A second look at kitchen storage with this week’s guest foodie
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 8:37PM Nancy, Kentucky resident Catherine Seiberling Pond is in love with the American pantry.
This blogger, architectural historian and lifelong foodie wrote The Pantry––Its History and Modern Uses in 2007 “out of a love for this special and important room for any kitchen.”
That’s a true blue foodie, folks.
Pond and her family fell in love with the Commonwealth three years ago and continue to maintain a cattle farm on the Pulaski/Casey County line. “I love Kentucky culture, diverse history, demographics and the food,” Pond said.
In three years time, the farm, family, friends and food have only grown along with Pond’s pantry.
This bib apron-wearing blogger recently pioneered GROW Casey County, a blog promoting Casey County produce, related products and agritourism, as well as Farmwife at Midlife, chronicling her family’s life on the Kentucky farm.
And there’s also In the Pantry, where Pond has been blogging about good food and where we store it for the past 6 years, culminating in the aforementioned book...which looks like a PERFECT Christmas gift for mom this year!
Although she's Midwestern to the core, Kentucky feels like home for Catherine Pond.
B&B: Favorite bourbon?
CP: Woodford Reserve. We toured their distillery a few years ago and I’ve been a fan ever since. I love its warm, almost vanilla-like woodiness, and it makes a great mint julep. I also want to make some homemade vanilla extract with it. We don’t drink much but when we do we like to have the right stuff on hand––and I cook with certain liquors, too. [But I should add that my husband has always been a Maker’s Mark fan––starting back in New Hampshire.]
B&B: Favorite bean?
CP: Vanilla beans. Otherwise, I’ve never really liked edible beans. It’s a textural thing. Green beans when the mood strikes, but only if really fresh and lightly steamed.
B&B: Were you born in Kentucky?
CP: No, I was born in Akron, Ohio. Is that close enough?
B&B: Do you consider yourself to be sassy?
CP: If my grade school teachers had that category on report cards, it would have been checked. Often. Now it seems to be a more dominant trait of perimenopause. And it’s always a trait I’ve looked for in my friends.
B&B: What type of cuisine influences you most?
CP: American regional cuisine. I find it as fascinating and as varied as dialect. When I eat in a restaurant I want something unusual, regional or completely out of my everyday, like Indian or Middle Eastern (so occasional trips to Lexington are important). At home I prepare basic, family fare with subtle changes and enhancements and things on hand (I have a large pantry and many freezers). I will sneak in ethnic dishes that I want to try, whenever possible. I also like weird stuff like Jello salads and I make an amazing potato salad: it’s the Midwesterner in me.
B&B: What’s your all-time favorite food?
CP: Homemade popovers with butter and currant jelly. A close second would be roast lamb with gravy and roast potatoes and creamed spinach. All are holdovers from my post-Victorian childhood in Ohio.
B&B: What’s your current favorite food?
CP: At this particular season it would have to be Casey County watermelon, cantaloupes and tomatoes. I am planning new combos daily with these fruits. We will likely live on BLTs (with our own farm-raised bacon) and watermelon for the rest of the summer.
B&B: What food do you dislike?
CP: Organ meats, lima beans and sweet potatoes.
B&B: Do you have professional culinary training?
CP: I got my Girl Scout cooking badge when I was ten. Other than that, no.
B&B: Who do you cook for?
CP: My family and friends. I’ve also organized a few large-scale “frolics” with my Mennonite women friends at our farm. The men get together to build something and the women cook for them and feed them all day. It’s like a giant potluck and such fun. I’ve never before felt such a feeling of food as the center of nourishment and community.
B&B: What is/was your favorite cooking job?
CP: I worked, off and on, for a baker in New Hampshire for ten years in and around college and graduate school. He was trained in Europe and made delectable Danish and croissants. It was one of the best jobs I’ve had: I served incredible baked goods. I didn’t do any of the baking but I had a blast and enjoyed the customers and how happy they were when they came in the bakery. I think everyone should work for a real baker or artisan at some point in life. He was exacting in what he made and he made everything by hand, from scratch.
I also ran a Sunday afternoon tearoom at a historic house museum where I worked in New England. I baked all of the treats and prepared the tea platters and used a lot of my own china. We were even featured in Victoria Magazine. Perhaps in another life I will run a tea room again.
B&B: Can you share one of your cooking secrets with us?
CP: I have free range hens here on the farm. We love their eggs. However, I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t peel a fresh, hardboiled egg! They have to be a few weeks old. Otherwise it’s a complete disaster. So just remember to keep a dozen or so older eggs in the back of your fridge for hardboiling.
Also, hummus is a great replacer for mayo and easy to make.
B&B: Who’s your farmer?
CP: We raise our own meat and eggs, and a few vegetables, but we primarily support many of the produce growers in Casey County––including in the Old Order Mennonite community as well as many newer farmers who specialize in different crops like berries and garlic.
Melvin and Anna Hurst, friends from Casey County, keep us in corn and watermelons and Anna and I will do a lot of canning together each summer.
B&B: Any food allergies?
CP: Wheat and dairy––go figure. I can eat them in extreme moderation but do better without them. Of course, I also crave anything made with these ingredients and it is hard because I really like to bake (and eat baked goods).
B&B: Do you patronize local businesses?
CP: Very much so. We try to shop or patronize local businesses and vendors whenever possible (in Casey County and Pulaski County, as we live right on the border of the two), even though we are not above shopping at big box stores when needed. I love a good deal no matter where it is but will try local first.
Recently, in Casey County, a woman has opened a discount foods store next to her home (Casey County Discount Foods). We are delighted because she will soon be offering milk and bread, in addition to the high quality discount organic and gourmet foods that are coming in the door. Between her place, and our going to the shops and produce stands in the Old Order Mennonite community, right around the corner from her (as well as raising our meat), I don’t have to go far.
We also have an excellent bulk foods store in Casey County which carries some unusual offerings, too, and all quite affordable. For example their canning jars are cheaper than at Walmart. (Sunny Valley Store)
B&B: Who/what local product can you not live without?
CP: Locally grown, Casey County produce. While there are a few organic growers here, many growers are as close to organic as you can get without being certified. As my husband always says, why grow our own produce when you can get it in Casey County at the source and so affordably?
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