mmm, mull!

The Danielsville Volunteer Fire Department hosts an annual chicken mull fundraiser. This is a dish only found in NE Georgia and it well-loved by the locals here. A bunch of friends and I went last night to the annual event, it being my first time. They showed me the ropes, because there is a definite process to eating mull. The thickened soup/stew is accompanied by hot pickles, cole slaw, and saltine crackers. One must crumble LOTS of saltines into the bowl of mull, and if brave, season it with Tabasco. Sweet tea is of course on hand and for dessert there was cherry or apple crumble to choose from.

Fire Department guys roam around with a pitcher of more mull and refill you as much as you want. Mull is made with milk, butter, seasonings, and either shredded or ground meat. In the old days rabbit was used quite frequently, my old timer friends tell me. Today the meat of choice is chicken. Tee shirts are available, they say, "DVFD 25th annual Chicken mull: no bones about it just good mull." It was an enjoyable, very local, evening.



Mull this over:
According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, the dish known in northeast Georgia as chicken mull is a stew of chicken meat (ground or cut into bite-sized or smaller pieces), broth, milk, butter, vegetables, and seasonings, thickened with crumbs of soda crackers. It is also called chicken stew, chicken soup (rarely), and in south Georgia, chicken jallop. Because grinding, cutting, and lengthy cooking can tenderize tough meat, chicken mull may have originated as a way to make tough old roosters and spent hens palatable.

Mulls are served in bowls and eaten at home, in restaurants, in hunters' camps, and at special events such as church socials, community gatherings, and fund-raisers. Like other regional stews served to large groups (for example, Brunswick stew, Kentucky burgoo, Carolina hash, and Virginia sheep stew), mull can be prepared in large pots, outdoors or under a shed.

Mull is traditionally a cold-weather dish. Northeast Georgians speak of the "mull season." According to local lore, almost any meat or combination can be used, including goat, dove, squirrel, and it is rumored, rat and roadkill.

In rabbit mull or crow stew, rabbit or crow replaces chicken. Turtle mull contains chicken as well as turtle and sometimes such additional meats as beef, pork, and even beaver. Jallop is sometimes made from catfish.

To make chicken mull, pieces of chicken are simmered in water in a kettle or Dutch oven about one hour, until done. When the pieces are cool, the skin and bones are removed and the meat is ground or cut, then restored to the broth. Milk and butter are added and cracker crumbs are stirred in until the desired thickness is achieved. The consistency varies, but typically mull is similar to cooked oatmeal.

Other ingredients may include baking soda; such vegetables as celery, onion, tomato sauce or paste, tomatoes, ketchup, lemon, and garlic; and such seasonings as salt, red and black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, and hot pepper sauce. Traditional side dishes include sweet pickles; onion rings, cucumbers, and tomatoes marinated in vinegar; slaw or salad; and green beans. Chicken jallop is sometimes served over hamburger buns.

My current crisis

I ate some popcorn last night while watching a Bette Davis movie and a kernel husk got stuck halfway down my throat. And it's not budging. I categorize this as a "minor annoyance."

So I look at nice photos to take my mind off it. :) This is at Lake Louise, northeast Georgia

Consider Sunshine

Composer W. R. Williams said in his 1908 song “Ev'rybody's Happy When The Sun Shines.” I know I’m happier when it’s sunny out. I love sunny days, and I love to feel the warmth on my back, see the livening pastures in the morning as the shadows retreat and the sunrays get strong. Sun is a precious commodity where I’m from, Gray, Maine.

My former town’s name, Gray, is depressing to be sure. Coastal Maine is cloudy, with a lack of sunshine and what sun there is isn’t strong. It gets to you after a while.

On average, Portland, Maine has about 101 sunny days a year. Athens, Georgia has about 113. Twelve extra days of sunshine might not seem like much, but that is an addition of one sunny day per month!

“Our appreciation of sunshine is one of the most important advances of the century," remarked an eminent Canadian physician in the opening sentence in the Canadian Medical Association Journal 1927 editorial entitled “The Importance of Sunshine.” The author stated, “This means that for over four months of the year, nature usually so lavish in her distribution of the essentials for life distributes these rays only sparingly to Canada.” And sparingly to nearby Gray, Maine, too.

When I decided to move from Gray to NE Georgia, I eagerly anticipated the sunshine. “It’s sunny and warm there!” I told my parting friends. It was the thing I looked most forward to. I’ve been here for seven months and I’ve enjoyed the fall, winter, and spring. But last week there were a few days that were really hot. Egad, the temps reached nearly ninety! Locals here laughed when I told them that in the north a heat wave is pronounced when the temps rise above 90 degrees for 3 or more consecutive days. They said that that soon I can expect three consecutive months of ninety degree weather. Egad!

Immediately I began to think of the sun as a nemesis instead of the blessing I had previously thought it. I reviewed my wardrobe, now un-content with the clothing I had. I dreaded the sun now because of the heat it would bring.

And then one day while having a long, chastising conversation with myself, I told myself to get over it. I am where I am and every blessing is still a blessing. He sun was a blessing before and it still is. I know that the drought is deep, the sun is hot, and the dryness is dire. But I decided to appreciate the sunshine in good times and bad. During drought or fresh dewy mornings, whether warming the spring flowers or wilting this hot Yankee.

It is the same sun, whether shining on seeds that are scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away; and the seeds that fell onto good ground and bring forth good fruit. It is me that has moved. I decided to stay with my original mid-set and see the sun as a blessing, no matter how hot Comer gets. But I admit I did add one more thing to my growing list of things to be thankful for: air conditioning.