♪ ♪ ♪ They say ye'are what you eat, so I don't eat chicken feet ♪ ♪ But I love me summa' Grandma's pickled beets ♪ ♪ Well, cut it up, put it'na pan, ♪ ♪ throw it on these sholders see where it lands, ♪ ♪ Right here in Farmer's Kitchen ♪ ♪ Maters, taters, beans and corn, ♪ ♪ the cow's in the barn ♪ ♪ and the sheep's bee shorn ♪ ♪ Kids in the barnyard ♪ ♪ chasin' Grandpa's chickens, chickens, chickens ♪ ♪ Spices, slices, cuts and dices, ♪ ♪ gonna slash your grocery prices, ♪ ♪ Right here in Farmer's Kitchen ♪ ♪ Help you grow your garden good, ♪ ♪ with recipes to suit your mood ♪ ♪ Try some grub you've never tried before, ♪ ♪ 'fore, 'fore ♪ ♪ Smash it with a wooden mallet ♪ ♪ gonna educate yer palette ♪ ♪ Right here in Farmer's Kitchen ♪ ♪ In Tim Farmer's Country Kitchen ♪ ♪ We gonna cook some good night y'all ♪ Hello and welcome to the Farmer's Kitchen.

This is not actually our kitchen, -it's our front yard.

-That's right.

But in our front yard we have some things getting ready to go into our kitchen.

We've had to fight -mother nature for our pears.

- Yes.

Not very often do we get a bumper crop of pears like we did this year.

This is about to fall off right here.

I'm like just pop over there.

I love your pretty bowl.

But we're going to go ahead and pop some pears in here before the deer get them all.

Now, this week I get up in the morning and I have my coffee in the front of the house in the atrium and I look out the window and I watch the deer come in and they're watching me.

- They can see me too.

- Right.

They're not too afraid of me.

They know I'm getting soft in my old age.

You are.

Now, we've got this one doe - and she's got two fawns.

- Adorable.

They're adorable and they're safe.

- That's right.

- They're on the no hit list... - That's right.

- this fall.

Even though we do use venison in our diet.

You like them.

- Can't do it.

-They're cute.

I'll wait for the big old ugly mean buck up on the hill and we'll bring him down here.

-That's right.

Good idea.

-But long story short, everything in the world loves pears.

Here's some video we have of mama and twins and she was just right out here today.

- Oh yeah - She saw me and she saw me and I think she's eating some of these pears.

She's getting them off the ground... - and they're kind of rotting.

- Good girl.

Right.

They're kind of, I think she might have got a little bit drunk on these pears because she was acting a little bit unstable.

But she's cleaning up my mess I like that.

She's cleaning up your mess.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and get some of these low hanging pears and I tell you what though, in the next couple of days, we're going to have to go a little higher and get some of those big ones before they fall but we got a great recipe for you tonight or two or three.

And we got something we're going to do - with some chicken.

- Yummy.

This is your favorite, right?

It is my absolute favorite now.

We're going to do something with these pears that's really old fashioned.

So, we're taking everything we've got - and we're turning into dinner.

- That's right.

So, Mrs. Farmer, how many do you need?

I need 24 pears.

24.

We got four.

-So, we got 20 to go.

-That's right.

So, let's pick our pears while we still have them.

- I'll help you - Okay.

and then we'll go inside and start our dinner because we're starving.

-Are you starving?

-I'm always starving.

I know you are.

[joyful music playing] There's a song called It Ain't Easy Being Green.

You look at this chicken and you say, "Why is it green?"

Well, it's green because it's going to be super, super tasty - in a little while.

- Yes, it is.

Now, we don't let anything go to waste around here.

We try not to.

This is green because it's in pickle juice.

-That's right.

-We eat a lot of pickles and I'm going to put these upside down first.

I have brined these in dill pickle juice.

Now, that's not going to win any photography contest for the most beautiful chicken when it's green but wait till it comes out.

It's not going to be green when it's done.

It's delish.

All right, I did this for you the other day.

I haven't done this for years.

And what were your thoughts honestly?

It's my favorite way to have chicken.

-Isn't it something?

-It really is, yes.

So, what I'm going to do, can you smell it?

I do smell it.

Now, this has been soaking six or eight hours.

You know the best thing about this batch -What's it?

-it's still pickly.

So, we can use it again.

So, what we're going to, I'm going to put these upside down at first.

So, what I've done, I've just taken regular dill pickle juice -The juice -after we finish a jar -Mm-hmm.

-and we brine our chicken in it.

If you want a deep, wonderful flavor, that's got just a little bit of bite that's already got your sodium in it.

- Oh yeah -It's got a wonderful taste.

Even if you do not like dill pickles I bet you would like this.

-So, we're going-- -Pour that.

-To take that, pour it on here -Use it here.

for the second batch because Kelli looks hungry.

She does look hungry.

And we're going to take just a little bit of pickle spices and put in there as well.

And we're going to let that set 6 to 8 hours or so.

So, I'm going to do the bottom first.

Now Tellicherry Pepper, which I absolutely love.

Now, they may be green now, but they're not going to be green later.

Oh, it's delicious.

The crust is amazing.

It really is good.

The crust right up and turns beautiful golden brown.

Now we're going to smoke these.

We're going to put them in a 350 degree smoker for exactly one hour.

Take these and put them on the grill for a half hour, turn them over, come back in another half hour and guess what?

You got some special.

So now we're going to take the pretty skin side.

These are thighs.

-Favorite.

-Why thighs?

It is the best.

It is the best to us.

We really, really like the thighs, they're juicy.

The more flavor you got to have the skin on because this is just a beautiful recipe once it comes up.

This is the pretty side.

We already spiced up the ugly side.

So, we're going to come back with again Tellicherry Pepper and this has already got some great taste in it.

So, you really don't have to do too much.

Then we're going to come back with a little bit of salt.

I use kosher salt most generally.

And then just a little bit of smoked paprika and that's it.

You really don't need anything else, do you?

Oh, yeah, it's perfect.

-Can I ask a favor?

-Sure.

I have a sweet potato I heat it up a little.

Will you put that on the smoker?

Well, absolutely, we did that the other day - with our meal.

- It's delicious.

-We can split that.

-Yeah, it'll just be easy to smoke it.

We've got one more thing we're going to fix along with the star of the show, which is a really, really old recipe that we're going to do with these pears.

That's right.

You know a lot of the recipes that we're going to do these pears comes later in the year.

-That's right.

-Don't tell them -it is top secret.

-I won't.

Right.

So, how about we put these on the grill.

-Aren't they beautiful?

-They are beautiful.

-I'm excited to eat this.

- Let's go to the grill.

So, we're standing out looking at all these pears.

We've made pear butter, -we've made pear honey.

-Right.

Mostly pears, you like to eat them.

And we eat pears -but they don't last for long.

-Right.

So, we've got a short amount of time to harvest all these before the critters get them.

- Exactly.

- Boo has been wonderful- - Boo is a good kitty.

- as far as squirrels.

-You know we're not cat people, -Right.

but here she comes, she shows up, - what are we going to do?

- We love her.

So, she's been on guard out front.

She comes out in the morning when I'm having my coffee and I'm watching her out the window and she's on guard watching for squirrels.

She enjoys it.

It's fun for her.

She chases them off.

I don't think she can handle a whole squirrel, but she chases them away.

So, we have kept I think more pears this year because of Boo.

Because of a wonderful kitty, she deserves something.

-Our guard kit.

-That's right.

So, we looked at the tree and we saw the pears and we thought, let's do something different -this year.

-Right.

So, there's an old family recipe that's mince meat.

- Pear mince meat.

- Pear mince meat.

-1500s, 1600s was minced meat.

-Minced meat, yeah.

They had, it was usually beef and suet and they would take this along with fruit, sometimes dried fruit, sometimes nuts and they would make this mince meat and they would make pies with that meat pies with that.

As time went on up around the 1800s, 1900s, you started seeing mince meat recipes there were more figs, - sometimes pears, - Yeah.

- The better - sometimes apples, - I like that better - dried fruit and always a little bit of citrus in there too.

And usually a little bit of spirits -Yeah.

-and brandy a lot.

So, as time progressed and now when we think about mince meat for the most part, it's pears and apples boiled down with raisins and ginger all spice nutmeg, cinnamon cloves.

- Lemon.

- Lemon, a little bit of brandy.

A little bit of sugar.

And there's a whole lot of sugar.

Now, in order to make this last when you're canning it, that's what keeps it the sugar.

There you go.

So, we have to, we have to.

But what are you going to do with mince meat?

So, I started thinking fried apple pies.

Fried mince meat pies.

-Delicious.

-In lard.

-Yes.

-Can you say I wanna some?

I say yum papa.

So, that's what we're going to have tonight.

The chicken's cooking right now as we speak.

I have to turn in a half an hour, but let's get started on our mince meat.

- All right.

- So, we have rinsed our pears off.

And I need 24 of those.

And you know what's really nice is this apple corer -perfect for the pears.

-Boom.

And another thing I know on this recipe, some people like to peel them.

We're not going to peel them.

We're leaving the peels on because that's what this recipe calls for.

And let me tell you something about these little pears.

Of course, I love the peel.

I love to eat it.

It disintegrates when you cook it.

I don't know what kind of pears these are.

This tree was here when we got here.

We do not spray this tree ever.

- Right - And if we are so fortunate that the frost doesn't get us in the spring, - we have pears.

- Yes.

Before Boo there was one year we didn't get one pear.

You watched the squirrels, they took them all away.

We left for a week and they were gone.

Right.

You were sad.

It's going to be loud but I'm going to get through these quick.

Violent this pear process.

-Now because I'm -Sorry.

Now because I am in love with these pears, I'm going to take some of these seeds out and I've already dried a bunch of them.

But I'm going to try to start me some more because I'm going to put them all on this field up here because these are special.

-These are really special.

-Yes, they are.

You know, I'm looking at all these ingredients and I've got the smell in my head.

-It's special.

-Yes.

You know what I can't wait for?

-What?

-Christmas.

-I know.

-Because we're thinking about cookies, tarts.

-Cake.

-Cake, yeah.

-put this instead of jam -Oh, yeah.

in your cake, are you kidding me?

I could eat this with a spoon as well.

I need to quit talking and let you go to work.

All right.

That's our 24 pears see how fast we did that?

-It wasn't bad.

-Now we could get a food processor out but you know me with my little chopper, I like to chop everything.

The only other thing that goes in this now is we got a whole lemon, see, the peel still on it.

The only thing I'm going to make sure is we want to get seeds out of this.

We don't want seeds in our, but everything else we want.

Now, again, I do not know what kind of pears these are.

They're sweet, they're delicious.

They're not real big.

They mature quickly and they're hearty.

We do not spray, I do not like sprayed stuff.

Our apples could never make it here without being sprayed.

In fact, they don't because they get cedar rust and I don't spray them.

So, we have pretty apple trees with no apples.

Pears, I might like pears better than apples and if I can get these seeds going, I'm going to have a whole field full of these.

Then what are we going to do with?

You'll have to have people come pick them.

Maybe we will.

-We'll have a pear farm.

-That's right.

-We're pear farmers.

-That's right.

Okay, this is an organic lemon and if you can't find organic, make sure you wash off that because they spray on them.

So, we got our lemons, our pears, our raisins and you are just going to chop.

We got four cups of raisins here, one lemon and like I said, what do we got 24 pears?

So I'm going to just start chopping.

-All right.

-Put a little bit in of each and we're going to get us a mixture here.

You want me to sing you a song while you're chopping?

-You could because -Trying to think of good chopping music.

-All right -What's good chopping music?

I'll start chopping.

You start singing.

All right, ready?

So, you just put like thirds in there?

-Yeah, I'm going to do it.

-You just chop.

I must keep chopping and like you said, you could get a food processor, but look at and I think back in the old days they probably got a chopper out and did it by hand.

They probably chop like mom chops her chow chow.

And I am going to use that after in this bowl.

-That smells just right there.

- I'll put it there.

-Smells good.

-All right.

Ready?

I feel like you can get it to consistency you want more with this.

It's more of a manual thing here and the visual you can see it.

And if we didn't have electricity, we could chop away anyway.

And you know what else I'd like you to do, that little tool we have to cut, cut a little bit more with our little tool -and if you do that, -In here?

yes, cut those up a little more because you're going to have a couple of big pieces.

- That already smells absolutely - Smell good in here.

- wonderful.

- With absolutely nothing but that oh that lemon zest is really, is really, really, really... -Making it nice.

-Screaming in there.

And you could put some dried nuts in here too if you want but we're just going to go with the fruit.

And you want to work these up quick because pears turn brown just like apples.

All right, so, we've got this wonderful concoction.

-That smell good already?

-Uh, man, I'm telling you, it already has that mince meat smell.

Of course, I've got the tops off of the clothes and the nutmeg and all spice.

So, we put our sauce seven This is six and three quarters.

Six and three quarters.

Yeah, it's a lot of sugar.

Now, all this is going to be used in sweet stuff and that preserves, that sugar will preserve -that along with the vinegar.

-Right.

We got a cup of vinegar.

Cup of vinegar, white vinegar.

And then this is a quarter cup of brandy.

Quarter cup of brandy.

This is just regular brandy -right here.

-Yeah.

You could use peach brandy or whatever you wanna use.

-Mix that up.

-Stir it.

So, we're going to get that going.

So, we're going to make this real easy on you.

It's one tablespoon of each starting off with cloves.

Now, these cloves we are using whole cloves, they'll cook up.

This is 40 minutes, correct?

Yes, once it boils we have 40 minutes cloves, next.

Cinnamon.

One tablespoon, one.

- What's next?

- And nutmeg.

Nutmeg a tablespoon.

Tablespoon everything.

How can you go wrong with this?

You can't.

- All spice.

- Tablespoon.

Oh, it smells like something wonderful.

Yes, it does.

And last but not least, ginger.

Ginger.

All right.

All right.

Now, -Now, I really smell something.

-Yes.

And we want to get this to a good boil.

Once it boils we're going to turn it down and we're going to let it simmer for 40 minutes and it's going to start getting thick and dark and beautiful.

All right, I'll tell you what, once you get that going, I gotta go check on the chicken -Right.

-and turn it.

I'll get this going then for us.

We have lard out, our lard which we rendered.

Here, we'll show you pictures of that right here.

Did that right in our kitchen from pasture raised pigs.

This is precious to me.

-Precious.

-It is precious.

If you can find pasture raised pigs and render your own lard from that leaf lard.

It's good stuff and it's actually - not unhealthy.

- That's right.

As opposed to if you were to use some of the name brands we can't say, but some of the stuff you buy in the store.

This smells better though.

It smells too good.

- It's beautiful.

- Yes, it is.

So, any time that we make bread or pastries -you use our lard.

-I do.

And this is an old family recipe as well.

-It is.

-This is the dough for our fried apple mince meat.

Oh, wait a minute.

Fried pear mince meat pie.

That's a big name.

Delish.

I'm going to shut up so you can make it.

All right, I actually have one and a third cups -of regular flour here.

- Gotcha.

The interesting thing in this is -Just all purpose?

-Just all purpose.

This is a third cup of cake flour which you can buy in the store.

So, I'll put a third of that.

I have two teaspoons of baking soda -and one teaspoon of salt.

- Lovely.

So, that is my powder mixture.

Now, we're going to take six tablespoons of our lard.

-Yes, we are.

-And I'm going to... A beautiful self-rendered lard.

We've done this over the fire.

We've done it in crock pots.

Sometimes we have four or five crock pots going around here.

Yeah, we do.

It's an all day thing and I share sometimes.

If somebody is really sweet -That's right.

and wants some of our lard, we'll give them some.

I'll tell you what people going to be wanting some of our mince meat, especially around Christmas time.

All right, we're thinking about little, you know how I love oatmeal cookies?

Yes.

She can make oatmeal cookies and I can eat how many?

50 million, all of them.

Everything I make you eat.

I love oatmeal cookies.

Think about a little, putting a little divot in there -and putting some mince meat.

-Oh, yeah, that would be good.

All right, got an old fashioned butter cutter you found me.

We call it butter cutter which is so pressing pressure.

That's going to cut our lard into the flour here.

Now, sometimes when we're really busy and we got a lot of stuff going on.

This time of year, we got a lot of stuff, we're putting up with canning hot bathing stuff.

A lot of times we eat on the run, we'll eat a bite of this and a bite of that.

We were going to make a tomato pie tonight, but we just don't have time and we would have had that along with our chicken, but I decided maybe we'll eat our chicken and then have our fried pear mince meat pie.

-That's hard to say.

-Yes, it is.

-I want to put apple in there -I need dessert.

Maybe you could have put apple in there.

-I'm ready for dessert now.

-Ready for dessert.

All right.

So, I got this.

I'm going to kind of do like Miss Helen, I'm going to make a little circle in the middle and this is different this time.

Instead of water, I have one egg and I'm going to fill this up with milk.

All right, so I have one egg and I added enough milk to make this for two thirds of a cup.

Two thirds of a cup, right.

So, instead of water, we're going to use this and this is going to almost turn out almost more like a biscuit dough in a way but it makes the best.

I think it makes the best.

Now, one thing about this dough, when you're making it, it will swell up a little bit.

So, when we are making our folded over little apple pie, I'll really smash that with a fork, we'll smash that.

And when I'm cooking it, I'll even press that down a little bit.

So it doesn't swell up on that side too much but the consistency of this is just beautiful - for this particular recipe.

-It is.

Let's talk about the chicken that we're getting right now.

We had some ribs the other night, some folks made ribs and they, uh, they brined it in pickle juice and then they sopped it when they were turning it over.

So good.

Delish.

What did you think when you taste it?

You haven't had it like that, have you?

I like the way the skin turned out.

-Crispy.

-Crispy and so tasty.

-It is not green anymore.

-No.

All right, I'm going to get me some more flour.

And we got our lard again.

We're going to cook these in lard.

How can they not be good?

They're going to be delicious.

And if you're cooking, especially frying something up, let it brown up nice and slow.

It cooks all the way through.

Gets done a little more thorough.

If you really get it too hot, you're going to get it done on the outside and not on the inside.

And I'm rolling you some dough out here.

- Beautiful.

- I used one of our large lid tops.

I'm putting a little more flour on these because I'm going to roll them out.

That's one we already got into the other day.

-And it tastes so good.

-I'm excited.

I was just eating this with a spoon if it's okay.

Hey, if we-- if this get done before the chicken.

We got to have dessert first.

-There's no law against it.

- All right.

Mom is too far away she can't, she can't... You can't get in trouble.

You can't get in trouble.

That's right.

We can do it all backwards.

You need to put water on the edges.

Just to seal them a little bit.

Yeah, we need to seal these.

Oh, and see, we're making these little manageable.

You want to do the other side, right?

Yeah, we're really going to press this together good.

Oh, oh, oh.

I wish you'd smell this kitchen.

It does smell amazing.

- Ready for another one?

- Mm-hmm.

To make sure they seal.

Here's one more.

I remember as a kid going to the gas station had a gas station version of the fried apple pie and they were covered with that like confection or sugar concoction.

- Remember that?

- Yes, delish.

[joyful music playing] Listen to this.

-Yum.

-Like a potato chip.

-Look at that.

Now that... -That's the best part the skin.

Now, look how tender that chicken is.

Remember this is smoked.

-Can I try?

-It's not green anymore.

Oh, that's my favorite part.

You really pick up that pickle juice.

It makes it nice and salty.

-Oh, oh.

-Look at that meat.

Oh.

-Delish.

-So good because you got your garlic in there already.

Everything from that brine.

I love the skin.

Can I just eat all the skin off the chicken?

-You can do whatever you want.

-Mmm.

Wow.

That's the best skin ever.

And you smoked the sweet potato.

- Try that.

- Sweet potato inside.

I know that's good.

That doesn't really impart a whole lot of smoke flavor... -It's still delicious.

-but it's still delicious.

Now, smokers, it cracks me up out there in the world of people using different kinds of smokers.

"Well, you're not a real man if you don't use this kind of smoker and if you don't use this smoker and you don't use a smoker."

Here's the thing about smokers.

What do you need to smoke food?

Temperature and smoke.

However you get that, that's what you need.

This needs to go legitimate 350 degrees for an hour.

Turn it over during that half hour.

It's perfect every time.

-It is always perfect.

-Every time.

- Dig in.

- Wow.

As we're cooking away, we have to keep our strength up.

-That's right.

-I'm going to hand you a fried mince meat pie.

With that pear flavor.

Oh, wow.

Mom would, she would point her finger at me.

She would say, "Tim, you eat your dessert first?"

Well, you'll eat your meat.

You already took a bite.

This is, it is between a biscuit and it's just the best dough.

I love this.

It's hard to describe, isn't it?

- With that pear minced meat... - Oh, wow.

If you like fried apple pies, you going to really like this.

Oh, Mrs. Farmer.

So, we're going to turn the camera off for a minute and we're going to eat some of this food because this is not a sterile set where we cook our stuff up in a perfectly clean kitchen and then throw our food away.

This is our kitchen, this is dinner, this is what we're having tonight.

This is my kinda dinner, chicken and pie.

We got how much 20 minutes on this?

-Then we got to hot bath it.

-I'm going to hot bath it for 25 minutes and then we'll be done.

So, that's just about enough time for us to eat.

Me to eat all this chicken.

And I'll eat the rest of the pies.

-I'll let you have some too.

-Okay.

Kelli, you want some chicken?

-She said yes.

-Give her some chicken.

So, a little bit of head space there.

Yeah, just a little bit on each of them.

Then how long for the hot bath?

We're going to give them 25 minutes and we'll be done.

And it really firms up.

And so, what we have is your end product, which looks like this and look how thick that is.

It really thickens up.

You know, we've got those sitting everywhere in this kitchen.

They're pretty, they decorate nice.

They decorate nice.

We'll be giving some of this away but this Thanksgiving and every now and then just when we want our fried, I want to say apple pie, fried pear mince meat pie.

-That's right.

-I can tell you, if you like fried apple pies, you're going to absolutely love this.

It's absolutely delicious.

All right, you're going to wipe them off.

Let me wipe these off so they're gonna seal properly.

We're rolling.

Now, do you want these covered with water or just... -Just up to the top.

-Up to the top.

-Here's one.

-All right.

In 25 minutes.

You know, you've seen us can so many things from peppers to salsa to chow chow to tomato preserves and where would you go to find things like this, Mrs. Farmer?

I go to timfarmerscountrykitchen.com.

- You do not.

- I do.

I do too.

I got to admit it sometimes when I forget how much I put in that particular recipe and things are subject to change.

-That's right.

-Sometimes three or four months down the road, I'll say, let's put this in here instead but all those recipes, timfarmerscountrykitchen.com.

Hit the subscribe button.

That way if we have something new out comes right to you and we have a Facebook page, but it's really difficult to get on there.

-It is.

-What are the steps?

- You hit like.

- Oh, complicated.

It is complicated.

So, as these boil up 25 minutes from now, we're going to have more of these like.

Yum.

Oh, I love it.

This makes me happy.

-It is so beautiful.

-Yeah.

-The kitchen smells so good.

-Yes, it does.

I hate to say it, - but our half hour is up.

- Yes, it is.

So, we want to tell folks at this time that it's all about.

-Good times.

-Good friends.

-Really good eats.

-We'll see you next week on Tim Farmer's Country Kitchen.

-What might we cook up then?

-Ooh.

Narrator: Funding for Tim Farmer's Country Kitchen is brought to you by Amerson Farms Country Store; something for every member of the family.

Jim's Express Car Wash; a Kentucky family-owned business.

Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville; putting patients and families at the center of our attention.

Gulf Coast Connection; seafood straight from the gulf to you.

Wilderness Road Hospitality, Stanford Kentucky.

The Spine Center of Central Kentucky.

Beef; it's what's for dinner Kentucky's beef producers.

To order a cookbook, email timfarmerck@gmail.com.