Red River cereal

[Guest]

then there is grits...anyone?

I sadly live north of the grits line, which starts somewhere south of the Virginia/North Carolina border. I have yet to find decent grits in Maryland.

I like grits. Real grits. Not instant grits, although instant grits are a decent change of pace after too many mornings of oatmeal, especially if fortified with dried fruit or hot sauce. Or both.

But real grits, in a diner down south, slathered with butter, salt and pepper. Oh my. . . . .can’t get you none of that north of the Mason-Dixon line. North of the line in Pennsylvania forego the grits and ask for scrapple instead.

Best grits ever – Joel Beckwith’s pressure cooker cheese grits with hot sauce. Like you had died and gone to grits heaven.

 

[yellowcanoe]

North of the line in Pennsylvania forego the grits and ask for scrapple instead.

ONCE was ENOUGH..

I have lots of stone ground grits. There are types of grits. Yellow , white and red. I have white and yellow.

http://www.geechieboymill.com/shop/buy-retail/

Now is that going to enrich your next canoe trip? Grits arent the same quite as polenta but its hard to tell when I boil the water all off.. let cool and fry the resulting cake. Excellent with dried beef stew.

I love shrimp and grits.. This recipe might be adaptable to a canoe trip.. Dehydrated shrimp are in Asian markets.

 

[Guest]

ONCE was ENOUGH..

No country made scrapple in a backwoods Pennsylvania diner? Fried pig snouts and peckers with cornmeal and spices don’t get any better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapple

I like my scrapple well crisped on the outside and with a mushy pink porcine center. Memaquay just felt a disturbance in the Spam force.

dang, I may have to visit the New Freedom Diner in York PA tomorrow.

 

[Conk]

I believe the geographic zone for scrapple is rather small and fortunate for Mike he lives very near its epicenter. Together with his Scottish heritage, I'm sure there's a good deal of offal eatin' at the McCrea house.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I'm a fan of Haggis in Scotland.. but the Scrapple I had was greasy and gray.

 

[lowangle al]

I'm a Pennsylvania scrapple eater from way back and almost always cook some up when I'm back there. I did find it at Wallmart in Anchorage one time but it's not something I would eat on a regular basis. I never took it on a trip as I don't think it would hold up as well as smoked sausage or bacon.

 

[Boreal Birch]

Haggis, Scrapple, and Grits, I have had some of each, I have also eaten fermented trout in with friends in Sweden, and whole spawned out pink salmon stew with Eskimo friends on the Seward Penninsula (the stew consisted of a whole pink salmon, head, guts, skin and all and river water). I like Red River cereal the best, followed by the pink salmon stew. The rest were in the same class as the fermented trout, an maybe could kill you if not prepared properly. The much maligned Spam when fried crisp is better. Even cold, congealed oat meal, sliced, dusted in flour and fried in bacon grease is a better meal to my palate. Of course anything fried in bacon grease is going to be good. Now I have made myself hungry, I will have to sneak into the kitchen and make some breakfast.
.........BB

 

[forest runes]

Scrapple always gets bad press, I'm sure worse goes into hot dogs. The largest ingrediant is cornmeal /buckwheat.Its origins were just a way to extend a meager food supply. I make my own from the small meat trimmings and heart & liver of deer ,parboil,grind add back to pot licker , season and add meal till you can form into loaf.Not much different from polenta or mush just meat flavored.You could use sirloin for that matter.

 

[yellowcanoe]

no one would take lutefisk on a trip I believe..

 

[Boreal Birch]

Even the Norwegians don't take lutefisk on a trip, they do take a wonderful brown cheese though. My Swedish friends tell me the Norwegians only need that cheese out in the natural world, Swedes just need coffee.
..........BB

 

[Guest]

the Scrapple I had was greasy and gray.

Grey and greasy does not sound that appetizing. My preference for scrapple is sliced ½ inch thick and pan fried until the outside is near blackened crispy with the piggy goodness still mushy within. Too thin and it is a crunchy burnt-flesh biscuit. I have never had Scrapple cut too thick if the outside was crispy.

Dammit, I’m am heading to the New Freedom diner tomorrow morning. I’m a regular and can order my scrapple thick and crispy.

I make my own from the small meat trimmings and heart & liver of deer ,parboil,grind add back to pot licker , season and add meal till you can form into loaf.

Oh gawd that sounds so good.

Way off topic from the granular goodness of bird seed cereal, but I love me a good country diner breakfast, and have two in my usual home wandering range. And a dozen other favorites scattered memorably around the country.

But the local diners, where the wait staff knows me – no menu needed, coffee, ice water instantly, and I’ll have either the “Grande” or “Breakfast casserole” with eggs over easy and sausage gravy” – that has replaced the tavern where everyone once knew my name.

I tip well, they know I am fast in and out, and know that I don’t need to be disturbed with my mouth full while eating and reading the paper. It is a little slice of morning heaven. Plus the waitresses are comeback funny as hell and put up with my crap.

For diners on the road I use William Least Heat Moon’s calendar criteria; the more calendars (local insurance agent, Grange or Stockman’s association, farm equipment dealer) displayed near the register the better. I haven’t yet found a 3-calendar diner that didn’t have a great and filling cheap breakfast.

I’ll have the “Lumberjack Special”; pancakes, eggs over easy, sausage, home fries, rye toast, all piled on a plate the size of a hubcap. That’ll keep me going all day for $6.

And a to-go box for one of the pancakes; I’ll have it slathered with peanut butter and honey for a late lunch,

 

[yellowcanoe]

aagh. Its on 83. Thats off our route to wintertime paddlng.
We too have a fav break hangout. Waitresses know you by name xcept if you are a tourist
I had lobster eggs benedict. With hash browns and cofffee was $12.
Hubby had eggs sausage and homefries and coffee and Finnish Bread toast. $6
Mine was pricey but had the meat of four lobster claws so not so bad!
Chutes in Windham ME

 

[Boreal Birch]

I will be going to get a breakfast at the Suomi Home Bakery in Houghton, Michigan soon. I understand that their Pannukakka and Nisu (Cardamom) toast. I'm not Finnish, but I grew up that way. Many meals of Pasties (Cornish meat pies) and Kalamojakka (Finnish fish head stew).
Red River cereal again for breakfast today. My Swedish guests ate it with gusto and thanked me for a good breakfast. It might have been the strong black Yirgacheffee Coffee that they liked, they are Swedes afterall.
.........BB

 

[yellowcanoe]

Quaker Instant Oatmeal.. Who hasn't done it?
Here is why you shouldn't

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natur...o-know-about-instant-oatmeal-and-your-health/

Now we all know steel cut oats take forever to cook so has anyone cooked some at home and managed to dehydrate them without having the result of a brick?

 

[Odyssey]

A couple weekends ago a grandson spent the weekend with us. He's a growing boy who loves hockey. He's also a notoriously fussy eater. He's one of those "My potatoes can't touch my meat, can't touch my corn, can't touch my ketchup..." And there are more items on his "won't eat" list than on his "will eat" list. Our own kids were told "Eat your dinner or go to bed." Evidently I'm old and wrong. Whatever. That weekend I decided to meet this kid halfway and do a little spoiling of my own. I offered to buy him some cereal, of the cold sugared variety. The selection on the grocery shelves was staggering, but I chose something to the best of my ability. Sugary "Cheerios". I didn't notice till I got home that as a special healthy treat the cereal people added flaked oats to the cereal. I thought "Bonus! Maybe even I'll eat this?!" When saturday morning rolled around I nonchalantly placed the big box of promise on the kitchen table and said "Grandpa picked this up for you. Milk is in the fridge." From the other room I overheard a whispered conversation between him and his fawning mother "It tastes funny." "I don't know why? You like that kind." " It says here it's got oats in it. What are oats?" "Oh really? Well oats are a grain that's good for you, and they taste good. Right?" " I dunno. It tastes funny. What else does grandpa have in the cupboard?" At that point they had to hold me down.
To cool down I took a walk in the garden. Later the kid told me the cereal tasted okay, it just took getting used to. Oh boy, I know the feeling. I promised him that next time I'd introduce him to some real oats, and to fancy up the "funny taste" I'd be adding maple syrup. We'll see how that goes.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Have you asked him ( just in a casual way) if he has one stomach per ingredient? He will likely outgrow his abhorrence of food touching other food.. Now my 13 year old grandson will eat just about anything including Cesar Chicken Salad in a Spinach Pita wrap ( which he asks for ) with Broccoli
Five years ago it was mac and cheese

I hear you about "funny " food. My daughters liked Grandmas orange juice better than mine. We both bought Minute Maid. Go figure kids

And that 13 year old grandson needs a personal bank.. His hockey team must enter the arena ( before changing into uniform) in dress shirt and tie.. Needs to expand the tie wardrobe.. The ties he wants are $85, Each. USD.. He plays four games each weekend.. Who would have thought a kid needed a business wardrobe?

 

[Iskweo]

Qu'elle est this fussy eater thing you speak of? If we were picky about what was for supper, by the time we decided to eat there was nothing left. Savages. Of course a lot of what we ate had shotgun pellets in it so you had to be careful.

 

[Odyssey]

I remember watching a cooking/travel show in which an Italian explained how children (bambini) eat adult food from the get go. No fuss and bother, and no exceptions. "Don't want to eat mamma's cooking? Off you go! We'll see you at breakfast." Just like my non-Italian childhood. My wife took a kinder gentler approach "Just two mouthfuls. maybe three? Let's count together." I won't force weird or strongly flavoured foods on kids, but healthy bland won't scar you for life.
We've eaten lots of instant oats on trips. Basically a sugary refined oatmeal. It's not the healthiest (not even remotely), but it's not a regular part of our diet either. I won't feel guilty about it. The food industry people (I watch too many sci-fi movies) are getting clever. I have a box of "quick cook steel cut oats". Cooks in 5 minutes. Organic. Blah blah blah. And it tastes suitably nutty and bland. I like it.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Qu'elle est this fussy eater thing you speak of? If we were picky about what was for supper, by the time we decided to eat there was nothing left. Savages. Of course a lot of what we ate had shotgun pellets in it so you had to be careful.

My kids had to eat adult food.. But I was home quite a bit. By comparison my daughter works three jobs and the battle she does not want to pick is over meals...She knows she does not parent like me.

I had to eat Irish Oatmeal every day , I did not genuinely like it. It was not removed and I told to go play. It went with me to the basement for hours till I ate it cold. Its remarkable I eat ANY oatmeal today

 

[Odyssey]

The fussy kid in our lives is a young teen, and growing like a weed. I don't know how or why, sure as hell doesn't get it from his diet. His mom (our future d-i-l) panders to his every food fussy whim. She's a sweetheart and I love her, but what I'd really love is to send her son to Brad's Breakfast Boot Camp. Bacon. Eggs. Porridge. Coffee. Get it down ya, get a haircut and get to work.
On the friday evening of their weekend visit they proposed we go out for dinner. My sceptical self surmised they were trying to avoid my hard arsed cooking. I was a bachelor for the week, "while the cat's away the mouse eats miserably." Anyway, we went out for beer and burgers here : http://www.worksburger.com/Menu.aspx#
Despite him only wanting a "plain jane burger" (no toppings, no extras) he did go crazy for grandpa's poutine & brisket. I shared generously. Gotta feed the kid up for hockey. I made sure to "accidentally" push his burger into his fries into his ketchup into the poutine...He survived. And ate it all.