Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Gullah Brunch


















































































































































Well now, y'all know in the Carolinas folks take their food right serious.
Most of the locals know the best recipes come from the Gullah culture.
Seems like they can take simple and make it grand.
So this morning we are getting started with Mimosas,
made from fresh squeezed Orange Juice and Korbel Light champagne
. ( Light because it IS breakfast).
Our main feed is :
Southern Pan Fried Quail and Grits,
with an optional topping of
Topsider Quail Eggs.
No Carolina breakfast is complete without a few
Short Biscuits and Peach Chutney
or Local Honey.
We'll have a fine cup o
Tea
or some
Chickory Coffee
To go fine with our
Strawberry Fool
Everybody needs to claim their hammock
before commencing to eat,
that way you know which direction
to
stagger
when you get up
from the table!

QUAIL AND GRITS

8 quail, plucked and dressed
4 paper thin slices of country ham
2 scallions
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup mill ground fine white or yellow grits
Spring water
1 cup half and half
1 cup local mild cheddar, finely grated
fresh milled pepper

Instructions:
Have a warm oven ready.
Pan fry quails in butter bout 3-4 minutes each side
remove and reserve to platter in warm oven
Quick sear those papery ham slices
remove and reserve to platter in oven
Now you will want to put the ham on top of the
quail to absorb the drippings
Start with making your grits like the package say to
Then once the package directions are done
You get started,
Adding the finely grated cheese
and
Half and Half
Stir on lowish heat till all the cheese
and
all the half and half have been absorbed
into the grits

Serve the quail over the grits,
garnish with ham and a scallion top
Serve the topsider quail eggs over
a side biscuit or on top the quail.

On the Strawberry Fool,
crumble some of those biscuits
in a pretty glass,
soak a bit with the strawberry juices
and
go on
and
layer the strawberries
and whipped cream
and
strawberries
right up to the top.

Stagger on to your
chosen
hammock

12 comments:

h said...

Very nice indeed. I'm nominating you for the "best suggested after-eating activity" and "best grits" awards.

Curious if you can understand what the heck Gullah people are saying when they talk amongst themselves in that patois?

Thanks for playing and I hope the SCA gives you a good score.

Kymical Reactions said...

Oh my. this is delectable. I love biscuits and honey. Actually, I love all that you have here. quail is delish. a long time favorite of mine.

fishy said...

Troll,
Thanks for the nominations!
About the Gullahspeak ..... I have to get my ear attuned to the cadence and inflections and my brain attuned
to the concepts behind the speaking and then I return to the ability to understand it and actually, can do a reasonable job of speaking it.
It's like being in Nawlins.... once I am there about an hour or so, I am back to sounding like a coonie.

Kim,
In my youth, my Daddy would sometimes get up early to go hunting and would come home with a "mess o quail" which he would pluck and dress out on the back porch. Then we would anxiously await the conclusion of his shower so he could get on with making his AWESOME biscuits, cook up those quail in bacon drippins and
make a huge pot of grits. Fresher than fresh! I ate til I headed to the hammock!

Aunty Belle said...

Fishy,

yep, ya cheated by puttin' in them fancy decorator details.

Delectable! Tie a ribbon on mah hammock. In the shade. By the honeysuckle.

I ain't doubtin' yore daddy's biscuits--it's jes that mah Daddy makes best on the planet. I'se posted it at secret door on the Front Porch (nomedeuxplume)

Jenny said...

I really really wish I had come here just after lunch, because now I'm very hungry. Although, not for the Quail. THAT dessert.

*sigh*

so pretty.

moi said...

QUAIL and grits? Be still my heart. Now, all I have to do is find some quail.

And biscuit recipes! I need to know the secret, dang it! I can't DO it. I can't make them like you can in the south. Help.

Heff said...

Some video of the slaughtering of the Quail would've been nice.

fishy said...

Boxer!
I understand you are a vegetarian but trust me, if you have not had grits made this way you are missing something special. I'm told the dessert is called "strawberry fool" because you eat so much your brains disappear in a sugary haze.

Moi,
I cannot make my dad's biscuits. I just do not have the touch. Mine come about about the consistency of a hockey puck. Least over a Belle's she posted some family biscuit recipes. Reckon a true Cracker woman SHOULD be able to make biscuits. She should share too.
Don't they hunt quail out your way? How about Whole Foods ? The WF market here has quail , but it is frozen!

Heff,
you had any quail? It is too tiny for "slaughtering".
Maybe half the size of a cornish hen. They's delicate so the hunters use little tiny shot to leave somethin to eat. It's fine food.

Belle,
You will have to prove your Daddy's biscuits, cause I ain't a gonna let you be thinking there is not a challenge in that statement!!!!!!

chickory said...

dear God youd kill that cute little birdie? well i totally second that emotion on the grits making. right on! yankees dont know what to do with them they think they are the watery things served at (w)affle house. get it? awful house.

well done, fish. looks like we got a battle of the daddys biscuits up in here. hmmmm. well i gotta say those kind that come in a bag in the freezer they have now are pretty good if ya a slacker like me.

fishy said...

Chickory!
If you are eating biscuits-in-a-bag they best be Sister Shuberts. Oh, and about your other comment, yep, they get lard from purifying animal fat for us to ingest. Thus was the term " lard ass" coined for folks who over indulged in they's daddy's biscuits.


Say, does anyone have a Mama who makes biscuits or is it jus the Daddy's?

moi said...

I saw your biscuit recipe up at Aunty's. Thanks, Fishy! It's very similar to how we make them in these parts, only using lard. New Mexicans have a relationship with the piggy that is similar to what the Plains Indians had with the buffalo. We use EVERY part.

At any rate, put me in the hockey puck category. S.B., bless him, is soooooo understanding. He's fine with Pillsbury, but I'm not.

Yes, I can get frozen quail in the stupormarket, but would rather have them fresh killed and don't know anyone who hunts quail.

Aunty Belle said...

FIshy, yore biscuit recipe doan say what to do about the shortenin'--how to mix it into the flour? Please repost recipe wif' method of gettin' shortenin' in the dough.

BTW, what shortenin' does y'all use in SC?