Making Sausage
Biscuit Puddin'
by Jeannie Travis
Making Sausage
Mama would season the pork sausage up with black pepper and salt, sage
and a tiny bit of red hot peppers (Always had little kids) then taste a
bite of that raw sausage to make sure she had it seasoned
right.....YUCK!
We didn't see how she could stand it, but no time to fire up the cook
stove and fry a little cake. Most of it was stuffed into casings Mama
had sewn up days ago and then hung in the smokehouse. Part of it was
fried almost done then canned in quart jars for a quick breakfast when
the stove wood was wet. The jars were stood upside down but on a slant
so all the meat was covered with the grease that cooked out of it and
maybe a little of the fresh lard if needed. I think it was 'sealed'
like that on a slant so there wasn't so much fat to go through to get
the sausage cakes out. I've heard that you can keep meat layered in
lard in a cold place, just make sure none of the meat touches....
Seems like Mama canned some tenderloin that way one time, makes me
hungry just to think of it. I wish I could cook tenderloin like our
Mama did...seems like it had a thick crust on it, and tasted better
than anything. I can't duplicate it...but then I'd have to start with
home grown tenderloin...fed the way Daddy fed his pigs. He was such a
dab hand at curing ham that neighbors begged him to sell them any extra
hams. Don't know what he used to smoke them, but he was good at
anything he tried.
Biscuit Puddin’
When folks talk about bread pudding it reminds me of the delicious
BISCUIT puddins' Mama made when we were growing up. I'll put the rough
recipes in here in case anyone wants to try them.
Mama's plain biscuit pudding
Crumble up leftover homemade biscuits...Make a thick slurry by adding
several eggs, sweet milk or canned, more sugar than you would think
because biscuits aren't sweet, and a little vanilla. Taste. Bake at 350
till set and lightly brown - 30 minutes or more, depending on the pan.
Mama used one of those deep pans we called puddin pans. Slice to serve,
hot or cold...Great either way...Some folks use a lemon sauce poured on
this. Just whatever you would use on bread pudding...
Sunday Biscuit Puddin'
Slice and toast leftover home made biscuits. Use like you would vanilla
wafers and bananas in your favorite banana pudding recipe. Just use the
toasted biscuit slices. Add meringue on top and brown. I've never used
pudding mix in this...so don't know about that.
MY version;
I make custard from scratch, as they say...starting out with 1 cup of
sugar and 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of flour, stirred together. I then
separate at least 6 eggs and add the yolks, cleared of all bits of
white...Then I stir in Half and Half or regular sweet milk...but if I
use milk I add some coffee creamer when it is hot...Stir and taste to
see how much milk to add...At least a quart ......Put on the stove and
stir till it is thick....add some vanilla to taste...{Sorry about these
measurements }You don't want it real thick, so it can soak into the
biscuits...Put together like a banana pudding but using the toasted
biscuit slices only. Bake long enough to brown the meringue .I add a
little vanilla to the whites.....then
sugar after it gets frothy.
Matter of fact, we greatly prefer banana pudding made with toasted
biscuits to those made with vanilla wafers or graham crackers. Now
folks, I don't know how this would taste made with canned
biscuits....the mind boggles. I use self rising White Lily flour -
unbleached if possible. - add about a tsp. of sugar...put plain Crisco
in the mix, and melt butter shortening in the pan to roll the biscuits
in....I don't even have an approximate recipe for this, since I just
dump stuff together...A biscuit recipe would be on the sack...I use
plain canned milk for the liquid, maybe adding a little water...I just
wing it , and 9 3/4 times out of 10 it is just right...don't have to
add more milk or flour...There must be a great 'angel cook' looking
over my shoulder! I do cornbread that way, also...I guess the fact that
I have been cooking since I was 9 years old might have something to do
with it . Hope this turns out good for you.... In loving memory of my
Mama...Myrtle Blanch Buntin Winchester.