Cocktail Orange Pecans
A FORMAL SOUTHERN COCKTAIL PARTY WITHOUT a few crystal dishes of toasted, salted pecans scattered about the room is simply not a serious cocktail party. (When I recently attended a cocktail book party in Manhattan sponsored by a contingent of high-livers from Mississippi, I felt immediately at home when I spied no fewer than four […]
Shrimp Toast
I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN, WHERE, OR WHY THIS DELICATE canapé became a staple at stylish Southern cocktail receptions, but I suspect it’s been around for centuries and possibly originated with the first English settlers in Charleston and Savannah. I’ve seen shrimp toast served at an antebellum home outside Mobile, on silver trays in the […]
Pecan Cheese Biscuits
NO MATTER THAT THESE SUMPTUOUS, ZESTY LITTLE rounds are not really biscuits—and I have no earthly idea why they’re known by everybody all over the South as “biscuits” (the one exception being a strange lady I encountered in Mobile, Alabama, who called hers cheese “cookies”). What matters is that cheese biscuits, like toasted pecans, are […]
Benne Bits
BENNE (OR SESAME) SEEDS PLAY AN INTEGRAL ROLE in both savory and sweet dishes throughout the coastal Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry, and rare is the Charleston or Savannah cocktail reception or tea that doesn’t include a bowl of these tiny nuggets, which are eaten almost like peanuts. Benne bits are available in tins all over […]
Blue Cheese Straws
I WAS VIRTUALLY RAISED EATING THE CHEDDAR cheese straws that my grandmother, mother, and aunt would bake for cocktail receptions, teas, and other social events, but it was only many years later that my friend, colleague, and neighbor Craig Claiborne introduced me to these tangy blue cheese straws he had learned to make in his […]
Country Ham and Broccoli Tartlets
THESE DAINTY TEA TARTLETS CAN BE MADE WITH just flour, but I find that the cornmeal adds not only delectable flavor but a much more interesting texture. This is still another way Southerners use up either the scraggly ends of a country ham or simply leftover ham. Fresh asparagus tips or pieces of green or […]
Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH, BAKED MUSHROOM CAPS are stuffed with everything from crabmeat to ground chicken to minced country ham for cocktail and tea parties, but never was I so impressed as when these mushrooms stuffed with spicy sausage were passed on silver trays at a country club reception I attended in Birmingham, Alabama. Since you […]
Glazed Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dip
HOW A NORTHERN DISH CREATED AT THE ANCHOR BAR in Buffalo, New York, back in 1964 (one source gives the date as early as 1940) gradually evolved to become a Southern staple at cocktail parties and receptions is a phenomenon that staggers the imagination. And why the original fried chicken wings came to be glazed […]
Deviled Crabmeat Balls
“OH HONEY, THEY’RE REALLY NOTHING BUT PLAIN OLD deviled crab turned into fancy balls,” our friend Maggie almost apologized as we sipped tea in the sunroom of her modest summer house on Chesapeake Bay, just south of Annapolis, Maryland. Technically, of course, she was right, but I defy any hostess to put out a plate […]
Cajun Popcorn with Garlic Mayonnaise
CAJUN POPCORN, ORIGINALLY POPULARIZED IN THE 1980s by chef Paul Prudhomme at K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans, has to be one of the greatest innovations in modern Southern cookery and the ideal food for stylish cocktail parties. Since Paul served the crawfish with a thick sherry wine sauce at the restaurant, I have no […]