Happy Independence Day!

A 4th of July Celebration, St. Helena Island, SC, 1939 (more photos from the event here.)

The Library of Congress has more historical photos taken of Independence Day celebrations around America here…enjoy!

• Southern Hoe Cakes from Group Recipes

• Fried Corn Meal Mush From About.Com: Southern Food

• Lavender Flavored Lemonade from Southern Sandra

• Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Simply Recipes

• Carolina Fish Muddle from History.Org

• Colonial Corn Pudding from Foodreference.Com

• Georgia Peanut Salsa from Taste of Home

• Thomas Jefferson’s Ice Cream From Slashfood

• Colonial Innkeeper’s Pie from Cooks.Com

Enjoy the Holiday!

Join us tomorrow to enjoy an interesting series of historical 4th of July photos taken across the United States, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

This zesty relish gets its fiery nature from lots of freshly grated ginger, but the bite is tempered by sweet oranges, dried cherries, honey, and spice. It goes great with roast pork, turkey, or game (especially venison) and a dab on a hot, buttered biscuit is a fine way to kick-start the morning, too.

Here’s a photo of the Firecracker Chutney below.

Ingredients:

2 cups dried cherries (about 14 oz)
1 cup grated fresh ginger root
3 large oranges, peeled & chopped (white pith and seeds removed); juice reserved (see below)
2 Tbsp orange zest
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp brandy
Water plus reserved juice from oranges to equal 1 cup

PREPARATION:

Place all ingredients in a large, heavy saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding
a bit more water if needed. Chill thoroughly before serving. Makes about 2 pints.

Cook’s Notes:

• 5 or 6 tangerines (depending on size) can be substituted for the oranges.

• Southern Comfort, Grand Mariner, bourbon, or dark rum can be substituted for the brandy, or it can be omitted.

• For another layer of zing, try adding a finely minced jalapeno pepper.

Enjoy!

You Can Read More of Doug’s Recipe Corner Here.

Note: This original Hugging the Coast article also appears on eHow as:

• How to Make Delicious Firecracker Chutney With Oranges, Ginger, and Dried Cherries
  

(You can see more Hugging the Coast eHow articles here.)

Looking Back: 6/23/2008-6/29/2008

Monday: A Week of Onion Rings: Frito Corn Chip Encrusted Onion Rings

Tuesday: A Week of Onion Rings: Hawaiian Sesame Coconut Onion Rings

Wednesday: A Week of Onion Rings: Cheese and Chive Onion Rings

Thursday: A Week of Onion Rings: Curly Ramen Crunch Onion Rings

Friday: A Week of Onion Rings: Stuffed Potato Skin Onion Rings

Saturday: A Week of Onion Rings: Southern Style Sweet Corn Onion Rings

Sunday: You are here

Also, please join us tomorrow to see Doug’s recipe for Sun and Moon Orange and Sweet Onion Salad which is perfect for July 4th family gatherings and picnics.

• Dutch Pancakes (Pannenkoeken) from eGullet

• Red Flannel Hash from The Common Room

• Elk Burgers W/Honey-Chipotle Mayo from Hot Sauce Blog

• Mac and Cheese with Buffalo Chicken from Epicurious

• Rellenos De Papa (Stuffed Mashed Potatoes) from Recipezaar

• Sauerbraten from Spice House

• Beef and Guinness Stew from About.Com: Home Cooking

• Apple Pork Pie from Taste of Home

• Braised Lamb Shanks with Sour Cream and Capers from About.Com: Home Cooking

• Southern Brownie Pie from Suite 1010: Southern Cuisine

• Lumberjack Cake from Recipezaar

Enjoy the Holiday!

Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing an original summertime recipe for Cucumber, Apple, & Spinach Salad With Curried Pecans and Lemony Coriander Dressing.

John Travolta may have said it best in the movie, Pulp Fiction, “It’s the little differences…”

One of the things that makes travel enlightening (whether it’s a trip from Charleston, SC to Asheville, NC eating regional barbecue along the way or a longer journey to India, Morocco, Korea, Malaysia, or Fiji sampling local foods and flavors) are all those little differences.

When you travel, all the common daily signposts of your everyday life are replaced at every turn with (sometimes slightly, sometimes vastly) different options and opportunities.

You can’t just pop down to your default neighborhood restaurant after work, absentmindedly order the daily special, and bolt right after finishing; because there is no default, everyday way of doing things the first time one visits somewhere new. There is no “regular’ or “the usual” to order.

There’s just you: having a fresh experience with a new place: learning to navigate new customs, people, and ideas; and in a way, made more than a little new yourself by the encounter.

As the American author of the food blog, From Argentina With Love writes about her experience with one of the “little differences” she encountered on visits to her husband’s home country:

“This is how I knew I was going to fall in love with Argentina:

Argentinos eat gnocchi together on the 29th of every month, and it’s a national holiday.

Excuse me while I swoon.

Yes, that’s right–people all over the country get together on the same day every month just to eat gnocchi. Now, that’s my idea of a national holiday! I didn’t grow up with any sort of food traditions that are celebrated like this on a national level. But in Argentina, the tradition is that on the 29th day of each and every month, one is supposed to eat gnocchi. Okay, twist my arm…

Argentinos are fond of the expression ‘a full belly, a happy heart,’ and on the 29th they prepare Ñoquis (as they spell it) at home and invite friends over to share the meal; it’s also quite common to find ñoquis on the menu in restaurants on this day. Either way, diners end up both full and happy.”

You can read more of her post about her experiences eating gnocchi on the 29th, (as well as her recipe for gnocchi) here.

You might also want to read Heidi Swanson’s informative post on How to Make Gnocchi Like an Italian Grandmother here.

More than 20 million Argentinos have at least one Italian forefather, making Italians the largest ethnic group in Argentina (giving them the third largest concentration of people of Italian origin in the world).

As a result of this concentration, food influenced by Italian cuisine is popular and readily available in most parts of Argentina.

Uruguay, Argentina’s tiny neighbor to the east, also celebrates gnocchi day each 29th. 1.5 million people in Uruguay are of Italian ancestry, (almost half of its population) so Italian cuisine exerts a large culinary influence there as well.

What “little differences” have you found on your travels (whether around the world or to the next town) and how did they change you?

• Double Chocolate Pancakes from Global Gourmet

• Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Chirky.Com

• Nutella Cookies from Alpineberry

• Chocolate-Mascarpone Phyllo Triangles from Allrecipes.Com

• Enchilada Casserole with Quick Mole Sauce from MyRecipes.Com

• Cheesecake With Chocolate Lace from BakeSpace

• White Chocolate Cake With Orange Marmalade Filling from Food & Wine

Enjoy the Holiday!

Does your mom have a bumpersticker on her car that says, “I break for baguettes?” Then check out this cool shopping tote bag from the designers at Rootote which features a pornographically photorealistic image of baguettes guaranteed to cause gasps from fellow bread lovers.

Rootote also makes a nice shopping tote bag that celebrates the joy of eating carbs (er, crackers). Both are from YesStyle.Com.

And in case you want to fill that tote with a little something extra, here’s a good recipe for baguettes from Recipezaar.

• Garlicky Prawn, Roasted Pepper, and Goat Cheese Quesadillas from The Gutsy Gourmet

• Blue Cornmeal Chorizo Stuffing from About.Com: Homecooking

• Pescado Borrachos (Drunken Fish) from The Epicentre

• El Charro Barbacoa from Clay’s Kitchen

• Black Beans With Mexican Beer from Chow.Com

• Sopes from ifood.tv

• Churros from Kaboose.com

• Tres Leches Cake from Cooking Mexican Recipes

Enjoy the Holiday!

Check out these two YouTube parody videos from MadTV that hilariously skewer the cooking shows we all know and love.

3 Minute Meal: Tuna Melts

3 Minute Meal: Banana Splits

• Warm Curried Egg Salad from Betterrecipes.Com

• Kulich Coffee Can Easter Bread Recipe from Group Recipes.Com

• Sweet Potato Biscuits from Easter Recipes: Blogspot

• Fruity Fruit Salad Recipe from Soul Food and Southern Cooking

• Asparagus With Hazelnuts and Parmesan from Kaboose.Com

• Cauliflower Casserole from About.Com: Southern Food

• Fish Fillets With Corn and Red Pepper Salsa from Easter Recipes: Blogspot

• Baked Ham With Spiced Apples and Pears from CooksRecipes.Com

• Cheesecake Tart With Tropical Fruits from Bon Appetit

Enjoy the Holiday!

• Fadge (from Basic-Recipes.Com)

• Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup (from About.Com Southern Food)

• Irish Apple Mash (from RecipeCenter.Com)

• Colcannon (from Europeancuisines.com)

• Beef and Guinness Pie (from T.S. McHughs.Com)

• Irish Cod Cobbler (from Recipezaar)

• Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake (from Baking About.Com)

• Blarney Stone Cookies (from Land O’ Lakes)

• Apple Barley Pudding (from Ireland-Information.Com)

Also, check out Cocktail.com’s St. Patrick’s Day Cocktail Page as well as this nice roundup of traditional Irish recipes here.

Enjoy the Holiday!

• Shrimp and Hearts of Palm Salad (from Cooks.Com)

• Corn, Crab, and Roasted Red Pepper Soup (from CDKitchen.Com)

• Savannah Red Rice (from Recipezaar.Com)

• Southern Oyster Casserole (from FamilyOven.Com)

• Cajun Snapper and Shrimp over Bacon Cheddar Cheese Grits with Red Pepper Coulis (from The Food Network)

• Hummingbird Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting (From About.Com: Southern Food)

• Red Velvet Cake With Raspberries and Blueberries (from Epicurious)

Enjoy the Holiday!

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
–George Bernard Shaw

“There’s nothing sexier than a poached pear with a perfect sorbet.”
–Lisa Hershey/ The Art of the Plated Dessert

“I may not be healthy or wealthy or wise;
I may not have dreamy, mysterious eyes;
I may not wear clothes from a French fashion book;
But I’m never lonely, for boy, I can cook!”
–Anonymous

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
–Harriet Van Horne

“Whosoever says truffle, utters a grand word, which awakens erotic and gastronomic ideas…”
–Jean Brillat-Savarin/ The Physiology of Taste

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
–Virginia Woolf

“Hunger makes you restless. You dream about food—not just any food, but perfect food, the best food, magical meals, famous and awe-inspiring, the one piece of meat, the exact taste of buttery corn, tomatoes so ripe they split and sweeten the air, beans so crisp they snap between the teeth, gravy like mother’s milk singing to your bloodstream.”
–Dorothy Allison

“All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”
–Lucy Van Pelt/ Peanuts Comic Strip