasted bread on a plate to cool for a minute or two.

Once cooled, slather on a layer of mayo to the lighter side of the toast. Put mayo on both pieces.

On one piece arrange your tomato slices and on the other, arrange your bacon slices. Salt and pepper the tomatoes to your taste.

Then add the lettuce to the side with tomatoes.

Now for the tricky part; very carefully pick up the side with the bacon and lay on top of the lettuce side.

Slice anyway you like it and ENJOY!!!