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2015


Catfish King Copycats

From: gwen
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Catfish king copycats and Marsh Bakery
Date: Sunday, July 05, 2015 4:09 PM

Hello again and happy 4th,

Catfish king's dressing was, according to newspaper articles and remembrances, a 
Russian or Catalina/Catalina French type dressing that was red and "rather thin," 
served in a small paper cup. I've found copycat recipes for the dressing and apple 
fritters for Birmingham (not the Texas chain)'s Catfish King thanks to the "Recipes, 
Please" recipe exchange column which appears in The Birmingham News, which included 
the recipe for dressing you already posted. Perhaps they'll be helpful starting 
points for replication? Folks have been requesting these recipes since the early 90s 
judging by the paper's column, and no doubt craving them for longer, and this is the 
best the newspaper could do. No luck identifying descendants or other possible keepers 
of the old recipe files.

As for Marsh Bakery/bake shop,....Brad Marsh is quoted in a newspaper article as saying, 
in response to a request for the coconut cake recipe, "I'll give you that when you give 
me the recipe for coca cola."

The first recipe for apple fritters was furnished to the newspapers by one Anna Crocker 
who stated that these fritters are very similar to the ones served by Catfish King. 
The other recipe was developed by Nancy Doss when she was unable to find the original 
recipe from Catfish King.

Apple Fritters 

Crisco shortening, for deep frying 
1 egg, slightly beaten 
1/2 cup milk 
1 tablespoon shortening, melted 
1 cup diced, pared apples (or drained crushed pineapple) 
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1 tablespoon granulated sugar 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 cup confectioners sugar 
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat 2 or 3 inches of shortening to 365 degrees Fahrenheit in a deep fryer or deep saucepan.
Combine egg and milk in a large bowl. Stir in one tablespoon of melted shortening and apple 
or pineapple. Combine flour, granulated sugar, 
baking powder and salt. Add to egg mixture. Stir just until mixed.Drop by tablespoonful, 
a few at a time, into hot shortening (heated to 365 degrees). 
Fry about 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn, as needed, for even browning. Remove with 
a slotted metal spoon. Drain on paper towels. Combine confectioners sugar and cinnamon in a 
small bowl. Roll fritters in mixture. Serve warm. Serves 6-8.

 Apple Fritters 

1 egg 
11/4 cup self-rising flour 
1/2 cup milk 
2 tablespoons applesauce 
2 tablespoons sugar 
1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine 
1 large, or 2 small, cooking apples, chopped

Mix all ingredients. Drop by tablespoon into hot cooking oil. Cook until brown. 
Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar. Eat while hot.
 
Catfish king salad dressing replica
1 can Campbell's tomato soup
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c vinegar
1/2 c Wesson oil
1/2 tb finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp prepared mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika

Mix, keep chilled

Dressing similar to that used at Catfish King
1 cup oil
1/3 cup chili sauce or catsup
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 clove garlic
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant minced onion

Mix well, keep refrigerated.

Catfish King salad dressing
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup chili sauce

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Chill before serving.

Best,
Gwen

Thanks, Gwen!

========================================================================
From: Sandra
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Recipes...
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2017 1:13 AM

I got the following recipes for Birmingham,Alabama's  Old Catfish King Restaurants. 
A woman on Facebook's "You Know You Grew Up In  Birmingham, Alabama" Group shared 
them with us. Her mother used to work at one of the Catfish  King's. I thought you 
might want to share them with your reader's who were interested in them.
Sincerely,
Sandra
 
_Barbara  PT Wilson_ 
(https://www.facebook.com/barbara.wilson.10441?fref=ufi) 
 
ok here it is folks - the secret to the chicken  recipe is the fryer - 
they had deep fat fryers - the cook soaked the chicken in  buttermilk what 
seemed like an hour or two in a big pan, large bus pan type  thing, then she 
put it over in the flour - no spices just flour and then she  dropped it down 
into the deep fryer :) as a child I  witnessed thousands of pounds of that 
chicken  cooked
 
Apple Fritters 

Crisco shortening, for deep frying 
1 egg, slightly beaten 
1/2  cup milk 
1 tablespoon shortening, melted 
1 cup  diced, pared apples (or drained crushed pineapple) 
1 cup  all-purpose flour 
1 tablespoon granulated sugar 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 cup confectioners sugar 
1 teaspoon  cinnamon

Heat 2 or 3 inches of shortening to 365 degrees  Fahrenheit in a deep fryer 
or deep saucepan.
Combine egg and  milk in a large bowl. Stir in one tablespoon of melted 
shortening and apple or  pineapple. Combine flour, granulated sugar, 
baking powder and  salt. Add to egg mixture. Stir just until mixed.Drop by 
tablespoonful, a few at  a time, into hot shortening (heated to 365 
degrees). 
Fry about  4 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn, as needed, for even 
browning. Remove  with a slotted metal spoon. Drain on paper towels. Combine 
confectioners sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll fritters  in 
mixture. Serve warm. Serves  6-8.
 
 Catfish king salad  dressing

1 can Campbell's tomato  soup
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c  vinegar
1/2 c Wesson oil
1/2 tb finely chopped  onion
1/2 tsp prepared mustard
1/2 tsp  salt
1/2 tsp paprika

Mix, keep  chilled 

Thanks, Sandra!


Lafayette, Indiana Coney Islands

From: Virginia
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2015 6:20 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Subject: Recipe request

Hi

I was looking for a recipe for Coney Dogs and ran across your site. I was surprised 
that there were 2 requests from my home town of Lafayette, Indiana.  
One was for the Dog and Suds and the other from the Puritan Coney Island.

The Puritan Coney Island was owned by a high school friend's family. My friend's name 
was Louis Chrissikos.  Unfortunately Louie and his parents are both deceased. I believe 
the Puritan moved from 648 Main St to 501 Columbia St. in 1997  In 1985 the restaurant 
was taken over by a new owner. The new diner is called the Sunrise Diner

According to their web page http://sunrisediner.com/  they still serve the Coney Dog 
made well known by the Chrissikos family.  

Now the purpose of my request, I was hoping you might be able to acquire the recipe 
from the Sunrise Diner. I hope you meant it when you said you like chatty letters.

Virginia 
Port Byron, IL  

Hi Virginia,

I do like chatty letters. I like to know the historical context of recipes that are requested. Those are nice photos as well.

According to the information that Sunrise Diner gives on their site, they replaced 5th Street Coney Island at their location, and they claim to serve Coney Islands like 5th Street did, not like Puritan did.

See: History Fifth Street Coney Island:

Sunrise Diner History
The original location on Main Street had 42 seats, fine for a fledgling restaurant, but as the diner gained popularity it quickly outgrew the space. Fortunately, a nearby historical building (circa 1860), home to the Fifth Street Coney Island restaurant since 1960, became available. On July 18, 1997 the diner moved into the space at 501 Columbia Street. To this day the kitchen serves up the Coney Loin, Coney Dog and Baked Beans made famous by their predecessor.

There is a message board here about 5th Street Coney Island. Note that one of the messagers on that board says that Sunrise Diner refuses to give out their Coney sauce recipe. 5th Street Coney Island was owned by the Malakis family: Topix

Regarding Puritan Coney Islands, I was once again unable to find any recipes for Puritan’s Coney Sauce. Bill Chrissikos’ grandson, Bill Haldeman, posts about his family on this Facebook page about Lafayette nostalgia: Facebook - Lafayette, In 1

Bill Haldeman, who is a nephew of Louie and a former employee of Puritan Coney Island named Larry Mahler, both post here: Facebook - Lafayette, In 2

Virginia, you might write to these gentlemen (Bill Haldeman, Larry Mahler) via their Facebook pages and ask them about the Puritan Coney Island sauce recipe.

I found an interesting Facebook post on this page: Facebook - Lafayette, In 3
Jean Ann Miley Young: My son became a special friend of Lou's many years ago, we started taking him there when he was still in grade school...over the years that friendship of man and boy continued to grow, too soon the boy became a man and moved away from Lafayette and took that special friendship with him in the form of Lou's personal recipe for the coney sauce....we miss you Lou.......Puritans Coney Sauce Lives On!!!!!

It appears that she is saying that Lou Chrissikos gave her son the recipe for Puritan Coney Island sauce. You might write to her and ask her about it. She says “Puritans Coney Sauce Lives On!!!!!” What does she mean by that? Does her son operate a Coney Island restaurant? If so, what is its name and where is it located?

I do have a recipe that claims to be a clone of a Lafayette Coney Island sauce. I found this recipe some time ago, but it doesn’t say which Lafayette Coney Island’s sauce it is a clone of. I can’t comment on it’s authenticity, but you might try it and see whether it is close to your memory of Puritan’s. See below.

Phaed

Lafayette Coney Island Sauce

In a deep skillet, brown 1 lb. ground round in just enough oil to cover
bottom of pan. Stir and crumble til no longer pink. Mash with fork to
consistency of rice and keep on low heat. Meanwhile you put into a blender:
14 oz. clear chicken broth, 4 T. flour, 1 T. chili powder, 1 T. paprika, 1 t.
ground cumin, 1 t. turmeric, 1 T. chicken bouillon powder (or 3 cubes
mashed) and 6 oz. V-8 juice. Blend briefly to combine, add to meat and stir
til smooth and thickened. Remove 2 c. mixture to a blender, puree and
return. Serve spooned over hot-dogs or in bowls as a chili.
(serves 6)

Homemade Gelatin Powder

From: Basheera 
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2015 10:21 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Subject: Gelatin recipe

Good day Uncle Phaedrus, 

I've been searching for a recipe on how to make your own gelatine from 
sheep/cow/chicken bones. What im looking for is not a bone broth to use 
in meaty dishes. It's the powdered stuff I'm aiming for. I suspect it 
would be an age old recipe. I want to make marshmallows and jelly sweets 
with it and can't use the store bought stuff for religious reasons.

Many thanks and kind regards,
Basheera

Hello Basheera,

I cannot find a recipe for making homemade gelatin powder from bones. According to a comment that I saw on a blog, there may be such a recipe in this book, which is available on Amazon: “The Encyclopedia of Country Living", 10th Edition Paperback – July 1, 2008” by Carla Emery

When you say you can’t use ordinary gelatin for religious reasons, I am going to speculate from your name that you can only use gelatin that has been prepared halal. You can buy halal gelatin powder at a number of groceries that sell halal products. Also, see these sites:

Alibaba

21Food

Commercial kosher gelatin powder is also available.

There is a recipe for marshmallows using halal gelatin here: YasalamCooking

Another alternative might be to use an all-vegetable substitute for gelatin. These are the most popular:

Unflavored Vegan Jel by Natural Desserts, which is made of vegetable gum, adipic acid, tapioca dextrin, calcium phosphate, and potassium citrate

Carrageenan, Carrageen, or Irish Moss - dried seaweed; carrageen extract called carrageenan is used in some vegan Kosher gel products like Lieber's Unflavored Jel.

Agar, Agar-Agar, or Kanten: cooked and pressed algae

There are probably recipes online for making marshmallows with these products.

If I can be of further assistance, let me know.

Phaed


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