Arsenic Culture

Appalachian Cuisine | The Weird Foods of Eastern Kentucky | Ep. 151

• Arsenic Culture • Season 4 • Episode 151

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From fried squirrel to pickled bologna, this one gets weird.

In this episode of Arsenic Culture, Matt, Jason, Drew, and Kendra explore the bizarre, nostalgic, and uniquely Appalachian foods that shaped eastern Kentucky. From Depression-era dishes and “nothing-goes-to-waste” cooking to stories of what people actually grew up eating, this one’s equal parts hilarious and horrifying.

Appalachian cuisine is equal parts survival and soul, and somehow, we can’t stop talking about it.


#Appalachia #SouthernFood #ArsenicCulture

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Jason:

Now comes the, the real good one. You ever had these,

Matt:

I mean, my mom used to make Vienna sausages with like, like in barbecue sauce. like, a crockpot

Drew:

mini hot dogs penises.

Matt:

Matt

Kendra:

Matt probably ate all the. all the penises.

Matt:

Welcome back to Arsenic Culture, Matt.

Jason:

I'm, Jason.

Drew:

I'm Drew. I'm Kendra.

Kendra:

I'm Kendra.

Matt:

And we were just having a, a discussion, uh, Jason was regaling us stories about him visiting Red Lobster and, uh, going out to eat when you were younger, I guess, 'cause uh, Growing up in eastern Kentucky, Uh, you and Kendra both actually didn't have a whole lot of, um, options. You guys, strangely enough. Lived in neighboring counties. Yes, Correct? Yes. You're Jackson, Breton County. Breton County and Jackson. And your's, Perry County. over in Hazard Perry. Yeah. Uh, up in the hills of Appalachia. Um, and uh, I remember Kendra's like going out. I think What, was the only options like Applebee's or what was the steakhouse?

Kendra:

was later. Um,

Matt:

yeah, that's true. Yeah.

Jason:

You had, uh, um,

Kendra:

what was the Steakhouse?

Jason:

Cliff. Cliff. Hains.

Drew:

You, cliff Hagens.

Jason:

didn't hazard.

Matt:

They did, yeah. they did. Yeah. Yeah, that was Good. We ate there a couple times, but like that was it. We had

Jason:

used to be great Back in the day. Yeah.

Matt:

Yeah. And then in, in Jackson

Jason:

we had the old Country Inn and Family Diner.

Kendra:

Really?

Drew:

Really?

Jason:

Really? Yeah. We had a druthers Before we went. out Business. That was awesome. The handy dandy meal, I think it was called, What is that?

Drew:

I remember. It's

Jason:

like their Happy Meal, rip off of McDonald's.

Drew:

still a druthers

Jason:

There is. I've been to it. Yeah. but they, they're

Drew:

western Kentucky ish,

Jason:

like down there in Columbia around that way. But the problem with it, there hours down there, like, it's like from 11 till three, because there's, no hours. So

Kendra:

Oh my God. I

Jason:

didn't get to eat there but I've been to

Matt:

yeah. Um, I was just thinking about how, okay, so me and you, Kendra, we've been together for what? like 50 years now. Yeah, something like

Drew:

that. Y'all look

Matt:

And, I know, uh, we're actually 85 each, but like some of like the cuisine, um, from like Eastern Kentucky, and like the Appalachia area, there's some stuff that she, that we've had and she's like, who's try this? And I'm like, what the hell is it? She was telling me about it. And I was like, oh, that sounds really weird. But then we'd eat. and be like, It's not bad. I've never heard of anybody doing this. But it dawned on me that. Some of the stuff that you all grew up on and then I've kind of learned about. Like people around the country, around the world have no idea. Like the, the shit that you know, came up over there. Seriously. And there's like a lot of wives tales. There's, uh, you know. stereotypes about being like from the holler and eating, you know, roadkill and stuff like that. Sure. Apparently people actually did to some degree, depending on like where you were actually from, you know. Um, But I thought it'd be fun to actually go into detail about some of the shit that like comes outta Eastern Kentucky and all along, like the, the mountains of Appalachia, That people just like have no recollect or not recollection. They just have no idea it exists. Um, and some of the stuff you in introduced me to, there's, uh, macaroni and tomato juice.

Jason:

Did you eat that? Oh, yeah, yeah,

Matt:

yeah. Have you, Have you ever heard of that before? Only from her. From her, The first time she told me about this, I thought, I thought you were psychotic. It sounds like a ridiculous thing. But it's really good,

Jason:

Yeah. it's so, It's so simple.

Kendra:

Well, and we would have homemade, um, tomato juice from the garden,

Matt:

right? Yeah.

Jason:

We do stewed tomatoes have it like in my parents didn't can 'em, but. My grandparents did. this. We'd have canned like stewed tomatoes. And then put that in with it. So You like the little chunks of tomatoes? in there?

Matt:

your parents, never did that?

Kendra:

We

Matt:

really.

Kendra:

the, juice.

Jason:

the, we'd have, it at school. We'd have it at school too, like for

Kendra:

we had it at

Matt:

so weird.

Kendra:

it was So good too.

Jason:

Yeah.

Matt:

Isn't that crazy? So

Jason:

Usually you'd have. it with salmon, like a fried salmon cake thingy. You know,

Matt:

that's another thing. salmon patties. Have you ever heard of a salmon patty?

Drew:

I've made them.

Matt:

Okay. I, I'd never, I'd never, I don't know if that's an Eastern Kentucky thing or an

Jason:

I didn't know. I didn't know you could buy salmon, like fresh cuts of it and I thought it was a can. until I was about 12 can. Yeah.

Kendra:

can? Yeah.

Matt:

Yeah. So explain what a salmon. patty is.

Kendra:

Well, you buy a can of, um, salmon? Like tuna, canned salmon, right? Canned salmon and um, an egg and some panco? Yeah, Pretty much.

Jason:

breadcrumbs. Yeah.

Matt:

But then you,

Kendra:

then you fry it

Jason:

fried up,

Kendra:

just kind

Jason:

make like a little pancake, you know? But that,

Matt:

Yeah. Turn it. Some

Jason:

of them though we'll do like the croquette things They're like a little like ball that's not nearly as good. School. school would always do that.

Matt:

I've never seen

Kendra:

Yeah. You gotta get it crispy and kind of flat.

Matt:

Yeah. We, she, we, she does hers almost like a hamburger patty kind of

Jason:

Yeah,

Drew:

it's kinda like a crab cake, but just Sam, yeah. Basically.

Matt:

Yeah. And it. just, it's. It makes sense, you know, but I'd never, I'd never heard of that before. I don't know if that's an eastern,

Drew:

and that's something that I never thought that I would come out of, not came out of it, but that that would be a big part of food in eastern Kentucky would

Jason:

Oh, it's fantastic.

Kendra:

No, that's

Matt:

again, it's gotta be Can salmon,

Drew:

oh yeah.

Matt:

you Can't

Jason:

we? We, we probably have once, once every two weeks at leaks growing up, Did you really?

Kendra:

Oh, we did. My, uh, brother's kids eat it probably every day. Still. Yeah, they eat it all the time.

Matt:

never heard of it

Kendra:

What about Wiener? Rooneys? Did you ever cut up hot dogs and put it in there?

Jason:

in, like in, in what? In

Kendra:

In your macaroni and

Jason:

No, we did sauerkraut and weenies though. What mean? Like that.

Kendra:

Ooh.

Matt:

Like, Like, just like a regular hot

Jason:

like fry a pot doll, like Cut it up, fry it up. And then throw it in like sauerkraut.

Matt:

Yeah.

Kendra:

sounds good.

Matt:

Um, I haven't even started on my list yet. We're already like, uh, what's the the, uh, fried fried bologna. Fried bologna sandwiches, I guess. Oh,

Jason:

I still mess that up. right now.

Drew:

Oh, my dad crushes those and he's from Lexington.

Matt:

Yeah. I've never, I've never heard of frying bologna before. until I'm at you. That's probably a little more widespread,

Kendra:

I'd say. I would think

Drew:

so. Do you cut the slit in it? So, yep.

Jason:

Got to, you got to it. Don't, it bubbles up.

Matt:

Yeah. a Little off topic. We smoked a a bologna. loaf one time. It is really good. But you can only,

Kendra:

like bologna

Matt:

But yeah, you still got, you, you go through like a third of it and it's a lot of processed salty meat. and You're like, eh, let's give the rest away.

Jason:

Well, I think that's the, the staple of the, diet. you know back growing up in eastern Kentucky, especially eighties and nineties, you would have, everything had so much sodium in it, right? So like everything was canned, everything was. We had spam growing up. like that's right. But I mean, eating all those, like SpaghettiOs, all the, sodium, I hate looking at that. And those frozen dinners, like the kids cuisine And whatever. Hungry man, all

Matt:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was bad. Um, spam growing up, I, that's something that we had. Um, 'cause it was big in Hawaii. My mom being Asian, she kind of pulled some of that Inspiration over and she would fry up spam. I love that shit. Honestly, it's it's good. Especially,

Jason:

I would eat it

Matt:

like fry in like a marinade or something like that. Well, I looked up some stuff that you all probably never heard of. And honestly, a lot of it's probably before your time or it's even like further up in the hills that you're not familiar with. Um, so I was gonna go over this stuff, just see like how interesting it is. I don't see if any of the stuff you've ever actually had, and I didn't know about.

Jason:

Well, I brought a few things to try. If, when you want try.

Matt:

Did you really? What'd you bring?

Jason:

I ain't gonna show 'em to you. T you want try.

Matt:

All

Drew:

Yes.

Matt:

Um, first one, this is a little out there. Squirrel brains and gravy.

Jason:

I, I, I've heard of squirrel

Matt:

ask you, have you heard of it.

Jason:

Yeah. Not squirrel brains, but I've heard of

Kendra:

We ate squirrel, fried squirrel and fried rabbit because my brother. would go hunting with

Matt:

And you trap. Yeah. I mean, that was like

Kendra:

brains though. I don't think,

Matt:

That sounded a little weird to me. so I know

Jason:

sure, it happened. That'd

Drew:

be a small yield too, right? I

Jason:

Oh yeah. oh,

Matt:

yeah, yeah, exactly. But that's part of like the, the kind of like, not foraging, but the hunting culture. Especially like in East Kentucky, the mountains. Yeah. You, you catch rabbit, you catch squirrel and you eat it and that's, you know, it's part of it. As long as you're not eating dogs and shit like that. But, um, yeah. Apparently fried squirrel brains served with eggs or biscuits, especially in rural eastern Kentucky and West Virginia up through the mid 20th century. So this died out around the fifties, Uh, mainly because there's risk of pion disease from like eating like undercooked brains.

Kendra:

my god.

Drew:

Oh my god.

Matt:

Yeah. But people quote unquote swear by the flavor. So that was a real one. um, you ever heard of kilt lettuce?

Jason:

Oh yeah.

Matt:

Oh yeah. Or kilt lettuce. What is that?

Jason:

Pour bacon grease over it.

Matt:

exactly what it is. Yeah. Have you ever heard of that? You cook? I, well, tell me what it

Jason:

Yeah, so a lot of people go out and pick like. Polk, So like a, like a green out in the garden,

Matt:

the next one on the list.

Jason:

you would have that like a, make a salad of it, but it would just be wilted lettuce, what everybody would call it. So instead of putting dressing on your salad, just lettuce, you would take bacon grease, fry the bacon, up,

Kendra:

hot, bacon grease,

Jason:

hot and just drizzle it over and it makes it Yeah, it just makes it warm. Like, kinda like, it's kinda like, um. Concentrate. Like it just kind of crunches down.

Matt:

just eat. So you like the, the bacon grease

Jason:

I didn't, I didn't love it. Yeah. Okay.' Matt: cause that sounds like don't pour, like, don't think you're gonna pour a cup on there, but you're gonna

Matt:

Oh, I see.

Jason:

Like a light

Matt:

I wasn't turing like the soup of bacon grease. no, you're just like pulling like wil to lettuce out and like shaking it in your

Jason:

think of a light coating or dressing. But still I mean,

Kendra:

was like olive oil going over it, but it's ba hot bacon grease.

Matt:

Gotcha. Okay.

Jason:

But It's heavy

Drew:

and it starts to like solidify. It gets. If it

Matt:

you

Drew:

uh, cold. Yeah. Oh,

Jason:

Well just, it really just turns the lettuce and just will sit down. is

Matt:

Yeah.

Kendra:

I would eat that right now. Put a little salt on it. That's good.

Matt:

The next one

Jason:

I didn't bring that.

Kendra:

You didn't bring that.

Matt:

you bring that. the next one's poke poked salad. Um,

Kendra:

I remember poked salad. So

Matt:

it's, it sounds like salad, but it's S-A-L-L-E-T. Salad. And I guess salad was a type of, uh, old English cooked greens. That's where they got from. But it sounds like salad, so I mean, you could call it poke salad. poke

Jason:

A lot of people call salad salad.

Matt:

Yeah. And, and maybe that's like a, you know, a rural Inflection. But again, salad was an old English thing for like, cooked greens. Um, but what is, what is pokeweed? What is

Jason:

So it kind looks like, it's like, think like a mustard green or collard green. It's not exactly like that, but it's more of a, I've only seen it a few times, but from what I remember, it's like, you know, a spin got the little Yeah. circle. Yeah. It's like a bigger version of that. And you, it just kind of mixed with like a mustard. green. It's like in between

Matt:

Okay. Is it like bitter? Like more. Okay.

Jason:

Yeah. I, I, I've only had a couple times and it's not something I

Matt:

you don't care

Kendra:

I was young in the eighties, I remember

Matt:

that. Okay. Yeah. That's interesting. Um,

Jason:

a

Drew:

does, that stuff just grow wild or would you Okay.

Matt:

Yeah. Um,

Jason:

Poked salad. Ania. That's a Song,

Matt:

It's, they, actually put, put that on here, 1969 by Tony Joe White. ho Salad, Any

Jason:

The more, the more you know.

Matt:

Yeah.

Kendra:

Two, two.

Drew:

Tony Joe. Yeah.

Matt:

Um, pickle Bologna. This is, I mean, something that we're familiar with in Lexington. I guess it just carried over, but apparently this started in Eastern.

Jason:

Well, I was telling kinder about that. Like in college we'd go and get, uh, like it's like. a Gallon of pickle bologna. It's like a rope. So you got the baloney like in there.

Drew:

yeah.

Matt:

they, Yeah. It's like actual, like sausage. in

Jason:

Yeah. so we'd eat that and then when we're done with it, we'd boil some eggs. Yeah. And then just throw 'em back in. there and let,

Matt:

Oh, and then you pickle. the eggs.

Jason:

We peel 'em after we boil 'em and throw 'em in. there. It's awesome man.

Matt:

Yeah.

Kendra:

Gas stations and Hazard would have 'em too. You could go in a gas station and be like, can I have a piece of

Jason:

they, they Cut it off?

Drew:

it in Lexington too. We used to see those every once in a while in a jar just sitting up on the counter. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt:

Yeah. I've seen, Yeah, I've seen 'em in jar. Um, did you all ever have, have that in like bars around Eastern Kentucky?

Jason:

have it. Was a Dry County? Perry County was but I never saw it when

Kendra:

I no, I never saw it in a bar. Well, I didn't go into any bars.

Matt:

Well, yeah, I feel like there's old movies you see that, where they got like a jar of like pickled eggs. just like sitting There

Jason:

I could, I could see it. I bet where you'd see that as like West Virginia, like maybe parts of Indiana too. Yeah. Because they're a bigger bar culture than like Kentucky probably was.

Matt:

bet you it was. Yeah. Um, cornbread and buttermilk.

Kendra:

Oh Yeah.

Jason:

My grandma used great Grandma used eat that all the time. She'd put it in a, in a glass? Yeah. Pour buttermilk, put cornbread in it and just stir it up and eat it.

Matt:

And Are you supposed to use day old cornbread or does it matter? I

Jason:

think, I don't, know.

Matt:

it just doesn't matter.

Kendra:

you're saying she ate the, the dough. The,

Jason:

so it essentially, you essentially made No, no, she made it had cornbread made.

Kendra:

Oh, okay.

Jason:

And then she put buttermilk in a glass. And just like stirred it. in. This was like cereal almost. with that.

Kendra:

Oh no. We had, we would eat milk and bread with the leftover cornbread, but it was just, we used milk, not,

Matt:

but did you stir it in or did you just eat 'em together?

Kendra:

no, you would take a piece of like cornbread at the end of the day. and break it up in a bowl and then pour milk on it and eat it like cereal.

Matt:

Okay. Well apparently

Jason:

did buttermilk. It

Matt:

The grandparent, you all's grandparents, generation used buttermilk, which is, buttermilk. is fucking

Kendra:

oh no,

Matt:

can't imagine doing that. Uh, they

Drew:

a day old cornbread and month old buttermilk.

Kendra:

Yeah. Yeah.

Matt:

It

Jason:

blue Cheese. Big

Matt:

I know

Kendra:

little bit

Matt:

That's, where your sauerkraut thing. came from. Yeah. That's disgusting. Um, south, you know, what south

Jason:

Mm-hmm.

Kendra:

yes.

Matt:

What is it?

Kendra:

It's like everything's like potted meat with chunks of stuff in it. Right?

Jason:

so, so, so sous is like, think of like a bologna. you Know or ham, like other packets, right?

Drew:

Mold. Yeah. It's like

Jason:

but It's molded up. but It's everything essentially. That doesn't make the cut to go into bologna or like, you know, all the, all the waste products. You might have some nose, you might have some hooves. Fucking everything. My grand, my grandpa used to eat that I was like.

Drew:

That's like, well,

Matt:

the ultimate potted meat. Yeah.

Kendra:

I'll not even try that. No.

Drew:

you used to see it on shelves in the grocery stores here, probably until about 20 years ago. You'd still go in there and see it and you could sort of, you know, like if you see, um, like you, like a section of limestone, you can see like bits of like shell and stuff in

Matt:

Yeah.

Kendra:

Yeah,

Drew:

Yeah. That's what this looked like. But it was. Parts of a parts of a pig, you know, like a

Jason:

looked like a fruit loaf? Like

Drew:

Yes.

Jason:

except

Matt:

Yeah, yeah,

Jason:

product. It's like, I dunno what that is.

Matt:

like I don't.

Kendra:

it

Jason:

a little red something in. there. I'm like, I don't know.

Matt:

of the pig is that that green thing with the horn on it. Like I get, Yeah. Uh, I saw this

Jason:

Little hair.

Matt:

I saw this quote. It's Every part of the pig except the oink.

Jason:

Yeah, it's, yeah. Yeah.

Matt:

uh, that's disgusting. There's apparently a version called liver mush that's, uh, popular in western North Carolina. Um, it's ground pork, liver, cornmeal? spices. blah, blah, blah. blah. Um, the original Mountain Dew. What is that?

Jason:

Well, I mean

Matt:

not, not the, not the, not the soda.

Jason:

original Mountain Dew. would be moonshine. Yeah. Yeah. yeah.

Matt:

Apparently that's what they called moonshine. It was, it is called Mountain Dew. Huh? Um. Which, uh, we're gonna do a moonshine episode. Um,

Jason:

I'm just waiting on my guy. If you're watching this.

Matt:

Yeah, I know.

Jason:

I know. You know who you are. Hook me up. Bring it to me, baby. Bring it to

Matt:

I keep like doing research for stuff like this and moonshine keeps popping up and like multiple things that we cover. This is being one of 'em. Um, apparently it's got like ties to NASCAR and stuff. We'll talk about, that later. That's awesome. bring that up. Yeah, It's actually, it's actually

Jason:

Well, the real, the real Mountain Dew, a quick story. Um. I think it was down in Tennessee. So, uh, there's a, there's a drink down there called, it's either Dr. enough or Dr. E enough, something like that. So

Matt:

Nuts. I, I know what you're

Jason:

not these nuts,

Matt:

I do know what you're talking

Jason:

about. This guy owned both brands. And he sold Mountain Dew thinking that it wasn't as good Yeah. As that other brand. And he of course made the horrible wrong

Matt:

Mountain Dew took off. Yeah.

Jason:

But it's regional. You can still get it in Tennessee.

Matt:

Yeah. Um, I should probably skip over some of these, but I'm just gonna kind of mention 'em in passing. persimmon pudding. You ever heard of that? No. this is

Jason:

Didn't have Persimmon where I

Matt:

this is like a Christmas thing. Gooseberry and Ramp wine Ma. It's just like wine made with like wild shit from the mountains. Seriously. Dandelions. Blackberries. I've

Jason:

dandelion

Matt:

Yeah. Yeah. Never

Jason:

had it, but I've heard

Matt:

They said ramp wine smells like Burning tires. But apparently pairs great with squirrel. Um, Yeah. And then that leads into ramps, which are wild leeks. So I guess it's like onion, um, vinegar pie. and This is like depression area. So this is way beyond way

Jason:

I feel like I've heard of that, but

Matt:

Or mock pies. Yeah. Made from pantry scraps, vinegar or water plus sugar flour to kind of simulate custard. So he just fucking, whatever's left

Jason:

we had like chest pie or chest cake. growing up and essentially, Essentially that's just like sugar and butter. I mean, and crust. That's essentially all it did. It's great. It's absolutely great.

Matt:

Yeah. uh, snow cream.

Jason:

Oh yeah,

Drew:

the

Kendra:

you make with Snow and sugar. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Matt:

And you like put vanilla on it. Yeah.

Jason:

Don't eat the yellow one.

Matt:

Don't eat the yellow snow cream. Yeah, that's, that's lemon.

Drew:

Also, you don't eat the first snow. Right? You gotta wait till it snows twice.

Matt:

Is that true?

Jason:

what I've heard.

Kendra:

I don't know. We never heard that?

Drew:

Yeah. Like you don't do it. You don't do anything on the first snow. You always wait for the second

Matt:

Yeah, but I didn't realize that was an Eastern Kentucky thing, which I didn't, even, you taught that to our daughter Finley. So when it snows, she loves going out there and getting a bunch of snow We mixing it with some sugar and some milk or whatever. Vanilla. And then it's Basically a, um. Like a Slushy.

Jason:

Oh yeah. It's, it's good. It's like a snow cream.

Matt:

what they call it. Yeah. uh, actual roadkill stew we talked about a little bit. People actually used to, you know, eat roadkill if it was kind of fresh, because If you didn't have a lot of money and you didn't have a lot of access, that's, that's what you did. Uh,

Jason:

that had roadkill deers when it was

Matt:

Yeah, Right.

Jason:

I hid it. No, I think, I, think there's a bullet hole right there, but, you know,

Matt:

Yeah. uh, Chitlins, which I guess is kind of a southern thing. but Yeah. I guess it's got a lot of roots in. uh, Appalachia too. Uh, Crackling cornbread.

Jason:

Hmm. Pork, pork crackling in there, I guess. Yep.

Matt:

Yep. This is so, um, what, what they pork rinds, I guess kinda like pork rinds, But you like,

Jason:

fry up the pig skin. Yes. Which sounds awful, but it's actually really good. delicious.

Matt:

Um, but it's like, I guess, do you mix it in with cornbread and

Jason:

I've, I've never heard of that, but I'm assuming. Yeah. maybe. I, I bet it's good.

Matt:

Yeah, it's kind of weird. Uh, possum and sweet

Kendra:

Oh, no.

Matt:

Oh, no. I heard that. Snap snapping turtle

Jason:

Yeah. A lot of people eat turtle.

Matt:

Really? Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. I remember growing up as a kid, and this is kind of fucked up, but, um, my mom is Vietnamese, right. So they, they have a lot of weird tendencies as well, but they had, um, a giant turtle. I don't know if it was a snapping turtle. Okay. I was probably six at the time, but I shit you not, this turtle was this big around. And they had it in their living room. Split foyer house, old school, like floor plan. They had a turtle this big,

Jason:

it was alive just

Matt:

it was alive. It was alive. this is the, this is the most messed up thing. Um, there was like six Vietnamese people they're holding this turtle down. Somebody had a meat cleaver waiting for the head to pop out so they could chop

Jason:

head

Matt:

It was like so twisted. They're like laughing and stuff, and like, these are traditional Vietnamese people growing up in rural, rural Vietnam. So this is normal to them. And I'm just like staring at it. I was like, should I be seeing this right now? And my mom had to escort me out. She's like, you really don't wanna look at this. They got it and they turned it into soup. So yeah. That's, that's not just an Eastern Kentucky

Jason:

Turtle soup. I've, I've heard of it. Never had it.

Matt:

Oh Yeah. Um, this one's interesting and we're starting to learn more about it. Paw Paw Fruit.

Jason:

Yeah. Oh yeah. Papapa Papa. L la la just did a flavor of

Matt:

We, just, we did a quick shot. Did we release

Jason:

We did. Uh, we did. Yeah.

Drew:

It

Matt:

it was very interesting. Have you ever had Pawpaw fruit before,

Drew:

not that I'm aware of. Have

Matt:

you have, either of you actually had it, Have you had it by itself? I

Jason:

I have. No. No, I haven't. I had a candy, a poppa flavored candy, which I assume, assume, is gonna be sweeter anyway, right. I think it's supposed to be like custardy is what I was told.

Matt:

It's like they, they say it's like a mix between a banana and a mango, and it's super sweet. It's very decadent. It's supposed to be delicious, but it only grows in like the Appalachia Eastern United States area. Um, but it's so, it's so delicate. It bruises very easily. Um, it's got an incredibly short shelf life, so it's almost impossible to, um, logistically provide it for the country. So it's kind of a rare thing. Yeah. Like there's, it grows in, um, uh, like not, Everglades, but uh, what do you call it, kind of swampy area? Kind of like, like a grove. It, It groves, groves and groves. Um, but yeah, they can't, they can't export it because by the time grocery stores get it, it's dead. It's like

Jason:

Yeah. I've never seen one in the

Drew:

should, can it

Kendra:

one store. I'm not either.

Jason:

Good point.

Matt:

just how?

Jason:

sure. We did some

Matt:

should. I, don't know. but apparently it's delicious. Yeah. So I would love to get

Jason:

I like the L eight. It was

Matt:

it was good. It is such an interesting flavor. but like banana, mango sounds amazing, you

Jason:

We're, We're talking L eight too. I mean, I think that's very southern or eastern Kentucky as well. It's made in Winchester, Kentucky. Right. So it's like a ginger ale variant. I guess is what I

Matt:

kind of. Yeah. It's

Jason:

Great mixture. Great drinker. I remember I used to get my, my great aunt used to have, it's about that tall. Yeah, it's like 12 inches tall. The bottle, like it was awesome

Matt:

Yeah. Yeah. Anyone else is a, is a great drinker Is never say die Bourbon. Uh, age at sea. Partially. That light is really strong.

Jason:

They're right There to that one.

Matt:

Yeah, No. There you go. Uh, these are our sponsors. These guys are good. You should check 'em out at liquor store near you. Uh, it does not come from Eastern Kentucky. but it is, uh, still very tasty stuff. So, uh, thank those. We thank those guys for, uh, sponsoring us. Um, were you getting ready to pull

Jason:

I was just bringing out some great crackers. So. So back in the day, this was the finest cracker you could buy.

Matt:

Zeta?

Jason:

Kentucky. Zeta. uh, pre Premium is also very good. If you ever see that brand. Oh yeah. That's probably my favorite.

Matt:

Yeah, that's the blue

Drew:

y'all have the tin? The tin, the

Jason:

it well Before my time, but I saw 'em.

Drew:

My grandmother used to have a zest of tin,

Jason:

but man, I remember going fishing and stuff. With my grandpa. And we'd always get hungry. out there and we'd get some Potted

Kendra:

I knew you were gonna potted

Matt:

go. Yeah.

Jason:

then, And then one of my favorites, Vienna Sausage which is called INE Viney.

Matt:

ine. Yeah, It's she, she always calls'em

Jason:

va viney. That's not how you pronounce

Matt:

it. but That's,

Jason:

guess the fork there, Matt. Waste some of this.

Drew:

Yeah. So believe it or not, I didn't, I didn't realize this. Potted meat says it's made with chicken and has pork added. I

Jason:

Oh, I didn't know that.

Kendra:

I

Drew:

gonna think it was the other way around. Made with pork, maybe some chicken parts

Matt:

Maybe This is that, that highfalutin potted meat. Maybe it's, yeah.

Jason:

shit.

Drew:

If you're,

Jason:

the

Drew:

buying at home armor.

Jason:

armor. That's armor. Yeah.

Drew:

Potted meat. And then we have the armor. Say it Kendra. What kind of sausages?

Kendra:

Baney. Weenies.

Jason:

That's it.

Drew:

Jason, do it. Do the honors there.

Jason:

out. let's Start out Easy. Let's go with the potted meat first.

Matt:

Yeah, We're definitely

Jason:

You gotta, you gotta want, you gotta want the ies. You gotta want 'em.

Drew:

them.

Jason:

All right, so this has a very distinct smell, but go ahead Matt. What was you gonna

Matt:

No, I was

Kendra:

it's like a pate.

Jason:

a ate a Hundred percent.

Kendra:

We used to put it on bread too. Make sandwiches.

Jason:

We just, I remember growing up just going fishing with my grandpa and we'd take this with us. That's how we'd eat

Matt:

Yeah. Is it real salty? Oh, we should.

Jason:

yeah. I mean, if you don't care,

Drew:

take one down. Pass it around. Yeah.

Matt:

Yeah. Okay.

Jason:

I didn't put, too much on your screen.

Drew:

just load mats up

Matt:

I know.

Kendra:

I know.

Drew:

half a can.

Jason:

I got you. Drew.

Kendra:

bring back my childhood.

Drew:

that.

Jason:

You're welcome.

Matt:

Okay.

Jason:

So what do you think?

Matt:

salty.

Drew:

Well,

Jason:

I mean, every, everything's salty at this point.

Drew:

We, just got a kitten last week

Jason:

it's their dos, their cat

Drew:

of reminds me of the smell of her wet food. Yeah.

Kendra:

Cat food.

Matt:

Yeah, It looks and smells like that. Yeah.

Jason:

It's like a deviled ham spread If Anybody's ever had that? It's kind of similar to that.

Matt:

It's honestly not horrible. It's just, it's a lot of

Jason:

No, it's solid.

Kendra:

Tastes like I remember

Matt:

just as good.

Jason:

See how much sodium's in it?

Kendra:

Here you go.

Jason:

only 820 milligrams per serving. Oh. Serving size one can though. So we're good.

Drew:

Oh.

Matt:

Wait, So wait, what's your daily, what's that? Daily allowance?

Jason:

of your daily allowance.

Kendra:

In

Matt:

can

Jason:

In a little three ounce cam, I dunno What that is? Three ounce? Yeah.

Drew:

Wow.

Kendra:

Wow.

Jason:

Now comes the, the real good one.

Matt:

Okay. Is it gonna, is it gonna smell bad?

Jason:

You ever have these,

Matt:

I mean, I wanna say I have, but I mean, my mom used to make Vienna sausages with like like, in barbecue sauce, like a crockpot or

Drew:

many

Jason:

little penises.

Kendra:

probably ate all the yucky meat

Matt:

I have actually

Jason:

let you go

Matt:

I have had this before. Um,

Drew:

go about extracting

Kendra:

put

Jason:

you, it would have a fork, but just Lord, let Matt get 'em. Reach in there and get 'em. Play with that meat.

Drew:

Oh my gosh. So soft

Jason:

Get that. Get that juicy meat

Kendra:

He said Angie likes to heat 'em up.

Matt:

Yeah. If they're stuck together. Does it count as

Kendra:

I'm just gonna eat, Try one without. They do look like little.

Drew:

That's brave.

Matt:

Yeah.

Jason:

she went. She wasn't all in. I gotta have

Drew:

cracker. Yeah. I'm gonna need something to wash that down with. I

Jason:

Yeah. I gotta have cracker. I ain't had this

Kendra:

kind of dripping

Drew:

time. It's like, uh, like

Jason:

Oh yeah. It's like there's jail in there. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh

Drew:

Oh yeah. It

Matt:

yeah. It kind of doesn't taste like anything.

Jason:

it.

Drew:

Oh gosh.

Matt:

It's actually a very,

Kendra:

This really grosses me out.

Jason:

It's a little gross.

Drew:

I

Matt:

think it's the, the, the, solution it's in is a very strange consistency.

Jason:

it's, it's, yeah. They actually have different flavors of these too. You'll see. sometimes the store Yeah.

Kendra:

now, I would eat those on, on the daily when I was a kid with some ABCs and one two threes and,

Jason:

yeah.

Drew:

yeah. I think you can mask that flavor if you put it in like SpaghettiOs or something like that.

Matt:

Yeah. It's it's actually very, it's Relatively neutral.

Drew:

It's like a, it's a softer consistency of a hot, like a un an uncooked hot dog.

Kendra:

Yeah.

Drew:

a, a cold, hot dog,

Matt:

honestly. Yeah.

Jason:

it's not as rubbery. Not it's like, you know,

Matt:

So what's, what's in that? What is that?

Jason:

I'd say you don't wanna know.

Drew:

Yeah. Does

Matt:

it say,

Drew:

well, yeah.

Matt:

Is it just like one big asterisk,

Jason:

mechanically separated chicken, water, salt, corn syrup, gotta have corn syrup,

Matt:

you got sugar, in it,

Drew:

God.

Jason:

And then a little bit of everything else, 2% or less of beef pork dextrose. Sodium garlic powder. Everything.

Matt:

What exactly by definition is mechanically separated? Chicken? I see

Jason:

I say, I say what they put in nuggets

Matt:

There's gotta be right. Mm-hmm.

Jason:

Yeah, I bet. I bet that's what that is. Honestly,

Matt:

they mechanically separate the chicken before they cook it?

Jason:

Yes.

Matt:

There's like a robot grabbing chicken parts and just like ripping it apart and

Jason:

No, I don't I Don't think they'd do that. I don't think they'd do that.

Matt:

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out like

Jason:

we're a very humane society, right?

Matt:

Right. Of course we are. Yeah. Oh gosh. Yeah. One is enough of those. So, um.

Jason:

You gotta eat the rest.

Matt:

got few more here. to See if You'all ever heard of.'em? you. Ever heard of cla? Clabber milk?

Kendra:

Clabbered milk.

Matt:

Clabber milk.

Jason:

I've heard of Clabbered milk. which Is like Sour milk,

Matt:

So that's, I think that's the

Kendra:

what I thought.

Matt:

Yeah. it's like naturally soured milk. Eaten with sugar or molasses. Ooh,

Kendra:

No. I

Matt:

Is that not

Kendra:

remember clabbered.

Jason:

had it, but Clare's bad essentially.

Kendra:

Bad Like chunk chunky milk.

Matt:

Yeah. Apparently people would eat that. It was probio probiotic dairy before probiotics were a thing.

Jason:

Buttermilk probably is too. Yeah. Can you think of that?

Kendra:

is?

Matt:

onion sandwiches.

Kendra:

Oh, no

Matt:

no.

Jason:

tomato sandwiches.

Matt:

Apparently onion sandwiches were big. I vaguely recall my grandparents eating onion. sandwiches. Um, but they were, from like Indiana, so

Jason:

Angie's uncle would eat a, he'll just eat a onion. Like, just like a, like an apple Think of it that way.

Matt:

That's weird. I

Jason:

I agree. It's

Matt:

can't get

Jason:

Yes, I agree.

Matt:

Uh, here's a good one for you. Soup, beans, and cornbread. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Kendra, uh, cooks a lot and she's a very good cook. Um, and throughout the years, the first time she made soup, beans and cornbread. It was the worst thing I've ever had in my entire,

Kendra:

he couldn't eat it. It was So bad. Yeah. I think I might have burned it a little bit or

Matt:

told her straight up, I was like, this is the most disgusting thing you've ever made. But, Uh, I think there was just, it was just, she's done it since and it's been really good. There's something about that one

Kendra:

I think I scorched the soup beans or something I don't know.

Matt:

it definitely turned me off. Yeah. Um, A lot of different, like moonshine, things and stuff like cabbage, and peanut butter sandwiches. I've

Jason:

never heard of that. I can't imagine. That's good.

Matt:

Yeah. Um, that's basically it. The

Jason:

we, I had a few, I mean, I think chicken and dump ones is a big one, right? Like, it's not like

Kendra:

a I'd mention

Jason:

but I think it's

Kendra:

dump ones,

Drew:

right? And

Matt:

it is in the rural, rural, areas around Appalachia and it's, I feel like that's something that's kind of spread a little bit further out. But yeah, that's something very popular that originated

Jason:

look at like Cracker Barrel. I mean it kind of went with that. wherever their footprint is. Yeah, of course. Biscuits and gravy, right? You gotta have that. It's

Matt:

Is that an eastern Kentucky? Is that a Eastern Appalachia

Jason:

think it's impoverished areas. It probably started in or out. Like you're using like baked baking grease, using flour, which are all simple

Matt:

Yeah, You're

Jason:

Especially if you raise the hog, you know? So, That's what you're looking for. Um, fried potatoes in all forms. We used to have like potato cakes. You ever have those? Yeah. Those are awesome. And then fried potatoes in general were just awesome. Another one is sun tea. You ever had that?

Matt:

Do you know what that

Jason:

So essentially

Drew:

don't you put it, just set it out in the sun and let

Kendra:

sun

Drew:

do the heating

Jason:

right. So you would get a big, you know, picture or whatever and just put your, like tea bags in there and let it sit in the sun is what steeps it there, what it is. It's a lot less bitter. It's really good in the summer, So,

Matt:

yeah. Okay, so it's like a natural way Well, you do it slower over time. That's right. It, it doesn't become as, I guess, tannic or whatever. from like Yeah.

Jason:

And then green beans. I think growing up we had a lot of different varieties of that. Um. We had one called Shucky Beans. You ever heard

Kendra:

that? Oh yes.

Matt:

She's, that's like a big deal. The

Kendra:

ones you dry have to dry out.

Jason:

dry mouths.

Matt:

a commodity. Shucky beans are a commodity.

Jason:

Oh yeah. They're like, they're great. They're the, they're the top tier

Matt:

This is, this is something that I think it's worth mentioning because you have, um, relatives, uh, that they actually use shucky beans almost as a form of currency, And they'll, they'll Give it to relatives or something like that if you deserve it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Or maybe trade it for something else. But they'll make the stuff, they'll batch make it, they'll put it in the freezer, hold it, hold it out, hold onto it. And I guess some people are better at making shucky beans than others. I don't even know what goes into it. My

Kendra:

parents only make 'em on the holidays. Thanksgiving and maybe Christmas. We're lucky. Is it an

Matt:

process? So

Jason:

it's complicated. You have to, I remember my grandma and grandpa used to do it, so they would have these pieces of tin out in the front yard, and then they would put like a thin. Layer of like fabric down on, I guess to keep the, I don't know. moisture or something. But They would put 'em on there and they'd take 'em off the fabric, then leave 'em on the tin and move it back and forth. It's a special kind of bean, I don't know what the technical term of that bean

Matt:

not like a kidney bean or something

Jason:

No. it's a green bean.

Kendra:

a green bean.

Matt:

bean. Oh, it is

Jason:

but

Matt:

bean. That's it.

Jason:

look, they look jacked up, like they're kind of like brownish. You know?'cause You're drying them out. Yeah. So they're very, they're drying them out and then you kinda like reconstitute it and water after you do all that. So they'll dry 'em out and put like freeze 'em or something? Yeah. And then when they wanna make 'em, they'll pull 'em out and it's like reconstituted back into the pot. It's a long process.

Matt:

What makes 'em so good?

Jason:

good? They're think of like a concentrated green bean. So some of the best green beans you would have would have like salt pork or bacon Or something in there, that gives 'em more flavor. Yeah. Even without that, if you just make those shucky beans, you get a lot more concentrated flavor. It's a deeper flavor. Richer flavor, even without the pork. Yeah. So, but again, it's, it's one variety to my knowledge. It takes you probably days to dry 'em out. I mean, it's

Kendra:

I mean, maybe longer than that. Yeah,

Jason:

I think it's like wheat.

Kendra:

would always string them with a needle and string and then you hang them up and dry 'em out that way

Matt:

Could you imagine stringing green beans up to let them hang individually? Yeah. That's insane.

Kendra:

And then we would eat 'em with pickled beets Have you had 'em with pickled

Jason:

I've not, but I've, I love them. So I love Shay beans when I when I've had 'em,

Matt:

I've, had them. I've, I'm pretty sure I've been served Shay beans

Kendra:

had Shay beans at

Matt:

your granny's house or something

Kendra:

that? Yeah. They'll usually have like regular green beans and then Shay beans. are

Matt:

and they're like, they're brown. Like brown. Yeah. I don't think I care for 'em. Like that must be very much. um, not

Jason:

just not cool.

Matt:

Is that what it is?

Kendra:

It's an maybe an acquired taste. An acquired

Matt:

An acquired taste. I think it's very much an acquired taste.'cause I'll just kind of like, I don't, see what's so great about 'em, but

Jason:

It's, like the filet mignon of green beans, though. Like the people that know it.

Matt:

analogy and it's hilarious how like well respected the Shay bean is Like that's nuts. what else? you got? on there?

Jason:

The only other ones I had, my grandma used to always make banana bread. and She'd make some strawberry bread too, which was fantastic. Yeah. And then blackberry dumplings. So essentially you're making like chicken and dumps. Just

Matt:

You've actually made those before. They're pretty good.

Jason:

It's fantastic. That's about it. It's, I could

Kendra:

of. ice cream.

Matt:

Yeah. Yeah. Those are really

Jason:

And then no banana pudding, which you can't beat. A country made Banana pudding.

Drew:

Yeah.

Matt:

It is straight from the

Drew:

put nilla wafers on it too. The

Jason:

only ones. Yeah, only ones.

Matt:

Well, thanks for bringing that shitty, uh, meat there.

Jason:

that's that's all I smell right

Drew:

didn't, you didn't eat all yours.

Jason:

all, that's,

Drew:

Why not?

Jason:

I'm smelling right now is just

Matt:

didn't need any of it. She took a, she took like a, like a little nibble, like a mouse

Jason:

She's watching her.

Kendra:

I'm gonna take it upstairs and heat it up, like Angie does

Matt:

and then

Kendra:

well

Drew:

it, feed it to the dogs.

Kendra:

I

Matt:

know. Yeah. Like, here's,

Jason:

Well,

Matt:

we hoped you appreciated this, uh, rom through Appalachia, Eastern Kentucky, uh, the mountain side. Um, but it was cool. All this food and stuff is crazy. People don't know what it is. so now you know, and now you know what to Avoid, So, uh, for more arsenic culture. you checks out on all the socials. We are @arsenicculture.

Jason:

Like and subscribe on YouTube

Matt:

we'll see you on the next one.