My Granny’s Recipe For “Scratch”

My family are long time Kentucky “hill folk.” I now live in New York and married to a very Italian wife. Not long ago I made her my grannys recipe for scratch. Her whole family loved it and raved about it including her well known (James Beard winning) chef cousin. The beauty of hillbilly food is the simplicity and purity of ingredients.

“Scratch” is a kind of hillbilly jambalaya. You can use rice as the starch or dived potatoes. This is a refrigerator emptier so use what you have.

Cook your starch in a pot.
In a cast iron skillet fry up some Bacon and onion til its about two thirds done.
Add in some shredded or diced chicken or (my favorite) catfish.
Put in some sausage too. Country sausage or smoked. Whatever you have. Got a pork chop left over? Chop it up and throw it in.
Add in kale or greens of your choice and then pour a cup or two of chicken broth over the mix.
Bring it to a boil then simmer til the greens are cooked soft.

Transfer your rice or potatoes to the skillet, stir it up, add salt pepper and some hot sauce to taste. Serve with corn bread.

I’ve made or had this dish with venison, chicken, beef, pork chops, crawl fish, shrimp and catfish. Literally whatever was leftover in quantities too small to make a family meal. It’s always good and always easy.