- Feb 2, 2017
- 5,509
- 10,103
Fried okra
Fresh peas, conch, purple hull, black-eyed
Mustard greens
Fried green tomatos
Fried cooter
Delpit "Average as Grits"
- Thread starter Fodderwing
- Start date
Fried okra
Fresh peas, conch, purple hull, black-eyed
Mustard greens
Fried green tomatos
Fried cooter
- Jun 12, 2014
- 8,960
- 32,433
Founding Member
Never been in the caves, but knew a couple of high school kids when I first went to work in Bainbridge that got sick after spelunking from the bat guano. One was the older brother of a certain college football coach! Back to the syrup, we always tried to avoid any that was mixed with corn syrup. I guess the trick as you reference is to use it up before it sugars :).
Regarding the best southern foods, I’d have to say my top five in no particular order are:
* Sausage (fresh pan or link; sausage gravy)
* Greens (collards, turnips, and mustards)
• Tomatoes (a side for every meal)
• Fresh peas and butter beans (with okra)
* Fried chicken (small bird cut up at home)
Hard to limit to just five. Honorable mention would be Grandma’s fried breakfast chops with rice and milk gravy and her fried round steak, pounded with a small coke bottle. I wish I could still work hard enough everyday to eat as much of this stuff as I wanted. Not many folks cook like that anymore and fewer know just how good it is.
*Edit*
No mention of southern foods would be complete without sweet tea!
Last edited:
- Jun 11, 2014
- 11,023
- 12,243
Founding Member
about the sweet tea this goes without saying
Hard for me to limit it to 5
Chicken A- fried
Chicken B- with dumplins
Biscuits - with Chicken A (Cane Syrup)
Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Biscuit with Country Ham or Fried Pork Chop sammich
Greens
Fried Okra
Candied Yams
Cornbread with Cane Syrup (or in a bowl covered with beans or chili)
Seems like there should be more pork in this list
When I was young and would get to stay at my grandmother's she was always up early every morning making biscuits and usually at least once a week she would also roll out dumplins for dinner. She made flat dumplins and I can remember seeing her cutting those strips and she would sometimes hang them across her arm while she rolled and cut more. I have never seen anyone else do that.
- Jun 19, 2014
- 12,775
- 31,885
Founding Member
Shrimp and grits is a low country thing but it’s been fully adopted (dare I say perfected?) by them NOLA boys.
Best shrimp and grits I ever had was in Savannah on the riverfront...from a New Orleans style restaurant. Even served beignets.
There are lots of southern foods (fried green tomatoes, hot boiled peanuts, peanuts and Coke, pecan logs, etc.) but we’re looking for the quintessential southern food. Grits are on the list but my top two have to be BBQ and fried chicken (not necessarily in that order).
Alex.
Best shrimp and grits I ever had was in Savannah on the riverfront...from a New Orleans style restaurant. Even served beignets.
There are lots of southern foods (fried green tomatoes, hot boiled peanuts, peanuts and Coke, pecan logs, etc.) but we’re looking for the quintessential southern food. Grits are on the list but my top two have to be BBQ and fried chicken (not necessarily in that order).
Alex.
- Jun 12, 2016
- 4,069
- 5,381
My family on both sides are deep South - southern GA, lower AL, FL panhandle. I remember both sets of grandparents very well. My dad used to say that, when he was a boy, his mother would fry water if she could. I believe him. And her fried chicken was incredible. My maternal grandmother made the best vegetables, lemonade, and banana pudding. I have uncles who could have won awards for their barbecue and smoked turkey. Dad introduced me to fried catfish, raw oysters, peel & eat shrimp, and Tabasco about the time I was in 1st grade. Mom raised us on the classic Southern breakfast (see below). I discovered bourbon at UF. I've been blessed.
My list of top southern foods:
1. Seafood (freshwater and from the Gulf)
2. (tie) Bourbon/BBQ/Classic Southern breakfast (Mom's version: fried eggs chopped into cheese grits with Tabasco, sausage, tomatoes, fruit, biscuits and gravy)
5. Fried chicken
6. Smoked Turkey
7. Lemonade
8. Fried vegetables (green tomatoes, okra, zucchini)
9. Banana pudding
Edit:
10. Pecan pie, by my maternal grandmother. Can't believe I forgot to include that. She'd be hurt.
My list of top southern foods:
1. Seafood (freshwater and from the Gulf)
2. (tie) Bourbon/BBQ/Classic Southern breakfast (Mom's version: fried eggs chopped into cheese grits with Tabasco, sausage, tomatoes, fruit, biscuits and gravy)
5. Fried chicken
6. Smoked Turkey
7. Lemonade
8. Fried vegetables (green tomatoes, okra, zucchini)
9. Banana pudding
Edit:
10. Pecan pie, by my maternal grandmother. Can't believe I forgot to include that. She'd be hurt.
Last edited:
- Jun 12, 2014
- 8,960
- 32,433
Founding Member
@GR8 2B @AlexDaGator @crosscreekcooter
Tops from your lists (in order):
* Banana pudding
* Fried green tomatoes
* Dumplings
One of my great aunts was a lunchroom manager and was about the best cook going. We still use her banana pudding recipe that made the pudding from scratch with meringue. Never any leftovers when we take it off to a church or family eating.
The fried green tomatoes were a staple at the summer fish fries. Salt, pepper, 50/50 meal and flour, and some hot Crisco was all you needed. Careful not to slice too thick else they were a little on the mushy side. These would go quicker than the fresh cut Irish potatoes!
Dumplings? How could I forget! At our family reunion every year, two ladies try and out do each other on the chicken and dumplings. Both are good, but the winner always has plenty of chicken and the dumplings aren’t too thick and never clot together. I have a co-worker who described his grandma making dumplings just like Coot. Had to be some magic in it.
Tops from your lists (in order):
* Banana pudding
* Fried green tomatoes
* Dumplings
One of my great aunts was a lunchroom manager and was about the best cook going. We still use her banana pudding recipe that made the pudding from scratch with meringue. Never any leftovers when we take it off to a church or family eating.
The fried green tomatoes were a staple at the summer fish fries. Salt, pepper, 50/50 meal and flour, and some hot Crisco was all you needed. Careful not to slice too thick else they were a little on the mushy side. These would go quicker than the fresh cut Irish potatoes!
Dumplings? How could I forget! At our family reunion every year, two ladies try and out do each other on the chicken and dumplings. Both are good, but the winner always has plenty of chicken and the dumplings aren’t too thick and never clot together. I have a co-worker who described his grandma making dumplings just like Coot. Had to be some magic in it.
- Feb 2, 2017
- 5,509
- 10,103
- Sep 4, 2014
- 21,355
- 79,781
I knew fried chicken would be the biggest contender. Other cultures make it as well, so I don't know if it's technically a southern food. But even considered, I put it behind grits. Bourbon is disqualified on a technicality. The others are ok, but not on par, imo.
Fodderwing mentioned fried okra. I'd vote that my 2nd favorite. When done correctly, it's great.
As far as greens, I like kale and eat if all the time, but raw. The issue I have with much of southern cooking is that whatever it is(specifically vegetables and greens) they're just cooked way too much. Kills the texture, much of the nutrients, and some of the natural taste.
Ancient Reptile
Senior Member
- Mar 4, 2015
- 10,796
- 11,119
Cover, ever had Blaylock's sausage patties? North Georgia, I think. Also, my FIL, an attorney, helped a poor client out (South Florida). Don't think the man could afford a fee. For the rest of his life my FIL got a case of the best molasses I ever tasted in whiskey bottles every Christmas. Order of magnitude better. Mild as maple syrup.
And Alex, bourbon is unfair competition.
And Alex, bourbon is unfair competition.
- Jun 11, 2014
- 11,023
- 12,243
Founding Member
I'd just as soon eat green sandspurs as raw kale.
Favorite desserts are peach cobbler, cheesecake, pecan pie, and cookies and cream ice cream
I make a pecan pie cheesecake that will make your teeth ache.
Favorite desserts are peach cobbler, cheesecake, pecan pie, and cookies and cream ice cream
I make a pecan pie cheesecake that will make your teeth ache.
- Jun 12, 2014
- 8,960
- 32,433
Founding Member
Ancient, I recalled having Blaylock’s, but couldn’t remember exactly where. So I googled and saw it is made in Rabun Gap, just above Clayton. Then it came to me that we had Blaylock’s at a little breakfast joint when we last stayed over in Dillard. It was pretty dang good. The time before, we ate at the Dillard House and I believe they might have served Blaylock’s as well, but I can’t swear to it.
- Jun 12, 2014
- 8,960
- 32,433
Founding Member
You must be an Elvis fan to put grits ahead of fried chicken (“chicken ain’t nothin’ but a bird”)! I like a lot of different cultures’ takes on fried chicken like chicken piccata and Parmesan (maybe a stretch) and General Tso’s (before the chinks f’d us), but I always come back to southern fried. Best going commercially as far as I’m concerned is Mr. Chick’s in Cairo Ga. The guys a magician with the yard pimp!
I’m with Coot on the Kale, though like you I will eat it raw in a salad. My wife and kids love it. It’ll always kinda be the Yankee cousin to collards to me. I’m with you on the fried okra, but I like it about any way you can fix it.
Ancient Reptile
Senior Member
- Mar 4, 2015
- 10,796
- 11,119
My favorite breakfast and burgers place is just above Rabun Gap in Franklin, NC. Love their sausage patties. Ask a waitress what brand. She said Nantahala. Tried them and they didn't seem special. A year or two later I told a second waitress and she who told you that? All our sausage is Blaylock's. They really suit my taste.
- Jun 12, 2014
- 8,960
- 32,433
Founding Member
Dang it man, that’s something special! We joke at school that the two most beautiful sights are a fine lookin dessert and the school buses leaving campus at the end of the day. That cheesecake makes my teeth hurt just lookin at it!
- Jun 12, 2014
- 8,960
- 32,433
Founding Member
It’s not fixed up like a little diner is it?
- Jan 2, 2018
- 7,032
- 10,100
- Sep 4, 2014
- 21,355
- 79,781
That was kind of my reasoning on fried chicken. Many cultures make it in some fashion so I’m not sure it’s completely southern. Grits are essentially polenta and several African names. But especially for those of us not entirely “southern”, they just feel like they fit the bill better than other things. But I definitely get the chicken argument.
And actually, to be honest, I’ve really just always just had this lifelong dream of derailing an entire thread into a 7 page discussion about grits. I hope to get there one day.
- Feb 2, 2017
- 5,509
- 10,103
- Feb 2, 2017
- 5,509
- 10,103
I'd just as soon eat green sandspurs as raw kale.
Favorite desserts are peach cobbler, cheesecake, pecan pie, and cookies and cream ice cream
I make a pecan pie cheesecake that will make your teeth ache.
Guava cheese cake, guava cobbler, lemon meringue pie, key lime, cocanut cream, plus a few others.
I make a dandy bourbon chocalate pecan pie, kind of like a Derby pie.
Ancient Reptile
Senior Member
- Mar 4, 2015
- 10,796
- 11,119
No, not that fancy. One SIL refused to eat at what she termed a "dump" until she realized that the rest of the family was just laughing at her. The Normandy is just a blue collar restaurant, although you see bankers and lawyers as well. Oddly, they make terrible grits. I have to order hash browns.
