Southern Recipes
376 recipes found
Edna Lewis’s Spiced Pears
These sweet, sour and aromatic pears are terrific served with ice cream or yogurt, or they can be canned for preserving after cooking. Edna Lewis calls for Seckel pears, but this recipe works for Bosc or other varieties that will keep their shape when cooked. If you have to substitute, try to find smaller fruit, and halve them lengthwise if needed to fit in the pan. The leftover syrup is delicious in drinks.
Roasted Delicata Squash with Peanut, Sesame and Squash Seed Dukkah
Steven Satterfield, an Atlanta chef with a deep love for green peanut oil, developed this recipe for a coming book on goobers from Short Stack Editions. Green peanuts are nothing more than raw peanuts. They have a fresh, vegetal flavor, and retain their greenness when cold-pressed into oil. Mr. Satterfield's spin on the Egyptian condiment called dukkah centers on peanuts and benne seeds (the preferred term in the South for sesame seeds), two regulars in many Southern kitchens. The spice and nut mixture brings life to delicata squash, whose tender skin doesn’t need peeling. You can substitute olive oil for the green oil when roasting the squash, and the dukkah will keep in an airtight container in the pantry for a month. Pull it out to sprinkle over greens, meat, fish or grilled bread.
Purple Hull Peas and Mustard Greens in Smoky Potlikker
Southern field peas come in seemingly endless varieties, the most well known of which are black-eyed peas. For this dish, it’s worth seeking out their sister, the pink-eyed purple hull pea that April McGreger, who makes Farmer’s Daughter brand pickles and preserves Hillsborough, N.C., knew growing up. They are sold fresh in late spring through the early fall in the South, but can be found frozen. Black-eyed peas will do just fine, though. This is a bold and brothy soup with plenty of what Southerners call potlikker, flavored with ham hocks for traditionalists or smoked turkey parts for a lighter version. It is essential to serve this dish with sturdy cornbread to soak up the potlikker. Ms. McGreger likes thin and crispy cornbread.
Chicken Bog With Middlins Risotto
Hootenholler Whiskey Quick Bread
This recipe is adapted from the “I Hate to Cook Book” by Peg Bracken, the 1960 iconic bestseller that had the nerve to say then what so many women felt: They liked cooking fine, as long as they didn’t have to cook all the time. As her recipes were meant to do, this bread comes together fast, and you don’t need to make a special trip to the grocery store for it. It will also keep for a long time, especially if it is soaked with a little whiskey every now and then. The first step is up to you.
Kentucky Derby Mint Juleps
This is a real julep, the now classic julep first served to Derby guests in 1875 by Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., the founder of Churchill Downs. Now, as then, it is made with just four ingredients: finely crushed ice, a little sugar water, fresh spearmint and fine, aged, 90-proof straight Kentucky bourbon.
Nashville-Style Hot Fried Chicken
This version of Nashville hot fried chicken, adapted from Peaches HotHouse in Brooklyn, will make your tongue sizzle and fill your eyes with tears from a combination of cayenne and ghost chile powders. (The latter is one of the hottest chiles in the world, reaching 1,000,000 on the Scoville heat scale.) Note that the recipe calls for both granulated and powdered onion and garlic. Try to use both. The powdered stuff is stronger in flavor while the granulated has a little more texture to it. (However if you can’t find both, either kind will work throughout the recipe.) The traditional way to serve this is on top of a piece or two of soft white bread, which helps mitigate the heat. A cold beer wouldn’t hurt, either.
Coke-Brined Fried Chicken
John Currence, of City Grocery in Oxford, Miss., spent a long time in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit, and was justly celebrated for his hard work there helping to rebuild a cathedral of Southern fried chicken, Willie Mae’s Scotch House. In his 2013 cookbook, “Pickles, Pigs and Whiskey,” Currence paid tribute to the wet batter used on Willie Mae’s legendary dish. But for the purpose of weekend chicken warriors we have omitted it in our adaptation of his homage, concentrating instead on Currence’s use of a Coke-based poultry brine that not only adds some sweetness to the chicken thighs he uses but mildly tenderizes them along the way. Let the meat sit in the brine for a few hours before using, but not so long as overnight, where it really begins to break down. Then dry the thighs, dredge them in seasoned flour, and fry in peanut oil, ideally enhanced by lard. The result is mahogany-brown chicken with a crisp crust and a luscious interior.
Glazed Holiday Ham
Jo Rooney's Buttermilk Biscuits
Biscuits are easy to make, as long as you follow two basic rules: don't overwork the dough, and have the oven quite hot. This recipe comes from an early mentor of mine, Mrs. Jo Rooney, a wonderful home cook I met years ago in Bakersfield, Calif. Rather than double the recipe, she always said it was better to make another batch while the first one was baking. Also, that way there's a constant flow of hot biscuits.
Clementine Peppercorn Glaze
Creamed Rice With English Peas and Country Ham
Steven Satterfield, the chef at Miller Union in Atlanta, published a version of this recipe for a kind of Lowcountry risotto in his cookbook, "Root to Leaf." He uses Carolina Gold rice, a heritage long-grain variety, but any good long-grain rice will do. Likewise, feel free to substitute other hams for the country ham called for in the recipe. But use the very best peas you can find or, failing that, asparagus tips or tiny radishes. Not rich enough for you? Add a poached egg.
Corn Bread
Corn bread goes with chili and in dressing during the holidays. This recipe isn’t dressed up with cheese or chilies (though you could add some or either or both). It’s a basic recipe, made in a cast-iron pan to create a crunchy crust. Keep this recipe on file and make it whenever you need a good sturdy corn bread.
Henry Bain Sauce
Sour-Cherry Thyme Glaze
Grits Cakes With Country Ham and Bourbon Mayonnaise
As my friend Karen always says, “You know it’s going to be a good party if the host is deep-frying something when you arrive.” If you agree, consider serving these crisp-edged, golden grits cakes topped with bourbon mayonnaise and country ham at your next holiday shindig. These golden cubes, from the chef Kyle Knall at Maysville restaurant, can be prepared ahead of time, except for the frying part, which should be done within 20 minutes of serving. Southern country ham is worth seeking out, but if you can’t find it and didn’t have time to mail-order it ahead, you can substitute a good Serrano ham or prosciutto. Either way, it’s party food at its best.
Dark Molasses Gingerbread With Whipped Cream
This gingerbread, from the chefs Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, is just wonderful: a little spicy, a little sweet, very simple to make, and absolutely delicious. Whipped cream is an easy topping, although dulce de leche or another warm, caramel-y sauce takes it to a special place. But it’s also kind of nice plain, wrapped in waxed paper and tucked inside someone’s lunch.
One-Hour Texas Chili
One-Hour Texas Chili can be used for Frito pie. You top either a small open bag of Fritos, or a pile of Fritos on a plate, with this beef chili, grated Cheddar cheese and chopped onions. When served on a plate, some people call it a Straw Hat.
Texas-Style Brisket
Barbecued Medallions of Pork
South Carolina-Style Mustard Sauce
Alabama White Barbecue Sauce
Cheater’s Pickles
This recipe was developed by accident when Dora Charles was working on her book, “A Real Southern Cook: In Her Savannah Kitchen.” The pickles come together fast, with a shock from ice cubes and a touch of sugar helping them move from raw to something between a pickle and a refreshing salad in just about a half-hour. Fresh herbs other than dill, like basil or a bit of mint or chive, can be used. A few slivers of sweet onion are nice, too.
My Mother’s Chicken Spaghetti
In 1975, Craig Claiborne, then editor of The Times' food department, shared his favorite childhood dish with readers. “A few weeks ago we were interviewed on the McCanns' At Home Program on station WOR, and when the subject veered around to childhood foods, we described in some detail the dish that had given us most pleasure in early youth and adolescence and still gives us comfort as we approach senility. It was a family creation known as chicken spaghetti. It consisted of spaghetti or spaghettini and sometimes vermicelli baked in a casserole, layered with a tomato and cream sauce, a meat sauce, boneless chicken and two kinds of grated cheese. It was almost always served when large numbers were invited for special occasions. Subsequent to the program we received numerous requests for the recipe and discovered with some astonishment that we had somehow never had occasion to use it in a story.”