maleficent

Southern cooking can be almost anything -- a lot of deep fried foods (ie chicken fried steaks with lots of gravy (It's kinda nasty looking if you ask me) or just plain old biscuits and gravy (some sort of white glop with sausage and other stuff in it. (I've lived in Northern NJ too long, gravy to me is the red stuff that you pour over pasta)

Souther food to me is very heavy, gravy laden, often fried and a cardiologist's nightmare. (though I'm sure southernor's would call me a damned yankee and dispute that)

Some of the best bbq I've had in my life was in North Carolina - not at all heavy and the sauce was vinegar based...

Gumbo and Jambalaya I have always associated with a specific area of the south, mainly Louisiana specifically New Orleans -- it's creole cooking, and not something you'd find in Tennessee. Though I suppose each southern state has it's own specialty.

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