My Love of Great Home-Style Cooking

There isn’t a certificate on my wall, although.  I’m a trained chef.  I worked my way through college alongside the real deal.  He had a degree from the Culinary Institute of America.  I got a free education as an unofficial apprentice.

This week I came across a story from a Georgia girl transplanted to New York City.  She grew up on biscuits, which she discovered long ago moved from beyond the south to the entire country.  She was also highly disappointed when the quality didn’t make the trip.

The experience is common for many of us who grew up with certain regional foods and delicacies.  For me, it’s chicken wings and my mother’s pecan pie.  My mom has been gone 14 years and an aunt still reminds me every pecan pie baked since 2005 is lesser without my mother.  Mom also made egg noodles.  Simple recipe.  She would roll them into a thick sheet, slice them and then drop them into boiling chicken soup.  The result was almost like candy and the noodles would stick to your ribs.

My brother picked it up from her.  He could also bake those little powdered cookies with nuts.  The ones you can buy for Christmas at stores.  His weren’t filled with preservative chemicals.

As for wings, I only eat them a couple of times a year.  Your doctor doesn’t exactly label chicken wings as health food!  There shouldn’t be any pink meat.  The sauce should also be a glaze and not a soup.  Blue cheese dressing and not, repeat, not ranch.  I hadn’t been in Idaho for more than a few months when I found a small restaurant in Blaine County where the cook makes heavenly wings.  It requires practice and patience.

As for biscuits, Idaho rivals anything from the Deep South.  My favorite, with gravy, comes from a diner in Rupert.  If you don’t mind driving, you’ll also find some marvelous biscuits off the highway in Utah.

The “cultured” people can have their sautéed Chinese insects.  I’ll stay with home-style cooking.

Oh, and I’ve got to mention the fried chicken at the Depot Grill in Twin Falls.  I had two servings at lunch last Friday.  I would’ve done three but my companions do everything in moderation.