The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 19

Oct. 16, 1991 PagelB TT71 LJ.VLJ CO 0 ft Ai'-st'Js Apples provide both livelihood and sweet cider "MEDIUM 4t. IOt. 475 201k 7." 401k 7 r-sj "We've always tried to farm. We dontknow what the city life end fast life It.

'Course we live a fast life (farming), but not your kind of fast life." "A lot of people say It's like drinking an apple. It's a sweet cider." 1 1 17. County farmer Prather Slay Apples and farming provide Plan fall menu with apple cider By Catherine Downing Star Staff Wrltar IVE POINTS The Ha sprawling white farm house on the side of ITC Alt what was once a cotton farm in Chambers County. King Cotton's crown has lost its luster, but apples keep the shine on this old farm place. Prather and Lillian Slay have been working the earth since they grew up on farms not far from this old homestead.

Married for 43 years, they make their living selling what they grow vegetables, peanuts, pecans, hay, cage-grown catfish and apples. "The main thing is apples." he says, tucking his chin in mock seriousness. "We've always tried to farm," Slay says. "We don't know what the city life and fast life is. 'Course we live a fast life (farming), but not your kind of fast life." From August until the last apple is sold.

Slays Apple House keeps both Slays, their son, Phil, and the occasional daughter or daughter-in-law running. The Slays grow Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples in their 94 acre orchard. They sell bags of apples, dried apples, apple butter and jelly and apple cider. Slay will tell you as quickly as his middle Alabama accent will allow him that cider is juice is cider it's all the same. But not all apple cider is the same.

The clear, homogenized stuff sold in most grocery stores looks nothing and tastes nothing like Slay's cider, pressed in the Apple House on the side of the road. "A lot of people say it's like drinking an apple." Slay says, a proud grin breaking on his tan. leathery face. "It's a sweet cider," he asserts, and he is right. The Slays' cider, made exclusively from Red and Golden Delicious apples (and nothing else not even a drop of water) is sweet, but the sweet-sweet Reds are taken down a notch or two by the slightly tart Golden Delicious.

The result is a rich, carmel colored liquid that "tastes like drinking an apple." "Lots of people think they gotta have this kind of apple and that kind of apple," Slay says. "Some think you gotta have some real tart apples. We make cider with what we grow Red and Golden Delicious." Sweet cider is just that sweet cider, as opposed to hard cider, that intoxicant of early America. Also known as applejack, apple wine or apple brandy, hard cider is that stuff Daniel Boone and his ilk would 4... Prather Slay, farmer chug from a little brown jug tossed up on their legendary shoulders.

Slay, who's made on occasion a drop or two for his own family's table, says hard cider is just strongly fermented cider. The apples are picked by local boys or inmates from the Chambers County jail who get out on work-release to pick. The picking takes about one month. JSlay, his wife and son then wash the apples on a conveyer belt apparatus. They sort the apples as they wash them, boxing large, medium and small Reds and Goldens, drops or windfalls and culls.

The attractive, well-shaped and sized apples generally end up in three- or four-pound bags for sale at the roadside Apple House. Culls are used for drying, making apple butter or cider. Nothing goes to waste. Apples with small spots of ripe can go into the cider without adversely affecting the taste. Rotten apples and the cores of those that get eaten during the process go into a bucket that goes to the farm animals.

To make the cider, a mix of washed apples which have been culled from those which will be bagged for sale is ground in a homemade contraption based on a framed in planer head. Slay says he can get about three gallons from a bushel of apples. The whole apples, core, seeds, skin and all, are ground into a pulp and then packed into fabric-covered racks. Five racks are stacked in a press. The press then squeezes the pulp dry, with the juice draining into a stainless tub.

From there it is bottled and boxed and put into a room-sized freezer alongside boxes of bagged apples. Slay says his cider will keep in the refrigerator for three or four weeks. It can also be frozen indefinitely. Lillian and Prather Slay enjoy the 'fast life' Chicago Trlbuna If you are planning a special autumn menu, here are several recipes using cider which you may find useful. ACORN SQUASH SOUP WITH CIDER (Makes about cups) Preparation time: IS minutes Cooking time: 1 hour 1 large acorn squash, about pounds 1 cup apple cider 3 strips bacon 2 medium onions, about 10 ounces total, thinly sliced 1 sprig fresh thyme or teaspoon dried 24 tablespoons cider vinegar 1 cup chicken slock or broth '4 cup each: whipping cream, milk Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Snipped fresh chives for garnish 1.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut Squash in half crosswise and scoop out the seeds and spongy membrane. Cut flat ends so the halves don't tip over. Stand on a foil-lined baking sheet and pour 3 tablespoons cider into each half. Bake until squash is completely tender, about 1 hour, depending on size.

2. Meanwhile, cut bacon into ''a-inch pieces. Cook in a 3-quart pan until fat is rendered. Remove bacon With a slotted spoon and set aside. lectric 9 Catherine Downing Th Annnton Star 57 XJ 3.

Remove meat and set aside on a platter, tented with foil to keep warm. Add apple cider to pan juices and boil, uncovered, until reduced to about 4 cup, about 5 minutes. 4. Meanwhile, prepare apples. Melt butter in a large skillet.

When hot. add apples and cook over high heat just until they begin to turn brown at the edges. Sprinkle with sugar and continue cooking 1 minute longer. 5. Finish sauce by adding cream to the reduced cider mixture.

Boil until slightly thickened. 1 to 2 minutes. Serve pork in thin slices, napped with sauce and apples on the side. See Cider2B Menu Cantaloupe Slices Eggs 'n' Muffins Bacon Coffee Milk Grocery list 3 English muffins $.45 Margarine $10 Onion $05 Chicken soup $.62 Milk $.11 6 eggs $.40 Cantaloupe $.99 Bacon $.70 Coffee $.20 Milk (beverage) $.20 Total $391 6 average servings. Cost and nutrients for entire menu.

Cost. $3 91; Calories. 535; carbohydrates, 56g; protein, 30 fat. 21 g. Barbara W.

Mcbhy a ermty agent with the CalhQun County Extension Service in Anniston. Her primary work is with adults in the field of borne economics. 'jM a good living for Chambers Discard all but 1 1 tablespoons bacon fat. Add onions and thyme to remaining fat and cook gently until they are a rich golden brown but not burned. This should take about 20 to 25 minutes.

Add vinegar, cook 30 seconds and remove from heat. Transfer to a food processor or blender. 3. When squash is tender, add any remaining cider from their cavities to the onions. Scoop the flesh and add it to the onions as well.

Run processor or blender until smooth. Transfer to a pan and add stock or broth, cream, milk, remaining cider and salt and pepper. Cook gently until soup is hot and flavors are blended, about 5 minutes. Garnish with reserved bits of bacon and snipped chives. Serve hot.

PORK TENDERLOIN WITH CIDER SAUCE AND CARAMELIZED APPLES (Makes 6 servings) Preparation time: 15 minutes Marinating time: 1 to 12 hours Cooking time: 45 minutes 2 pork tenderloins, about 24 pounds total 2 tablespoons each: cider vinegar, grainy Dijon mustard, vegetable oil, brown sugar 1 tablespoon butter Salt and freshly ground pepper 4 cup chicken stick or broth cup apple cider xk cup whipping cream skillet, Frugal Feast f4 A Barbara Mobley just as delicious as when made with English muffins. This substitution lowers the cost considerably, but does raise the fat content. Though the' recipe is named "Brunch" it can be served for breakfastyhlnch or a light supper: BRUNCH EGGS 'N' MUFFINS .3 English muffins, split 1 tablespoon butter or margarine 2 tablespoons minced onion 14 I Apples: 2 large Macintosh apples, un-peeled, cored, cut In H-inch slices 1 tablespoon each: butter, brown sugar 1. Combine 1 tablespoon each: vinegar, mustard, oil and brown sugar in a small dish and mix until smooth. Transfer to a large plastic food bag and add pork.

Seal bag and refrigerate meat at least 1 hour or up to 12. 2. Heat 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil in a large skillet. Add pork and brown well on all sides, seasoning each side generously with salt and pepper as the meat is turned. Add stock or broth, reduce heat and simmer gently, covered, until meat is tender, about 35 minutes.

recipe 1 104 oz. can condensed cream of chicken soup cup milk 6 eggs 1. Preheat electric skillet, uncovered at 350 degrees. Toast muffins on Skillet surface, with outside facing down, about 5 minutes. Remove and cover to keep warm.

2. Reduce skillet heat to 225 degrees. Add butter or margarine and melt. Saute onions about 2 minutes. Stir in soup and milk.

Heat to boiling. 3. Slip eggs into soup mixture. Cover skillet, with vent closed, and cook until cgg3 are done, about 5 minutes. Place 1 muffin half on each plate, place 1 egg on each muffin half and spoon sauce over top.

Garnish with paprika and parsley, if desired. Makes 4 large or Healthy cooking worth the time make inexpensive meal As one of those too-tired-to-fuss cooks. I've spent much of the last decade looking for ways to put dinner on the table before the 10 o'clock news, ways that do not include carryout or frozen meals. To finesse the long cooking that some of the most interesting carbohydrates take, I have relied on pasta, white rice, canned beans and couscous. There is nothing seriously wrong with any of these choices, but they are somewhat limiting.

Canned beans are one of the better canned products but, in truth, their flavor and texture are never as good as home-cooked beans and they always taste as if they have been soaking in the Great Salt Lake. White rice not only lacks the fiber of brown rice, it does not have the same nutty taste. There's not a bad See Cooklng2B By Marian Burros Th. Nw York Tlm.t Millions of home cooks who are eager to serve more healthful meals no longer plead ignorance for their lapses. They know what they should do.

They just don't think they have the time to do it. Who can spend an hour or more cooking beans for the night's dinner? Who even gets that far? Cooking beans requires that someone remember to soak them the night before. Why take 40 minutes to cook brown rice when white rice is done in less than 20? F.ven lentils, which aren't quite as time consuming, require more' effort than most cooks want to expend at 7 o'clock after having spent the day working elsewhere. Recently, while attending the American Home Economics meeting in Minneapolis, I had the opportunity to attend several wonderful workshops pertaining to all areas of family living. One extremely useful program presented ideas for quick meal preparation using our good old, but probably forgotten, electric skillets.

I could hardly wait to get home and dig out my seldom-used, 20-year-old electric skillet from deep within my kitchen cabinet. I tried the following skillet recipe, with English muffins, delicious and convenient. But we have a 15-year-old biscuit maker at our house by the name of Daphne, so frequently there are leftover biscuits. I substitute those biscuits for the English muffins and find the recipe.