How To Make Chow
Everyone likes a little old fashioned home cooking. Sometimes food tastes better when made by somebody else. My mother prepared many down east recipes for us over the years. She was brought up in St. John, New Brunswick. One traditional recipe in our family that has always been a big hit is Chow. My mother made Chow every fall and it was definitely a part of our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner every year. It’s a tasty pickled combination of onions and green tomatoes, stewed. If you are a pickle lover, especially sweet pickles, this is the side dish for you. Chow can be eaten on/with any kind of meat; including beef, chicken, sausages, and white fish. It also tastes great with mashed potatoes.
Let’s Cook:
Ingredients:
6 quarts of green tomatoes
5lbs of onions
3lbs of brown sugar
1 quart of cider vinegar
1 box of whole pickling spice.
Prep green tomatoes; Use 6 quarts of green tomatoes, slice whole green tomatoes about ¼ inch thick into a large stewing pot. Layer tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt after each 4 or 5 tomatoes sliced. Once tomatoes are sliced place a metal or glass pie plate, upside down over tomatoes and place a heavy weight on the plate. You can use the jug of cider vinegar as the weight. Leave tomatoes under weight over night.
Next morning: The layers of salt in between each layer of tomatoes, draws the water and starch out of the tomatoes. Remove weight and pie plate, drain off water from tomatoes. Tomatoes will appear dehydrated.
Slice all onions about ¼ inch thick. Layer sliced onions and tomatoes in stew pot.
Place pot on stove top on high temperature. Add brown sugar and cider vinegar on top. Bring to a boil.
Prep whole pickling spice: Using a non shedding cloth such as linen; cut a square of cloth big enough to hold all pickling spice. Dump pickling spice into cloth and tie tightly with string. Cloth and string should not have any color, white only. Once pickling spice is secured in cloth, place bag of spice in on top of onions and tomatoes.
Continue cooking on high heat until mixture comes to a boil. Stir right to the bottom of pot. Be careful not to break spice bag.
Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for 3 ½ to 4 hours. Stirring regularly. Tomatoes and onions should be a light brown, when finished.
Prep mason jars: Place twelve 1 pint mason jars on a cookie sheet. Remove lids. At 200 degrees place into oven to sterilize bottles and lids.
Remove Chow from stove and spoon into heated jars. Fill jars almost to top. Seal, tight, immediately.
Yields 12 one pint jars.
Store in cool area. Refrigerate after opening
Experimenting with great new dishes is a creative way for your family to share good times together, while experiencing with new foods. Include your pet in the fun and make home cooked treats for your dog or cat. Pets can be a healthy addition to any family circle.
Source by Barb Bruce