Mariner's Cookbook

Undine's Courtboullion by Mariner, posted Aug 18, 2017

Mariner heard about a different way to prepare fish, Cajun/Creole style, and decided we should try it. It's called Courtboullion (pronounced kū-bĭ-yōn), and it is a kind of poached fish - usually catfish, but it can be made with pretty much any fish (some say, any kind of seafood!).

Dill Pickles by Mariner, posted Aug 17, 2017

July 17, 2017 (this is when the story actually begins)

Some weeks ago I started a project involving fermentation - sauerkraut - and it was successful enough that I thought I might try some other fermented foods. The choice of what to try is a no-brainer: dill pickles, of course!

Hummus Fail-or-Why I Can Chickpeas by Mariner, posted Aug 05, 2017

My sister lives some distance away, from both me, and the area in which we grew up, and she has ever since she married a sailor and moved away, at the ripe age of... well, never mind! Just accept that it's been a long time. I visited her in her home for the first time, a few years ago, and in addition to entertaining us, she fed us some great home-made snacks.

Sauerkraut! by Mariner, posted Jul 22, 2017

Everybody who knows me knows that, especially since I retired, I despise weekend traffic. Too many people going too many places, too fast, and too rude! Since I don't want to be seen on the 11:00 PM news, being hauled away by the police for a "road rage" incident, I just stay home. This may seem to have little to do with food and cooking, but it explains (at least in part) why I am able to put together this article about making sauerkraut.

Quasi-Csabai by Mariner, posted Feb 05, 2017

I was 13 years old when John Kennedy faced down Nikita Khrushchev, during the Cuban Missle Crisis, and I lived about 12 miles north of the Florida State Line. For my entire life, up to that point, Emergency Preparedness - or as we called it then, Civil Defense - was a significant focus in the lives and education of school children in the American South, and those conditions shaped the minds and spirits of an entire generation of Southern children.

Slow-Cooker "Baked" Beans by Mariner, posted Nov 04, 2016

This time of year, many of us are looking forward to several, if not many, celebratory gatherings with family and friends. Quite often those gatherings are organized around a feast of some sort, which means food and cooking are on my mind... again.

Quick and Easy Italian-Style Sausage by Mariner, posted Oct 16, 2016

Let's be clear about this, right from the start. This recipe is not an Italian Sausage recipe. For one thing, there's no fennel in it. For another it has a lot of what Americans think of as traditional Italian seasonings, that do not appear in any of the "real" Italian sausage recipes I have ever found. So, what we really have here, is a fresh pork sausage that attempts to taste the way most Americans might think an Italian sausage ought to taste - hence the appellation, "Italian style".

Bologna by Mariner, posted Oct 02, 2016

As a child I was never a great fan of bologna, but I could eat it without gagging. It wasn't that I disliked the flavor, or even that we had it so terribly often that I grew tired of it — in fact, although we had bologna more often than other cold cuts, we rarely ate cold cuts at all. It just never inspired any great desire in me, and this response continued pretty much into full adulthood. This all changed while I was visiting my sister this past summer.

Liver Pudding, Mariner's First Try by Mariner, posted Sep 22, 2016

Not long ago, I posted my Grandma's recipe for Liver Pudding (as remembered by my Mother), and.early this week I decided to give it a try. I ran into several problems, however, the greatest of which was procuring the main ingredient: pork liver.

Fish Sausage by Mariner, posted Aug 29, 2016

"Why fish sausage?" you might ask. Well, following these experiences, so might I.