Showing posts with label Slumgullion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Slumgullion. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

House Sold, Emptying A House and Cooking My Slumgullion for the Last Time




I sold my house.  I am delighted.  My children have been gone from the house since 2014 and the place is too much house for me. I engaged a neighborhood realtor. For two years my local realtor was unable to sell this raised ranch in need of work, because " It is too close to the CSX railroad tracks."

In January, I hired Doug Perry, a tall elegant African American gent,  of Property Consultants and he sold this "as is" property in three days, after conducting ten house visits.

A young neighborhood couple will move in here after March 8th and begin their adventures.  Mine are pretty much over.  Now, I spend my days bagging, boxing and shedding two decades of toys, books, clothing, furniture, utensils, bri-a-brac and bills.  I hired the Schuch Brothers of Total Clean to haul away - everything. They are outstanding.   I also make daily trips  with loads to the wonderful Goodwill site at 93rd & Western, which features a drive up bay to shed memories and household detritus.  Adios, to all that.

Mine was a single parent home, since July 1999 and I bought the place from a single mother of two boys.  Being a single parent is no bag of popcorn.

By the grace of God, my offspring are solid citizens living their own lives.

I tried to make their lives comfortable and helpful - the jury is out on that and will listen to opposing arguments from family and friends.

One of the things that I managed to do well was feed my family.  They had three squares a day and a roof over a heated, lit and cabled set of rooms.

One of my standard meals was Slumgullion.




As I wrote some time back :

Slumgullion is the food of the working people who built America!  Not Howard Zinn activists and trust funded hair-shirts of the 21st Century American History textbooks, but the real people, former slaves, black, white, brown, yellow and tawny.  They are Edna Ferber's Midwestern Jews, Bohemian, Alsatian immigrants; they are John Dos Passos' Portuguese, Irish, WASP, and Belgian adventurers; They are Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, Richard Wright's Bigger Thomas and James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan.  They are slumgullion eaters.
Slumgullion is a varietal staple that can include Chinese five spices, Mexican cumino, Japanese ginger, Hungarian smoked paprika, or just salt and black paper.
You need a cauldron, Dutch oven, iron pot or slow cooker of some volume.
Beef and Pork are the usual cuts of meat, but chicken, squirrel, turtle, or fish will work as well.
Root vegetables, or macaroni, pasta, rice or noodles will add substance to savories.


My Aunt Margarite was a master of this dish, which she often served to the denizens of the old St. Rita Augustinian Monastery at 63rd & Claremont Avenue.  Those black robed Austin Friars tucked away handsomely, back in the day.

I made her recipe with my own variations.

In celebration of my exit a a homeowner, soon to live a Spartan few decades in single room apartments, I will whip out my Slumgullion.

                                            Pat Hickey Slumgullion
two lbs - of Chuck Beef-cut like Fajitas - dredged in three good tablespoon of flour, smoked paprika and cilantro
One 1/2 cup of Mire Poix( celery,onion and carrots)
Five medium potatoes peeled - I use three Golden Yellow and two Russets
Five sprigs of Rosemary and five sprigs of thyme
One 16 oz. Can of Crushed Tomatoes and one small can of tomato paste
Two long dashes of Worcestershire sauce
A pinch of crushed Red pepper flakes
One five quart Hamilton Beach slow cooker
One skillet with three tablespoons of Olive Oil
Methode: À la manière de Hickey
In a large plastic bag add flour, smoked paprika and cilantro; Mix well and add the beef and roll it , bounce and knead the hell out of it  and let sit for about ten minutes.Add beef to the skillet and brown it.  When good and brown make room for the mire poix and saute and them blend all together, Cook until all vegetables are tender-ish
Peel and coarsely cut five potatoes and place them in the bottom of the slow cooker.
Pour meat and mire poix mixture over the spuds.
Add 16 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and then the tomato paste and mix them together over the meat and spud.
Squirt five dashes of Worchester and sprinkle crushed red peppers over the tomatoes
Layer rosemary and thyme sprigs and mushrooms on top.
Cook on low for twelve to 24 hours.  

 Image result for cornbread in pie tin


Serve with Pat Hickey Iron Skillet Cornbread -
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2 cups of Aunt Jemima Corn Mealone Jumbo eggone can of creamed corn2/3 cup of milk two tablespoons of sugar, one tablespoon of good vanilla extract. Mixed and poured into a greased cast-iron skillet and baed for 25-30 minutes. 

Free at last! 

Saturday, March 11, 2017

South Side St. Paddy Parade is Looming and a Pot of Slumgullion is Just the Thing

Image result for the stew cook

slum·gul·lion(ˌsləmˈɡəlyən)
noun: USinformal
noun: slumgullion
cheap or insubstantial stew.
Insubstantial?  My broad manly rump, Hombre!  Who is writing these WEB definitions?

Before I bolt the hood, exchanging the shouting and bag piping of the annual South Side St. Paddy's Day Parade, for lowing of black and white dairy cattle in Dodgeville, Wisconsin ( home to best Cornish pasties that side of Bridgeport) and the expected dusting of March snow, I shall pot up a mess of slumgullion.

Slumgullion is the food of the working people who built America!  Not Howard Zinn activists and trust funded hair-shirts of the 21st Century American History textbooks, but the real people, former slaves, black, white, brown, yellow and tawny.  They are Edna Ferber's Midwestern Jews, Bohemian, Alsatian immigrants; they are John Dos Passos' Portuguese, Irish, WASP, and Begian adventurers; They are Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, Richard Wright's Bigger Thomas and James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan.  They are slumgullion eaters.

Slumgullion is a varietal staple that can include Chinese five spices, Mexican cumino, Japanese ginger, Hungarian smoked paprika, or just salt and black paper.

You need a cauldron, Dutch oven, iron pot or slow cooker of some volume.

Beef and Pork are the usual cuts of meat, but chicken, squirrel, turtle, or fish will work as well.

Root vegetables, or macaroni, pasta, rice or noodles will add substance to savories.

Here is my offering today.

                                               Pat Hickey Slumgullion

two lbs - of chuck cut like Fajitas dredged in three good tablespoon of flour, smoked paprika and cilantro

One 1/2 cup of Mire Poix( celery,onion and carrots)

Five medium potatoes peeled - I use three Golden Yellow and two Russets

Five sprigs of Rosemary and five sprigs of thyme

One 16 oz. Can of Crushed Tomatoes and one small can of tomato paste

Two long dashes of Worcestershire sauce

A pinch of crushed Red pepper flakes

One five quart Hamilton Beach slow cooker

One skillet with three tablespoons of Olive Oil

Methode: À la manière de Hickey

In a large plastic bag add flour, smoked paprika and cilantro; Mix well and add the beef and roll it , bounce and knead the hell out of it  and let sit for about ten minutes.



Add beef to the skillet and brown it.  When good and brown make room for the mire poix and saute and them blend all together, Cook until all vegetables are tender-ish

Peel and coarsely cut five potatoes and place them in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Pour meat and mire poix mixture over the spuds.

Add 16 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and then the tomato paste and mix them together over the meat and spud.

Squirt five dashes of Worchester and sprinkle crushed red peppers over the tomatoes

Layer rosemary and thyme sprigs and mushrooms on top.

Cook on low for twelve to 24 hours. This will be ready to put in the ice box when I return from Wisconsin Sunday night and then Hold the Phone all week!

Serve with Pat Hickey Cornbread - Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2 cups of Aunt Jemima Corn Meal
one Jumbo egg
one can of creamed corn
2/3 cup of milk
two tablespoons of sugar
one tablespoon of good vanilla extra

Mix it all with a forkImage result for cornbread in pie tin

Pour contents into a pie tin or cast iron skillet and drizzle honey over the mixture

Bake for 25-28 minutes.


This is perfect for the snowy weather expected next week.  I'll be eating it up to Friday next.  Then eggs, mushrooms, spinach, peppers and Giardinara.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Time for Slumgullion


Trendy and very good restaurants make presentation one of the cornerstones of great dining -the old feast for the eyes. Les Nomades* on the near north side of Chicago is one of the truly great restaurants.

The items are presented with all of the grace and dignity of the Three Magi before the Infant Jesus on the Epiphany. The very attentive stewards wait in anticipation of the seated's Oooos and Ahhhs. Succulent portions of fish, foul and hoofed cohabitants of our planet, are presented over a sauce that were it poured over my son Conor's aged Nikes, I would devour with relish.

Vegetables are roasted and or steamed to perfection and align the plate edges like Georgian footmen - attendant to crown roasts of lamb or the imperial lobster.

The elegant and beautiful woman who deigns to be seen in public with me is always appreciative of an evening's diversion at Les Nomades. The portions match her tiny alabaster frame and gustatory instincts.

I, however aesthetically charmed by Les Nomades wizardry, leave the front door with a desire to plunge my face into an Al's on Taylor Italian Beef and Sausage Combo smothered in hot Giardinara.

De Gustibus Non Est Disputandem.

Give me a bucket full of slumgullion any day and I will be as happy as the fabled swine in saga'd slough most noted.

After a day on 79th Street in the service of my God, Country and the heroic young gents of Leo High School, this lad is looking for a rib-sticking, back-to-school, double sessions, and working man's plate full of eats.

My Aunt cooked for the Augustinians at the Old St. Rita High School Monastery at 63rd & Claremont - the monastery actually butted up against Western Ave. She was a brilliant cook. She could satisfy a crowd of thirty or more black cowled priests and brothers with a feast at every meal. One her masterpieces was a variation on the Irish concoction that stands in for Mulligan Stew - Slumgullion.

The word evolved from the Irish word for mud -goilín and it may be prepared with any assortment of meats, pastas and vegetables. It is a rich, wholesome, tasty and satisfying meal.

Here is one such example of Slumgullion with a Polish twist. Prior to dining -put on your eatin' pants ( loose fitting sweats always a splendid idea)

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 onion, roughly chopped almost to the consistency of hamburger
3 cloves of garlic crushed
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 green bell peppers, cut into 1 1/2 inch long strips
2 Red Bell Pepper,cut into 1 1/2 inch long strips
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (16 ounce) package Bobak's kielbasa, roughly diced and chopped almost to the consistency of hamburger - that's almost. It goes to kielbasa hamburger you screwed up.
Six pan fried pierogis




Six Sauerkraut Pierogis pan fried in butter
Sour Cream
Chopped chives for garnish

Directions
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium low heat, and stir in the onion.

Cook onion until tender and golden brown, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Place potatoes, salt red and green bell peppers into the skillet with the onion.

Cover and fry for 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in ground black pepper.

Place the kielbasa pieces on top of mixture, cover and let cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add garlic

Stir kielbasa into the mixture and cook an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Allow to sit covered for an additional 15 minutes before serving.

Portion each serving with a topping of pierogi and dollop of sour cream
Garnish with nicely chopped chives.

Eat until you sweat; breathe deeply and if possible take a brisk walk to the couch and channel surf.

*Do get to Les Nomades if not for you, for the woman you love! It will set you back at least Three Yards ( $300) and change if you order wine, but who's counting? You are I know, the economy bites and all, but crack oen the wallet, at least once this year.

Les Nomades
222 E Ontario St
Chicago, IL 60611-3258
(312) 649-9010