Southern Cooking Brings Soul To Food
I was born & raised in the heart of the Deep South. From as far back as I can remember I remember long summer afternoons spent drinking iced tea & shelling peas & butterbeans on my grandmother’s porch. I’ve moved on from my roots and also have made my way into other regions from the world. One factor, however, that has remained constant in my life is my deep and abiding love for southern cooking and cuisine.
I was most likely well into my teen years before I realized that tea might be served any other way than loaded with sugar & over ice. It was about that exact same time that I realized some folks would eat vegetables that hadn’t been soaked in batter, dredged in cornmeal, and deep fat fried. Southern cooking isn’t for that faint of heart though it can trigger many hearts to grow faint. One factor that can be said is that you’ll never discover anything else like it on earth.
Individuals in the south learned to make do with little in several situations. Some of the poorest individuals in America live in the southern part of the country. Of course, you will discover that several of these individuals despite their poverty are also among probably the most generous. The same could be stated of food. It is the one factor that seems to become in ample supply in most southern homes and extremely couple of will turn you away with an empty stomach.
Perhaps it is the seasonings that are often used when cooking southern meals. From the crab boil and gumbo file of Cajun Delicacies to the secret ingredient that nearly each and every southern kitchen contains for their deep-fried chicken recipes (and no one on earth can fry chicken like a born and bred southern grandma). Maybe it’s the Sunday church dinners where everybody shares a little of what they’ve with other people or the love that goes into preparing these meals that are shared with friends and family. Whatever the case might be, if you ever have the occasion to experience real southern cooking, do not pass it up. You might shave a day off your life, but a great southern deep-fried chicken leg is really living & well worth the sacrifice in the event you ask me.
Of course it would be remiss to mention southern cooking without bringing up some of the much more scrumptious desserts that seem to be perfection for the south. I mentioned banana pudding above but there are so many more. Pralines are a ideal for those residing down around New Orleans as is bread pudding. A little towards the east you will find grandma’s who’ve taken their lemon icebox pie recipes to the grave with them so coveted were these scrumptious deserts and also the same holds true for pecan pies as well. We ought to never forget the flavorful Mississippi Mud cake though, & so many other wonderfully scrumptious treats that southern cooking has introduced towards the world at large.
Favorite vegetables within the heart of the south as I talked about above included peas and butterbeans, snap beans, corn, summer squash (after all, it is summer time all year within the south), & okra (fried or boiled in many southern kitchens). Not all veggiess were deep deep-fried though few were off limits. I remember eating my share of fried okra, deep-fried squash, & yes, fried green tomatoes. Life was great back when calories weren’t counted & no one truly worried about clogging arteries. While I wouldn’t make these a every day dish in any household, I definitely would recommend trying them out in the event you ever find the opportunity.
An additional fantastic thing about southern cooking is the fantastic deep-fried seafood that seems to abound. From deep-fried fish (nearly any variety works nicely when it is southern fried) to fried oysters, seafood just appears to taste so much better in the south. If you’re hoping to discover some from the southern cooking & delicacies you’ll most likely need to order your spices and have them shipped unless your grocery store has a rather extensive ‘exotic’ foods selection. You can occasionally discover great southern seasonings on the International food aisles in grocery stores as well. If you want to truly treat your family to an outstanding meal, you should truly try southern cooking for the night.
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