Watercress and Buttermilk Soup
EVER SINCE SETTLERS IN THE FIRST SOUTHERN colonies churned butter derived from a sour milk called clabber and drank the leftover nutritious liquid, buttermilk has had a special status in the South that few outsiders appreciate. Gone are the days, however, when you can find natural buttermilk like that I drank as a child. Today […]
Delta Bean and Ham Soup
IN ONE VERSION OR ANOTHER, I’VE HAD THIS SPICY bean soup from the Louisiana Delta right up to the Texas border. The most memorable I’ve tasted was made with the highly spiced and smoked Cajun ham called tasso, but since tasso is still not that easy to come by outside the region, I’ve learned that […]
Beefy Okra and Tomato Soup
THERE’S NOT A SERIOUS COOK IN THE SOUTH who doesn’t have his or her special version of okra and tomato soup. Craig Claiborne used to add a little country ham to his Mississippi variation; Louis Osteen at Louis’s in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, makes his with rice, bell peppers, and chile peppers; the chef at […]
Williamsburg Peanut Soup
MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, DESPITE GEORGIA’S reputation as the peanut (and pecan) capital of the universe, the nuts there cannot hold a candle to the large, oily, succulent, noble goobers grown in Virginia. (I order a steady supply of 2-pound bags from Original Nut House, in Wakefield, Virginia: 1-800-913-6642.) In 1794, Thomas Jefferson’s garden […]
She Crab Soup
CREATED A CENTURY AGO AT EVERETT’S RESTAURANT in Charleston, South Carolina, by the black chef William Deas, she-crab soup is not only the quintessential dish of the Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry but the true queen of all Southern soups. And if you think debate is hot over the correct way to prepare Kentucky burgoo, Creole […]
Congealed Strawberry Pineapple and Banana Salad
CONGEALED FRUIT SALADS HAVE BEEN A MAJOR component of Southern cuisine for at least a century, and when they’re carefully layered in a glass mold, as with this colorful example, they become a true “party dish” worthy of the most elegant buffet or bridge luncheon. Diced cherries, blackberries, raspberries, crushed peaches or mangoes, and any […]
Frozen Fruit Bridge Salad
THERE’S NOT A PROPER LADY IN LOUISVILLE, Savannah, Montgomery, or Little Rock who wouldn’t consider a frozen fruit salad such as this one the height of elegance for her bridge club or a summertime patio luncheon—served typically with trimmed finger sandwiches or tiny ham biscuits. Of course, the salad could be (and often is) made […]
Congealed Pickled Peach and Pecan Salad
WHAT COULD BE MORE SOUTHERN THAN TO COMBINE pickled peaches, pecans, and cream cheese to make a congealed salad? Of course, hostesses throughout the South love to serve this type of salad at church, bridge, and charity luncheons, but I’ve also discovered that nothing goes better with a glazed baked ham or virtually any meat […]
Belle Meade Frozen Tomato
CREATED AT THE EXCLUSIVE BELLE MEADE COUNTRY Club in Nashville, this has to be the most exotic Southern salad in the history of the Confederacy—and one of the most mysteriously delicious. I first tasted the salad a few years ago when my mother and I were entertained at the club, but it was not till […]
Molded Salmon Salad
ONE OF THE BIG ENIGMAS OF MODERN SOUTHERN cookery is why fresh salmon, now so readily available even in supermarkets, has never gained the popularity of flounder, snapper, bass, and catfish in Southern homes or restaurants. Canned salmon, on the other hand, has been a staple of the Southern kitchen as long as I can […]