Last week, a new subscriber to our publication asked me a question I hadn’t heard in a while: Do you put recipes in it?

Historically, newspapers — small community ones especially — offered a weekly concoction with the flavor of whatever community it covered. We’d printed recipes in the Democrat and the Monett Times while I was editor of both, but instead of local flavor, it was most often the recipe of the day from www.allrecipes.com, whatever that was.

After leaving the Times to become publisher of the Democrat, the recipe was one of the first things I cut. Why print some mumbo jumbo from a website when I could run another local story or make a photo that much larger?

I clocked the question from our new subscriber but didn’t give it much thought for a few days. Then, on Saturday, I was two hours into a pot of chili as the snowfall flurried outside the kitchen window and I thought, I wonder what other people in the community are making right now?

My chili, which I have mentioned in columns before, is an adaption of my old boss Jacob Brower’s famous Election Night chili. It’s a touch spicy, a touch sweet, and though I know I may get some guff for it — my chili has no beans.

Bean argument aside, chili is a winter weather staple in our household, as is potato soup and the chicken enchiladas we made a week prior. They are meals that warm the ribs, but eating together as a family, also warm the soul.

As I continued finishing off the chili, I thought I could get an answer to that question from earlier. We have 13,000 followers on Facebook, mostly local — and they’re all stuck at home.

I put up a basic call out: “‘Round these parts, we make chili when it snows. What’s your winter weather staple? Share your best dinner plate photos and recipes with us and the community!”

As expected, the community did not disappoint. Nearly 90 comments later, Barry County’s favorites were clear. 

Soup (or stew) was the clear number one choice. From chicken noodle to potato to lasagna to beef vegetable to chicken tortilla to taco, the variety of colorful crockpots filled with such a variety of soups showed the varying tastes of our neighbors even when the base is the same.

Along with many others making chili, chicken and dumplings and ham and beans were also popular dishes.

On the more unique side, one community member shared a photo of her sourdough loaf, which was a hefty side to her chicken and sausage gumbo, baked potato soup and chicken gnocchi soup. Another shared a photo of their Tuscan chicken pasta.

Cinnamon rolls also made a couple appearances, as did lasagna with a side of Texas toast.

My favorite, however, was a loaf of bread submitted by Crowder Cassville professor Terry Held. Though he did not say what it was, an astute viewer picked it out as German rye. I would have eaten any of the meals people submitted photos of, but the brown, ridged crust and bits of flour looked incredibly inviting.

Judging from the engagement between followers, I’d say the post was a success. A publisher friend of ours in the Ozark Press Association has a whole magazine, similar to our Trout Times and Through the Years, but is based entirely in local traditional Ozark recipes.

If engagement online can translate to print, bringing back a local recipes section would be something I believe our readership would enjoy.

If you are an at-home chef with hometown recipes you’d like to share, email me at [email protected]. I have guest columnists, like Terry and Janet Mills in this issue, and a handful of local preachers that provide devotionals for the church page.

Why can’t we have a few who contribute regular recipes as well? I think we can, and I hope to hear from chefs who want to share!

Kyle Troutman has served as editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and owner/publisher since 2023. He is a three-time ISWNE Golden Dozen award winner. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or [email protected].