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Ruskin-Style 'Gormay' Cooking

Photo by LYNN KESSEL

If you enjoy smoked mullet, try this easy-to-prepare recipe for Redneck Pate, a zesty blend of mullet, mayonnaise, buttermilk, hot sauce, Worcestershire, minced garlic, chopped chives and lemon juice.

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 30, 2008

If you haven't heard the names Swamp Thang, Sweat Thang or Miss Billie Waide's Bread and Butter Pickles, you haven't been spending nearly enough time in Ruskin.

Just about every day, I drive by the Ruskin Redneck Trading Co. "headquarters" off U.S. 41. I've been eager to meet co-owners Sandy Council and Anne Davis ever since I moved to the community in January. After several tries, I finally had the opportunity to sit and chat with the Ruskin icons.

After Anne revealed one of her favorite cookbooks is "White Trash Cooking," I couldn't resist writing a column about these delightful women. And once I began writing, I had to leave my spellcheck at the door.

"It's a long story," Anne said, when I asked her how the 10-year-old company got started. In a nutshell, it began when Anne and Sandy agreed to help a friend market her homemade hot sauce. A year later, the partner wanted out of the business, so the longtime friends took it over.

Sandy was born in Jacksonville and Anne in Birmingham, Ala. The two Southerners met in 1980, when Anne gave tennis lessons to Sandy and her children. They quickly became friends and opened a real estate company called Sun City Center Homes in 1993, with Anne as the broker.

Both women grew up around mothers who canned garden vegetables. In fact, Anne's family grew its own food.

"When you have a bountiful garden, you either eat it, give it away or you can it," she said.

Miss Billie Waide's Bread and Butter Pickles is named after Anne's mother and the recipe she created. Anne and Sandy started out by making the pickles and giving them out as Christmas gifts.

"Our friends and family have been our research and development," Anne said, with her familiar grin.

It's a family business, she said. Sandy's daughter Cody, a graphic design artist, creates all their product labels.

Gradually, the pair began making the crispy pickles commercially and turned them into their most popular item.

Most all of their condiments have tongue-in-cheek names, from Fickle Pickle to Rub Me Tender. At one time, Anne said Ruskin Redneck Gormay Foods had 25 products.

Some current favorites? Swamp Thang is a mixture of herbs and spices, delicious when sprinkled on just about anything. This Here's Anythang 'N Everythang Sauce is a Southern, mustard-based grilling sauce used in salads and on hot dogs and burgers. Their hot cocktail sauce is labeled A Dog's Revenge.

Sweat Thang alone has put the company on the culinary map. It was a blue-ribbon winner against 90 other entries in the Fiery Foods Show in New Orleans several years ago. The sauce is made with red wine, citrus juices, garlic and three different chili peppers - habanero, Thai and cayenne - with a dash of tequila, onions and spices. The label says it's for anything that needs "heatin' up." For an element of danger, I recently added it to a big pot of chili. Wow, was it ever good - and fiery!

When Anne and Sandy get together in their garage-turned-industrial kitchen, a lot more goes on than cooking.

"We solve all the world's problems as we cook," Anne said. "It's a lot of fun."

Sandy's the creative one, with "better taste buds" and a big-picture mentality. Anne has more of the business and marketing mind and is "good in arithmetic."

Together, they show no signs of slowing. In fact, life just got a little sweeter or is it hotter?

You can buy the Redneck Gormay products at Sun City Center Homes, 1649-C Sun City Center Plaza, or at www.mymothersgarden .locallygrown.net/market. Some of their products are also available at Apollo Meats in Apollo Beach and the Crazy Butcher in Parrish. The two also have a booth at the annual Ruskin tomato and seafood festivals, where they give out lots of free samples.

If you'd like to try some of their thangs, call (813) 645-7710.

REDNECK PATE

2 cups mayonnaise

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup Ruskin Redneck Gormay Sweat Thang

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons chopped chives

1/4 cup lemon juice

Smoked mullet

Pick the fish from the bone and crumble into small pieces. Add all remaining ingredients and blend. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours prior to serving. Serve with crackers as a spread.

Note: You should probably halve this recipe, unless you're making pate for the entire community. I'm not kidding. I'm still giving the stuff away.

Source: Stewart Herring

Lynn Kessel can be reached at lkessel@mac.com or P.O. Box 913, Ruskin FL 33575-0913. For more of her recipes, visit southshore .tbo.com and enter the search words: Lynn Kessel. Readers are encouraged to send in their favorite recipes, comments and suggest

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