Do you count 1945 through 1963 as part of the Golden Era?

[CaramelSmoothie]

From Ms LeGon's NYT obituary:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/12/1...on-singer-and-solo-tap-dancer-dies-at-96.html


"She remained angry for decades at Fred Astaire, with whom she shared rehearsal space in 1935 but who she said refused to acknowledge her on the set of “Easter Parade” (1948), one of many films in which she played a maid."

Yes I remember her saying this.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

It was also a matter of great swaths of the country where black people simply didn't live in any great numbers. In 1940, the population in the Northeast was less than four percent black -- and the vast majority of that population lived in New York, Philadelphia, and to a lesser extent Boston. Smaller cities and towns had microscopic or nonexistent black populations. The Western states had even fewer black residents: the black population there in 1940 was 1.2 percent of the total, and again, most of it was concentrated in the major cities, especially Los Angeles. Even the Midwest, with the major manufacturing centers of Detroit and Chicago, only had a black population of 3.5 percent.

The vast majority of African-Americans in the Era still lived in the South -- where they made up almost a quarter of the total population. It wasn't until the 1980s that the black population in the Northeast cracked the ten-percent-of-the-total mark, and it didn't reach that point in the Midwest until the '90s. And to this day, the black population in the Western states is still less than five percent of the total. To this day you'll find plenty of adult white Americans who have had no meaningful interaction in their lives with a black person. Startling, but true -- and perhaps that's why race is still such a dodgy issue in these Enlightened Times.

I always tell people I feel more at home in the South. I go out to places like California, Nevada, Colorado and it feels like I am in a foreign land. When I travel through Alabama, the Carolinas and other southern states I feel as though I am right where I belong. The southern style of cooking is still visible in the way Blacks up North cook and eat. Sweet tea, well done meats, fried everything, barbecue, grits, bacon, ham, flapjacks, etc... I am really considering moving down south for retirement.

 

[GHT]

The southern style of cooking is still visible in the way Blacks up North cook and eat. Sweet tea, well done meats, fried everything, barbecue, grits, bacon, ham, flapjacks, etc... I am really considering moving down south for retirement.

CaramelSmoothie, ahem, coming from someone who lives an ocean away, apologies, but: You don't fry grits.

 

[dh66]

CaramelSmoothie, ahem, coming from someone who lives an ocean away, apologies, but: You don't fry grits.

My grandmother used to pour leftover grits into an empty can and stick it in the fridge. Next meal she would shake the cylinder of solidified cold grits out and slice it into patties, which she would fry in bacon grease until they were brown and crispy on the outside. She may have dipped them in a beaten egg first, I don't remember. It's been many years.

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[dh66]

She probably did this because she grew up during the depression, and she NEVER threw anything out.

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[Tomasso]

They've been frying grits since way before the Depression. Probably since the Europeans snatched the recipe from the Indians. I prefer fried grits to the creamy, as I do polenta.

 

[GHT]

Philitines, the lot of you!

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

CaramelSmoothie, ahem, coming from someone who lives an ocean away, apologies, but: You don't fry grits.

LOL, I had to re-read my post to see where this came from. I see the confusion, when I said "fried everything" that didn't apply to the foods I named right after, I meant just literally deep fried everything (fish, chicken, pork ), along with those other foods being popular in the South. I try to do a healthier version of soul/southern food as much as I can but fry every once in a while. Although deep frying makes food taste good I hate the clean up.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

My grandmother used to pour leftover grits into an empty can and stick it in the fridge. Next meal she would shake the cylinder of solidified cold grits out and slice it into patties, which she would fry in bacon grease until they were brown and crispy on the outside. She may have dipped them in a beaten egg first, I don't remember. It's been many years.

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Never heard of it done that way. I have to admit I prefer oatmeal and oat bran over grits but eat grits once in a blue moon

They've been frying grits since way before the Depression. Probably since the Europeans snatched the recipe from the Indians. I prefer fried grits to the creamy, as I do polenta.

This is good to know. I will experiment with this one day.

Philitines, the lot of you!

 

[LizzieMaine]

We used to eat a lot of fried cornmeal mush for breakfast -- very hearty on a cold winter morning. I don't know if it came from the Indians or from some obscure Southern branch of the family, but wherever it came from, I love it.

 

[HudsonHawk]

They've been frying grits since way before the Depression. Probably since the Europeans snatched the recipe from the Indians. I prefer fried grits to the creamy, as I do polenta.

The Italians have been frying their grits (polenta) since they first discovered corn. I don't particularly like them fried, but it's a good way to use the leftovers.

 

[HudsonHawk]

LOL, I had to re-read my post to see where this came from. I see the confusion, when I said "fried everything" that didn't apply to the foods I named right after, I meant just literally deep fried everything (fish, chicken, pork ), along with those other foods being popular in the South. I try to do a healthier version of soul/southern food as much as I can but fry every once in a while. Although deep frying makes food taste good I hate the clean up.

Real Southern fried chicken (and consequently anything that is "chicken fried") is not deep fried, but rather pan fried in a skillet. Not that it's any healthier.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

Real Southern fried chicken (and consequently anything that is "chicken fried") is not deep fried, but rather pan fried in a skillet. Not that it's any healthier.

True, true..a cast iron skillet is ideal for the iron and just the tradition of it. These days, if I do any frying it's usually party wings for movie nights. I can't tell the last time I bought a bird and deep fried the various parts. I am going to experiment with a wet batter rather than a dry/flour batter sometime next month.


Have you ever used a pressure cooker to fry your chicken? I don't think I have ever used a pressure cooker. I am thinking about getting the Actifry, it advertises that it uses only 1 tbsp. of oil to fry up a batch of food. Oprah endorses it. Does anyone have any experience with this? The reviews on Amazon are good but a few reviewers said that it caught on fire.

 

[rjb1]

Hello CaramelSmoothie: As a Northerner who moved South with my parents many years ago, I have grown to love it here. Come on down, you'll like it, too. Since "grits" have been mentioned, I should say that not every Southerner eats those. I have never had a grit in my life.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

Hello CaramelSmoothie: As a Northerner who moved South with my parents many years ago, I have grown to love it here. Come on down, you'll like it, too. Since "grits" have been mentioned, I should say that not every Southerner eats those. I have never had a grit in my life.

The last time I was down south was when I was in Charleston, SC and before that Mobile, AL. I am "homesick" just thinking about it. Not sure if I will be able to make Mardi Gras this year.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Have you ever used a pressure cooker to fry your chicken? I don't think I have ever used a pressure cooker. I am thinking about getting the Actifry, it advertises that it uses only 1 tbsp. of oil to fry up a batch of food. Oprah endorses it. Does anyone have any experience with this? The reviews on Amazon are good but a few reviewers said that it caught on fire.

I've never used a pressure cooker to fry chicken, but I've heard of people using them. That's the way KFC does it. I always did it like my mother and grandmother...in the iron skillet.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Hello CaramelSmoothie: As a Northerner who moved South with my parents many years ago, I have grown to love it here. Come on down, you'll like it, too. Since "grits" have been mentioned, I should say that not every Southerner eats those. I have never had a grit in my life.

But you just admitted that you're not a real Southerner. It's no wonder you've never eaten a grit.

 

[HudsonHawk]

The last time I was down south was when I was in Charleston, SC and before that Mobile, AL. I am "homesick" just thinking about it. Not sure if I will be able to make Mardi Gras this year.

Mardi Gras is very late this year. There's still plenty of time to make plans!

 

[rjb1]

"But you just admitted that you're not a real Southerner. It's no wonder you've never eaten a grit."
True... But I have been here since the fourth grade (a looong time ago) so I'm pretty close to being a real Southerner.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

Mardi Gras is very late this year. There's still plenty of time to make plans!

Yeah, I just saw it on the calendar. I probably won't get down there until next year, at least then I will most likely be in the process of taking pictures for the hat site and can take some hats down there to photograph in the Treme district and the French Quarter. Not even close to ready right now.