Good morning, reading friends. Today we have a recipe request from Sylvie Chapoy, for “fish tacos without frying the fish.” She continued, “I bought some Riverview Farms stone-ground grits and there were no cooking directions on the package. I would like to know the best and easiest recipe for cooking stone-ground grits.” While we’re at it, let’s add a request for meals to build around the creamy base of grits.
SALMON PATTIES
And while we are talking grits, let’s talk salmon too. Our morning’s first recipe came from a “Sequatchie Valley native.” Where we come from is very important, and certainly it is true in the kitchen. Flannery O’Connor, the characterful Southern writer, spoke once of some big-city critics, “You know what’s the matter with all that kind of folks? They ain’t frum anywhere.”
We Southerners are from somewhere, with all the grief and glories of that place. And our mothers often form that foundation. That was the source for the first answer to the salmon croquette question. Marilyn Burnett Garner, the Sequatchie Valley cook, began, “It’s hard to find a real recipe around here for salmon croquettes because we all seem to make them like our mother did. You brought up happy memories. My daughter called a few weeks ago to find out how I make them.” Hers are general directions, the kind that captures the spirit of the recipe and leave room for creativity and personal taste in an experienced, or experimental, cook.
Salmon Croquettes