Appalachian Word of the Week -- OUTHOUSE

Anybody who grew up during my era should know first hand what an OUTHOUSE is. Even if you have never been privy to one yourself, you have probably heard about them.

Photo courtesy of my friend, Corinne Milwee Farley

I remember in technicolor and smellavision (my word) detail having to traipse down a little path to the outhouse when I visited either of my grandmothers in Harlan County. Mammaw lived up on Pine Mountain, near the Pine Mountain Settlement School, in a house so rustic that the front step was a moss-covered rock.

I dreaded having to “go” in the outhouse. For one thing, the path was narrow, with weeds growing so high and close, you had to push through them. The outhouse was always situated as far from the house as you could get it. I think it had something to do with the odor, especially in the summer heat.

Keeping my eyes on my surroundings was important. In the mountains, there are a lot of snakes. They prefer coiling up on pathways. Kind of like dogs and cats who love to steal your chair when you get up for a moment. Garter snakes and black snakes weren’t much of a problem, but rattlesnakes and copperheads could kill.

I always tried to hold my breath when I went inside to do my duty. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold my breath long enough.

And then, consider the spiders. They seemed to enjoy hanging out in the outhouse. I reckon spiders and bugs don’t have a sense of smell.

I hate spiders, so I kept the photo small

Job completed, I threw open the door and ran back to the house to wash my hands at the pump, just off the front porch.

Granny had an outhouse, too. She lived at Chevrolet Coal Camp. At least the path was shorter and not quite as weedy as on the mountain where Mammaw lived. Chevrolet was a community of camp houses built by the mine for its workers to rent. The houses were small, but they had electricity.

A coal mining camp with outhouses shared by neighbors

The outhouse, unfortunately, had the same horrendous stink and attracted spiders.

Not all outhouses were alike. Some people got fancy and had a double-seater. I didn’t think that was such a great idea, myself. I mean, I wouldn’t want to sit there with somebody else and bare my bottom as we added to the stink. It would be good to have two different sized holes, though. That way, if you were smaller, you could choose the smaller whole and not have to worry about falling through. Oh, can you imagine?

I’m thankful that my granny offered a roll of toilet paper for her outhouse. The Montgomery Ward catalog didn’t have much absorbency. I also proved to be scratchy on tender skin.

Of course, my choice in outhouses would be bug-free, stinky-free, and have provisions like this one.

Did you grow up using the outhouse? I’d love to hear your memories.

Appalachian Word of the Week - SWEET PILLS

Appalachian Word of the Week – SWEET PILLS

I’m going to do something a little different this week. Instead of one word, I’m going to describe two words. SWEET PILLS

Not everybody called them that, but my mom and granny always used the term SWEET PILLS to describe all those luscious sweet confections we only got to eat during the Christmas season.

My all-time favorite is the FRUITCAKE.

Now, this isn’t the kind of fruitcake of jokes. Mom’s fruitcake was moist, spicy cake with candied fruit, raisins, and black walnuts. The best part of the cake was the top and the edge. Oh, my goodness, the chewiness made it heavenly. Nothing else compares. I truly miss those cakes.

Mom always hid the cakes, wrapped in tinfoil, somewhere in her bedroom. She doled out tiny slices only when she wanted to share. It nearly drove me crazy waiting for her to be in the mood to be generous.

Another popular treat in my house was FUDGE made from marshmallow cream. Mom wasn’t the greatest cook in the world, but she was a master fudge maker.  She generally made two large batches—one was plain and the other had English walnuts in it.

She poured the melted, creamy mixture into large platters. When it hardened, she sliced it into pieces. Most of the candy was hidden away like the fruitcake, but she usually left the smallest plate of fudge on the kitchen table for us to nibble on. I had a hard time staying out of the kitchen.

And then there was the APPLE STACK CAKE. The batter for this cake is totally different from most cakes. It is thicker consistency and you spread a thin layer into round pans to bake. It took forever, it seemed, because Mom only had two round pans. The first two layers had to cool enough to be removed safely before she could use the pans again to bake the next two layers.

Special thanks to Lady Behind the Curtain for the photo

While she waited between layers, she made the filling. After every layer had cooled, the cake was built by placing a layer, spooning on some of the apple mixture, and then the next layer, until it was completed.

My granny always made a BLACKBERRY JAM CAKE. It wasn’t my favorite because it was so sweet it gave me a tummy ache. I much preferred fruitcake. Her cake was quite popular with all the other houseguests, though.

One thing mountain women do at Christmas when they bake up a storm is to share. I remember my mom wrapping up pieces of cake or candy in tinfoil and then Christmas paper and tying it up with ribbon. She then dispersed her gifts to special people in the community. I remember her giving some to our garbage man, too.

If you’d like to try one of our mountain SWEET PILLS, I’ve given you the recipes from family files. Enjoy. Next week, I’ll tell you about another treat we only got to eat in winter.

Do you have any favorite SWEET PILLS from your mom or grandmother? I'd love to hear about them and where they originated.

RECIPES

MOM’S FRUITCAKE

2 ½ cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 ½ tsp soda

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon (or more)

1 tsp cloves (or more)

½ tsp allspice

1 ½ cups applesauce (a little extra helps make it moister)

½ cup water

½ cup shortening/butter

2 eggs

1 cup raisins (soaked in warm water and then drained)

½ chopped walnuts (add more) English or black

Mixed candied fruit

Heat oven to 350

Grease and flour baking pan

Measure all ingredients into large bowls (separate bowls for wet and dry ingredients) 

Alternate dry/wet/applesauce, then mix

Add fruit, nuts, raisins and blend ½ minute on low speed, scraping bowl occasionally

Pour into pan (preferably an angel food pan)

Bake 60-65 minutes

If doing layers, bake for 50 minutes

Cool before removing from pan.

MOM’S APPLE STACK CAKE

Ingredients for the Cake:

5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour like White Lily or a cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or ground ginger
2 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar (or 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup molasses or sorghum)
1 cup butter
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions for cake:

1. HEAT oven to 425°F.
2. “Grease and flour” seven (7) 9-inch round pans or line the pans with parchment paper or use a no-stick flour cooking spray
3. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl; set aside
4. Beat the brown sugar and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs and vanilla
6. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating after each addition until just combined
7. Divide dough into seven portions of about ¾ cup each.
8. With floured hands, pat dough into prepared pans.
9. Bake about 10 minutes or until golden crust forms.
10. Remove from pan and place on a wire rack

Ingredients for the dried apple filling:

5 cups water
1 pound dried apples
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ to 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or all spice
¼ to ½ teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions for Assembling the Cake:

1. Place one cake layer on a large, flat plate or cake plate.
2. Smooth an even amount of hot dried apple filling on top of the one cake layer.
3. Add the second cake layer onto the dried apple filling.
4. Put the dried apple filling on top of the second layer.
5. Repeat until all seven layers are stacked one on top another BUT do not put the apple filling on the top layer.
6. Cover the cake and place in the refrigerator (or cool place) for 24 to 48 hours.

GRANNY’S BLACKBERRY JAM CAKE

For the cake:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

5 large eggs, beaten

3 cups plus 1 tablespoon sifted all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chopped raisins or dates

1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

1 cup seedless blackberry jam

For the icing

3 cups light brown sugar

1 cup evaporated milk

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

 PREPARATION

Make the cake:

In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs and combine the mixture well. Into a bowl sift together 3 cups of the flour, the allspice, the cloves, the cinnamon, and the salt.

In another bowl combine the buttermilk and the baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in batches alternately with the buttermilk mixture, beating well after each addition. In a bowl, toss together the raisins, the nuts, and the remaining 1 tablespoon flour and stir the mixture into the batter with the jam, stirring until the mixture is combined well.

Line the bottoms of 2 buttered 9-inch cake pans with wax paper and butter the paper. Pour the batter into the pans and bake the layers in the middle of a preheated 325°F. oven for 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans on a rack for 15 minutes, invert them onto the rack, and let the layers cool completely.

Make the icing:

In a saucepan combine the brown sugar, the evaporated milk, and the butter, cook the mixture over moderately low heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved, and cook it, undisturbed, washing down any sugar crystals clinging to the side of the pan with a brush dipped in cold water, until it registers 238°F. on a candy thermometer. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and beat it until it is of spreading consistency. If the icing gets too hard to spread, dip the icing spatula in hot water.

Transfer one of the layers, bottom up, to a cake plate, frost the top with the icing, and top it with the remaining layer, bottom down. Frost the top and sides with the icing.

MOM’S MARSHMALLOW CREAM FUDGE