I may have been born and raised in California, but my family in its entirety hails from the Midwest and the South.  The comfort foods that I grew up with were definitely not the same as those my friends were eating, since for a majority of them, their families had either lived in California for generations, or had roots on the East coast or in Italy.  Needless to say, they thought I was a bit strange.

For them, comfort foods were Mac n’ Cheese, Spaghetti, Lasagne, Some unnamed casserole or Mom’s Sunday Roast. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with these things, they simply don’t say “comfort food” to me.  They are all things that I enjoy, but when it’s time for me to feel warm, loved and safe in a world that throws far too many curves my way, I’m thinking about some good ol’ country staples.  I’m thinking fried potatoes, beans and hocks, greens and cornbread.

The world has been throwing our family a lot of curves lately.  There’s stresses from my wife’s job(s), the stresses of trying to keep a steady income flowing from my Internet ventures and to top it all off, there’s the news that our son, who just turned two, is very likely learning disabled and will be undergoing a fairly comprehensive evaluation and course of action very soon.  Add all of that up and you have one foodie who could do nothing else but dig in the pantry for some beans and cornmeal.  It was time for some comfort, and I wanted all of it as fast as I could get it.

Did it help?  Of course it did.  For just a few moments at least, while the house filled slowly with the aromas of slow-simmering beans, cornbread baking in the oven and potatoes sizzling in their traditional cast-iron skillet I didn’t have to worry about anything more than whether or not I needed more seasoning, or if the heat was too high.  At the end I sank into bed full and content, just as warm and cozy as I would have been when my mother still tucked me off to sleep at night.  All-in-all, it was a good day, and the stress of the world could wait for the morning.

This is more a collection of variations than a set of recipes, but I’m pretty confident that at least a few of you will enjoy some of the differences from the originals.  I’ll link to the original basic recipe, then list the changes for each dish in turn. You may just find that one of these recipes ends up on your permanent list of comfort foods as well.

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While chili (particularly “Texas Red”, and yes, that means no beans.) is the official state food of Texas, there is little doubt that the unofficial state food of Texas is the chicken fried steak.

I’ve known the wonderful delight of chicken fried steak all my life. While I grew up in California’s wine country, my family and many others were originally dust bowl immigrants from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Southern cuisine was my staple as a boy, mixed with a strange variety of Italian, Mexican, Hungarian and Asian influences. The restaurants of Northern California don’t serve “country fried steak” they serve chicken fried steak, and that’s the way we like it.

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White gravy is a staple of Southern cooking. In the South and Southwest we use it to top everything from biscuits to French-Fries. Every family has its own unique method of making Gravy, and most families will tell you theirs is the best gravy ever made. (They’re all right, by the way. It’s a family thing.)

Then of course, there’s the stuff you get in restaurants across the country. In the South and Southwest it’s pretty close to what’s made in homes all across the area but once you start moving North, the story changes. The gravy starts turning into a floury-tasting ooze with all the culinary soul of preschool paste. This affront to gravy is usually made from a pouch or bag by someone who has never had real Southern gravy and has probably never cooked anything for themselves at home.

Some companies have obviously noted that this foul mix needs more attention. I’ve seen it labeled as “Southern style with ham” in which tiny bits of processed ham are added in an attempt to mask the utter blandness of it all, and I’ve seen the same done with bacon and sausage.

It doesn’t help, it’s still awful and there’s no getting away from that. It’s usually too thin. It sets up like mortar if not eaten promptly, and is usually used to hide even worse attempts at biscuits or other southern staples.

So restaurant owners, listen up and let me tell you how to do it right! I was raised on white gravy, and I just can’t take it any more!

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If you say beans in the southwest, it’s taken for granted that you mean pinto beans. In Tex-Mex cooking they serve ‘em up refrito, or refried, you get ‘em in the stores with or without jalapeños, or kick ‘em up a bit with some chili powder and cumin and call ‘em Ranch Style.

Up in Oklahoma where my family hails from, you serve ‘em with ham hocks or bacon, with cornbread and fried potatoes on the side. Of course, you can serve what you’d like, but I’ll stick with my old standby. Read more…

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I’ll just start out by saying, this is not a fancy recipe. These are the fried potatoes I grew up eating; made in a cast-iron skillet and fried in bacon grease over controlled heat. The recipe isn’t complicated, but mastery of it takes time. A lot of time.

In my case it took somewhere around 10 years.

There are no times associated with this recipe. In all actuality, it’s more a set of guidelines. You have to be able to feel when it’s time to move on to the next step. It’s not hard, but it’s not easy, either. It’s kind of like walking, simple as an adult, but it was a bugger when you first started doing it! Read more…

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I was trolling my usual food blog haunts the other day when I stumbled across a post about cast iron pans and cornbread at The Homesick Texan. I realized two things very quickly. One, she has as much dislike for sweet cornbread as I do. Two, I hadn’t made cornbread in quite a while.

For those of you from the northern climbs; In Texoma we make our cornbread for dinner. It’s not a dessert item and therefore has no sugar. (I know she would disagree and say all of Texas, but I’ve been served sweet cornbread more than once since I moved here. and since I’ve never visited Southern Texas, I can’t speak for them.) Read more…

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