Free America I AM Pass It Down Cookbook by Jeff Henderson Page B

through and tender.
    Remove the lid and add the butter, onion, garlic, cayenne pepper, and parsley. Mix well and add the noodles. Cover and cook 5–7 minutes or until noodles are tender.
    Stir in the shredded cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, uncovered, for 2–3 minutes or until the mixture is thickened slightly and not watery.

The Black Hunter
          

Courtesy: Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’
Project, 1936–1938, Library of Congress American Memory Collection
    During slavery and later during post-Emancipation subsistence farming, African Americans had little access to quality cuts of meat. Often protein came from the offal, or “garbage cuts” of slaughtered livestock that plantation owners would not allow to grace their tables. These included everything from organ meats to trotters, snouts, and tails. Because of this, hunting wild game and fishing was a way to put meat on the table in the form of venison, opossum, raccoon, squirrel, turtle, and rabbit.As Frederick Douglass Opie writes in Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America (Columbia University Press, 2008), these animals remained staples for rural blacks very much into the 1950s. Besides being plentiful, wild meat served another valuable purpose: Its relative toughness meant it could afford to simmer for long periods of time while a family tended the fields, finally returning to a hot and ready meal at home.

“I was born in Huntsville County, Alabama . . . in 1850 . . . [As a child] all the work I ever done was pick up chips [manure] for my grandma to cook with. I was kept busy doing this all day. The big boys went out and got rabbits, possums, and fish. I would sho lak to be in old Alabama fishing, ’cause I’m a fisherman. There is sho some pretty water in Alabama and as swift as the cars run here. Water so clear and blue you can see the fish way down and dey wouldn’t bite to save your life.”
— Ex-Slave Stephen McCray, 88 years old,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1937

Stuffed Quail with Cranberry Glaze
    Atlanta, Georgia
    SERVES 1
    Quail is a small bird that has sweet, tender, and juicy dark meat. Chef Joel Rickerson says he receives rave reviews for his stuffed quail. It’s tasty and a welcome change from the traditional stuffed turkey or chicken.
    ½ tablespoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped onions
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup wild rice
2 cups chicken stock 1 quail
½ cup cranberries
½ cup red wine
½ cup granulated sugar
salt and pepper to taste
    Preheat oven to 350° F.
    In a small pot over medium heat, add olive oil. Sauté garlic and onions until tender.
    Add 1 cup wild rice and 2 cups chicken stock. Cook over medium heat until rice is tender. Once wild rice is tender, allow it to cool down for 15 minutes and then stuff it into the boneless quail. Season well with salt and pepper and place into a small, lightly oiled pan. Cook for 18–20 minutes in the oven at 350° F.
    To make the glaze, place cranberries into a small pan and add red wine. Add granulated sugar and cook for 15 minutes. Put cranberry glaze on plate and place quail on top.

 
     
     
     

    PIGS & PORK
    Did You Know? The first pigs came to the New World aboard one of Christopher Columbus’s ships, which landed in the Caribbean. Later, the explorer Hernando de Soto came to Florida with 13 pigs aboard his ship, and soon enough their numbers grew into the thousands.
    Pigs were an easy source of meat in the colonies because they were easy to raise and provided plenty of flesh. Used for fresh cuts as well as cured meats like salt pork, they were often the most plentiful livestock on any farm. Of course, farms were most often worked by slaves, for whom only the throwaway parts of the pig were available. These included feet, ears, snouts, and organ meats. African Americans found ways to use it all, from stuffing intestines for chitlins (chitterlings) to using a bit of salt, smoked pork, or pork rind to add flavor to what they