sashime76

I have heard the term "Southern cooking" more times than I can count. What exactly is "Southern cooking"? I guess gumbo is one of the Southern dishes and one of my favorites.

Is Southern cooking mostly meat and potatoes? Deep fried food?

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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yellowchef

it varies from state to state, but its a regional cuisine thing.. like clam chowder, or Yankee pot roast. Lighter in gravy and fried stuff but what you Northeasterners grew up on.

Southern cooking and Soul Food
The cuisine of the southeastern states is labeled "southern cooking" or more elaborately, "down home southern cooking". It is characterized by wholesome farm-style cooking with plenty of deep fried foods, heavy sauces and sweet desserts. Elvis Pressley loved southern cooking and it certainly reflected in his growing waistline. Deep-fried chicken is commonly known as southern-fried chicken. Chicken-fried steak is a deep-fried beef cutlet. Both are often served with a thick white sauce known as home-style gravy.

Southerners love barbeque, but unlike westerners, they do not favor sweet tomato-based sauces. Eastern barbeque most often means pork; especially pork ribs, well spiced or marinated and slowly cooked over glowing coals. Greens, black-eyed peas and corn bread are common side dishes. Pecan pie, peach cobbler, banana pudding and sweet potato pie are some favorite desserts.

Soul food is the Afro-American version of southern cooking. It includes the same dishes but prepared with the intensity and love of an African-American mother feeding her family. It is southern cooking with soul.

New Orleans Cajun cooking
Although in the heart of the south, New Orleans has a distinctly European culture with its own unique cuisine. This city at the mouth of the great Mississippi River was greatly influenced by Spanish and French colonists and by the many African immigrants. It developed some of the finest cuisine in the USA.

The Creole and Cajun cuisine in New Orleans is a wonderful mixture of Spanish and French cooking spiced with African and West Indian flavors. Blackened fish or steaks are grilled with coatings of pepper and hot spices. Jambalaya and Gumbo are wonderfully flavored stews of meats, sausage and seafood. A lot of the Cajun cooking is highly spiced with hot pepper and chili, but not all the dishes are fiery. Traditional Spanish and French cooking and local variations of them are available in many fine restaurants throughout the city.

http://www.usatourist.com/english/inside/cooking.html

Southern cooking varies especially when you hit FL, places in the panhandle are "southern" theyre more "country like" and full of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Moving south this trend becomes less predominant and you move into more of a fusion cuisine and Latin food.

To me Southern cooking is awesome, but its what I grew up on so to each their own.

shakran

Real southern gravy on biscuits is not white and doesn't have sausage or anything else in it. It's a lot easier than that. fry bacon, set bacon aside add flour to the grease and stir, keep adding until it's kinda pasty. Then pour milk in until it's the right consistancy. Best damn gravy on the planet


And yes. You are a damn yankee

uncle_el

damn nice write up!

or leave the milk out (just flour and grease) and you have a basic roux- the base of jambalaya!

the only thing i have to add is the newly popular "new southern cooking"... well, at least it's gaining popularity in the atlanta area.
take southern cooking (as described above by yellowchef) and add a little new age flavor. for instance, deep fried chicken may be jazzed up by adding some red pepper (fresh or flakes) to the flour mixture, or macaroni and cheese may have 3 or 4 different cheeses as well as diced tomatoes... in essence, "new southern cooking" is a blend of the old south with the more contemporary ingredients/flavor.

yellowchef

definately, its called "fusion cuisine" and its really awesome. In the larger southern cities NOLA, Atlanta, Nashville, and Memphis places like Brennans, Commanders Palace, the Buckhead Diner, and the Peabody Hotel are blending "southern cooking" with a touch of class. Its always awesome to be back "home" in the south, where I can have a big glass of sweet tea, and some good southern food.

uncle_el

reminding me of being back in new orleans when you mention brennans and commanders palace.

i didn't want to term new southern cuisine as fusion cooking, for fear of confusing it with some of the other fusion cooking (like east/west cooking). but, is it truly fusion cooking? i guess i always thought of it as mixing two separate and distinct styles... whereas this is more the blending of eras... perhaps it's a case of tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to.

in any event, southern cooking is wonderful, and new southern cuisine has is pretty good too!

gboz

I'm from the Mississippi coast so I'm quite familiar with southern cooking. I've been all over this country and to a few others and it's still my favorite. I really like southern cooked seafood. Give me a big ole seafood platter with fried oysters, shrimp, flounder, crab claws, stuffed crab and french fries and I'm a happy man.

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Booray

A big part of southern cooking is the way things like black-eyed peas, green beans, butter beans, etc are cooked. Usually is done in a pot with some fatback to give it that really good flavor (although it does knock the cholesterol up another notch too). Good southern cooking also rarely uses canned vegetables for ingredients. Fresh stuff from the produce section at the store is usually used. This is probably the reason why I always complain about the different cafeteria chains around this area like Morrison's or Picadilly Cafeteria. I'm sure they just get their veggies in industrial sized cans from suppliers instead of getting fresh stuff. Then, they rarely cook it with fatback or anything else that can give it some flavor. You don't just throw beans or other veggies in a pot of water and cook them. You gotta throw in some fatback, chicken broth, beef bouillon, or something else along with it.

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splck

I spent a couple of months in the south a number of years ago and while the food was flavourful, it was so greasy and fat laden that I thought I was picking the wrong places to eat or the people that fed me were playing a joke. From what I've see in the above posts, the dishes I ate were normal for down there.
Now that I'm a bit older, I should give it another try.

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nice line eh?

yellowchef

It depends on who you ask about is it fusion or not, I would call it fusion since it really is blending a "peasants" cuisine with that of a "royal" and we are able to serve it in fine dining establishments. I used the word blending because of the debate over it being a true fusion or not. I love it regardless..

sashime76

Now, is Southern cooking heavy on flavoring? seasoning? Mostly meat dishes? Veggie dishes? Has anyone dined at Cracker Barrel? Would you recommend it?

yellowchef

Cracker Barrel is ok... but like anything commercial.... its commercial

but yes southern food is heavily flavored, heavily seasoned mostly meat dishes.

Where are you? Is cracker barrel your only option?

uncle_el

depends where you eat at.
if you go to new orleans or atlanta, i have some places i can recommend that's not greasy... though i can't say that it won't be fat laden!


nice take on it! i too shall call it blending, hope you don't mind!

cracker barrel is fine for breakfast. i've never had anything else there. but their biscuits and their pancakes are pretty good.

i'm also a waffle house afficianado (the headquarters is in atlanta) and like it for what it is... a greasy spoon that's open 24 hours a day! i think of crackel barrel in the same vein... i like it for what it is, nothing more. i would never ever take a date their, but i would stop there on a road trip for a safe breakfast.

yellowchef

ahhhhhhhhhh waho.........

there are a couple around here but they are a long drive..

I have no clue why I like them so much..

greytone

A traditional southern lunch place will have a simple "meat and three" menu. You pick one meat from a list that usually includes chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken (which is a boneless chicken breast), a slice of ham, a chopped steak, and often pot roast. Then you pick three sides from a list of one or even two dozen vegetables and starched. The table will always have a bottle of vinegar with green peppers in it and a bottle of tabasco type sauce. Mashed potatos, rice, and macaroni and cheese will always be available. The veggies will always include at least one type of green bean and one type of green (collard, mustard, or spinach). The beans and greens will be boiled within an inch of their lives and be flavored with some form of pork (fatback, ham, or bacon).

Sausage gravy is certainly a southern dish, but there are others, such as red-eye. That is nothing more than "ham juice" in my opinion. Grits are a big breakfast item. Quick grits are fine, but instant are not. Cheese is optional, butter is mandatory.

A seperate forum should be dedicated to each style of BBQ, which by they way never involves a grill or charcol.

Southern cooking is like any other. There is good and bad. There is good quality and there is slapped together food good for nothing more than calories. Many of the ingrediants and techniques are being adapted to finer cooking. The above mentioned Buckhead Diner is an excellent example. Still, there is something about a good biscuit with country ham.

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yellowchef

Grits are icky, I only like bleu cheese grits.. and my ex boyfriends mom's grits she makes them with cheese and butter and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm they dont feel like paste in my mouth.. which is why I dont like them

ew grits.

Grancey

Fried okra. And not the heavily battered stuff you get in restaurants. It should be lightly battered, and oh so tender. And fried squash. You have to stand at the skillet for an hour stirring and stirring, but it's worth every heavenly bite. Sliced tomatoes that you just picked outside in your garden. Fresh peas. Light, flaky biscuits that almost melt in your mouth. And grits are okay with any meal. You see, not all "southern food" is heavy on the grease and fatback. For the most part, it just tastes really good. And don't expect to dine on "southern food" at Cracker Barrel. I've eaten at some that are good and some that are really bad. I guess southern food is mainly about the vegetables. I didn't realize that until I lived in other parts of the country where everyone ate potatoes, meat and ice cream all the time.

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Justsomeguy

I was not thrilled with Nola's. I think Commanders Palace was the place I was constantly harassed as well. It was decent, but if I remember correctly, the waiters would hover over the table constantly. Brennans is damn good. BTW, I went to a steakhouse in Orlando or Tampa a few years ago. I think it was called Burn's. Very good. And anyone able to tell me where it is located?

And what is Southern Food? Martin's restaurant in Montgomery, AL. Atleast it was about 10-12 years ago. And Chris's Hot Dogs is the only way my friend can convince me to go to Montgomery.

yellowchef

Hell yeah Burns is fantastic in Tampa. NOLA is not southern food.. Emeril has NO CLUE on what southern food is. NOLA is regional slang for New Orleans. sorry. Its their job to hover over the table, I MUST have a spic n span table all the time. Commanders Palace is owned by the Brennan family so the food there is fantastic as well Im getting all hungry just thinking about it.

Heres the website for Berns in Tampa http://www.bernssteakhouse.com/

Lockjaw

The Grit is the best thing about southern cooking.

Butter and cheddar cheese. Hot diggity dog that crap is good.
But this is why I love living in Texas. You have all the influences of Southern cooking. Deep fried everything,plenty of salt and butter. Pork isn't bad thing. And then you get the addition of Mexican food and being next door to Louisiana we get some good Cajun cooking too.

Crap...this just made me hungry for some chicken fried steak.

yellowchef

pork is awesome! and grits are iffy.. not too good imho. blech.

mmmmmm pork.