National Southern Foods Day!!

[mdboatbum]

How am I only becoming aware of this now? Garden and Gun magazine did a list of the top 50 Southern foods, but they were all dishes from restaurants in the South.  In honor of this oh so important gastronomic holiday, let's have some fun. What's your idea of THE quintessential southern food? It can be a food group, a dish, an item or whatever you want, as long as it brings Dixie to mind whenever you take a bite. (or sip. Libations are eligible too)

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• mdboatbum
• Nov 8, 2013

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• mdboatbum
• Oct 11, 2013

For me, I'm gonna have to go with the lowly biscuit. These little pillows of gentility have graced Southern tables since before General Lee was a glint in his granddaddy's eye, and for good reason. They're cheap, easy to make, and made using what was readily available in the southern climate. Soft winter wheat flour, buttermilk and lard were staples of the Old South, and even now finding the right ingredients for a TRUE, melt in your mouth Southern biscuit anywhere north of the Carolinas is a fairly daunting task. Finding someone to show you how to properly make one isn't too easy either. Even "Southern Icons" like Paula Deen and Alton Brown give generic recipes and methods which yield only so-so results. I guess they kinda wanna keep the "good" biscuits below the Mason-Dixon. I'm OK with that.

So what's your pick for the iconic taste of the South?

 

[ameskimo1]

MMMMMM.....Biscuits. Hot and fresh with a nice piece of breakfast sausage and a slice of American cheese is going to get my vote. But creamy mac & cheese or a pot of green beans & ham are veeeeerrrrrrrry close behind.

 

[humdinger]

Pecan pie for me. I LOVE pecans and they always remind me of one time when I was working in Mississippi. We would eat them right off the ground while on break outside our building.

 

[chris4xgill2]

Cornbread - made with buttermilk in a cast iron pan - no sugar allowed.

Fried Chicken - stovetop, hand battered dry and then fried nice and crispy. Gravy made from the drippings for mashed (not whipped) potatoes.

 

[mdboatbum]

Awesome!! Keep 'em coming folks!

 

[hickorybutt]

Too many to just list one...

Country Fried Steak

Creamed Corn

Fried Catfish

Homemade Fried Chicken

Sweet Potato Casserole

Red Velvet Cake (I eat it year round)

Buttermilk Pie

 

[handymanstan]

Southern fried chicken, Grits with squirrel gravy, Country fried steak.  Moonshine.

Stan

 

[GaryHibbert]

For me , its hot biscuits and white bacon gravey, with bacon fat grits on the side--real health food  LOL.  Of course, chicken fried steak, greens, good breakfast sausage, ah jees, I could go on forever

Gary

 

[1finder]

Shrimp n grits

 

[dogboa]

Gumbo

Jambalaya

greens

BBQ shrimp

Oysters

Blue crab

Maque choux

Biscuits and sausage gravy

Sweet potato pie

 

[foamheart]

Since yesterday was National Pie Day,

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

Sweet Potato Pie best served with a sweet gingered whipped cream.

But let us not forget the ever popular: Okra

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

Not as well known but......... Squash

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

Then if you move into the South Louisiana Gumbo

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

Jambalaya

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

Red Beans w/ Andouille

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

Pecans in the freezer

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

A closer look, smoked pecans

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

But it's really hard to beat just a good ol' Sausage biscuit with a cup of Community Dark Roast coffee

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• foamheart
• Jan 20, 2014

LOL.... Now lets talk about that magazine, "Garden and Gun magazine", The magazine most read but gardeners with varmint problems?

"Harry Don what you figure is the range on that there rabbit in the row of turnips is?"

"Don't know Jim Bob but I'll bet that Thema Liz can cook us one a dem fancy Pocket pies within it!"

"OK, but don't shot it in the head and waste dem brains!"

"MMMMmmmmm......... Brains and eggs!"

"Dang it Jim Bob ya scared it off with all your talkin!"

"But those turnips look good, what type fertilizer did you use this year, from the pig pen or from the chicken house?"

Drinks? We tend to make our own.....

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

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• foamheart
• Jan 24, 2014

 

[mdboatbum]

Foam, you've got me hankering to get down to the lower latitudes!! Everything looks fantastic. Love your take on Garden & Gun!! That's what it probably should be. It's a little fancified, but they have a lot of good recipes and the photography it really beautiful. In a perfect world I'd be living in coastal GA and be their Golden Isles correspondent. I've sent them a resume, but apparently they have no use for deposed political hacks.

 

[palladini]

Me. being from Ontario Canada, I would do the thing I had while picking up cotton thread in all those Carolina Cotton plants.  Beside most every one of those plants, was a shack selling Eastern Carolina Pulled Pork sandwiches, with Coleslaw on it.  I had a flyer form a North Carolina Rest Area, that told you how to do the holy grail of pulled pork, but, an X girlfriend has it and says she has no idea where it is.  But anyway, I would smoke a Pork Butt, pull it apart, make coleslaw, and the only ingredients i Know would be cabbage and Mayo and the rub I used on the Pork.  Onto a bun and PIG out.

Now, this National Southern Foods Day, sounds like very good idea.  Great ideas start small, so I think we forum users should work on a day to make this happen, by word of mouth it will catch on.  And we need to make this either a North American venture or lets go big and make it world wide!

Anybody on board, I pick a day, it being the 1st day of either May or June.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Jees Pallidini

Sounds like a GREAT idea.  I'm in.  BTW, didn't know you were from Ont

Gary

 

[dennis waters]

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• dennis waters
• Feb 4, 2014

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• dennis waters
• Feb 4, 2014

No more southern than Pulled Pork and cornbread from the cast iron pot

 here in East Texas. Smokeing with "Matilda".

 

[mdboatbum]

I guess I didn't make it clear in my original post, but January 22 is already recognized as National Southern Food Day.

 

[foamheart]

 
I guess I didn't make it clear in my original post, but January 22 is already recognized as National Southern Food Day.

Ahhhhh.... come on MBB, we all know everyday is National Southern Food day! Grits, greens, fried chicken, cornbread, pecan pie, peach cobbler, fried catfish, chicken & dumplins, Pralines, banana pudding, etc etc..... And we love to share.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Oops  looks like we missed it this year

Gary

 

[bwsmith_2000]

How about a big plate of fried country ham, grits with red eye gravy, eggs done your way hot buttermilk bisquits with molasses and lots of rich hot coffee. What a way to start the day. Or on second thought, I have had the breakfast menu for supper its great.

 

[darwin101]

Y'all forgot Po-Boys, Muffalettas, fried anything with ketchup, shrimp/crab/crawfish boils, sweet potato pecan pie and red velvet cake