Quote:
Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8
There were a lot of poor whites, too, in the Deep South. And they ate whatever they could get. I'm sure that pork brains was one of those things, at times.
I have no idea how pork brains became a delicacy to some Southerners (I assume that my grandmother wasn't the only one who ate them. In fact, at one time, at least, grocery stores where she lived would sell canned pork brains. That's within my lifetime), though. If it wasn't because of what I mentioned in the first paragraph, then perhaps it came from the slaves. I dunno. Perhaps both are true.
Poke Salat (often erroneously called and written "Polk Salad") is a leafy plant that grows wild in the Deep South. Poor people who could not afford collard greens, mustard greens, or turnip greens would go outside to forage for it when they wanted greens and, I'm sure, when there was nothing else to eat, too. Nowadays, some native Southerners will go out and "pick a mess of it" even if they afford other greens. It's a delicacy to them.
By the way, there is a song called "Poke Salat Annie," about Southerners eating Poke Salat. Elvis Presley was one who used to sing it. When he was in a live concert and about to sing it, he would explain to some audiences what Poke Salat was. He would have been very familiar with it, having grown up very poor in northeastern Mississippi (Tupelo) in the 1930's and 40's.
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In this case, it is called "White Trash Cooking"
See here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...oo%2Caps%2C292
I am going to pretend I didn't scroll down and see more books.
This book has great recipes and good stories.