I (Litsa) loved this little list—-a Southern Sampler list! I live in the south in the quiet, plains of West Tennessee where I have lived most of my life. However, I grew up in a Greek household of immigrant parents. Thus, some of these southern samplers are still new too me! My husband, mother-in-law, and/or friends sometimes have to explain those I haven’t enjoyed enough to remember.
- Jambalya: No definitive recipe for this Creole favorite exists, but expect a saucy rice dish with tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, ham and whatever other meat or shellfish the cook desires.
- Corn Bread: Golden cornmeal bread is cooked in a seasoned cast iron skillet (mostly made without the addition of sugar).
- Gumbo: Louisiana’s most famous stew starts with rich stock, the “Cajun trinity” (onions, celery, and green peppers) and okra and file powder for flavor. The shrimp, sausage, etc. is dependent on the cook once again.
- Chow-Chow: A sweet-sour chunky relish of green tomato, cabbage and peppers is spooned atop beans, and greens and meat.
- Collard Greens: Loose-leaf cabbage that tastes like a cross between cabbage and kale, it is boiled with salt pork or bacon.
- Country Ham: Ever-famous, salt-cured, aged pork legs were first created on a large scale in Smithfield, VA in the 1700s.
- Grits: Stone-ground or regular ground hominy is usually served with butter for breakfast or as a side dish. Shrimp and grits is one of many variations.
- Pimento Cheese: A sharp cheddar-and-pimento spread is traditionally slathered on sandwiches, celery sticks and crackers.
- Chess Pie: Old-time Southern pie is fashioned from the basics–eggs, sugar, butter, and flour.
- Praline: This pecan-studded brown-sugar confection dates to 1750 and is a New Orleans institution.
- Country Captain: A curried chicken dish associated with the Southern Low Country–especially Savannah, Georgia, where spices were traded—is topped with peanuts, bacon and currants or chutney.
- Angel biscuits. Double-leavened biscuits made with yeast guarantee a rise to heavenly lightness.
After reading through this list, I can say that I can make a mean southern cornbread but my husband likes his made with sugar so we toss that in too! I’ve tried my hand at my mother-in-law’s canning recipe of chow-chow that is perfect scooped up next to her garden peas that we freeze each year. I’m not a fan of chess-pie. It’s much too sweet for me. Pimento cheese has never been my favorite—always looks too mushy!?! Collard greens are superb but I love mine with olive oil instead of pork and/or bacon grease—-which still defines me as a southern lady with a Mediterranean flair! I wonder if I could devise a Mediterranean Diet sampler list!?
What’s on your eating trend where you live?
Credit for this Southern Sampler list goes to magazine of which I don’t have the title to/nor the year—my apologies…one of those favorite lists, I just pulled out to reread…
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